Patrick McCarthy (born 1947 [1] [2] ) is an English conductor and singer.
McCarthy trained as a baritone singer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Opera Centre. He first attended The Proms in 1959. [1]
On 7 August 1974, McCarthy was in attendance at The Proms performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana , performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by André Previn in the Royal Albert Hall. [1] [2] [3] During the performance of the Orff, Thomas Allen (now Sir Thomas), the baritone soloist, fell ill during the performance, collapsed onto his chair, and was carried off from the stage. McCarthy went backstage and offered his services as a professional singer who was experienced with the piece. The understudy for the part, a member of the London Symphony Chorus, was a doctor and attended to Allen, and thus was unable to step into the performance. [1] McCarthy's offer was accepted and McCarthy completed the performance. [4] He received a standing ovation and national attention. [2] [3]
McCarthy continued his career in music with performances in opera, music hall, and musical theatre. [1] In 1980, McCarthy re-located from London to Colchester. [5] His voice had changed and he became a tenor singer, before moving to orchestral and choral conducting in 1992. In 1992, he founded the Colchester Bach Choir and Orchestra, and subsequently founded the Colchester Philharmonic. McCarthy was musical director of The Witham Choral Society, and for 20 years was musical director of the Harwich and Dovercourt Choral Society. [2] McCarthy retired from conducting in 2022, in the wake of deteriorating eyesignt. [6] [7]
McCarthy and his wife Mary have two children. [2]
Carl Heinrich Maria Orff was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata Carmina Burana (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education.
Catulli Carmina is a cantata by Carl Orff dating from 1940–1943. He described it as ludi scaenici. The work mostly sets poems of the Latin poet Catullus to music, with some text by the composer. Catulli Carmina is part of Trionfi, the musical triptych that also includes the Carmina Burana and Trionfo di Afrodite. It is scored for a full mixed choir, soprano and tenor soloists, and an entirely percussive orchestra – possibly inspired by Stravinsky's Les noces – consisting of four pianos, timpani, bass drum, 3 tambourines, triangle, castanets, maracas, suspended and crash cymbals, antique cymbal, tam-tam, lithophone, metallophone, 2 glockenspiels, wood block, xylophone, and tenor xylophone/low xylophone.
Eugen Jochum was a German conductor, best known for his interpretations of the music of Anton Bruckner, Carl Orff, and Johannes Brahms, among others.
In theatre, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage, the understudy takes over the part. Usually when the understudy takes over, the theater manager announces the cast change prior to the start of the performance. Coined in 1874, the term understudy has more recently generally been applied only to performers who can back up a role, but still regularly perform in another role.
"O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem which is part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana, written in the early 13th century. It is a complaint about Fortuna, the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman and Greek mythology.
Sir Thomas Boaz Allen is an English operatic baritone. He is widely admired in the opera world for his voice, the versatility of his repertoire, and his acting—leading many to regard him as one of the best lyric baritones of the late 20th century. From 2012 to 2022 he served as Chancellor of Durham University.
The San Francisco Symphony Chorus is the resident Chorus of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS).
Carmina Burana is a cantata composed in 1935 and 1936 by Carl Orff, based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. Its full Latin title is Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis. It was first performed by the Oper Frankfurt on 8 June 1937. It is part of Trionfi, a musical triptych that also includes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. The first and last sections of the piece are called "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" and start with "O Fortuna".
Dovercourt railway station is on the Mayflower Line, a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line, in the East of England, serving the seaside town of Dovercourt, Essex. It is 70 miles 19 chains (113.04 km) from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Harwich International to the west and Harwich Town to the east. Its three-letter station code is DVC.
Sigurður Bragason is an Icelandic baritone.
The Chicago Symphony Chorus began on September 22, 1957, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that Margaret Hillis would organize and train a symphony chorus. The music director Fritz Reiner's original intent was to utilize the chorus for the two weeks of subscription concerts that season, performing George Frideric Handel's Messiah in December and Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem in April. When Bruno Walter informed the orchestra's management that his March 1958 appearances would be his last in Chicago, the board president, Eric Oldberg, insisted that Walter conduct Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem utilizing the new chorus. During that first season, it was logistically impossible for Hillis to audition and prepare a new Chorus for three major works within less than four months. As an interim fix, the Apollo Chorus of Chicago was used for the Christmas Messiah concerts.
The Philharmonia Chorus is an independent self-governing symphony chorus based in London, UK. Since its foundation in 1957 the Chorus has given over 900 concerts and made over 100 recordings. The Chorus Master is Gavin Carr.
Claire Rutter is an English operatic soprano.
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus is a large choir based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The chorus consists of about 190 members from Sheffield and the surrounding area and performs between five and ten concerts each season. A regular venue is Sheffield City Hall, although the choir also performs concerts in the Bridgewater Hall and Leeds Town Hall as well as other national and international venues. The musical director is Darius Battiwalla, who has held the post since 1997.
Carmina Burana is the third solo album by Ray Manzarek released in 1983. It is a recording of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.
John Noble was an English baritone. He was Ralph Vaughan Williams's favourite in the title role of the composer's opera The Pilgrim's Progress.
The Toronto Choral Society was founded in 1845. Music was a popular form of entertainment for a rapidly growing and prosperous population, so a group of citizens formed a choral society in order to give concerts and foster the development of the local musical community. F.W. Barron, the headmaster of Upper Canada College, became the choir's first president, and James P. Clarke, organist at St. James Cathedral, was its first conductor.
The Really Big Chorus (TRBC) is Britain's largest choral society, made up of singers from hundreds of different choirs all over the UK as well as thousands of individuals. It was founded by Don Monro, an Electrical Engineering lecturer at Imperial College, just opposite the Royal Albert Hall.
Melbourne University Choral Society (MUCS) is a 120-voice choir in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.The choir is affiliated with the University of Melbourne, but is also open to non-students who are willing and able to perform to the choirs standards.
"O Fortuna" is a movement in Carl Orff's 1935–36 cantata Carmina Burana. It begins the opening and closing sections, both titled "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi". The cantata is based on a medieval Goliardic poetry collection of the same name, from which the poem "O Fortuna" provides the words sung in the movement. It was well-received during its time, and entered popular culture through use in other musical works, advertisements, and soundtracks beginning in the late 20th century.