Several Dancers Core presents "Arias from Messiah" Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008 at 3 p.m. at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center ...
Several Dancers Core presents "Arias from Messiah" Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008 at 3 p.m. at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. The dancers of CORE Performance Company and the musicians of Atlanta Baroque Orchestra capture the beauty of George Frideric Handel's Messiah through artistic collaboration and live performance. Following the performance, the audience is invited to meet the artists and enjoy a tea and dessert reception. General admission tickets are $25 with a discounted rate for students and seniors at $20. For group rates and other information contact Several Dancers Core.
Artistic Directors Sue Schroeder of CORE Performance Company and Antoine Plante of Houston's Mercury Baroque, who will be conducting, worked with the dancers to interpret the brilliance of Handel's masterwork Messiah and created an intimate and passionate performance. The unique combination of contemporary dance performed by members of CORE Performance Company and Baroque music performed by two vocalists and five musicians of Atlanta Baroque Orchestra results in a reflective work, particularly appropriate for the Easter season.
Sue Schroeder, Artistic Director of CORE Performance Company, describes her choreographic work on Messiah as "an illuminated manuscript, where the dance adds color, movement and meaning to an already rich text and score." The collaboration with Atlanta Baroque Orchestra has allowed Schroeder to embrace the score more fully while integrating the musicians and singers into the performance.
Committed for 27 years to innovation, artistic risk-taking and collaboration, Several Dancers Core (SDC), a dance organization, creates, performs, and presents contemporary dance. SDC promotes dance awareness and education through performances, presentations, workshops, and classes in contemporary approaches to movement and is dedicated to opening new channels of communication between artists and the community. CORE Performance Company, the professional contemporary dance company of Several Dancers Core, focuses on the ongoing development of the artistic process through the creation of new work. Made up of individual artists, the company performs new choreography that evolves through experimentation, improvisation, and collaborations with artists from different mediums. For more information about Several Dancers Core and CORE Performance Company, please call 404-373-4154 or visit www.severaldancerscore.org.
The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra was founded in 1997 by a group of musicians, specialists in the performance of 17th- and 18th-century music on period instruments, to fill a major gap in the musical life of the Southeast. Believing that the heart of a musical style lies in its unique sound, the ABO employs actual surviving instruments and reproductions of Baroque- and Classical-period instruments in recreating the music. They have been responsible for many noteworthy musical performances in Atlanta, including the first performances on historical instruments of Bach's Magnificat and Passion according to St. John, Handel's Messiah and Water Music, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Haydn's Paris Symphonies, and other Baroque and Classical masterworks. In January 2006 they named the eminent cellist, gambist, and conductor, John Hsu to be their Artistic Director. More information is available online about Atlanta Baroque Orchestra at www.atlantabaroque.org.
The setting at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, outside of a conventional theatre space, will also provide historical ambience and intimacy to the audience's experience. Callanwolde Fine Arts Center hosts the performance in the Great Hall of the magnificent Gothic-Tudor style mansion. Built in 1920 by Charles Howard Candler, Callanwolde is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a unique setting for special concerts and arts events. Callanwolde offers classes year-round for all ages in the visual, literary, and performing
arts. For more information on Callanwolde visit www.callanwolde.org.
For more information about "Arias from Messiah," please contact Several Dancers Core by phone at 404-373-4154, or by e-mail to info@severaldancerscore.org. Tickets may be purchased online at www.severaldancerscore.org or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006. Tickets will be also available at the door.