Donald Nally and Vocal Arts Ensemble to Highlight Music of Our Time

On Friday November 6 at 8 p.m. in St. Peter in Chains Cathedral downtown, Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble will introduce its first new music director in 20 years, Donald Nally.
   Nally succeeds Earl Rivers, professor choral music at the University of Cinccinnati College-Conservatory of Music, who retired as VAE music director last season.  It will be a homecoming of sorts for Nally, who earned his bachelor's degree at CCM where he was a student of Rivers and VAE founding music director Elmer Thomas.
   Nally opens the VAE's 30th anniversary season with music of our time, including Scottish composer James MacMillan's powerful "Cantos Sagrados" ("Sacred Songs") which combines poems about political repression in Latin America with sacred texts, and "Gloria: Everywhere" by Turkish-American Kamran Ince (originally written for Chanticleer).  The concert also features VAE resident organist Christina Haan.
   The 24-voice VAE is Cincinnati's only professional chorus.
   Admission to the concert is $20, $10 for students and Enjoy the Arts members, at the door or online at www.vaecinci.org
    A resident of Chicago, where he is chorus master of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Nally, 49, is also conductor of The Crossing, a highly regarded chamber choir in Philadelphia.  From 1994-2001, he was chorus master of  "Il festival dei due mondi" ("Festival of Two Worlds") in Spoleto, Italy, where he collaborated with composer Gian Carlo Menotti on numerous concerts and opera productions.  He was artistic director of The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia from 1998-2002, and has been chorus master of the Welsh National Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.  Nally is known and celebrated for his advocacy of new music and will make that the focus of his work with the VAE.
   In a "Letter of Introduction" for the October 2009 Express, Nally discussed programming, how it is done, what it should accomplish and what it means to him.  He also expanded on the meaning of contemporary music today:  "The age of experimentation is over.  'New music' today draws on the entire palette of music history.  Current trends embrace the tonal aspects of Romanticism, but seem to be primarily concerned with 'atmosphere' . . ."
   Later in the season, Nally will introduce works by John Tavener, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kaija Saariaho, Steven Stucky and David Lang.  He will conduct the VAE's annual collaboration with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra May 2 in the chapel at Summit Country Day School in Hyde Park and a program at the Contemporary Arts Center April 10 in conjunction with a retrospective of street artist Shepard Fairey.
   Members of the VAE are:  Amanda Bower, Anna Bracewell, Krista Cornish Scott, Kelly Haney and Debra Van Engen (sopranos); Alison Acord, Janice Hammond, Caroline Keith, Stephanie Nash, Meg Ozaki and Stacey Sands (altos); Tony Beck, Tony Burdette, Phil Clary, Daniel O'Dea and Jeffrey Stivers (tenors); and Ben Basone, David Breen, Noel Bouley, Kelvin Chan, Michael Dauterman and Keith Nash (basses).  Assistant conductor is Stephanie Nash.  Accompanist is Christina Haan.
   The 2009-10 Vocal Arts Ensemble season.
   Nov. 6. 8 p.m. St. Peter in Chains Cathedral. James MacMillan, "Cantos Sagrados." Kamran Ince, "Gloria: Everywhere." Selections by Bo Holten, Gabriel Jackson, Jonathan Dove and Herbert Howells. Christina Haan, organ. Donald Nally, conductor.
   Dec. 12. 8 p.m. St. Peter in Chains Cathedral.
   Dec. 13. 5 p.m. St. Boniface Church, Northside.
   "Christmas at VAE." John Tavener, "Mother and Child." Einojuhani Rautavaara, "Canticum Mariae virginis." Selections by Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Kenneth Leighton, Andrew Gant, Herbert Howells. Nally, conductor.
   April 10. 7:30 p.m. Contemporary Arts Center. "VAE at the CAC." Kaija Saariaho, "Tag des Jahrs." Selections by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Lars Johann Werle, Steven Stucky and David Lang. Nally, conductor.
   May 2. 4 p.m. Summit Country Day School, Hyde Park. "VAE with CCO." VAE and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Brahms, "Nänie." Bo Holten, "Tallis Variations." James MacMillan, "Seven Last Words." John Tavener, "The Bridegroom." Nally, conductor.
   For tickets and information visit www.vaecinci.org