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Robert Franz, resident conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. |
The BPO will be led by its resident conductor, Robert Franz, in performing Brahms’ powerful and moving Symphony No. 3, as well as the beautiful Serenade, Opus 31 by Benjamin Britten, which will feature Fredonia voice professor and tenor, Joe Dan Harper, and BPO principal horn, Jacek Muzyk, as soloists. The program culminates with Harmonium by John Adams, featuring The Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus and the Fredonia College Choir. This richly textured and highly evocative score by one of today’s most famous living composers is based on the poetry of John Donne and Emily Dickinson.
“The School of Music is delighted to have recently rekindled the tradition of performing with the BPO — once a longstanding Fredonia tradition many years ago,” said School of Music Director Karl Boelter. “Continuing on the success begun last spring when this tradition was revived, this collaboration continues to gain momentum and has become one of the highlights of the School of Music’s concert year.”
The Fredonia College Choir will also appear the following two days in Buffalo at Kleinhans Music Hall, home to the BPO, on Saturday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 13 at 2:30 p.m. Fredonia’s appearance is being made possible in part by support from Dunkin’ Donuts, which is helping to defray the College Choir's travel costs to and from Buffalo. On Thursday, April 3, Dunkin' Donuts will donate 10% of all its sales from its new store, located at 3929 Vineyard Drive, to the School of Music, to help defray the cost of transporting students to and from Buffalo for their rehearsals with the BPO. Tickets for these events can be obtained by calling 716-885-5000 or online at www.bpo.org.
This concert series is one of several opportunities SUNY Fredonia students have to work with and learn from various BPO members. BPO musicians come to campus and lead several master classes annually — part of the many master class learning opportunities which School of Music majors receive from regional, national and world-renowned guest artists throughout each year.
“The Fredonia partnership is just one example of how the BPO continues to be a major regional artistic influence,” said Stephen Baker, Associate Executive Director for the BPO. “Not only do we perform within our traditional Kleinhans venue, but we reach out regularly to and work with universities, high schools and grade schools all across Western New York, helping to ensure that a love and appreciation of music of all styles is instilled within students of all ages.”
Artist Bios:
Robert Franz is the Resident Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Music Director of the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra and a Music Director Emeritus of the Carolina Chamber Symphony. Previously he has held conducting positions with the Louisville Orchestra, Winston-Salem Piedmont Triad Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra and the International Music Program Orchestra (NCSA). He has also guest conducted for the Chattanooga, Columbus (OH), Charleston, National Repertory, North Carolina, Reading, Oshkosh, Spokane and Winston-Salem symphonies; the Cumberland Valley Chamber Players; Oberlin Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, the NCSA summer Music Festival, Illuminations, the Asheville Lyric Opera Company, and the Killington Music Festival String Orchestra.
Joe Dan Harper, tenor and Assistant Professor of Voice, joined the SUNY Fredonia faculty in 2005. He has distinguished himself as a versatile singer of concert, recital & chamber music repertoire. As an 
educator, he has been a member of the voice faculty of Brown University as well as Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. A native of Texas, he received his bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University, and a master’s degree with distinction from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He made his debut with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra recently, singing Haydn’s Creation. He has also performed with such renowned groups as Boston Academy of Music, Central City Opera, Handel and Haydn Society, Opera Aperta, Opera Unlimited, Plano International Arts Festival, South Carolina Opera, Utah Festival Opera and Utah Opera. His recordings include the soon-to-be-released Arsis audio CD of Daniel Pinkham’s opera, The Garden Party, in the role of “Adam,” and Wesley Fuller’s setting of five poems by William Carlos Williams, A Solace of Ripe Plums, released on Capstone Records.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1935. Since 1940 its permanent home has been Kleinhans Music Hall, a National Historic Site with an international reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the United States. It was designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen with F.J. and W.A Kidd, architects. Over the decades the BPO has become world renowned, and as Buffalo’s cultural ambassador, has toured widely across the United States and Canada, including concerts at New York’s Lincoln Center, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall, San Francisco’s Davies Hall, Montreal's Place des Arts, and twenty-two appearances in New York’s Carnegie Hall.
The BPO also made two national tours under famed Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler, as well as a highly successful European tour under Semyon Bychkov. Currently, the Orchestra presents more than 100 Classics, Pops and Youth Concerts each year in Western New York. During the tenure of current music director JoAnn Falletta, the BPO has rekindled its distinguished history of PBS broadcasts and recordings, including the release of eight new CDs of a highly diverse repertoire on the NAXOS and Beau Fleuve labels.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus was organized by Jessamine E. Long in 1937 as the Buffalo Schola Cantorum. She was succeeded in 1945 by Cameron Baird, who guided the group to prominence during its developing years. Under Mr. Baird’s baton, the Chorus became established as the premier choral ensemble in Western New York. In 1992, the Chorus changed its name to Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus to reflect its close association with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. The Chorus, an independent non-profit organization with more than 100 auditioned voices, is comprised of skilled and committed singers who continually develop and pursue its tradition of excellence. They appear at various locations throughout Western New York including Artpark, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo Museum of Science, Our Lady of Victory Basilica, and the Chautauqua Institution.
The Fredonia College Choir, a touring ensemble under the direction of Dr. Gerald Gray, studies and performs major choral works in addition to standard sacred and secular music. It has performed at the Lincoln Center in New York City, and in major metropolitan regions of Upstate New York, with the Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica philharmonic orchestras.
