Not enough art is made purely out of a desire to collaborate.
Mario and I met over a decade ago during our first fellowships at the Music Academy of the West, under the tutelage of Marilyn Horne and Warren Jones. We bonded over eclectic tastes—and my certainty that Mario was a star in the making. I had never heard anyone play the piano like that, and I knew I wanted to work with him as often as possible, especially in an intimate recital setting.
Since then, Mario’s career led him to major stages in Chicago and Frankfurt before returning to Minnesota, but, while early goals often fall off the bucket list, this recital only moved up it.
A few months ago, when we were asked to find a theme for this recital, I suggested what felt true: “A Small Subset of the Music I’m Desperate to Make with Mario.” Though it didn’t become the official title, it’s close enough—this program is a labor of love. We hope you enjoy the eclecticism of this program as much as we do.
–DAVID LEIGH
Program
Five Romances on Texts from Krokodil
Sobstvennoruchnoe pokazanye
Trudno ispolnimoe zhelane
Blagorozumie
Irinka i pastukh
Chresmerny vostorg
Ne govori, chto serdcu bol'no Somnenie
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906—1975)
Mikhail Glinka (1804—1857)
Net tol’ko tot, kto znal
O, dolgo budu ja, v molchan'i nochi tajnoj
Intermission
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840—1893)
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873—1943)
Tom Sails Away
The Things Our Fathers Loved
The Light that is Felt
The Circus Band
Songs my Mother taught me
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Though we have arrived here in a multiplicity of ways, we recognize our occupation on land that is of great historical, spiritual, and cultural significance to Dakota people. We also acknowledge the past and present harm done to Dakota, Anishinaabe, and other Indigenous nations through the systematic forced removal of communities and the unjust seizure of their lands. We urge you to join us in reflecting on our place in these histories and rectifying the erasure of indigenous peoples in our artform.
Traditional Songs Go Down, Moses
O Waly Waly
Poor Wayfaring Stranger
Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
Ives (1874—1954)
Charles
David Leigh, arr. (b. 1988)
Program notes
Shostakovich: Krokodil Songs
Krokodil (Crocodile) was a satirical magazine published in the Soviet Union beginning in 1922. The magazine lampooned foreign affairs, religion, and political figures. It ridiculed bureaucracy, excessive governmental control, and police violence. Shostakovich chose five texts from one particular issue of the publication’s “Believe it or Not” column and set them to music. These songs offer commentary on the discomforts of quotidian life and at times make statements on the nature of things through acerbic simplicity.
Selected songs of Glinka, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninov Mikhail Glinka is often called the father of Russian music. His distinctive lyricism and marrying of western classical music with Russian sensibilities established a new ideal for Russian composers. “Ne govori, chto serdcu bol’no” is a setting of the little-known poet Pyotr Ryndin. The song is filled with melodic fervor, while the piano accompaniment broods chromatically creating a sense of foreboding. “Somnenyie” is a setting of verse by the poet Nestor Kukolnik. One of Glinka’s most loved songs, the influence of Bel Canto style evidences itself in the beauty of the melody and simplicity of the accompaniment in the piano. “The time of sadness will pass…Passionately and ardently my lips will join yours in rapturous kisses.”
Tchaikovsky wrote close to one hundred songs for voice and piano. “Net tol’ko tot kto znal”, with poetry by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey, is one of the most well loved of these works. “Only one who has known what it is to long for one’s beloved can know how I have suffered, and how I suffer still”.
Rachmaninov, best known for his virtuosic works for piano, was a prolific composer and committed seventy songs for voice and piano to the repertoire. “O, dolgo budu ja” rises from the bass of the piano like perfume from the nape. Sensual and raw, Rachmaninov captures vividly in this song the intoxication of new love.
Selected Songs of Charles Ives
Charles Ives was one of the first American composers to achieve international recognition. A composer, actuary, and businessman, the Connecticut-born composer drew from a variety of musical idioms and techniques, such as polytonality, polyrhythm and collage, which created a sound world that was ahead of its time. Ives’ father was a US Army bandleader. The influence of Americana, hymn tunes, and parlor music results in a sonic nostalgia for the town square, while pushing the envelope through dissonance and complexity into the modernist era. The songs on this program contain the multitudes of Mr. Ives’ compositional oeuvre.
“David Leigh on Arranging American Folk Songs
When I was still a music composition student at Yale, the great American composer David Lang visited our seminar to speak about writing for singers. “Writing for the voice is like being a tailor,” he said. “So much of the task is in making sure that the piece fits who the singer is, both the throat and the personality.”
As a singer, I’ve spent much of my career abroad, immersed in the musical traditions of others—singing German music in Germany, French music in France. But from the start, I made it a priority to sing American music in America. Over a decade ago, with this in mind, I began arranging American folk songs; the very first arrangement I wrote was for a collaboration with Mario, with whom I’m honored to perform today. My approach is, I hope, very much like that of a tailor; I’ve often been struck by arrangements I hear in the course of my work that feel out of step with how I understand these songs. I’m always curious to hear how audiences interpret them—perhaps differently than I do.”
—Marra
Meet the artists Upcoming MNOP+ performances:
DAVID LEIGH , Bass
American bass David Leigh, a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, has been described by Opera News as “a bass of unusual agility, depth and darkness,” and is internationally known for his visceral and intelligent singing.
In the 2024-2025 season, Mr. Leigh will make his debut at the Opéra national de Paris as Virgilio in Pascal Dusapin’s world-premiere production of Il Viaggio, Dante, conducted by Kent Nagano, Rocco in Fidelio with Washington National Opera, and in concert, two appearances with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, both with Semyon Bychkov, first in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass on tour in Karlovy Vary and at Carnegie Hall, and then Pater Profundus in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 as part of the Prague Spring Festival, which will later be released as a recording. Elsewhere, he joins the Rochester Philharmonic for Mozart’s Requiem, the Nashville Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 , and Claggart in Billy Budd at Teatro Colón.
MARIO ANTONIO MARRA , Piano
Italian-American pianist, coach, and conductor, Mario Antonio Marra, has been described by the Frankfurter Allgemeine as possessing a “primal power” at the piano. He has served on the music staff at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and Oper Frankfurt among others. An active recitalist, he has recently performed with many of today’s most sought-after singers including Željko Lučić, Eric Owens, Quinn Kelsey, and Stephanie Blythe.
He has been presented at prestigious venues internationally, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Oper Frankfurt, and the Civic Opera House in Chicago. Passionate in his work nurturing and coaching the next generation of singers, Mr. Marra serves on the faculty of the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and Music Academy of the West. A graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, Marra’s mentors and teachers include Norma Verrilli, Marilyn Nonken, and Warren Jones.
7PM | LUMINARY ARTS CENTER
700 N. 1ST ST, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Thursday, February 27, 2025
Notte Napulitano with Mario Antonio Marra and Resident Artists
MN Opera Resident Artists will perform in a unique evening of Neapolitan music.
Friday, February 28, 2025
Nymphs, Spinners, & Witches: The Magical Feminine in Opera | An Evening with the MN Opera Chorus Twenty-four talented soprano and alto artists of our MN Opera Chorus will perform an eclectic concert of scenes from Rusalka, Cendrillon, Macbeth, and more, alongside works by Nadia Boulanger and Libby Larsen, interspersed with narration, prose, and poetry.
Saturday, March 1, 2025
Warm Embrace: Songs to Escape the Cold with Ann Toomey and Joseph Li Take refuge from the last vestiges of the winter chill with soprano Ann Toomey and pianist Joseph Li in a multi-genre concert of classical, jazz, and more.
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Warren Jones Residency Recital Warren Jones, one of the great collaborative pianists of our time, will curate a program and perform alongside MN Opera Resident Artists for an intimate evening of song.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Luci Burdick, Stage Manager
Evan Peterson, Luminary House Technician
The Museum of Russian Art
The Barber of Seville MAY 3–18, 2025
Where love is concerned, too much is not even enough.
Music: Gioachino Rossini
Libretto: Cesare Sterbini
The Snowy Day FEB 8–16, 2025
In the fresh snow, every footstep is marked with magic.
