www.charisvocals.com

For Immediate Release April, 2003

Contact: Betsy Turner 914-271-0714 wellhost.com/contact.html?to=charispress

CHARIS CHAMBER VOICES SING SONGS OF LOVE

Charis Chamber Voices will give two performances of "We Sing of Love," choral treasures from the Renaissance and Romantic eras. The acclaimed Westchester-based ensemble led by Susanne Peck will sing songs by Monteverdi, Brahms, Schubert, Elgar, and others. Michael Jaffee, director of the Waverly Consort, has called Charis "a superb ensemble."

The first part of the concert will present Renaissance madrigals, some sung by the full chorus of about 30 and others performed by small groups ranging in size from 2 singers to 16. The full chorus will sing Orlando di Lasso's beloved "Mon coeur se recommande à vous," a song of longing for a lover lost, and John Wilbye's dancing "Sweet Honey-Sucking Bees," which celebrates the sweet lips of the singer's ladylove. One small group will sing Monteverdi's amusingly overwrought "Ohimè, se tanto amate," and another will feature four talented Westchester high school students in John Bennett's charming "Let Go, Why Do You Stay Me?"

The second part of the concert will offer music from the Romantic period, beginning with Franz Schubert's "Ständchen" ("Serenade") for mezzo-soprano and 4-part men's chorus with piano accompaniment. Ms. Peck, who has performed and recorded extensively, will be the soloist. Next, the women of Charis, accompanied by two horns and a harp, will sing Brahm's "Vier Gesänge" ("Four Songs") of unrequited or lost love. Songs for the full chorus will include Elgar's "My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land" and Parry's "There Is an Old Belief," expressing the hope that after death friends will be reunited "serene in changeless prime" for all eternity.

Although the theme of love unites the concert's songs, there are marked contrasts between the two time periods. Ms. Peck calls the Renaissance "the teenage years of music. It can be very serious and intense, but vocally it has a young, clean sound." Vocal music in both eras imitated the instrumental music of the day. By the nineteenth century, advances in musical instruments resulted in music with a far different sound, more lush and sustained. Brahms, for instance, has "beautiful, soaring, lyrical lines for the voice," says Ms. Peck.

Dennis Keene of New York's famed Voices of Ascension has praised Charis's blend, virtuosity and clarity. Michael Jaffee of the Waverly Consort calls Ms. Peck "an outstanding singer and gifted conductor." A resident of Lake Katonah, she is on the faculty of the Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale and enjoys a career as a professional soloist. She maintains a private teaching practice in Westchester.

The concerts are Saturday, May 10, 8 PM, at Bedford Presbyterian Church, on the Green, Bedford Village, and Saturday, May 17, 8 PM, at Christ Church, 17 Sagamore Rd., Bronxville. Tickets are $15 ($13 students/seniors). To order tickets, call 914-931-6575 or 914-337-3544 (Bronxville only). For more information on Charis, visit their website, www.charisvocals.com.