Home
Tickets
Donations
Music Director
Auditions
Newsletter
Press Center
Members
Contact
Newsletter sign up
News

WANT TO BE IN-THE-KNOW?

To receive News from the ACS, our free e-newsletter, simply click the button below:


You'll receive all the latest news about ACS concert programs, activities, and events, including the terrific 2008-2009 Concert Season and the special Benefit Concert featuring Sir Paul McCartney's major choral work Ecce cor Meum (Behold my Heart) on October 12.

Consider making a donation too.  And....Thank You!
Asheville Choral Society

THE ACS SINGS CLASSICAL MCCARTNEY: 
THE BENEFIT CONCERT

This is one concert you should not miss! 
It could likely be the most important performance in
Western North Carolina during the 2008-2009 performing arts season.

ORDER YOUR TICKETS TODAY!!!


Click Here for Tickets



Ecce Cor Meum
Behold My Heart

with The Celebration singers,  Ginger Haselden, director 
and Orchestra
Anne O'Byrne, soprano

October 12, 2008
4:00 PM
Diana Wortham Theatre
Downtown Asheville

 ‘It’s about truth, and love, and honesty and kindness, and
just stuff that I thought was important in life.’  ~ Sir Paul McCartney


Facts about Ecce cor Meum (Behold my Heart)

  • The recording of Ecce cor Meum was a huge hit in the classical world, reaching the number two spot in the Top Classical Albums charts in the U.S.

  • McCartney was awarded the ‘Best Album Award” by Classical Brits in 2007 for the work.

  • The U.S. premiere of the choral piece occurred before a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall in New York City on November 14, 2006.

  • Ecce cor Meum is an Oratorio in four movements (with a short interlude for solo oboe) scored for adult chorus, children’s chorus, soprano soloist and orchestra.

  • The title was inspired by an inscription above a statue of Christ that McCartney saw in St. Ignatius Church, New York City. The work is also partly inspired by his first wife Linda and was composed during the period of her battle with, and subsequent death from, cancer.

  •  See interview with Paul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UgBt4v1hWM


Facts about this Asheville Choral Society Benefit Concert

  • The performance by the Asheville Choral Society will be the first time the piece has been performed in the Southeast and only the second performance in the U.S. since its U.S. world premiere in 2006.

  • Music Director Lenora Thom will lead the Asheville Choral Society, the children’s chorus, soprano soloist Anne O’Byrne and orchestra in the October 12 performance.

  • The concert is a major benefit for the ACS.  Its purpose is the raise funds to assist the ACS in attracting larger and more diversified audiences to its regular season performances.

 

Click Here for Tickets
*NEW General Seating $40 ~ See ticket page for details
$100 “Sir Paul Section” Special Reserved Seating, Concert and Celebration Reception
$75   Concert and Celebration Reception

 


Anne O'Byrne
soprano

 Born in Ireland, soprano Anne O'Byrne studied at the College of Music, Dublin, and at University College Dublin, before joining the Irish Radio Chamber Choir. She subsequently was awarded scholarships to study singing at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.

Ms. O'Byrne's performances have taken her all over the world. She has worked with many of the leading opera companies in the UK and Ireland, including Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Northern Ireland, English Touring Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, London City Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and Ulster Orchestra.  In the United States, she undertook a demanding tour of the East Coast with London City Opera, singing Pamina in The Magic Flute in 36 cities in the space of just six weeks.

Anne appeared in the role of Orianain the Dublin Opera Theatre Company's production of Handel's Amadigi, which first toured Ireland, England and Portugal and later Paris, Prague, Melbourne and New York.  Other operatic roles have included Mimiin La Bohème, Gildain Rigoletto, Donna Elviraand Zerlinain Don Giovanni, Micaelain Carmen, Adinain L'Elisir d'amore, Gretelin Hansel and Gretel, Karolkain Jenufa, Bertain Barber of Seville, and the title role of Betly by Donizetti. She has also recorded for Irish radio and television and for BBC Radio

Ms. O'Byrne has collaborated with some of the world's most distinguished conductors and directors, including Andrew Davis, Simon Rattle, Franz Welser-Möst, Graeme Jenkins, Yakov Kreizburg, Bruno Weil, Donald Runnicles, David Angus and Trevor Nunn.  Anne's concert repertoire ranges across a wide spectrum, from early works such as Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 to classical masterpieces like Mozart's C Minor Mass, to modern gems such as John Tavener's To a child dancing in the wind. She enjoys singing contemporary music, and has created roles in new operas for the Wexford and Covent Garden International Festivals.

Since her move from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Richmond in 2002, Anne has performed several times with the Richmond Symphony, and has sung for distinguished international speakers at the Richmond Forum – most recently, Robert Redford.  She continues to divide her career between Ireland, England and the US, having just returned from singing Mozart in Dublin.