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FSO and Oratorio Chorus perform Haydn’s “The Creation” Nov. 30


Last updated November 18, 2018

By Tina Underwood

The Furman Symphony Orchestra (FSO) and Oratorio Chorus will present Haydn’s “The Creation” Friday, Nov. 30, at 8 p.m. in McAlister Auditorium on the Furman University campus.

The event is open to the public and is presented by the Furman Department of Music. Tickets for the Sound Quality Concert Series event are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $5 for students/youth.

Conducted by retiring Furman Music Professor William Thomas, Haydn’s “The Creation” features professional Furman alumni and faculty soloists: Jacquelyn Stucker (Class of 2011), soprano; Professor of Voice Grant Knox, tenor; and Joshua Copeland (Class of 2005), bass.

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Concertmaster Thomas Joiner

Joining the FSO for the masterpiece are nine Furman music faculty members who will perform as principal players in the orchestra. Furman Music Professor Thomas Joiner will serve as concertmaster for the production.

“The Creation” is one of Haydn’s most prodigious musical accomplishments. Scored for solo trio (STB) and full orchestra, the oratorio retells the Biblical account of the day-by-day creation of the world and its first inhabitants.

Structured in three sections, “The Creation” unfolds as the soloists and chorus first describe the worlds of plants and elements; then the creation of the animals, including man; and finally, a languid depiction of a beautiful and blissful Eden.

In the first two sections, the soloists offer commentary as heavenly beings—the angels Gabriel (soprano), Uriel (tenor) and Raphael (bass). In the final movement, the bass and soprano take on the personae of Adam and Eve.

After “The Creation’s” premiere in Vienna in March 1799 in its original German, Haydn waited only a year before the score’s publication in English. The early and enduring esteem for the work, both in German and English-speaking countries, places “The Creation” second only to Handel’s “Messiah” in popularity.

For more information or advance ticket sales, call the Furman Music Office at 864-294-2086, or email the department at Furman.Music@furman.edu. Tickets may be ordered online at www.furman.edu/MusicTickets.

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