Voices of Hope 2009

On Sunday November 22, 2009, the ALS Hope Foundation will be holding its third annual “Voices of Hope” at the Waterford Room in the Radisson Hotel in Valley Forge, Pa. Following a lunch buffet we will present Mozarts’ comic chamber opera “The Impresario” and an abridged version of Humperdincks’ Hansel and Gretel based on the famous fairytale. A concert will follow that includes not only broadway and classical pieces but the premiere of an original composition based on folk songs of the South, arranged by Stephen Senderoff who is living with ALS. The Opera and concert will be performed by the Sunderman Conservatory under the direction of Dr. Kathleen Sasnett. Tickets to the luncheon and performance are $60. All proceeds from this event will go directly to the ALS Hope Foundation.
 
Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) is a comic Singspiel written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian Schauspieldirektor. Der Schauspieldirektor concerns the woes of an impresario, Frank, who must put together a company of actors and singers while dealing with their whims, rivalries and pretensions. The company faces economic difficulties which are ultimately solved thanks to the intervention of Eiler, a banker, who is persuaded to intervene by Frank pretending to engage his lover, Madams Pfeil. The musical passages of the opera occur when Frank begins the auditions of the singers. In the trio "Ich bin die erste Sängerin!" the two ambitious singers confront him on who the prima donna will be, while Monsieur Vogelsang attempts to reconcile matters. In the end, the singers and actors determine that art can thrive only through the peaceable cooperation of all their strengths.
 
Hänsel und Gretel is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a Märchenoper (fairy tale opera) based on the Grimm brothers' Hansel and Gretel. It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the Abendsegen ("Evening Benediction").