Times and tickets
Tickets for the Vashon Chorale Spring Concert are available at both book stores and are $12.50 general admission and $10 for seniors and students. The Saturday April 5 performance will be at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday April 6 concert starts at 3 p.m.
Guest conductor Anthony Spain, founding music director of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, will lead the Vashon-Maury Island Chorale’s “Sing Alleluia!” concert at the Bethel Evangelical Free Church this weekend.
Spain, new to Vashon as a guest conductor, will conduct the chorale in its rendition of Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Mass #10 in B-flat Major: Missa Sancti Bernardi de Offica,” otherwise known as the “Heiligmesse.”
Spain, highly regarded in the regional music scene, recently won a 2006-2007 award for programming of contemporary music from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the American Symphony Orchestra League.
Under Spain’s direction, the Northwest Symphony Orchestra won first place in its budget category (orchestras with a budget not exceeding $470,000) because of its history of presenting 100 works by Northwest composers.
The orchestra is also one of 11 to receive a National Endowment for the Arts “Challenge America Grant,” which provided funding for concert activity and a related education program that served 460 students in 11 schools in the Highline School District.
Spain has also been music director of the Bainbridge Chorale since 1999 and music director at Luther Memorial and St. Elizabeth’s Churches in Seattle and has guest conducted throughout the country and in Europe, including the choir of UNESCO.
As part of a sabbatical in 2005, he assisted the highly regarded international choral director John Nelson in Paris. One Bainbridge Chorale soprano described him as a very patient, passionate and extremely knowledgeable conductor.
He has taught music at Seattle Central Community College and has lectured extensively. He has received six ASCAP awards for his work with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and is particularly well-known for his dedication to the work of Northwest composers.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Northern Colorado, a master’s degree in conducting from Colorado State University and a doctorate of musical arts in conducting from the University of Washington.
