Some of the Moores School of Music’s top voices will unite with a collection of its finest orchestral musicians to deliver a fitting conclusion to the spring performance season.
The Moores School of Music (MSM) will present a concert adaptation of Leonard Bernstein’s opera “Candide” (based on Voltaire’s book of the same title). The performance begins at 7:30 p.m., April 26 in UH’s Moores Opera House (Entrance 16 off Cullen Boulevard). Tickets are
$20 and $12 for students and seniors. To purchase tickets or for more details, call the Moores Ticket Office at 713-743-3313 or visit the online box office.
“Candide” will feature UH’s combined choruses (led by MSM professors Betsy Cook Weber and Jeb Mueller) and the acclaimed Moores Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Franz Anton Krager). The concert also will showcase the voices of MSM alumni and faculty, as well as cameo appearances from Moores professors.
Cast members include students Brian Yeakley, Nicole Woodward and Heath Martin. MSM faculty members Buck Ross and Melanie Sonnenberg also have prominent roles. Noted opera performer and alumnus Joseph Gaines takes on the role of the title character.
“Candide” is not only MSM’s season-ending concert, It will be the final performance MSM will deliver under the leadership of David Ashley White. After steering the school for 15 years, White has decided to focus his attentions on teaching and his compositions. White is internationally renowned as a composer of secular and sacred music. A number of organizations have commissioned works from White, and his music is performed in concert halls and churches around the globe. MSM professor Andrew Davis will assume the role of the school’s director after the spring semester.
“Nearly everyone in the Moores School of Music has leaped into this project,” Weber said. “Typically, a concert of this size would be a challenge, but everyone’s enthusiasm has made it very easy to coordinate. It definitely will be a bittersweet performance because this is the last concert with David at the helm.”
Krager agreed that “Candide” will mark the end of an era for the Moores School of Music. He added that passion is driving this collaborative concert featuring the talents of faculty and students.
“There is not a person on that stage who is not passionate about this school or David Ashley White,” Krager said. “We always do something extraordinary at the end of the season, but this is a particularly special show.”
The Moores School of Music is one of the premier music schools in America. Offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, it serves approximately 600 students annually. Areas of study include composition, conducting, performance, theory and musicology. Its faculty consists of internationally recognized performers, composers and scholars. Among its ensembles are the Moores School Symphony Orchestra, Moores Jazz Ensemble, Moores Opera Center, Concert Chorale, Concert Women’s Chorus, Spirit of Houston Cougar Marching Band, Wind Ensemble and Percussion Ensemble. A majority of the school’s concerts are performed in the 800-seat Moores Opera House. For more details on the Moores School of Music, visit http://www.music.uh.edu/.