June, 2005:
Johannes Somary has achieved international prominence as
conductor, composer, and organist. He is now in his 44th
season as founder and Music Director of AmorArtis in New
York. As a composer, he has won critical acclaim for his
oratorios Ballad of God and His People and The Ultimate
Quest as well as his dramatic cantata Is This Life?, given
its premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in
1994. As an organist he has received critical acclaim for
his recording of the Handel concerti. As a teacher, he served
for nearly four decades as chairman of the arts-and-music
department at Horace Mann School. He is currently artist-in-residence
at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in New York City
and in his 30th year as conductor of Connecticut's Fairfield
County Chorale. He was born in Zurich, Switzerland and graduated
from Yale University. The composer writes: “Taroko
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, is so named because much
of the melodic material first came to me on walks with a
friend in a little mountainous region of Taiwan called Taroko.
It was composed during the two months following my departure
as music director of Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
It was completed in October, 2003 and is in four movements.
Easter Fantasia was first composed as a sonatina for trumpet
and organ. In this form it was frequently performed by Martin
Berinbaum, with me at the organ. It was re-designed for
trumpet and orchestra in February, 2004. Much of the thematic
material is based on Gregorian chants proper to the Easter
season. The ancient hymn of thanksgiving known by its first
two words, Te Deum, is still sung at the end of Matins on
Sundays and on major feast days in convents, monasteries,
and some churches all over the world. It is a jubilant hymn
of praise to the Almighty. The Te Deum for the Millennium,
which was commissioned by the International Order of Benedictines,
was composed in 1999 and premiered in New York on May 23,
2001. The work is a celebratory cantata scored for soloists,
chorus and chamber orchestra.”
DISC
CONTENTS:
Tarko Concerto, Johannes Somary, composer
(listen to a brief excerpt)
Yuval Waldman, violin, Saint Petersburg Festival Orchestra,
Johannes Somary conducting
Easter
Fantasia, Johannes Somary, composer
Igor Sharapov, trumpet, Saint Petersburg Festival Orchestra,
Johannes Somary conducting
Te Deum for the Millennium, Johannes Somary, composer
Cynthia Wallace, soprano, Jonathan Goodman, tenor, Richard
Holmes, baritone, ArmorArtis Chorus and Chamber Orchestra,
Johannes Somary conducting
