Region – The Assabet Valley Mastersingers (AVM) is the proud recipient of a 2017 Choral Arts New England Alfred Nash Patterson Grant, in support of a newly commissioned choral work to celebrate the 40thanniversary of the central Massachusetts chorale.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” will be a realization of the familiar children’s tale, which provides such a comical and accessible storyline on the surface, while calling into sharp focus such timely issues as truthfulness, public perception and conformity. The premiere performance will take place in March of 2019 at the Jay Performing Arts Center in Shrewsbury. The new work will be paired with Gerald Finzi’s “Intimations of Immortality” which features texts from Wordsworth’s “Recollections of Early Childhood.”
The composer, Cynthia Lee Wong, now serves on the faculty of the School of Music of University of Nevada. Her works have been commissioned and performed by such prestigious organizations as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Portland Symphony, Tanglewood Music Festival, and the Tokyo String Quartet, but she has local roots – she studied at Algonquin Regional High School with the AVM’s founder and Artistic Director Dr. Robert Eaton.
The Assabet Valley Mastersingers is a 75-voice ensemble based in Northborough.
