Metta Ensemble Premiers in Music, Gettysburg! April 1 Concert Features Copland’s Appalachian Spring

(3/25) Music, Gettysburg! is pleased to present the Metta Ensemble in its premiere performance on Sunday April 1, 2012 in the Gettysburg Seminary chapel. The 3pm concert will feature Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring in its original profile and as it was first performed.

In addition to the Copland, other music on the program will be On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring by Frederick Delius, Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner and Pastoral d’été by Arthur Honegger.

The Metta Ensemble is a 21 member orchestral group created and directed by Alexander Kahn of the Gettysburg College Sunderman Conservatory of Music. Metta includes professional musicians from across Pennsylvania and Maryland, as well as students from the Conservatory. It takes its name, "Metta," from a Pali word that can be translated as loving-kindness, benevolence or good will. In the Buddhist tradition "metta" is seen as one of the four sublime states, or divine abodes. Cultivating good will towards all living beings is a key element of Buddhism; the goal of the Metta Ensemble to choose music and perform it in a fashion that has the power to create good will towards others in both our ensemble members and our audiences.

Alexander Kahn is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Activities at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. He conducts the 70-piece Gettysburg College Symphony Orchestra in several concerts per year and teaches courses in Music History and Conducting. Previous university-level orchestras with whom Alexander has worked include the UC-Berkeley Chamber Orchestra (Founder and Music Director) and the UC Berkeley Symphony (Assistant Conductor).

In addition to his position at Gettysburg, Alexander has worked with professional orchestras across the United States and throughout Europe. He currently serves as Cover Conductor for the Baltimore Symphony and as Staff and Assistant Conductor for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Recent guest conducting engagements have included the Latoshinsky Orchestra in Kiev, Ukraine, and the Salzburg Soloists of Salzburg, Austria.

The concert is also offered by Music, Gettysburg! as a memorial to the Rev. Dr. Richard Thulin, former Dean and Ulrich Professor of Preaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary and long term friend of the concert series. The concert, free and open to the public, takes place at 147 Seminary Ridge, Gettysburg, PA at 3pm Sunday, April 1st.

Music, Gettyburg! is a premier free concert series featuring the finest regional, national and international musicians hosted by the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. The seminary chapel is located at 147 Seminary Ridge on the west edge of the Borough of Gettysburg. For more information about this and other concerts remaining in the Music, Gettysburg! schedule, please call 717-334-6286 ext 2197 or email info@musicgettysburg.org or visit the web site at www.musicgettysburg.org.

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