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1.18.2001 00:21
Shakespeare wrote the lyrics for many a song
When it comes to song lyrics, no writer has been tapped more than The Bard. Schubert looked to Shakespeare for some of his many lieder. Leonard Bernstein put a contemporary spin on
Romeo and Juliet
for his jazzy
West Side Story.
So it only made sense that the innovative chamber group Music for a While decided to showcase music inspired by the plays and sonnets of Shakespeare for this weekend's installment of its Jamestown Chamber Music Series.
Sunday afternoon, the trio, which gives regular concerts at Jamestown's Central Baptist Church, has called in veteran actor Bob Colonna to read some of the more dramatic texts that turn up in the musical offerings. Harpsichordist Fred Jodry and Sue Thomas, princpal flutist with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, will also be on hand to perform incidental music from Shakespeare's plays.
"It's something we've wanted to do for years," said Music for a While soprano Julibeth Andrews. "In a way, it's obvious. Shakespeare has inspired more music than any other poet."
That concert opens with the players and Colonna trooping on stage to the music of Stephen Sondheim -- excepts from
The Frogs,
which is based on Aristophanes but contains references to Shakespeare, said Andrews.
Colonna will then read selected song texts from the sonnets as well as
As You Like It, Cymberline, Hamlet
and
Two Gentlemen from Verona,
from which Schubert took his famous song
An Sylvia.
Tenor Eric Bronner, another Music for a While member, will be heard in the Schubert selections, which also include another chestnut, the composer's
Serenade,
which comes from
Cymberline
, said Andrews
.
"They're famous pieces," she said of the Schubert, "but not so obvious that they come from Shakespeare."
The third member of Music for a While is pianist Nancy Nicholson.
There is so much Shakespeare-inspired music out there that Music for a While was able to pick pieces from all periods. Jodry and Thomas will be playing instrumental music from Shakespeare contemporaries Thomas Morley and Henry Purcell. At the other end of the spectrum, listeners will get to hear Cole Porter's
Brush Up Your Shakespeare,
along with the balcony scene from
West Side Story.
And there'll be music by two composers with local connections,
O Mistress Mine
by Newport composer Mary Howe and a score by Amy Beach, an important figure on the Boston music scene around the turn of the last century.
This is the third year that Music for a While has put on the Jamestown Chamber Music Series, which pretty much sells out every event. Andrews said the group is looking for larger quarters (Central Baptist seats about 130 souls, she said) but it's hard to give up the intimacy and fine acoustics of its current home.
Sunday's concert takes place at 2:30, and the church is at 99 Narraganset Ave., Jamestown. Tickets are $15, $5 for children under 12. Call 423-3031.
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