University Singers, BSO to Present Massenet’s ‘Marie Magdeleine’ April 26

Contact: Lud Hallman, 581-1249; George Manlove. 581-3756

ORONO — The Bangor Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with the University Singers  and University of Maine Oratorio Society will present Massenet’s “Marie Magdeleine” April 26 at 3 p.m. in Hutchins Concert Hall of the Collins Center for the Arts.

Soloists will be music professor Nancy Ogle (soprano) in the role of Marie Magdeleine, Marcia Gronewolt Sly (mezzo-soprano) as Marthe, John Grover (tenor) as Jésus, and Seth Grondin (bass) as Judas. The performance, sung in French, will be conducted by music professor Ludlow Hallman, who has served as conductor for scores of performances, ranging from opera and musical theatre productions to orchestral and oratorio repertoire.

“The Oratorio Society and University Singers have enjoyed a long relationship with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and have collaborated on many major choral works,” says Hallman. “It’s a great honor to have been asked to conduct this year’s project, Jules Massenet’s ‘Marie Magdeleine.'”

Marie Magdeleine is a three-act, four-part oratorio that was first performed at the Odéan Theatre in Paris on Good Friday in 1873. The libretto by Louis Gallet traces Marie Magdeleine’s redemption though Christ from her life as a courtesan, beginning with her vision of the savior though his visit to her home, his crucifixion, and ultimate resurrection, according to Hallman.

The premiere was a success, and brought Massenet recognition as a major composer. It was the beginning of the career of the most successful and prolific French opera composer of the 19th century. His lyric gift, sensitivity in presenting female characters, sense for the dramatic, prowess in setting the French language, and skill as an orchestrator are all very much in evidence in this work. Marie Magdeleine is a major, although seldom performed, masterwork of the French repertoire.

The University of Maine has been the depository and caretaker of the archive collection of Massenet scores previously held by the American branch of the Massenet Society since 1996. As part of the arrangement with the Society, the university committed to a series of annual concerts featuring French music and the works of Jules Massenet, in particular. The first of the concerts was a performance of the master’s oratorio presented by the UMaine Oratorio Society and University Orchestra in St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor in 1996.

“This gala performance of Marie Magdeleine features more than 200 performers and will officially mark the end of the university’s series of French music concerts, book-ending the entire series with his two great oratorios,” Hallman says.

About the soloists:

Nancy Ogle is a UMaine music professor who teaches voice and opera; Marcia Gronewolt Sly teaches voice at UMaine and at a private studio in Blue Hill. Both have long histories of performing and recording throughout the United States and internationally.

John Grover works as assistant director of systems and operations at the University of Maine System Computing Center and is a member of the Oratorio Society and a veteran performer in many community theater and classical productions.

Bangor native Seth Grondin is a 2008 graduate of the School of Performing Arts and has had major roles in many university concerts, including the lead in last year’s performance of Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro,” and is now pursing graduate studies in music in Boston.

Dennis Cox, director of choral activities and graduate coordinator in the School of performing arts, directs the University Singers and prepared the group to join with the Oratorio Society for this large, joint chorus for the performance.

Tickets for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s concert, also being called “Through the Eyes of Mary,” start at $16 for adults and $10 for students, and are available through the Collins Center for the Arts box office (207-581-1755 or 1-800-622-TIXX) or online (www.bangorsymphony.org). Tickets also may be purchased at the Collins Center in advance or the day of the performance, starting 1:30 p.m.