Everyone knows the old show-biz story about how the star gets sick, and a replacement has to go on at the last minute and wows the crowd.
November 29, 2006 (Press Release) --
But how often does an English-speaking substitute have to learn the part in Polish?
This was the story at the Lira Ensemble's "A Polish Christmas," presented Sunday afternoon at Symphony Center. The ensemble, which specializes in Polish music, song and dance, had secured Warsaw Opera star Adam Zdunikowski to sing scenes from operas by composers Ignace Jan Paderewski and Stanislaw Moniuszko.
But Zdunikowski lost his voice and couldn't make it. So Harold "Hoss" Brock, 39, a tenor with Chicago a cappella and the Music of the Baroque chorus, stepped in. Brock, who doesn't speak Polish, started studying the Polish works on the program only last Tuesday.
"Kasia saved my life on this," said Brock, referring to soprano Katarzyna Dorula, who sang a duet with Brock from Paderewski's "Manru." "Every free moment of rehearsal she was helping me."
The "Manru" duet was followed by Brock's warm and emotional rendition of Stefan's aria from the Moniuszko opera "Straszny Dwor" ("The Haunted Manor"), which won Brock a standing ovation.
A Polish-speaking audience member called Brock's mastery of the language "miraculous."
Brock's stand-in was just one highlight of the Lira's Christmas concert, its third at Symphony Center. Chicagoans jaded by endless showings of the "Nutcracker" and airings of Muzak-style "Silent Nights" should look to the Lira next year for a fresh take on the holiday.
The ensemble's orchestra has grown to symphony size, and showed off its full strength Sunday with a Paderewski overture. Under the direction of conductor Paul Dijkstra, the Lira Symphony captured both the music's lightheartedness and its moments of gentle lyricism.
The program included dances from different regions of Poland, choreographed by Iwona Puc and performed in elaborate costume by the Lira troupe and the Lechici Dancers of the Polish Youth Association. A dance from the Moniuszko opera "Halka" involved a handkerchief swap game between high-booted nobles and twirling ladies in fur-trimmed satin.
Source: http://www.msn.com
POSTED BY MARY WISNIEWSKI
This was the story at the Lira Ensemble's "A Polish Christmas," presented Sunday afternoon at Symphony Center. The ensemble, which specializes in Polish music, song and dance, had secured Warsaw Opera star Adam Zdunikowski to sing scenes from operas by composers Ignace Jan Paderewski and Stanislaw Moniuszko.
But Zdunikowski lost his voice and couldn't make it. So Harold "Hoss" Brock, 39, a tenor with Chicago a cappella and the Music of the Baroque chorus, stepped in. Brock, who doesn't speak Polish, started studying the Polish works on the program only last Tuesday.
"Kasia saved my life on this," said Brock, referring to soprano Katarzyna Dorula, who sang a duet with Brock from Paderewski's "Manru." "Every free moment of rehearsal she was helping me."
The "Manru" duet was followed by Brock's warm and emotional rendition of Stefan's aria from the Moniuszko opera "Straszny Dwor" ("The Haunted Manor"), which won Brock a standing ovation.
A Polish-speaking audience member called Brock's mastery of the language "miraculous."
Brock's stand-in was just one highlight of the Lira's Christmas concert, its third at Symphony Center. Chicagoans jaded by endless showings of the "Nutcracker" and airings of Muzak-style "Silent Nights" should look to the Lira next year for a fresh take on the holiday.
The ensemble's orchestra has grown to symphony size, and showed off its full strength Sunday with a Paderewski overture. Under the direction of conductor Paul Dijkstra, the Lira Symphony captured both the music's lightheartedness and its moments of gentle lyricism.
The program included dances from different regions of Poland, choreographed by Iwona Puc and performed in elaborate costume by the Lira troupe and the Lechici Dancers of the Polish Youth Association. A dance from the Moniuszko opera "Halka" involved a handkerchief swap game between high-booted nobles and twirling ladies in fur-trimmed satin.
Source: http://www.msn.com
POSTED BY MARY WISNIEWSKI
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