Prairie Ensemble concert to feature BACH, top soloists

CHAMPAIGN – An all-star cast of soloists will join The Prairie Ensemble in concert on Saturday for a performance of Franz Joseph Haydn's "Mass in Time of War," also called the "Kettledrum Mass."

Soprano Ollie Watts Davis, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Buckley, tenor Jerold Siena and bass-baritone Ronald Hedlund will join forces with the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana (BACH) Chorus in the performance, starting at 7:30 p.m. at Faith United Methodist Church, 1719 S. Prospect Ave., C. The Concert Conversation with music director Kevin Kelly will start at 7 p.m.

"Despite its name, the 'Mass in Time of War' is a work that is almost unrelentingly upbeat, which may be why it's also one of the best-known of Haydn's final six masses," Kelly said in a news release. "It was written when Austria was losing a war and was about to be invaded, and you can hear that in some of the movements, but actually it's a rather lyrical and joyful work."

Rounding out the concert program will be "Symphony in G" by Jean Francaix and "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten" by Arvo Part.

Francaix, who died in 1997, is known for writing music with lightness and wit, and for challenging the performers with rhythmic difficulties. He wrote this particular work in memory of Haydn, making it a perfect companion to the Mass, Kelly said.

Part's work, in memory of Benjamin Britten (on whose birthday this concert takes place), is a moving, mystical elegy for strings and a single bell, Kelly said.

Watts Davis is an active performing artist who has appeared with the San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Houston, Dallas and Milwaukee symphony orchestras as well as with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Theatre of Springfield.

Buckley is known to many in the area for her solo work with The Prairie Ensemble, Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera and Danville Symphony.

Siena has appeared regularly at the Metropolitan Opera and the world's leading opera houses, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Monnaie in Brussels, The Bayerische Staatsoper, Rome Opera, New York City Opera and Teatro di San Carlo of Naples.

Following his Metropolitan Opera National Company debut, Hedlund sang leading baritone roles with the opera companies of San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Houston, Miami, Dallas, St. Louis and Vancouver.

The Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, led by music director Chester L. Alwes, specializes in historically informed performances of music from the 17th and 18th centuries. It is the only professional ensemble in Illinois outside Chicago solely dedicated to live performances of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and other Baroque composers.

Tickets for the Prairie Ensemble concert are $16 for adults, $13 for seniors and $6 for students and children. Pre-concert box dinners from English Hedgerow will be available, by pre-order, for $12. For details, call The Prairie Ensemble at 355-9077, or e-mail ensemble<@>soltec.net. For more information, visit online www.PrairieEnsemble.org.

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