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Livermore-Amador Symphony’s concert, “Vibrant Voices,” will take place later this month at Livermore’s Bankhead Theater, with music director Lara Webber conducting.
Nature, eternity and democracy: Poet Emily Dickinson and President Abraham Lincoln inspired Aaron Copland to set their powerful testaments to music. “Vibrant Voices” will enliven these words in a program celebrating freedom, renewal and hope.
Faith Alpher, an actress, comedian and Livermore local KKIQ radio personality will narrate Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” She holds a master’s degree in communication and has utilized her gifts to inspire people around the world through her comedy.
Known for her quick wit and energy, Alpher writes curriculum and speaks at high schools, colleges, universities, and businesses all over the country. She is also known for her ability to reach people across generations, cultures, and belief systems on an emotional level.
Alpher has performed at the Bankhead several times, including her one-woman show, “Black Girl, Funny World,” and in September 2021, “Got Faith.”
Soprano soloist, Heidi Moss Erickson, will accompany the orchestra for Copland’s “Poems of Emily Dickinson.” She performed with the symphony in May 2016 in Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915.”
She and her husband, composer Kurt Erickson, produced a special recital as a gift to the symphony last season when in-person performances were not possible. She frequently collaborates with Erickson and has premiered many of his works.
Moss Erickson holds a biology/music degree from Oberlin College, where she met fellow voice student Webber. She has been interested in the science of singing ever since she came down with a rare facial paralysis in 2007. She is also a champion of new music and received the prestigious “Best in the Bay” award in 2019 for her Richard Strauss recital.
Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 3 completes the evening. This symphony’s bold composition represented a shift from his first two romantic symphonies and was followed later by more austere works. This compact piece of many moods is written for flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, as well as strings.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. April 23, with a prelude talk at 7 p.m. To learn more, visit www.livermoreamadorsymphony.org or www.livermorearts.org, or call 925-373-6800.
Editor’s note: Patricia J. Boyle, past president of the California Writers Club Tri-Valley branch, writes about the Livermore-Amador Symphony.
