Most of the album's tracks were recorded in April and September 2011 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA, with Joseph C. Chilorio as Session Engineer and Ian Watson as Music Director.
Composer Biography
Joseph Summer, the composer for most of the album's tracks, founded The Shakespeare Concerts in 2001 and serves as its executive director.
Composition History
Joseph Summer's Hamlet opera, from which "With Mirth In Funeral" is derived, began after a tenor suggested he was already writing an opera, not just art arias.
Performer Biography
Miroslav Sekera, the pianist on this album, was cast as the child Mozart in the 1985 film Amadeus at the age of six.
Performer Biography
Ian Watson, who serves as Music Director for many tracks, played an important role in the British Baroque revival, performing with renowned orchestras like the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Joseph Summer's primary focus is a cycle of comic operas based on Boccaccio's The Decameron, with four works already completed.
Compositional Technique
For his setting of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 3," Joseph Summer used musical mirrors and had the piece begin from the sonnet's center, working backward, then recommencing from the first line forward.
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