The Londontowne Symphony Orchestra is opening its concert season with some of the best music from operas on Saturday, September 15, at Key Auditorium on the St. Johns campus at 7:30 pm. This “Sing It Loud!” concert, directed by Music Director/Conductor Anna Binneweg, will feature some all-time favorite opera arias and duets sung by two exceptionally talented young opera singers, Kate Jackman and Peter Drakley along with some orchestral highlights from the traditional and contemporary repertoire.
When the LSO received permission from The Capital to dedicate this concert to the employees of the newspaper in the wake of the tragic shootings in July, the concert was modified to open with Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings in their memory. All current employees of The Capital have been invited to the concert as guests of the LSO.
The concert will also feature a celebration of the orchestra’s 15 years of providing high quality classical and light classical music to the community by opening the doors an hour earlier at 6:30 for a light fare, a silent auction and a cash wine bar.
Kate Jackman (mezzo-soprano) has been called “winningly wily and dauntless” by the Boston Classical Review. She is a multifaceted musician and actress who excels in a variety of musical expression. As a winner of the DC Vocal Arts competition, Ms. Jackman made her Kennedy Center recital debut in 2012. She has since performed at Carnegie Hall in Marilyn Horne’s The Song Continues series, at Seiji Ozawa Hall as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and in the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar.
Peter Drackley (tenor) has been lauded by Opera Today as bringing the performance to an awestruck standstill with his exquisite singing. “He cuts a fine figure throughout the performance, with an intense stage presence”. Mr. Drackley has performed throughout the country, but locally with the Baltimore Concert Opera, the Strathmore Mansion, the National Cathedral, and the Lyric Opera Baltimore.
Anna Binneweg is the Music Director/Conductor of the Anne Arundel Community College Symphony Orchestra where she also serves as Associate Professor of Music in addition to being the Music Director/Conductor of the LSO. She holds a doctor of music degree in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University. She made her conducting debut at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra in the 2005 National Conducting Institute and has served as one of their cover conductors. She made her European conducting debut in Lviv, Ukraine in 2012.
The LSO is central Maryland’s community orchestra made up of local professionals, teachers, military musicians, exceptional amateurs and students. They play for the love of making high-quality music for themselves and for their listeners, and they have the development of young musicians as part of their mission.
Tickets are available at www.lso-music.org, at (410) 562-8920 or at the door. General admission tickets are $40 and students are $10.
