Fall Concert, Holy Name Church - November 8

Music from Ireland and Other Favorites

Read our guest artists’ bios here.

The Parkway Concert Orchestra wishes to extend a special thanks to our sponsors for this concert.

The Parkway Concert Orchestra begins its 2009-10 “Season of Music that Inspires” with a Fall concert on Sunday, November 8 at 3 p.m. at the Holy Name Church, 1689 Centre Street, West Roxbury.

Music Director and Conductor Matthew Fritz presents the 50-piece orchestra in a family concert of “Music from Ireland and Other Favorites” including Herbert’s “March of the Toys,” Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture,” and Strauss’ songs “Morgen” and “Zeuignung” featuring soprano Maria Fasciano-DiCarlo. The world premiere of “Wings of a Swallow: An Irish Medley” by local composer Alice Abraham will surely resonate with Irish families. The audience will have a chance to meet and learn about the instruments at an instrument petting zoo.

This concert is sponsored by P.E. Murray George F. Doherty & Sons, and is presented by the Holy Name School Enrichment Program. Concert admission is free. For more information please call 617-325-9338.

The Program:

Maria Fasciano-Di Carlo, soprano

Soprano Maria Fasciano-Di Carlo is a Niagara Falls, NY native. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from SUNY Fredonia and a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. Her operatic credits include Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata with Chautauqua Opera where she also covered roles in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene and Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. During her Studio Artist contract with Chautauqua Opera she also appeared in recital, as well as in scenes from Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira). Prior to her Chautauqua Opera debut, Ms. Fasciano-Di Carlo was a regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the Great Lakes Region. Her other professional credits include performing with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in a series of summer concerts and the role of Berta in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. She also appeared as a soloist with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra in A Night of Lerner & Loewe. During her time at the Eastman School of Music, she appeared as Arminda in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera and Noemie in Massenet’s Cendrillon. She was also a soloist in the Eastman Philharmonia’s performance of Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn. While at Fredonia, she performed the roles of Miss Silverpeal in Mozart’s The Impresario and the Old Lady in Bernstein’s Candide. In addition to her stage credits, she was the winner of the 2005 Concerto Competition and the Voice Faculty Scholarship award. She has continued her studies in the studio of Rita Shane and currently resides in New York City.

Alice Abraham, composer

Alice Abraham is a violinist in the Parkway Concert Orchestra and resides in Dedham. Originally from Washington DC, she studied composition at Bennington College. She was a commissioned composer for a radio docudrama about Josephine Baker and for Sage City Symphony in Vermont. Since 1990, Alice has been the Music Librarian for WGBH Public Radio where she curates a collection of 90,000 recordings.

“Wings of a Swallow” is an Irish medley dedicated to Alice’s spouse, Chris Healy, who immigrated to Boston as a teenager to support family back in Cork City, Ireland. Using migratory swallows as a concept, this medley combines a rare 1920 ballad and two fiddle tunes “Swallowtail Jig” and “Off She Goes.” Chris’s mother used to sing this ballad “Little Town in the Ould County Down” which she learned from a popular John McCormack recording. The title of Alice’s arrangement is taken from the ballad’s first line with lyrics by Richard W. Pascoe, music by Monte Carlo—yes, his real name and he was a Dane—and Alma M. Sanders. The lyrics “Sure if I had the wings of a swallow, I would travel far over the sea…” will surely resonate with many Irish families.

Our Sponsors:

Local West Roxbury residents and members of the Parkway Concert Orchestra gear up for the November 8 concert at Holy Name Church sponsored by P.E. Murray, George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home and presented by the Holy Name School Enrichment Program.

First Row from left to right: Funeral Home Director George Doherty, Helen Tarantino (cello), Madeleine Powers (violin), Richard Seltzer (violin), Principal Lynne Workman.

Second Row from left to right: Conductor Matthew Fritz, Vice-Principal Kathleen Caulfield, Edward J. Doherty, Jr, Dennis Dunham, Pat Toomey and Edward Doherty Sr., all of P.E. Murray, George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home.

photographer: Karen Gatto