The Longfellow Chorus: 'Coleridge-Taylor's Last Great Work Comes To Life'

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com. We are collaborating with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation of the U.K., www.SCTF.org.uk

Tai Murray (Photo: Robbin Holland)

Acclaimed as “a fabulous player, statuesque and strong, with a flawless control of line” (The Daily Telegraph), violinist Tai Murray is a rising star of her generation and is increasingly in demand for both recitals and orchestral engagements—Harmonia Mundi

Charles Kaufmann of The Longfellow Chorus of Portland, Maine writes:

The Longfellow Chorus  
Portland, Maine
February 20, 2013

Tai Murray will perform Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto in G-Minor (Opus 80) with The Orchestra of The Longfellow Chorus in Merrill Auditorium, March 16, 2013, during The Longfellow Choral Festival.

Chicago has produced a number of Classical music greats. Violinist Maud Powell is one of them, and if that name is not yet familiar to you, it will be after you see our film "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America, 1900-1912," premiering in Nickelodeon Cinemas, 1 Temple St., Portland, March 13 and 16, 2013.

Rodrick Dixon, a tenor with powerfully expressive tone and flawless intonation, is another. He'll be in Merrill Auditorium for The Longfellow Choral Festival, March 16 and 17, singing Coleridge-Taylor songs and arias, and you won't want to miss him.

Tai Murray is another. At home with the music of Elliott Carter, John Cage, Samuel Barber and Eugene Ysaye, she comes to Portland from Berlin during the week of March 12 to perform Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto in G-Minor, the work commissioned by Maud Powell and the Norfolk Festival, and premiered in this country in June 1912. Our audiences during The Longfellow Choral Festival will have a rare chance to see and hear one of the world's top young female violinists.

I've gotten to know Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto in G-Minor up-close over the last several months preparing my own orchestra parts from his 1912 manuscript full score -- all 104 pages of it. It is an intense experience studying note after note in the composers tiny, meticulous hand and watching these notes come alive. The opening theme of the First Movement is noble and majestic. The Second Movement flows with lush harmonies. The rhythm of the Third Movement is so complex and fearless, it is as if Coleridge-Taylor is daring and double-daring anyone to play it perfectly. (And not just anyone will be playing it.)

Tickets for individual events during The Longfellow Choral Festival can be purchased on-line at PortTIX. NOTE that you can only purchase the $40 All-Event Package Ticket to all Six Events of The Longfellow Choral Festival by calling PorTIX at (207) 842-0800. Tickets for "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America" can be purchased on-line at longfellowchorus.com.