Waukesha Choral Union to present free concert of Haydn’s “Creation”

March 11, 2010 - PRLog -- Waukesha, WI – The Waukesha Choral Union will present Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Creation” as a free gift to the community on Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. in Shattuck Auditorium on the Carroll University campus.  Artistic director Ernest “Ernie” Brusubardis, III will conduct this performance comprised of choir, orchestra, and soloists.  The choir is made up of Waukesha Choral Union members and volunteer community singers.

Waukesha Choral Union has been performing Handel’s “Messiah” or Haydn’s “Creation” as a free concert annually for over three decades.  This longstanding tradition is funded by area businesses, foundations, and benefactors as well as through generous donations from patrons.  A silent auction of donated merchandise and services will also be held in conjunction with the concert.  Brusubardis is “Delighted that all facets of the greater Waukesha community come together to create, perform, experience, and enjoy.”  

Haydn’s masterwork oratorio, based upon the creation account in the book of Genesis, the book of Psalms, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, was completed in 1798.  The oratorio has three parts; the first depicts the elements; the second, animals and man; and the third, an earthly paradise.  The soloists play the roles of the Archangels Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael in the first two parts, and Adam and Eve in the third.  Soloists for the Waukesha Choral Union production are: Melissa Kelly Cardamone, soprano, who has performed leading opera and musical theater roles in the Midwest, New York City, and in Italy; Joseph Graziano, tenor, from Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera Company; and Thomas J. Weis, bass, who is on the voice faculty at Carroll University, Waukesha, and the Waukesha County Conservatory of Music in Hartland.  

Community singers interested in joining the performance must attend three rehearsals:
• Sunday, March 21, 2010 6-8:30pm Shattuck Auditorium, Carroll University
• Tuesday, March 23, 2010 7-9:30pm Waukesha South High School choir room
• Saturday, March 27, 2010 2-4:30pm Shattuck Auditorium, Carroll University
Music will be provided.  Call David Bowey, membership chair, at (262) 424-5057 for more information.

One concert remains in the Waukesha Choral Union’s 2009 – 2010 “Putting Together a Community of Singers” season:
• May 16, 2010 a rare presentation of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem,” performed in collaboration with Bel Canto Chorus, Milwaukee Choristers and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in the Oconomowoc Arts Center.  

As the premiere vocal group in the area, the Waukesha Choral Union has been musically active in the community for over 50 years. Originally a combination of the Carroll College student chorus and community singers known as the Waukesha Choral Society in 1949, the group became the Town and Gown in 1961 and the Waukesha Choral Union in 1974, taking its present form as an auditioned choir in 1978.  For more information, visit http://www.ChoralUnion.org.

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The Waukesha Choral Union, an auditioned community choir, continues a long tradition of collaborating with other musicians and groups, putting together pieces of the very colorful and diverse arts community in which we live for over 50 years.