Season opener collaboration with Whydah Pirate Museum premieres new commission
McGRATHPR.com – Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra (CCCO), the region’s newest professional orchestra, presents its 2019-20 season opening concert Haydn the Pirate, on Sunday, October 20, 3 pm, at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 533 Main Street, Rt. 28, Harwich Port. The orchestra, conducted by Music Director Matthew Scinto, will feature a new work by Composer Sam Wu. A pre-concert talk by Conductor Scinto and Whydah Pirate Museum’s Chris Macort, archaeologist and conservator, will be held at 2:15 pm.
Haydn the Pirate’s program premieres a commissioned project based on the life of notorious pirate Sam Bellamy, in collaboration with the Whydah Pirate Museum. “I’ve become fascinated with Bellamy’s life because it has it all – intrigue, love, adventure – and an end at age 28 when his ship wrecks in a violent Nor’easter,” shares Scinto. “I couldn’t imagine a better musical narrative for Composer Sam Wu to depict, an incredible story that is so close to home here on the Cape.”
The life and story behind “Black Sam” Bellamy is the focus of the Haydn the Pirate program. After becoming one of the richest pirates in history, Bellamy went down with his crew in 1717 aboard the ship Whydah during a violent storm off the coast of Wellfleet. In addition to Wu’s new work, depicting this harrowing story, the famous fugitive is musically illustrated by Franz Joseph Haydn’s ‘Mourning’ Symphony No. 44 in E minor. CCCO also performs Jean Sibelius’ reaction to Belshazzar’s Feast, and a selection of music from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s ballet and opera works.
image courtesy of Whydah Pirate Museum
Haydn the Pirate’s preconcert talk with Chris Macort explores this renegade in further depth with Conductor Scinto. Macort, who has been diving and collecting artifacts from the ship Whydah’s wreckage off the coast of Wellfleet for more than two decades, illustrates the museum’s Whydah Project in his presentation. The Whydah was the first pirate shipwreck to be positively identified, and nearly a quarter of a century later remains the only pirate shipwreck whose identity is unquestionably authenticated. The Whydah may therefore be the only glimpse the world will ever have into the material culture of an extraordinarily secretive group of men — the pirates of the 17th and 18th century Atlantic world. Artifacts recovered from the site confirm many points made about pirates by contemporary observers, including important features of their society – their egalitarianism, internationalism, racial tolerance and a unique brand of democracy.
In addition to her tremendous archaeological importance, the story of the Whydah is a vehicle that links a number of important historical events and personalities in a fresh, insightful way. With elements reminiscent of Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Cooper, Irving, Longfellow and Sir Walter Scott, the story is especially compelling when the historical evidence for its basic core is considered.
CCCO features four concerts in Season Two: Towards the Sea, inspired by Scinto’s vision for the future of classical music on Cape Cod. He is fulfilling his mission to collaborate with local Cape individuals, arts organizations, and causes to create a unique concert experience of high quality, enriching, and memorable orchestral music. The season opener, Haydn the Pirate, is followed by A Mostly English Holiday on Sunday, December 15, An Afternoon of Chamber Music on Sunday, February 16, and Towards the Sea, featuring a special commemorative piece honoring the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s voyage to New England, on Sunday, April 19.
Committed to artistic integrity and excellence, Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra’s mission is to connect the diverse arts communities and individuals of Cape Cod inclusively. By collaborating with other disciplines of art and culture, the orchestra aims to create unique concert experiences while providing exciting, enriching and memorable orchestral music. Featuring living composers is at the forefront of the orchestra’s mission; bringing audiences closer to music and the beauty found across Cape Cod communities, positioned as an essential and educational element to each performance program. Other repertoire emphasizes the championing of works of living composers, as well as the music of the classical canon.
Tickets to Haydn the Pirate are$30 general admission, $35 at the door, and free for all students and children. A season pass to all four concerts is available for $100. (Note: season pass excludes the CCCO Summer Celebration performance). Tickets are available at capecodchamberorchestra.org, by calling 508-432-1668, or at the door by cash or credit card, to venue capacity.
For more information visit capecodchamberorchestra.org, email info@capecodchamberorchestra.org, or follow Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra on Facebook and Instagram. To learn more about Whydah Pirate Museum, visit discoverpirates.com.
Program and Artist Background:
SIBELIUS: Belshazzar’s Feast
RAMEAU: Selections from Ballet and Opera
WU: Samuel Bellamy: A Portrait
HAYDN: Symphony No. 44 “Mourning”
About Dr. Matthew Scinto, Conductor
Matthew Scinto is an emerging conductor based in Cape Cod, where he currently serves as the founder and conductor of the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, and Interim Music Director for the Civic Orchestra of New Haven. Mr. Scinto received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from Boston University, where he was a student of Stefan Asbury and David Hoose and twice received the Conducting Department Award for Excellence in Conducting. Mr. Scinto has studied conducting at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center, and was invited back again in July 2018. While at Boston University, Mr. Scinto served as the Assistant Conductor of the Boston University Symphony, Chamber, and Opera Orchestras where he covered and conducted in numerous concerts and opera productions, including Boston University’s recent production of Le Nozze di Figaro in 2017. Matthew Scinto has worked with conductors Bramwell Tovey, Ken-David Masur, Stefan Asbury, Diane Wittry, Daniel Hege, Marin Alsop, David Effron, and Markand Thakar. He has conducted such orchestras as the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Symphoria, the New Haven Civic Orchestra, the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras, the Indian Hill Sinfonia, the Miami Music Festival Orchestra, the Syracuse University Symphony, and the Boston University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.
About Sam Wu, Composer
Sam Wu’s music deals with the beauty in blurred boundaries. From Shanghai, China, Wu (b. 1995) earned a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School after receiving a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Harvard University. His teachers include Tan Dun, Robert Beaser, Chaya Czernowin, Richard Beaudoin, and Derek Bermel.
Selected for the American Composers Orchestra’s EarShot Readings, winner of an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Harvard’s Robert Levin Prize, and Juilliard’s Palmer Dixon Prize, Wu was also a recipient of the Society of Composers (SCI)/ASCAP student commission.
Wu’s music has been performed across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. His collaborators include the Melbourne, China National, Shenzhen, Xi’an, Suzhou Symphonies, Sarasota Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras, National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Shanghai International Arts Festival, Sydney University Confucius Institute, Asia Society, members of the Parker and Ansonia Quartets, Princeton Pianists’ Ensemble, Harvard Ballet Company and pipa master Wu Man.
Wu also has been featured on the National Geographic Channel, Business Insider, Harvard Crimson, Yale Daily, Asahi Shimbun, People’s Daily and CCTV, among others.
About Cody Forrest, Composer-in-Residence
Cody W. Forrest is a composer and educator, fascinated by ineffable music and its ability to forge pathways between souls. His works explore the human impulse to share stories, the interplay of musical dichotomies, and a diverse spectrum of expressivity. Forrest has been commissioned by Dinosaur Annex, conductor Daniel Hege, and the Cochran Wrenn Duo. His music has been performed by Boston Music Viva, the Cassatt String Quartet, and internationally by violinist Léo Marillier. He has received the Florence Price fellowship from the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, the Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition grand prize, an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and was selected for the 2015 EarShot New Music Readings. In 2016 he served as composer-in-residence for Chamber Music Campania in Varano, Italy. Cody resides in Brookline, and currently teaches at Northeastern University and New England Conservatory. He holds a doctorate degree in Music from New England Conservatory, Master of Music from Syracuse University, Bachelor of Music from University of North Texas, and has studied with Kati Agócs, Malcolm Peyton, Daniel S. Godfrey, Andrew Waggoner, and Cindy McTee.
About Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra
Committed to artistic integrity and excellence, the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra’s mission is to connect the diverse arts communities and individuals of Cape Cod inclusively. By collaborating with other disciplines of art and culture, the Orchestra aims to create unique concert experiences while providing exciting, enriching and memorable orchestral music. Featuring living composers is at the forefront of the orchestra’s mission; bringing audiences closer to the music of modern time, positioned as an essential and educational element to each performance program. Other repertoire champions the works of living composers, as well as the music of the classical canon. For more information visit www.capecodchamberorchestra.org, email info@capecodchamberorchestra.org, or follow Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra on Facebook and Instagram.
