FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Plainfield, NJ – The Plainfield Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey’s oldest community orchestra, will present “Passion and Poetry,” its 99th season opener, on Saturday, October 13, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. Led by the orchestra's internationally acclaimed Music Director, Charles Prince, the program features highlights from Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre, Tristan und Isolde, and Tannhäuser.
The concert will open with the Overture to his 1845 opera Tannhäuser, a work inspired by an actual medieval singing contest held at Wartburg Castle in thirteenth-century Germany. It contains many of the most important themes from the opera, including the Pilgrims’ Chorus, written in the chorale style of J.S. Bach.
The orchestra will also perform selections from the haunting Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman); the heroic Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) - the second of the four works that form Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung); the grail narration from the romantic Lohengrin and the final dramatic music, Prelude and Liebestod (Love Death) from Tristan & Isolde.
The program features returning acclaimed vocal soloists baritone Steven Scheschareg, winner of the prestigious George London Prize of the Vienna State Opera, and Wagnerian tenor Adam Herskowitz from the Metropolitan Opera. Joining them in her PSO debut will be Canadian-American soprano Othalie Graham, who is widely known for her interpretations of the title roles in Turandot and Aida and her commitment to Wagnerian repertoire.
The 99th season will also feature concert after parties offering a buffet supper in historic Plainfield private residences, a longstanding PSO tradition. Following the October 13 concert, an after party will be held at 1419 Evergreen Avenue, which has been featured on a previous PSO “Homes for the Holidays” House Tour. Admission to the after party is $50 and tickets can be purchased at www.plainfieldsymphony.org or paid at the door with a reservation.
As New Jersey’s oldest community symphony and the third oldest continuously operating community symphony in the United States, the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra represents the highest standard in musical excellence in programs designed to educate and uplift local audiences. Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through a grant administered by the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.