On November 12, Indiana’s Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra will perform Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, led by Music Director Alfred Savia. Baritone Jubilant Sykes will sing the role of the Celebrant, and the musical forces also include the Evansville Philharmonic Chorus, University of Evansville and University of Southern Indiana “street singers,” Evansville Children’s Choir, blues band, rock band, and kazoo players. The work—conceived as a Requiem Mass for John F. Kennedy—draws on Broadway, religious, and popular influences to explore themes of religious beliefs, individuality, and war and peace. In October and November, the Evansville Philharmonic hosted four free panel discussions at area locations, focusing on the crisis of faith that is dramatized in Mass. At each panel discussion, Savia was joined by Don Colton, music professor emeritus at University of Evansville; Father Steve Lintzenich, retired pastor for the Catholic Diocese of Evansville; and Andrea Drury, choral conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic.
Posted November 11, 2016
