(Canastota, Rome, NY – Feb. 2013) The Oneida Area Civic Chorale will present “The Poem, The Song, The Picture,” musical selections with lyrics by well-known poets, on Saturday March 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Rome, and Sunday March 10 at 4 p.m. at St. Agatha’s Church in Canastota.
Guest guitarist Kenneth Meyer will join the Chorale, which will be directed by Kimberly Nethaway of Rome and accompanied by pianist Bernadette VanValkenburg of Sherrill. Flutist Amanda Yeoman of Oneida will also appear with the Chorale in both concerts.
Kenneth Meyer, the national first-prize winner at the Music Teacher’s National Association Collegiate Artist Competition, is regarded by the Washington Post as, “A thinking man’s guitarist – he focuses on the inner structure of a piece…and plays with impressive gravity and power.” The Buffalo News has called him “impeccably articulate with superb technique.”
Meyer appears in recital, as a chamber musician, and soloist with orchestras in venues throughout North America, South America and Europe. Highlights include concerts in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall in New York City, the Skirbal Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and the historic Basilica di San Clemente in Italy.
He holds degrees in Music Composition and Performance from the State University of New York at Fredonia and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Eastman School of Music. He has served on the faculties of East Carolina University, SUNY at Fredonia and the Eastman School of Music and currently directs a thriving guitar studies program at Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music.
Meyer resides in Geneva with his wife and two young sons.
Meyer will perform three classical guitar solos, including “Prelude, Fugue and Allegro” BWV 998, by Johann Sebastian Bach, “Danza di fuoco” by Nicholas S. Omiccioli, and “Sonata Giocosa” by Joaquin Rodrigo. He will join the Chorale on several pieces, including Edward Lear’s whimsical “The Owl and the Pussycat.”
Amanda Yeoman is a 2008 graduate of Oneida High School and holds a Bachelors of Music in Music Education and a certificate in Performance of Flute from the Crane School of Music. Yeoman is a 2008 recipient of an Oneida Area Civic Chorale Senior Scholarship.
She has studied privately with Cornelia Brewster and Kenneth Andrews, and is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Music Education at Syracuse University. Ms Yeoman teaches vocal and instrumental music at St. Patrick’s Elementary School in Oneida, and maintains a private music studio.
Yeoman will perform the flute solo “Whisper on the Land” by G. Wiley Smith, as a prelude to the concert. She will join the Chorale on “Stars I Shall Find,” a musical version of a poem by American poet Sara Teasdale, which will feature a solo by Krystal Larish of Blossvale.
The program’s signature piece, “The Poem, The Song, The Music” contains lyrics by Federico Garcia Lorca, one of Spain’s most highly revered poets. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” will be sung by the men of the Chorale, while the women will perform Robert Frost’s “A Girl’s Garden” with a solo by Tina Moreau-Jones of Utica.
A reminder that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” is based on the poetry of T.S. Eliot will be given with selections from that musical, featuring solos by Norm Webber of Canastota and John Nethaway of Rome. Selections featuring the poetry of Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Burns and William Shakespeare will be performed by the Chorale, and they will be joined by Yeoman and Meyer on “Wedding Canticle,” the words of Psalm 128 set to the music of John Rutter.
Tickets for the concert are $10, available from Chorale members, at W.J. Hinman Jewelers, 115 Main St., Oneida, and by calling 697-3377. Both concert venues are handicapped-accessible. For more information, call 771-9701 and visit www.oneidachorale.com.