Oak Ridge Civic Music Association Announces 2017-18 Season

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association celebrates its 73rd season with performances by the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, celebrated artists on the Chamber Music Series, and new additions to the Oak Ridge Chorus Series. 

Chorus director Jaclyn Johnson leads the Oak Ridge Chorus to new heights with two featured chorus concerts this season. “Messiah and More!” includes music from Handel’s Messiah: Part I, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols, and other delightful music to get concert attendees in the holiday spirit. The chorus also presents a spring concert, “Oak Ridge Goes Broadway,” featuring popular music from the Broadway stage alongside some of the great standards of choral literature.

The Chamber Music Series features a diverse offering of rising stars and musical legends, including the Attacca Quartet, Frisson, the Oak Ridge String Quartet, and clarinet virtuoso Richard Stoltzman and his pianist son, Peter John Stoltzman. Each artist on the Chamber Music Series offers a pre-concert talk, beginning 30 minutes before each performance.

Subscription tickets are on sale now. Individual tickets will be on sale Aug. 1, 2017.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 865-483-5569.

About Oak Ridge Civic Music Association:

The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association presents professional performances in the Oak Ridge community with its symphony, chorus, and chamber music series. Support for the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association is provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission and WUOT FM 91.9.

2017-18 Season Overview:

Symphony/Chorus Series

Free Family Concert: String Fling!

3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17

Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center

The string playing “ecosystem” in Oak Ridge is alive and well! Friends and family of all ages will enjoy this concert celebrating the violin, viola, cello, and bass.  All are invited to the instrument “petting zoo” after the concert to get a hands-on experience, and to enjoy more live music and a post-concert snack.

Motor City, Mother Goose, Glitter, and Gloria!

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7

Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center

The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra is joined by virtuoso soprano, Alison Trainer, for a celebratory season opener that can’t be missed!  Hailed by the Baltimore Sun for her “voice of radiant beauty”, Ms. Trainer will perform music by Verdi and Bernstein.  Ms. Trainer will also be featured in Poulenc’s ‘Gloria’, alongside the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Oak Ridge Chorus.

Here’s a Riddle You Haven’t Heard

3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5

First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge

Enjoy an afternoon of intimate music, featuring Vaughan William’s popular and “quintessentially English” composition for solo violin and orchestra, ‘The Lark Ascending’, performed by Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Karen Kartal. The concert will also feature bassoonist and WUOT host, Garrett McQueen performing Villa-Lobos’ little-known masterpiece ‘The Riddle of Seven Notes’, as well as delightful symphonic music by Haydn, Puccini, and Gorecki. 

Messiah and More!

7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1

First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge

Ring in the holiday season with the Oak Ridge Chorus! The Oak Ridge Chorus will join forces with the University of Tennessee Concert Choir to present an evening of celebration and music.  Joined by instrumentalists from the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, the Chorus will perform Messiah: Part I by George Frideric Handel, Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and more.  Chorus Director Jaclyn Johnson will also lead an audience sing-along of popular Christmas Carols!

An Opera of Biblical Proportions

7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 10, 2018

Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center

The talented young vocalists from Sound Company Children’s Choir join forces with the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra for Benjamin Britten’s acclaimed ‘Noye’s Fludde’, based on the 15th-century Chester mystery play about the Old Testament story of Noah’s Ark.  The orchestra will also perform Richard Wagner’s beautiful tribute to his wife and newborn son, Siegfried Idyll.

Oak Ridge Goes Broadway

7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 24, 2018

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

Join the Oak Ridge Chorus for an evening of popular music from the Broadway stage alongside some of the great standards of choral literature. Have fun bidding on our silent auction items, while sipping wine and nibbling hors d'oeuvres during the intermissions!

Fantastique Finale!

7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28, 2018

Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center

Join the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Oak Ridge Chorus for a grand finale to the 73rd season!  Chorus Director, Jaclyn Johnson will lead the orchestra and chorus in Berlioz’s ‘Death of Ophelia’ and ‘Meditation’.  Music Director Dan Allcott will lead the orchestra in exciting music by young American composer, Missy Mazzoli, and the concert will conclude with Berlioz’s brilliant and epic ‘Symphonie Fantastique’!

Chamber Music Series

Attacca Quartet

4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017

Pre-concert talk begins 3:30 p.m.

Pollard Auditorium

A string quartet praised by The Strad as "stunning" and for possessing "a musical maturity far beyond its members' years," the Attacca Quartet is currently celebrating its 15th season. From sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall to National Public Radio's far reaching Tiny Desk Concerts, the Attacca Quartet celebrates the timeless beauty of the string quartet for a broad audience and this sublime art form.  The quartet, comprised of violinists Amy Schroeder and Keiko Tokunaga, violist Nathan Schram, and cellist Andrew Yee, will perform music by Caroline Shaw, Felix Mendelssohn, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Frisson

4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018

Pre-concert talk begins 3:30 p.m.

Pollard Auditorium

A nine-piece chamber ensemble featuring New York City’s finest young classical musicians, Frisson showcases a myriad of rarely-performed masterworks. Listen and enjoy as Frisson expands and contracts into a variety of ensembles, including quintets, sextets, and a small chamber orchestra.  The ensemble will perform music by Haydn, Spohr, Strauss, and Martinu.

Oak Ridge String Quartet

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17

Pre-concert talk begins 7 p.m.

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

The Oak Ridge String Quartet returns to the Oak Ridge Chamber Series, with a program featuring compositions that will transport audiences around the world and back again to Tennessee.  Formed by the talented string players of the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, the quartet includes violinists Karen Kartal and Sarah Ringer, violist Sara Cho, and cellist Theodore Kartal.

Richard Stoltzman & Peter John Stoltzman

7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14, 2018

Pre-concert talk begins 7 p.m.

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman's virtuosity, musicianship and sheer personal magnetism have made him one of today's most sought-after concert artists. As soloist with over a hundred orchestras, a captivating recitalist, an innovative jazz artist, and a prolific recording artist, this two-time Grammy Award winner has defied categorization, dazzling critics and audiences alike throughout many musical genres. Richard Stoltzman will be joined by his son, pianist, Peter John Stoltzman, for a program celebrating Leonard Bernstein and also featuring the music of Ives and Gershwin.

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