Band, choir pay tribute to Earth

Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Merrimack Concert Association will present “The Earth and Our World,” a program of music celebrating the beauty and ideals inspired by the planet Earth, on Saturday, March 20.

The performance will feature the Merrimack Chorus under the direction of Sara Phelps and the Merrimack Concert Band conducted by Anthony Varga.

The concert will highlight some of America’s finest composers whose well-known compositions were inspired by the Earth’s landscape of oceans, rivers, forests and fields. Included is a tribute to Aaron Copland, as well as the words of poets Robert Frost and Walt Whitman, set to the music of Randall Thompson and Norman Dello Joio.

The concert band will present an ocean of water music with “Sea Songs” by R. Vaughan Williams, 19th century river shanty “Shenandoah,” and Italian folksong “Carnival of Venice” as the chorus sings rock musician Sting’s “Fields of Gold.” Written in the ’60s as an antidote to the racially and politically charged times, “What a Wonderful World” was made famous by Louis Armstrong. The Merrimack Chorus performs this optimistic classic with a trumpet soloist.

There will be refreshments, including homemade pie, cake, crisp and beverages, before the concert.

Doors will open to the public at 7 p.m. at Merrimack High School, with a start time of 7:30 p.m.

Admission is $10. Cost is free for children 6 and younger. Tickets are available at the door and in advance by calling Executive Director Laurie Ludvigsen at 424-0558 or e-mailing info@merrimack concert.org.

A 50/50 raffle will take place. This performance is funded through the generosity of the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, the Robin Colson Memorial Foundation and the Frederick Smyth Institute of Music.

The Merrimack Concert Association also has published a cookbook to mark its 20th anniversary. Cookbooks will be on sale at the concert for $12 and can be ordered through www.merrimackconcert.org.