Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra Conjures Summer in its Holiday Season Repertoire

Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, image by Jean Kirby Photography
2021 CCCO by Jean Kirby Photography
Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, image by Jean Kirby Photography

McGRATHPR.com – Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra (CCCO), the Cape’s professional collaborative orchestra, presents its winter celebration concert “Summer Holiday”, on Saturday, December 11, 5 pm, at St. Christopher’s Church, 625 Main St., Chatham, and on Sunday, December 12, 3 pm, at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 533 Rte. 28, Harwich Port.  The orchestra is conducted by Founding Music Director Matthew Scinto.

CCCO’s holiday concerts provide a welcome seasonal entertainment performance for all to enjoy. “I’m grateful to be able to revive our December benefit concert after last year’s cancellations due to the pandemic. It has been my vision to position our chamber orchestra as a vehicle to raise awareness and funding for the many amazing organizations here on the Cape. We are excited to benefit WE CAN with this concert series.” says Scinto.

WE CAN (Women’s Empowerment through Cape Area Networking) is celebrating 20 years of serving women on Cape Cod. The non-profit was founded in 2001 to empower Cape Cod women by providing unique services that inspire hope and bring increased stability, self-sufficiency, and opportunity in their lives.

Summer has come early for Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra. The “Summer Holiday” concert program delivers mid-winter warmth, featuring Soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper in Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville, Summer of 1915”. Barber paints an idyllic, nostalgic picture of Knoxville, Tennessee based on text by James Agee. The work is a simple, dreamlike depiction of an evening in America’s south region, narrated by a child. CCCO also performs the Andante movement from Florence Price’s “String Quartet No. 1”, concluding with Charles Ives’ trip to camp with his Pulitzer Prize winning third symphony “The Camp Meeting”.

Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra prides itself on exceptional programming and its collaborative performances, a highlight of every season.  Committed to artistic integrity and excellence, CCCO’s mission is to connect the diverse arts communities and individuals of Cape Cod inclusively. By collaborating with other disciplines of art and culture, the Orchestra aims to create unique concert experiences while providing exciting, enriching and memorable orchestral music.  Spotlighting living composers is at the forefront of the orchestra’s mission; bringing audiences closer to the music of modern time, positioned as an essential and educational element to each performance program.  Other repertoire emphasizes the championing of works of living composers, as well as the music of the classical canon.

Tickets to “Summer Holiday” are $35 general admission, children and students attend for free.  Regarding CCCO’s Covid-19 policy, masks will be required by all audience members at all times. In order to allow for adequate social distancing, tickets for this event will be limited.  Tickets to all Season Four performancesare available at capecodchamberorchestra.org, by calling 508-432-1668, or at each venue door by cash or credit card.

For more information visit capecodchamberorchestra.org, email info@capecodchamberorchestra.org, or follow Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra on Facebook and Instagram.

Program:

IVES: Symphony No. 3 The Camp Meeting

BARBER: Knoxville, Summer of 1915

PRICE: Andante Moderato

Dr. Matthew Scinto, Conductor

Conductor Matthew Scinto by Jean Kirby Photography

Matthew Scinto is an emerging conductor based in Cape Cod, where he currently serves as the Assistant Conductor of the Boston Civic Symphony under Music Director Francisco Noya. Mr. Scinto received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from Boston University, where he was a student of Stefan Asbury and David Hoose and twice received the Conducting Department Award for Excellence in Conducting. Mr. Scinto has studied conducting at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center and was invited back again in July 2018. While at Boston University, Mr. Scinto served as the Assistant Conductor of the Boston University Symphony, Chamber, and Opera Orchestras where he covered and conducted in numerous concerts and opera productions, including Boston University’s recent production of Le Nozze di Figaro in 2017. Matthew Scinto has worked with conductors Bramwell Tovey, Ken-David Masur, Stefan Asbury, Diane Wittry, Daniel Hege, Marin Alsop, David Effron, and Markand Thakar. He has conducted such orchestras as the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Symphoria, the New Haven Civic Orchestra, the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras, the Indian Hill Sinfonia, the Miami Music Festival Orchestra, the Syracuse University Symphony, and the Boston University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.

Sarah Joyce Cooper, Soprano

Soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper will be a featured performer when the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra presents “Summer Holiday” on December 11 and 12. Image by Dan Busler Photography

Commended for her “meltingly beautiful” (Opera News) singing, Boston-based soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper performs year-round throughout the US. Recent performances include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (CoOPERAtive), Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro (Savannah Voice Festival), Micaëla in Carmen (Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance), Violetta in La Traviata (New York Opera Studio/ Elizabeth R. and Co.), Mimi in La Bohème (Opera Theater of Cape Cod), and Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Boston Opera Collaborative). Ms. Cooper has also appeared as a soloist with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, the Maryland Lyric Opera Orchestra, Convergence Ensemble, and the Radcliffe Choral Society. In 2016, she was a first-place winner of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Young Artists Competition and the Westminster Choir College Voice Scholarship competition. Ms. Cooper also received the 2017 Colleen and Edward Carducci Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan National Council Auditions in Columbia, South Carolina. In 2018, she earned first place in The American Prize Competition’s Opera and Operetta division and Second Place in the International Talents of the World Competition in New York City. As a TOW competition prizewinner, she made her Carnegie Hall debut in a Maria Callas tribute concert. In 2019, Ms. Cooper appeared as a finalist in the George London Competition and was nominated for a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. Ms. Cooper also performed as a soloist with the Du Bois orchestra in the historic world premiere of Florence Price’s long-lost cantata, Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight. Most recently, Ms. Cooper made her debut with Maryland Lyric Opera as La Charmeuse in a production of Massenet’s Thaïs.

In addition to performing, Ms. Cooper serves as Executive Assistant for Help!ComeHome!, a 501c3 organization dedicated to meeting the needs of under-served communities throughout the US. Ms. Cooper is a regular volunteer with the organization, offering both her musical and administrative skills to further its mission. In June, 2018 she planned, programmed, and performed in “A Nod to Our Neighbors,” a benefit concert and the first major fundraiser for Help!ComeHome!

Ms. Cooper earned her bachelor’s degree in French from Princeton University and her Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College.

About Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra

Committed to artistic integrity and excellence, the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra’s mission is to connect the diverse arts communities and individuals of Cape Cod inclusively. By collaborating with other disciplines of art and culture, the Orchestra aims to create unique concert experiences while providing exciting, enriching and memorable orchestral music.  Featuring living composers is at the forefront of the orchestra’s mission; bringing audiences closer to the music of modern time, positioned as an essential and educational element to each performance program.  Other repertoire champions the works of living composers, as well as the music of the classical canon.  For more information visit www.capecodchamberorchestra.org, email info@capecodchamberorchestra.org, or follow Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra on Facebook and Instagram.

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