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Thank You, Western North
Carolina!
On October 12, 2008 the Asheville Choral
Society with Music Director Lenora Thom presented the Southeastern
U.S. Premiere performance of Sir Paul McCartney's Ecce Cor Meum
(Behold My Heart), followed by a Celebration
Reception.
The ACS would like to thank all those who
attended this special event, and everyone who helped make it a
success! Read more about this performance below.
  
Ecce Cor
Meum
Behold My
Heart
with The Celebration singers,
Ginger Haselden, director
and Orchestra
Anne O'Byrne, soprano
October 12, 2008
4:00 PM
Diana Wortham Theatre
Downtown Asheville
‘It’s
about truth, and love, and honesty and kindness, and
just stuff that I thought was important in
life.’ ~ Sir Paul
McCartney
Facts about Ecce
cor Meum (Behold my Heart)
- The
recording of Ecce cor Meum was a huge hit in the classical world,
reaching the number two spot in the Top Classical Albums charts in
the U.S.
- McCartney was awarded the
‘Best Album Award” by Classical Brits in 2007 for the
work.
- The
U.S. premiere of the choral piece occurred before a sold-out crowd
at Carnegie Hall in New York City on November 14, 2006.
- Ecce
cor Meum is an Oratorio in four movements (with a short interlude
for solo oboe) scored for adult chorus, children’s chorus,
soprano soloist and orchestra.
- The
title was inspired by an inscription above a statue of Christ that
McCartney saw in St. Ignatius Church, New York City. The work is
also partly inspired by his first wife Linda and was composed
during the period of her battle with, and subsequent death from,
cancer.
- See interview with
Paul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UgBt4v1hWM
Facts about this
Asheville Choral Society Benefit Concert
- The
performance by the Asheville Choral Society will be the first time
the piece has been performed in the Southeast and
only the second performance in the U.S.
since its U.S. world premiere in 2006.
- Music Director Lenora Thom will
lead the Asheville Choral Society, the children’s chorus,
soprano soloist Anne O’Byrne and orchestra in the October 12
performance.
- The
concert is a major benefit for the ACS. Its purpose is
the raise funds to assist the ACS in attracting larger and more
diversified audiences to its regular season
performances.
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Anne O'Byrne
soprano
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Born in Ireland, soprano Anne O'Byrne
studied at the College of Music, Dublin, and at University College
Dublin, before joining the Irish Radio Chamber Choir. She
subsequently was awarded scholarships to study singing at the Royal
Northern College of Music in Manchester,
England.
Ms. O'Byrne's performances have taken her all over the world.
She has worked with many of the leading opera companies in the UK
and Ireland, including Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Scottish Opera,
Opera Northern Ireland, English Touring Opera, Wexford Festival
Opera, London City Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra, National
Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and Ulster Orchestra. In
the United States, she undertook a demanding tour of the East Coast
with London City Opera, singing Pamina in The Magic Flute
in 36 cities in the space of just six weeks.
Anne appeared in the role of Orianain the Dublin Opera Theatre
Company's production of Handel's Amadigi, which first
toured Ireland, England and Portugal and later Paris, Prague,
Melbourne and New York. Other operatic roles have
included Mimiin La Bohème, Gildain
Rigoletto, Donna Elviraand Zerlinain Don
Giovanni, Micaelain Carmen, Adinain L'Elisir
d'amore, Gretelin Hansel and Gretel, Karolkain
Jenufa, Bertain Barber of Seville, and the title
role of Betly by Donizetti. She has also recorded for
Irish radio and television and for BBC Radio
Ms. O'Byrne has collaborated with some of the world's most
distinguished conductors and directors, including Andrew Davis,
Simon Rattle, Franz Welser-Möst, Graeme Jenkins, Yakov
Kreizburg, Bruno Weil, Donald Runnicles, David Angus and Trevor
Nunn. Anne's concert repertoire ranges across a wide
spectrum, from early works such as Monteverdi's Vespers of
1610 to classical masterpieces like Mozart's C Minor
Mass, to modern gems such as John Tavener's To a child
dancing in the wind. She enjoys singing contemporary music,
and has created roles in new operas for the Wexford and Covent
Garden International Festivals.
Since her move from
Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Richmond in 2002, Anne has performed
several times with the Richmond Symphony, and has sung for
distinguished international speakers at the Richmond Forum –
most recently, Robert Redford. She continues to divide
her career between Ireland, England and the US, having just
returned from singing Mozart in
Dublin.
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