Cal Poly Choirs’ Winter Concert to Highlight ‘Romance and the Romantics’ on March 7
Cal Poly alumna and acclaimed soprano Kathleen Magee Querec will return to her alma mater as guest artist in the Cal Poly Choirs’ Winter Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 7, in the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohan Center.
Kathleen Magee Querec
Titled “Romance and the Romantics,” the concert will feature works on the theme of love by composers from the Romantic period of the 19th century and those from the modern era.
PolyPhonics will open the program with a set of pieces from Johannes Brahms’ “Liebeslieder Waltzes.” Two performances of Edmund Waller’s poem “Go, Lovely Rose” will follow, set to the music of Halsey Stevens and Eric Whitacre. The set will also include a world premiere by Cal Poly music major Corey Hable, on a text by Arthur Rimbaud titled “Et le Poète dit” (“And the Poet Said”).
The University Singers’ program includes “Five Hebrew Love Songs” by Eric Whitacre, Franz Schubert’s “Lebenslust” (“Joy of Living”), and David Dickau’s rendition on the Henry Heveningham poem “If Music Be the Food of Love.”
The combined choirs will join alumna Magee Querec in performances of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Hear My Prayer” and Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum” (“Praise the Lord”). The evening will close with Johann Strauss’ aria “Adele’s Laughing Song.”
The Cal Poly Choirs will be accompanied by Music Department staff members Susan Azaret Davies and Paul Woodring.
Magee Querec earned a Bachelor of Science in art and design with a concentration in graphic design and a minor in music in 1990. She sang in the choirs beginning with her first quarter and was encouraged by Thomas Davies, director of choral activities and vocal studies, to pursue singing as a career.
In 1993 she earned a Master of Music in voice from Northwestern University. At just 23 she was a regional finalist with special recognition in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions in Chicago. Her first major role was Adele in “Die Fledermaus” with the Indianapolis Opera in 1996. She was accepted into the Florida Grand Opera’s Young Artist Program in 1999. She played major roles, including Gilda in “Rigoletto.”
In 2000 she was invited to join the Glimmerglass Opera and stayed for two summers. She then moved to New York City, making her debut with New York City Opera (NYCO) in 2003 as Yvette in Puccini’s “La Rondine.” She went on to play Barbarina in “Le nozze di Figaro,” Frasquita in “Carmen,” Zerlina in “Don Giovanni,” and Amy in Mark Adamo’s “Little Women” with NYCO’s premiere tour of Japan.
Tickets to the concert are $12 and $14 for the public and $9 and $12 for senior citizens and students. Pricing includes all Performing Arts Center fees, and event parking is sponsored by the PAC. Tickets are sold at the Cal Poly Ticket Office between noon and 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. To order by phone, call SLO-4TIX (756-4849).
The Music Department offers a 10 percent discount to patrons who buy season tickets to four of its events through the Cal Poly Ticket Office; a 15 percent discount is given on tickets to five or more events.
The Winter Concert is sponsored by Cal Poly’s College of Liberal Arts, Music Department, and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-756-2406.