Hanover Band Concludes Secrest Series

The 8 p.m. concert in Wait Chapel will include music by Schubert, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Beethoven.

Formed in 1980 by artistic director Caroline Brown, the 38-member Hanover Band has established an international reputation for the excellence of its period instrument sound with its performances and recordings of music from the 18th and 19th centuries. The guest conductor, Nicholas McGegan, is leading the band on its 10th American tour.

The New York Times described the Hanover Band as “one of Britain’s best period instrument orchestras for the classical-era repertory (that) offered splendid performances of Haydn, Mozart and the adolescent Mendelssohn.”

In the past year, the band has released three landmark recordings: Rossini Overtures, Mendelssohn String Symphonies and Bach Cantatas with Nathalie Stutzmann.

Stutzmann, a French contralto, will be the soloist in Mozart’s “Rare” Arias. She was awarded the 1993 Deutsche Schallplattenkritic Prize for her performance of a Schumann Lieder cycle. Recently, the French government presented her with the Chevalier des Arts et des Letters for her promotion of French culture. She has appeared in Europe’s most prestigious opera theaters and concert halls, including those in Paris, Munich, Barcelona, Lisbon, Zurich, Moscow, Brussels and Amsterdam.

In August 1996, the band made its debut at the Edinburgh Festival with Sir Charles Mackerras, and will return there this year to give a concert performance of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor.”

The Hanover Band has undertaken a four-year education project based in its home county of Sussex. Its aim is to promote an awareness of classical and baroque orchestra through workshops and lecture demonstrations.

Tickets for the concert are $15; $10 for non-Wake Forest students and senior citizens. They are available at the Wake Forest University Theatre Box Office by calling 910-759-5295 from 12-5:30 p.m. weekdays. Tickets also will be available at the door. For more information, call the Secrest Series office at 910-759-5757.