Press Release – Mahler’s 3rd Symphony: For the Children
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: CALEB BAILEY, 860-443-2876, [email protected]
ECSO Concert Celebrates World Children’s Day with Performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 on Saturday, November 23, 7:30pm at the Garde Arts Center, New London
Mahler’s 3rd Symphony: For the Children
November 23, 7:30pm, Garde Arts Center, New London, CT
In a truly epic community collaboration, the ECSO will be joined by mezzo-soprano Janna Baty, a Yale School of Music faculty member; the women of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus, led by Music Director Dr. Daniel McDavitt; and the young Choristers from the Chorus of Westerly to perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. This second concert of the ECSO’s 2024-25 season honors World Children’s Day, three days earlier, which marks the date when the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989. A single work will be performed in this not-to-be-missed concert. Gustav Mahler’s overwhelmingly moving Symphony No. 3 in D Minor, completed in 1896 requires symphonic forces that will make for a rare and memorable experience for all attendees. Mahler called this monumental instrumental and choral composition—the first movement of which is almost a symphony in itself—“a summer’s midday dream.” Mahler had two daughters with his wife Alma: Maria Anna, who died of scarlet fever and diphtheria at age 4; and Anna, nicknamed “Gucki,” who became a sculptor and died shortly before her 84th birthday in 1988.
This concert is generously sponsored by American Landscape and Lawn Science.
Janna Baty Bio:
Praised by the Boston Globe for “a rich, viola-like tone and a rapturous, luminous lyricism,” mezzo-soprano Janna Baty enjoys an exceptionally versatile career as a mezzo soprano and as an educator. She has sung with Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic, Hamburgische Staatsoper, L’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony, Tuscaloosa Symphony, South Florida Symphony, Longwood Symphony, Hartford Symphony, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Eugene Opera, Opera North, and Boston Lyric Opera. She has sung under the batons of James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Michel Plasson, Carl Davis, Robert Spano, Steuart Bedford, Stephen Lord, Stefan Asbury, Gil Rose, David Hoose, and Shinik Hahm, among numerous others. As a soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist, she has performed at festivals worldwide, including the Aldeburgh and Britten Festivals in England, the Varna Festival in Bulgaria, the Semanas Musicales de Frutillar Festival in Chile, and the Tanglewood, Norfolk, Monadnock, and Coastal Carolina festivals in the United States. A noted specialist in contemporary music, Ms. Baty has worked alongside many celebrated composers, including John Harbison, Bernard Rands, Yehudi Wyner, Sydney Hodkinson, Peter Child, Reza Vali, Paul Salerni, and Paul Moravec, on performances of their music.
Ms. Baty is very proud to have enjoyed a long collaboration with conductor Gil Rose and Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and with them has recorded the critically lauded Vali: Folk Songs (sung in Persian); Lukas Foss’ opera Griffelkin; the world-premiere recording of Eric Sawyer’s Civil War-era opera Our American Cousin; and John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs. A BMOP recording, “Reza Vali: Towards That Endless Plain”, on which Ms. Baty is prominently featured, was one of NPR Classical’s 10 Favorite Albums of 2013.
An alumna of Oberlin College and the Yale School of Music, she began her career as a teacher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and joined the faculty of the Yale School of Music in 2008.
To purchase tickets: Single tickets to events can be purchased by visiting the Garde Arts Center website at gardearts.org, calling the Garde Arts Center Box Office at 860-444-7373 x 1 or the ECSO office at 860-443-2876. Subscription packages provide a significant discount (up to 40%) versus purchasing individual tickets and are available by calling the ECSO office. In addition to a range of affordable single-ticket options from $70 to as low as $12. The ECSO offers those under 40 years of age and active or retired military members $12 tickets in selected sections. Reduced price tickets are sponsored by Chelsea Groton Bank.
ECSO general copy:
We are thrilled to announce our 2024-25 Season lineup, curated by Music Director and Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada. Season Highlights include Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (Organ), Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring our Instrumental Competition winner, Puccini & Verdi selections with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus and international guest artists. From early fall to late spring, the 75-plus member professional Symphony Orchestra presents six subscription concerts annually, most of which feature guest soloists. Subscription concerts are primarily performed at the historic award-winning Garde Arts Center on State Street in New London.
Visit www.ectsymphony.com for more information and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) @ectsymphony.
Founded in 1946 by Norwegian immigrant, Victor Norman, the ECSO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving the eastern Connecticut region, including New London, Norwich, Waterford, Groton, Mystic, Old Lyme, and East Lyme. Recent concerts in Norwich, Willimantic, and Stonington reflect our renewed dedication to serving a broader area.
Our mission is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.