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CARNEGIEHALL’S WEILL MUSIC INSTITUTE BRINGS TOGETHER
MARIN ALSOP, THE BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
AND NEW YORK CITY HIGH SCHOOL CHOIRS FOR
TOO HOT TO HANDEL: THE GOSPEL MESSIAH PROJECT

As Hundreds of New York City High School Students Head Back to School,
They Prepare for Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity to Perform with
World-Class Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on November 14 and
World Premieres of Student-Composed Works on November 21

For More Information on Weill Music Institute Programs
Visit: carnegiehall.org/weillmusicinstitute 

This fall, Carnegie Hall’s WeillMusic Institute (WMI) teams up with conductor Marin Alsop and the BaltimoreSymphony Orchestra to bring an exciting choral creative learning project tohundreds of New York City high school students. As choir students from six NewYork City high schools—located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and theBronx—head back to school this fall, they will begin the final rehearsalprocess for WMI’s Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah Project,becoming active participants in the creative process and preparing for the oncein a lifetime opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall with the BaltimoreSymphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop on Sunday, November 14 at 4:00 p.m. Arelated songwriting workshop for select students involved in the projectculminates with a performance of their own student-written compositions andexcerpts from the larger piece in Zankel Hall on Sunday, November 21 at3:00 p.m.

“Once a student becomes a performer at this level, he or she will never listento music the same way again,” said Sarah Johnson, Director of the Weill MusicInstitute. “Creative learning projects, like this one, create an environment inwhich students are actively involved in the music-making process, which canhave a lasting impact on their lives and the role of music in their lives.”

The centerpiece of this project, a musical work conceived by Ms. Alsop, is TooHot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah, based on Handel’s famous work (and aholiday favorite). More than 250 years after Handel’s Messiah waswritten, it remains one of the most performed and popular choral works, lovedby audiences all over the world. During performances of the Messiah, the"Hallelujah Chorus" is known for getting people on their feet, andthis sense of excitement prompted Ms. Alsop to suggest giving the Messiaha new twist. Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah—co-arranged and orchestratedby Ms. Alsop’s colleagues Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson—takes the timelessbrilliance of Handel’s Messiah, and infuses it with jazz, gospel, rock,and R&B. Since its premiere in New York City by the Concordia Orchestra in1993, this piece has become a holiday staple with orchestras and audiencesaround the world. During the performance on November 14, audiences will beprovided sheet music from the “Hallelujah Chorus” and encouraged to sing alongwith the student choir.

“In thinking about the Messiah specifically,” explains Ms. Alsop, “Ithought about how much Handel would have liked it to be reinvented. It reallylends itself, in my opinion, to different kinds of stylistic treatments. Themelodies are the same; the text is the same. What is different about it is thefeel and the orchestration and the harmonic additions. But the basic DNA of thepiece is identical to Handel’s intent, and I think that’s what is veryimportant to me, to maintain the integrity of the piece.”

The Weill Music Institute’s Too Hot to Handel project began in spring2010, with students learning excerpts of this high-energy music in their ownclassrooms and coming together as a chorus with peers from across the city fora performance of excerpts for friends and family at Harlem Stage in UpperManhattan in May 2010. This fall, students will continue the intensivepreparation with rehearsals in their schools each week, final rehearsals atCarnegie Hall, all leading up to the Carnegie Hall performance on November 14.Soloists on the Carnegie Hall program include soprano Kecia Lewis-Evans,mezzo-soprano Vaneese Thomas, and tenor Darius de Haas.

In addition to the large-scale choral project for hundreds of students, selectstudents involved in the project have also been given the opportunity toparticipate in a more intimate songwriting workshop inspired by The GospelMessiah. Working with professional composers, students from three of theseNew York City high schools have been asked to explore the possibilitiesinherent in re-inventing or re-mixing a “masterwork.” Since the spring, thesestudents have become composers themselves, re-inventing masterpieces of theirown choosing, such as “The Flower Duet” from the Léo Delibes’s opera Lakméand pop favorite Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” These students will perform theworld premieres of these original works and all six choirs will performexcerpts from Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah in Zankel Hall on Sunday,November 21.

“I am indescribably excited and honored to be making my Carnegie Hall debut!”said Annmarie Errico, 17, senior at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens.“It will be an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

“When Tom Cabaniss [one of the composers working on this project] is behind apiano, he turns into a student,” said George Pedraza, 17, senior at FrankSinatra School of the Arts in Queens. “We all become composers through theprocess, while he becomes a student, learning from our ideas. Working with Tomis learning how it should be. A group effort.”

Coming to carnegiehall.org this fall: Check out weekly video webisodesdetailing the students’ work on Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel MessiahProject, beginning in late September.


Participating Schools  

* indicates the schools that are participating in the songwriting workshop andwill premiere their new pieces on November 21.


Too Hot To Handel: The Gospel Messiah Project marks the second time thatCarnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute has partnered with Marin Alsop and theBaltimore Symphony Orchestra on a creative learning project that engages NewYork City students. Reflecting and honoring Leonard Bernstein’s role as anextraordinary educator, The Bernstein Mass Project was a key componentof Carnegie Hall’s and the New York Philharmonic’s citywide festival Bernstein:The Best of All Possible Worlds during the fall of 2008. It broughttogether hundreds of students to perform Bernstein’s 1971 Mass andexplore its themes of faith, doubt, tolerance, and renewal of tradition. TheNew York Times wrote about the project’s final concert, “If only Bernsteincould have been at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights on Saturdayafternoon. There is nothing like young performers to refresh older pieces. Andthe performance of Bernstein's ‘Mass’ that Marin Alsop conducted at thispalatial former vaudeville house involved hundreds of young, inspired andinspiring performers.”


About the Artists
Hailed as one of the world's leading conductors for her artistic vision andcommitment to accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop made historywith her appointment as the twelfth music director of the Baltimore SymphonyOrchestra (BSO). With her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became thefirst woman to head a major American orchestra, mirroring her ongoing successin the United Kingdom as principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony since2002. Since becoming the BSO's Music Director, she has garnered national andinternational attention for her innovative programming and artistry. In 2005,she was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first and only conductor ever to receivethis most prestigious American award. In 2007, she was honored with a EuropeanWomen of Achievement Award, presented to individuals whose vision, courage anddetermination have made a major impact on increasing the influence of women onEuropean affairs. A native of New York City, Ms. Alsop attended Yale Universityand received her master's degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, herconducting career was launched when she was a prizewinner at the LeopoldStokowski International Conducting Competition in New York, and in the sameyear was awarded the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at the Tanglewood MusicCenter.


The Grammy Award-winning Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) isinternationally recognized as having achieved a preeminent place among theworld's orchestras. Acclaimed for its enduring pursuit of artistic excellence,the BSO has attracted a devoted national and international following while maintainingdeep bonds throughout Maryland with innovative education and community outreachinitiatives. The orchestra made musical history in September 2007, when MaestraMarin Alsop led her inaugural concerts as the BSO's twelfth music director,making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra. With her highlypraised artistic vision, her dynamic musicianship and her commitment toaccessibility in classical music, Ms. Alsop's directorship has ushered in a newera for the BSO and its audiences. Under Music Director Marin Alsop’sleadership, the BSO has rapidly added several critically acclaimed albums toits already impressive discography. The BSO recently released Dvorák’sSymphonies Nos. 6, 7 and 8, the final two discs in its three-disc Dvorák cycle.In August 2009, the BSO and Marin Alsop released Bernstein’s Massfeaturing baritone Jubilant Sykes, the Morgan State University Choir and thePeabody Children’s Chorus. The album rose to number six on the ClassicalBillboard Charts and received a 2009 Grammy nomination for Best ClassicalAlbum. In addition to the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where the orchestrahas performed for 27 years, the BSO is a founding partner and the residentorchestra at the new state-of-the-art Music Center at Strathmore, just outsideWashington, D.C. With the opening of Strathmore in February 2005, the BSObecame the nation’s only major orchestra with year-round venues in twometropolitan areas.


The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall
The Weill Music Institute creates broad-reaching music education and communityprograms that play a central role in Carnegie Hall’s commitment to making greatmusic accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Woven into the fabric ofthe Carnegie Hall concert season, these programs occur at Carnegie Hall as wellas in schools and throughout neighborhoods, providing musical opportunities foreveryone, from preschoolers to adults, new listeners to emerging professionals.With access to the world’s greatest artists and latest technologies, the WeillMusic Institute is uniquely positioned to inspire the next generation of musiclovers, to nurture tomorrow’s musical talent, and to shape the evolution ofmusical learning itself. The Weill Music Institute’s school and communityprograms annually serve over 115,000 children, students, teachers, parents,young music professionals, and adults in the New York metropolitan area andacross the US, as well as 65,000 people around the world through its online anddistance learning initiatives.

For more information, please visit: carnegiehall.org/weillmusicinstitute.


Program Information
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 4:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
TOO HOT TO HANDEL: THE GOSPEL MESSIAH
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, Music Director and Conductor
Kecia Lewis-Evans, Soprano
Vaneese Thomas, Mezzo-Soprano
Darius de Haas, Tenor
Leslie Stifelman, Music Supervisor
Choirs from:
Bayside High School
Edward R. Murrow High School
Fordham High School for the Arts
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
Songs of Solomon
Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts

BOB CHRISTIANSON / GARY ANDERSON Too Hot to Handel (based on HANDEL’s Messiah,original concept by Marin Alsop)

A mass choir of New York City students joins Marin Alsop and the BaltimoreSymphony Orchestra in Too Hot to Handel. This full-length work hasthrilled audiences across the country with its blend of the timeless brillianceof Handel's Messiah with an invigorating infusion of jazz, gospel, rock,and R&B.

Tickets: $19, $38, $50
____________________________________

Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
Zankel Hall
THE GOSPEL MESSIAH CREATIVE LEARNING PROJECT
Choirs from:
Bayside High School
Fordham High School for the Arts
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

Tickets: Free (Tickets will be distributed on day of performance. Limit two perperson.)


Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.