The McLean Symphony with the McLean Symphony Festival Singers and Noted Guest Soloists Astounds and Moves Audience
Last night's performance by The McLean Symphony, under the baton of Maestro Dingwall Fleary, together with the McLean Symphony Festival Singers directed by Felicia Kessel-Crawley, built from the gentle Puccini Humming Chorus and a set of Puccini arias to the climactic sounds of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Choral Finale, Ode to Joy!
As with each performance, Maestro Fleary began with the United States National Anthem, for which the audience joined the McLean Festival Singers in a resounding rendition. This was followed by world premiere of the Fanfare for Forty, No. 4, composed specifically for this event by composer-violinist Michael Ream, also a member of The McLean Symphony. The total suite of four Fanfares, commissioned by TMS Board Member Kevin Rosengren, together with his wife Kristin Rosengren, highlight the significance of this season. Maestro Fleary has now been conducting chamber and symphonic classical music in McLean, VA for forty years! Last evening's concert was the final event in a year-long celebration of his extraordinary dedication and extensive musical contributions to the McLean area.
Following the National Anthem and the Fanfare, Maestro Fleary gave us the only other strictly instrumental work in a concert otherwise dedicated to "The First Instrument" (the human voice). Wagner's vigorous and much-loved Die Meistersingers von Nurnberg (Prelude to Act 1) was lively, expressed a range of moods and tempos, and the brass sounded particularly good! This brought up the excitement level, preparing the audience for a series of arias by Puccini, Bizet, and Mozart.
Joyce Lundy (soprano) and Antonio Guiliano (tenor) were tender and heart-moving as the love-struck couple in Voglistemi bene (Love duet, Act I Finale) from Madame Butterfly. Their musical talents and emotional expressiveness gave sweetness and eloquence to this beautiful work. While the Madame Butterfly duet sang of purity and faithfulness, noted bass baritone William Powers expertly conveyed the seasoned roué seducing his next conquest in La ci dare la mano (Duet from Act II) from Mozart's Don Giovanni. Powers' gift of storytelling expertly embellished his role, and provided a fine setting for soprano Krista McClellan's concert debut with The McLean Symphony.
The concert's closing work was the highly anticipated Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, Choral Finale by Beethoven, including the much-loved "Ode to Joy." Well-known guest artists Joyce Lundy (Soprano), Kehembe V. Eichelberger (Mezzo-Soprano), Antonio Guiliano (Tenor), and William Powers (Bass Baritone) expertly took lead roles. Their voices projected beautifully and harmonized wonderfully, from the deep registers provided by Mr. Powers to Ms. Lundy's soaring high notes. Ms. Eichelberger's rich voice gave a warm emotional register to this work, and Mr. Guiliano's tenor voice was pure and true.
Under Felicia Kessel-Crawley's leadership, the McLean Symphony Festival Singers surged to over fifty voices for this performance. Their massed voices gave the choral role the needed richness and depth, and ably matched even the deep contra-bassoons from the instrumental sections. Percussion was excellent, and provided a dramatic emphasis.
