Every TCU Faculty/Staff/Student may receive one complimentary ticket to the performance. For instructions on getting yours, go to http://www.music.tcu.edu/brahms2.asp General admission is priced at $20 for adults, $10 for students and seniors are on sale at Bass Hall, phone 877-212-4280. Proceeds benefit the Ronald L. Shirey Choral Fund.
Esteemed German conductor Helmuth Rilling, one of the world’s leading interpreters of choral-orchestral repertoire and preeminent expert on the choral music of Bach and Brahms, will lead the performance. He has been artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival since its inception in 1970.
Soloists include Shirey’s former students soprano Ava Pine, an up and coming young talent on the operatic stage, and David Grogan, currently a voice professor at UTA. Dennis Schrock, interim director of choral activities at TCU, is preparing the choir and Maestro Germán Gutiérrez, TCU director of orchestral studies, is rehearsing the symphony ensemble. Richard Gipson, director of the TCU School of Music, notes, ‘We are indeed privileged to have Maestro Rilling conduct this iconic work in memory of Professor Shirey. Ron Shirey defined choral music at TCU, and honoring him in this way is most fitting.”
Rilling has appeared as guest conductor with most of the world’s major orchestras. Last year alone, his schedule included five performances at Lincoln Center in New York and Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic. A believer in the power of music to cross political boundaries, Rilling has a special relationship with the Israeli Philharmonic, being the first German conductor to conduct in that country after World War II (and has since returned more than 100 times).