New River Valley Symphony fall concert features Vaughan Williams' anti-war statement: Dona Nobis Pacem
The New River Valley Symphony presents their Fall Concert featuring Dona Nobis Pacem, Vaughan Williams' poignant statement against the senseless violence of war, and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. in Burruss Auditorium.
The performance of Dona Nobis Pacem will bring together the Symphony, the Virginia Tech University Choirs, Soprano Nancy McDuffie and Baritone Theodore Sipes all under the baton of Conductor James Glazebrook.
Scored for large orchestra and chorus, Dona Nobis Pacem was Williams’ way of warning Europe about its ominous movement toward World War II. After serving in WWI for four years and witnessing brutal, close-quarter violence in France that left him with haunting images, Williams collected poetry, scripture, and quotations about war that he later incorporated into Dona Nobis Pacem. Creating an incredibly passionate cantata, Williams used the poetry of Walt Whitman, words from the Latin Mass and Old Testament prophets and John Bright’s House of Commons speech about the Crimean War to dramatically sound an alarm against the horrors of a second world war.
Also included on the program will be a performance of Tchaikovsky’s triumphant Fifth Symphony, which became immensely popular during World War II with its theme of fate and perseverance even in the face of great evil. One of the best-known performances of that time was the Leningrad Radio Symphony Orchestra’s live broadcast in October of 1941 that was heard as far away as London. As the orchestra began the second movement, Germany began its siege and even though bombs were falling all around the performance hall the orchestra continued to play the symphony in its entirety.
Soprano Nancy McDuffie has been a faculty member in vocal studies for the Department of Music at Virginia Tech for fifteen years. A native of Roanoke, McDuffie holds degrees in both Music Education and Vocal Pedagogy from East Carolina University and earned her Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from the State University of New York at Fredonia. While at Fredonia, she was the recipient of the prestigious SUNY Opera Award for her performances as Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme and as Laurie in Copland’s The Tender Land. She has been featured with Opera Roanoke as Tosca in Puccini’s Tosca, Baby Doe in Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, and as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s’ Cosi Fan Tutti. On the concert stage, McDuffie has been a featured soloist with the Roanoke Symphony, the New River Valley Symphony, The Audubon String Quartet, and the Virginia Tech Chamber Music Series.
Baritone Theodore Sipes is Assistant Professor of Voice at Virginia Tech. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts in vocal performance from the University of Michigan School of Music. Sipes’ operatic experience includes productions of La Cenerentola, The Consul, Amahl and the Night Visitors, L’incoronazione di Poppea, The Tender Land, and Die Zauberflote. In oratorio, he has been heard as baritone soloist in the The Creation, Messiah, Faure Requiem, The St. Matthew Passion and Schubert’s Mass in G. Recently. He has appeared with the Bay Choral, Saginaw Valley State University Choir and Orchestra, the New River Valley Symphony, Virginia Tech Choirs and the Blacksburg Master Chorale and Orchestra.
James Glazebrook teaches violin and viola, conducting, and string methods at Virginia Tech and is the conductor of the New River Valley Symphony, Virginia Tech’s university and community orchestra. His varied career has encompassed professional performance, conducting and music education. As a violinist, Glazebrook has been a member of the San Diego Symphony and Opera Orchestra and was concertmaster of the Colorado Springs Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and the Roanoke Symphony. He has guest conducted the Roanoke Symphony, La Jolla Civic Orchestra, Opera Roanoke and the New Hampshire Music Festival. Glazebrook is also the Roanoke Youth Symphony’s Music Director and Conductor.
Tickets for the New River Valley Symphony concerts are $8 for general admission and $5 for Seniors/Students and are available in advance by calling the UUSA Ticket Office at (540) 231-5615, online, or at the door one hour prior to performance. For more information on the performance, please contact the School of the Arts at (540) 231-5200.
