Special Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus recital pays tribute to their late director Thomas SwanBy Bill Raffel, WBFO
Buffalo, NY – The Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus pays tribute to its former director this week. Good morning. I'm Bill Raffel with Music Notes.
Thomas Swan died of cancer last June, after leading the chorus for 22 years. Before his death, he selected the music for this concert and asked that it be directed by Ann Howard Jones. The main work is one of Swan's favorites, Johannes Brahms' German Requiem. Unlike many of the other Masses for the dead, which conjure up harsh visions of judgment, Brahms's Requiem is more re-assuring and comforting.
The director Ann Howard Jones is the currently the choral director at Boston University. But the highlight of her career was working with the great conductor Robert Shaw, as the Assistant Conductor of Choruses with the Atlanta Symphony.
See Ann Howard Jones lead the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, and soloists Rena Monti and Brian Zunner in the German Requiem and other works. Friday (5/10) at 7:30?p.m. in Kleinhans. Then on Saturday (5/11) at 8?p.m., the Philharmonic welcomes Michael Feinstein for a pops concert.
And Saint Paul's Cathedral presents a free half-hour recital with Soprano Anne-Louise Klaus and Pianist Susan Schuman. Songs of late Romantic Finnish composers will be featured Friday (5/10) at 12:30?p.m.
And that's Music Notes. I'm Bill Raffel. Have a great week.