On Sunday: Amadeus Concert Ensemble Turns To Dvorak For Season Opener

As reported previously, ACE is now the Amadeus Concert Ensemble—a reflection of its sizable presence in Knoxville’s classical music scene and the impressive scale of its performances with full orchestra and chorus in Knoxville’s Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Its 2024-25 season of three major performances in the Cathedral Concert Series opens this Sunday afternoon with a focus on Antonin Dvořák and his sacred works. “Dvořák Sacred Works” will feature the Czech composer’s Te Deum, a four movement cantata requested by Jeanette Thurber, his new employer at New York’s National Conservatory of Music beginning in 1892. The idea was that it would introduce Dvořák to American audiences, although he wrote the work while still in Prague possessing only a limited feeling for American musical culture.

Also on the program are four selections from Dvořák’s ten movement oratorio Stabat Mater—
(1) – Stabat Mater dolorosa (solo quartet and chorus)
(4) – Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
(9) –  Inflammatus
(10) – Quando corpus morietur

Howard Skinner will be conducting the ACE orchestra and chorus.

Soloists are soprano Maria Natale; alto Diana Salesky, tenor John Overholt; and bass Stephen Morscheck.

Although Ms. Natale has received much praise nationally and internationally—including the recent Opera Festival of Chicago’s Manon Lescaut—Knoxville audiences may remember her from her local appearances while completing her studies for a Masters of Music at the now UT College of Music.