Probably the most star-studded event of Atlanta’s classical music season takes place Sunday, at “Stars Shine on Shaw,” an event celebrating the legacy of Robert Shaw, former music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
It will raise money for a documentary project that will combine archival footage with interviews and narration to present a picture of Shaw’s life and career here and elsewhere, and will deal with such questions as how he managed to achieve such stellar success without formal music education.
Oddly, the orchestra and its fabled chorus, both of which owe so much to Shaw, will not be part of this event. It is structured instead as a recital, with guest artists including sopranos Christine Brewer and Sylvia McNair, mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson, cellist Lynn Harrell, and ASO music director Robert Spano.
The evening’s host will be Martin Goldsmith, who hosted National Public Radio’s daily classical program “Performance Today,” from 1989 to 1999 and is now heard at “Symphony Hall” on Sirius XM Satellite Radio.
Brewer possesses a sort of “Golden Age” dramatic soprano sound: big, warm, and flexible, making her an enduring favorite as an opera and concert artist. The music of Richard Wagner has been a huge part of her career, and this concert will feature her in his “Wesendonck Lieder.”
McNair is one of America’s most versatile artists, working at the highest levels in opera, Broadway, and cabaret, as well as in the concert hall. Her recordings, 70 and counting, are a huge legacy. In her early career, she achieved considerable success in the Baroque repertory, then she made the unusual leap into music theater and jazz. She’ll be performing Joseph Canteloub’s “Chants d’Auvergne,” a 1920s arrangement of French folk songs.
Simpson made her Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist in Brahms’ “Alto Rhapsody” with the ASO under Shaw, and later made several recordings with him and the orchestra. She is highly regarded both as a concert artist and opera star. At this concert, she will sing three spirituals: “Since You Went Away,” “This Little Light of Mine,” and “Get on Board.”
Harrell is widely known as a cello soloist, appearing with most of the world’s leading orchestras and in major summer festivals. Christine Brewer tells of an occasion at the Grand Teton Festival in Wyoming when she was singing a Wagner concert and realized Harrell, scheduled to perform later as a soloist, was playing in the orchestra. Later she asked him what he was doing, to which he responded: “I wanted to play Wagner.” On this occasion, he’ll perform Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major.
Spano, the other artist on the program, is a highly accomplished pianist, but Atlanta rarely sees that side of him. He’s especially gifted as an accompanist.
It is hard to overstate Shaw’s importance to the classical music scene in Atlanta. During his tenure, 1967-1988, the ASO became a major international orchestra. Shaw established the ASO Chorus in 1970, building it into one of the most respected choruses in the world. Many of the recordings from that era remain cherished classics. You can hear the disciplined “Shaw sound” today not only in the ASO Chorus, but in other Atlanta area choruses, owing to the influence of singers who learned from him and then were able to use his techniques.
Honorary chairwoman for the gala concert will be philanthropist Lessie Smithgall, a pioneer in Georgia broadcasting and a longtime arts leader.
The concert takes place Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. at Symphony Hall. Tickets, $50 to $75, can be obtained at http://aso.org/shaw.
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