The Peninsula Symphony is pairing up with the Stanford Symphonic Chorus for its annual holiday concert at Stanford’s Memorial Church on Friday, Nov. 30, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 2, at 1:30 p.m.
The highlight of the program is “Gloria,” a 25-minute tour de force by French composer Francis Poulenc.
Commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation of America in 1959, “Gloria” is probably the most celebrated of Poulenc’s works as well as one of the most dynamic. In it, Francis Poulenc sets a Latin Mass to six movements of emotional and energetic music, a feat that was seen as flirting with blasphemy.
It was written for full orchestra and chorus, with a soaring solo soprano part that will be sung in this performance by Vivian Krich-Brinton.
Mitchell Sardou Klein, the symphony’s conductor, will also present four modern pieces that reflect the celebration and joy of the season: “Fantasia on Greensleeves,” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Brook Green Suite,” by Gustav Holst, and two works by Maurice Ravel, “Pavane for a Dead Princess” and “Mother Goose Suite.”
Tickets are $20 and available online at www.peninsulasymphony.org. Stanford Memorial Church is located at 450 Serra Mall on campus.
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