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SNMAS Story -
History
The Southern
Nevada Musical Arts Society - A Perspective
The Southern
Nevada Musical Arts Society in Las
Vegas is proud to celebrate its 45th Season
during 2007-2008, as well as the 40th anniversary of its resident conductor,
Dr. Douglas R. Peterson.
The Society
The Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) community
organization whose sole purpose is promoting the performance and enjoyment of
quality choral and orchestral masterworks, musical productions, and related
ventures in southern Nevada.
The Society is the umbrella organization for three performing groups: The
Musical Arts Chorus, a large community chorus, consisting of talented singers
from all walks of life and ranging in age from college students to senior
citizens; The Musical Arts Singers, a chamber ensemble of semi-professional
singers, founded in 1980 with seed money from the Nevada State Council on the
Arts; and the Musical Arts Orchestra, an ensemble comprised of Las Vegas's
finest professional instrumentalists.
History
The Society was established as the Las Vegas Musical Arts Workshop in 1963.
Dr. Douglas R. Peterson has served as Music Director since 1968. The
organization is administered by a Board of Trustees composed of
representatives from the local corporate and business community, in addition
to performers in the Society itself. The Society's annual budget is earned
income from the sale of tickets and contract performances, and donations from
the private and public sector including the Nevada Arts Council, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and local corporations such as Mirage Resorts, Target
Stores, and the Community Bank of Nevada.
Guest Conductors
Guest conductors for the Society have included the late Robert Shaw, Helmuth
Rilling, Jerold Ottley, director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the late
Jester Hairston, composer and arranger of African American spirituals. The
Musical Arts Singers have represented the Society and Las Vegas at regional and national
conventions of the American Choral Directors Association.
High Quality Programs
The Society's high quality programs reach several thousand listeners
annually. Tickets to Society events are discounted for students, military
personnel, the disabled, and senior citizens. The performance facilities used
by the Society provide special access and seating for the disabled. Programs
are designed to appeal to many audiences. The choral masterworks entice
lovers of classical music, while the pops concerts and staged operettas
appeal to practically everyone, perhaps especially those who love the many
splendid hotel and casino shows that are the specialty of Las Vegas.
The Director
This season marks Dr. Peterson's 34th as the Music Director of the Musical
Arts Society. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Performance
and Vocal Pedagogy, and is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas. In
1987, he received the Governor's Arts Award for Excellence in the Arts. This
past September he was the recipient of the 1998 Las Vegas Chamber Community
Achievement Award in Arts and Entertainment.
The Program
A typical Society season includes two major choral/orchestra concerts by the
Musical Arts Chorus and Orchestra; a Christmas program using the same forces;
some years a fully-staged music production by the Musical Arts Singers
(Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are typical); a choral concert by the
Singers; and a pops concert that is often a tribute to one or more of
America's outstanding musical theater or popular song composers. The
Society's performances are scheduled at various venues throughout the
community in an effort to bring programming to the broadest range of
constituents. Such locations include University
of Nevada, Las
Vegas; the Community College
of Southern Nevada; Summerlin
Library and Performing Arts Center;
the Charleston Heights
Art Center;
Green Valley
High School; and the Sammy Davis Jr.
Festival Pavilion at Lorenzi
Park. Society singers
have performed at local hospitals, sung the National Anthem at Cashman Field,
and gone Christmas caroling.
High Standards of
Performance
Performances in the past decade have evoked rave reviews. Tom Martin hailed
the Society's Verdi Requiem performance as "the kind that could
go on tour or on PBS television," while reviewer Arthur Mancini called
the Society's Mozart Requiem "one more crown jewel in the
season's presentations." About the St. Matthew Passion, Julia
Osborne of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, wrote "the gospel of St.
Matthew was brought to life in an uplifting performance that might have made
even an avowed atheist into a true believer." Review-Journal
reviewer Carolyn Warble described the Society's Gershwin program as a
"wonderfully entertaining evening of Broadway show tunes" and noted
that "choral renditions were performed with skill and clarity."
Thirty-Seven Years of
Performing the Great Masterworks!
J.S. Bach:
Cantatas:
BWV 4 Christ lag in Todesbaden
11
Lobet Gott
21
Ich hate viel bekummernis
34
O ewiges Feuer
50
Nun das ist heil
105
Herr, gehenicht ins Gericht
146
Wir mussen dich sie Trubsal
182
Himmelskonig, sei wilkommen
191
Gloria in excelsis Deo
196
Wedding Cantata
208
Was mir behagt
BWV 232 Mass in B Minor
Mass
in A Major
BWV 244 St. Matthew Passion
BWV 245 St.
John Passion
BWV 248 Christmas Oratorio
P.D.Q. Bach
The Seasonings
Beethoven:
Choral
Fantasia
Mass in C
Ninth
Symphony
Brahms:
Ein
deutches Requiem
Gypsy Songs
Liebeslieder
Waltzer, Op. 52, 65
Bruckner:
Mass in F Minor
Dvorak:
Mass in D
Stabat
Mater
Te Deum
Fanshawe:
African Sanctus (American Premiere 1977)
Faure:
Messe Basse
Pavanne
Requiem
Floyd:
Molly Sinclair
Gilbert & Sullivan:
H.M.S.
Pinafore
Mikado
Pirates
of Penzance
Trial by
Jury
Handel:
Coronation
Anthems Nos. 2 & 4
“Let Thy
Hand Be Strengthened”
“The
King Shall Rejoice”
Dettingen
Te Deum
Dixit
Dominus
Israel In Egypt
Judas Maccabaeus
Laudate Pueri Dominus
Messiah
Saul
Hanson:
Song of Democracy
Joseph Haydn:
Ave Regina
Creation
Harmonie Mass
Heilig Mass
Hymnus Venerabilis
Mariazellermesse
Missa Bevis in F
Pauken Mass
Symphony 28
St. Cecilia
Mass
St. Theresa Mass
The Seasons
Te Deum
in D
Johann Michael Haydn:
Requiem
Honegger:
King David
Hummel:
Te Deum
Mendelssohn:
Choral
Cantatas:
Ach Gott
Vom Himmel
Jesu
meine Freude
Elijah
First Walpurgis Night
Hear My Prayer
St. Paul
Von
Himmel Hoch
(U.S.
Premiere-Carus Edition)
Resurrection
Symphony (Hymn of Praise)
42nd
Psalm
Mozart:
K. 222 Misericordias Domine
K. 262 Missa Longa
K. 273 Sancta Maria mater Dei
K.
275 Missa Brevis in B
K.
276 Regina coeli in C
K. 321 Vesperae solennes de Domini
K. 339 Vesperae solennes de confessore
K. 427 Grand Mass in C
K. 467 Piano Concerto No. 21
K. 543 Symphony No. 39
K. 618 Ave Verum
K. 626 Requiem
Orff:
Cantus
Firmus Satze
Carmina
Burana
Parker:
Remembering
Those Who Fly (World Premiere, 1995)
Redford:
A
Paschal Feast (1987 World Premiere)
Rossini:
Petite Messe Solennelle
Schubert:
Mass in G
Mass in
Eb
Mass in Ab
Schumann:
Piano
Concerto in A minor
Randall Thompson:
A Psalm
of Thanksgiving
Frostiana
Peaceable Kingdom
Testament of Freedom
Vaughan Williams:
A Sea
Symphony
Dona
nobis Pacem
Fantasia
on Christmas Carols
Flos campi
In Windsor Forest
Verde:
ManzoniRequiem
Vivaldi:
Credo
Gloria
Zelenka:
Magnificat in D
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