Walnut Creek: CoCo Chorale -- Viennese Influence(r)s

Vienna, Austria has been considered one of the most important centers for music since Mozart’s time. Since then, many of the great European composers have spent time in this city, studying their predecessors and setting the tone for future musicians. “Viennese Influence(r)s” presents the opportunity to feature a woman whose music was highly respected in the late 1700s., but who has been virtually forgotten until recently. Marianna von Martines, whose “Dixit Dominus” the Chorale will perform, studied as a child with Joseph Haydn and grew to heady stature among her musical colleagues, even performing multiple times before Austria’s Empress Maria Theresa. The Chorale will also highlight a performance of “A Silence Haunts Me,” composed by Jake Runestad to a poem by Todd Boss, which represents the dark thoughts of Beethoven as he faced his growing deafness and questioned his strength to continue living. This piece will lead directly to a joyous closing performance of Beethoven's "Hallelujah" from Christ on the Mount of Olives. Other composers featured in this concert are Brahms, Mozart, and Bruckner.