The merry month of May in the arts continues with a cheery sounding program on May 14 from the Williamsburg Women’s Chorus — “Make Me a Song.” Featuring about 40 members, the chorus will offer a 7:30 p.m. program consisting of music by such composers as Bob Chilcott, Sarah Quarel, Michael John Tratta and Tom Shelton.
Since 1965, the Women’s Chorus has offered a wide variety of songs dedicated to showcasing the beauty of female voices and works specifically for all-female vocal ensembles. According to its website, this is the only such organization in the area. The programs are always pleasing and truly do offer a rare listening opportunity.
Rebecca Davy is artistic director, Karen Ives is accompanist and flute soloist is Wayne Hedrick. Hedrick is a resident of Newport News and was the principal flutist with the ever-so fine USAF Heritage of America Band for some 20 years. He has recorded over 70 albums, one of which won a Grammy. In addition to the Heritage Band, he has performed or recorded with the U.S. Air Force Band, the National Chamber Players, National Symphonic Winds and the Virginia and Williamsburg Symphony Orchestras.
Suggested donation is $15, cash or check at the door, at Williamsburg Presbyterian Church on Richmond Road.
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Opera in Williamsburg
Opera in Williamsburg offers up Offenbach’s engaging “Tales of Hoffmann” on May 17 (7:30 p.m.), 19 (2:30 p.m.) and 21 (7:30 p.m.)in the Kimball Theatre.
Considered Offenbach’s greatest hit, “Hoffmann” provides a study in rivalry of two men for Stella, a famous opera singer, sung out over three distinctly different stories involving complicated women. There’s a mechanical doll (who has a show-stopping, incredibly difficult and dazzling aria), an unwell daughter of an acclaimed composer and an alluring Venetian courtesan. It starts and ends in a tavern with more than a bit of liquid spirits and takes you on a roller coaster ride of feelings, all of which turn out to represent aspects of Stella.
Featuring a large cast, all of whom boast substantial credits on international stages, and a chamber-sized orchestra, “Hoffmann” will find the talented conductor-music director Jorge Parodi directing.
Glen Winters, a distinguished singer, composer, lecturer, college-level piano instructor and arts administrator, provides an insightful talk about the opera an hour before each performance.
Naama Zahavi-Ely, Opera in Williamsburg’s founder and artistic and general director, had as her vision the chance to showcase fully-staged opera with world-class casts. Since its start in 2012, the organization has brought substantial awareness to Zahavi-Ely’s vision of excellence in opera and truly wonderful talent, right here in Williamsburg.
For tickets, visit operainwilliamsburg.org and click on “Tales of Hoffmann.”
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Virginia Symphony Orchestra
A homecoming of sorts highlights the VSO’s May 17 performance in the Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News. The VSO’s former music director, JoAnn Falletta, who brought the organization to national, if not international, awareness, returns to conduct selections from Prokofiev’s deeply romantic “Romeo and Juliet.”
The program opens with Turina’s “Danzas Fantásticas,” followed by Hampton Roads’ own Adolphus Hailstork’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (the Peaceful Kingdom), with Lara Downes on keyboard. Considered “the dean of African-American composers,” Hailstork’s work will be a local premiere. Performance Today’s 2022 Classical Woman of the Year, Downes is an acclaimed soloist, recording artist and NPR personality and a collaborator with the likes of Rhiannon Giddens, Pulitzer-winning poet Rita Dove, author John McWhorter and Broadway’s Brian Stokes Mitchell.
Also on the program will be Scott Joplin’s “Magnetic Rag” and popular “Maple Leaf Rag,” both arranged by Stephen Buck.
Start time is 7:30 p.m. For information and tickets, visit virginiasymphony.org and click on concerts and “Romeo and Juliet.”
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Open Door Concert Series
The Williamsburg Presbyterian Church’s Open Door series is offering the Windborne Singers at 4 p.m. on May 19 in the Richmond Road church.
Considered “sublime, superb, witty, exquisite and overflowing with energy, Windborne merges captivating sounds and musical styles drawn from … cultures with traditions of harmony singing, and a vocal blend that comes from longtime friendship and years of singing together.” Known for bringing refreshing takes on songs favoring folk music and social activism, Windborne consistently receives raves for its powerful programs and performances.
The event is free and a reception follows the program.
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Virginia Arts Festival
The Virginia Arts Festival’s popular Coffee Concerts comes to town May 24 in the Williamsburg Library Theater with Apollo’s Fire Chamber Ensemble. Apollo’s Fire, a baroque ensemble of two violins, soprano and harp and cello, will offer works harkening back to 1610 from England, Hungary, France, Ireland, Spain and Italy. The fare promises soulful ballads, laments, party tunes and dance-like music from Dowland, Monteverdi and Merula.
Popular around the world, the Grammy-winning ensemble regularly performs to sold-out audiences, regaling all with heightened period instrument excellence.
A second Coffee Concert is on tap for June 7 in the William & Mary Concert Hall. Set for 10:30 a.m., the program will feature the world-acclaimed Olga Kern, pianist and head of the Arts Festival’s chamber events; Kern’s son, pianist Vladislav Kern; Virginia native violinist Brendon Elliott; and the Arts Festival Chamber Players.
The program, subject to change, will include Mozart’s Violin and Piano Sonata in E minor, Franck’s Sonata in A major for violin and piano and Korngold’s “Selections from ‘Much Ado About Nothing.”
For tickets to these 10:30 a.m. performances, visit vafest.org and click on events/tickets or call 757-282-2822.
Have information about the arts in the Historic Triangle? Contact John Shulson at johnshulson@gmail.com.
