Manchester Symphony Orchestra offers music from around the world

Showcases world premiere of Songs of the Islands orchestrations, operatic guest artists

The Manchester Symphony Orchestra will present “Around the World in 80 Minutes” at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 16 in Cordier Auditorium on the North Manchester campus.

The orchestra, under the direction of Manchester Professor Debra Lynn, will present the world premiere of Songs of the Islands orchestrations by Dominique Le Gendre and Lynn.

The Caribbean song cycle features Maegan Pollonais, mezzo-soprano, as well as guest artists-in-residence operatic soprano Jamie Chamberlin and tenor Nathan Granner.

The guest artists were brought from Los Angeles to Manchester through a designated donation fund started by the symphony orchestra at the beginning of the year. The program is also made possible by a grant from the Community Foundation of Wabash County.

Manchester University’s Chamber Singers will also perform on this song cycle. 

The concert will also include Variations on America by Charles Ives, Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2 by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, Entrance of the Queen Of Sheba by George Frideric Handel, and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands arranged by Margaret Bonds. 

A pre-concert talk about Songs of the Islands will be presented at 2:30 p.m. in Wine Recital Hall by Pollonais, who is director of student diversity and inclusion at Manchester.

General admission is $15; free for Manchester students, faculty, and staff, and all attendees younger than 18. Mask and social distancing are required at all times for audience members. 

This is Lynn’s first season as symphony conductor. For tickets and more information about the Manchester Symphony Orchestra. Magical Melodies concert on May 14 features LA operatic soprano, tenor.

For the media

Dr. Debra Lynn can be reached at DJLynn@manchester.edu.

Fast facts:

• Lynn will conduct her oratorio, A Family Portrait, at Carnegie Hall on Memorial Day in 2022.
• With about 6,000 residents, North Manchester is one the smallest communities in the nation with its own symphony orchestra. Residents of Wabash County and what was then Manchester College founded the symphony in 1939. That partnership continues today with a carefully crafted collaboration of professional and community musicians, as well as selected faculty, staff and student musicians. 
  
  May 2021