2021-2022
CANDLER CONCERT SERIES PRETTY YENDE, soprano Sunday, October 3 at 4 p.m.
This concert is presented by the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. This concert will be available as a livestream performance for ticket holders. 404.727.5050 | schwartz.emory.edu | boxoffice@emory.edu
Audience Information Pretty Yende will remove her face covering while singing. This exception to Emory’s face covering policy was approved by the Emory Environmental Health and Safety Office. In addition to the safety precautions already in place, the first several rows of Emerson Concert Hall are not seated for this performance.
In Consideration Please turn off all electronic devices. Face masks covering the nose and mouth are required at all times in the Schwartz Center.
Photographs and Recordings Digital capture or recording of this concert is not permitted.
Ushers The Schwartz Center welcomes a volunteer usher corps of approximately 60 members each year. Visit schwartz.emory.edu/volunteer or call 404.727.6640 for ushering opportunities.
Accessibility The Schwartz Center is committed to providing performances and facilities accessible to all. Please direct accommodation requests to the Schwartz Center Box Office at 404.727.5050, or by email at boxoffice@emory.edu.
Design and Photography Credits Cover Design: Nick Surbey | Program Design: Lisa Baron Pretty Yende Photos: Dario Acosta | Back Cover Photo: Mark Teague
Acknowledgment The Schwartz Center gratefully acknowledges the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz.
This program is made possible by a generous gift from the late Flora Glenn Candler, a friend and patron of music at Emory University.
2021–2022
CANDLER CONCERT SERIES
Pretty Yende, soprano Kamal Khan, piano Sunday, October 3, 2021, 4:00 p.m. Emerson Concert Hall Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Program Vanne o rosa fortunata Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835) La conocchia Gaetano Donizetti L’amor funesto (1797–1848) “O luce di quest’anima” from Linda di chamounix La promessa from Les soirées musicales Gioachino Rossini “Partir o ciel desio” from Il viaggio a Reims (1792–1868)
—Intermission— Tre sonetti di Petrarca Pace non trovo Benedetto sia’l giorno I’ vidi in terra angelici costumi
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Ballade No. 2 in F Major, op. 38 Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) “Oh, se una volta sola” from La Sonnambula Bellini “Ah! non credea mirarti” from La Sonnambula “Ah! non giunge uman pensiero” from La Sonnambula
Program subject to change.
Pretty Yende is represented by GM Art & Music. gmartandmusic.com Pretty Yende records exclusively for Sony Classical.
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Program Notes Vanne o rosa fortunata Though Vincenzo Bellini is best known as one of the foremost composers of bel canto opera, having written such cornerstones of the repertoire as Norma and La Sonnambula, he also wrote a number of more intimate songs for voice and piano. Bellini composed the majority of his composizioni da camera, or chamber compositions, after his first opera premiered in 1825. Vanne o rosa fortunata appears in a set of six ariette, or little arias, which Bellini wrote in 1829. He dedicated the set to Marianna Pollini, the wife of Francesco Pollini, a piano teacher at the Milan Conservatory. The elderly, childless couple had taken in the young composer and treated him like their own son, even nursing him through various illnesses. Although Bellini termed Vanne o rosa fortunata an arietta, the vocal style of this song and the others in the set is much simpler, containing none of the vocal pyrotechnics typical of his opera arias–such as the one you will hear later in the program. The melody, structure, and accompaniment of Vanne are straightforward, but the song carries the distinctive charm and romantic ardor that have become synonymous with Bellini’s vocal writing.
La conocchia and L’amor funesto Gaetano Donizetti, having written 65 operas during his lifetime, was similarly prolific in the realm of vocal chamber music. However, of the more than 250 songs Donizetti wrote, only about 30 are available in modern editions, and even fewer are performed with any regularity. La conocchia is a charming, single-verse folksong in Neapolitan dialect about a young woman spinning at her window. She coquettishly drops her thread in front of the man she fancies as he walks by so she can watch him pick it up for her. L’amor funesto, on the other hand, is a spurned lover’s polemic against the one that got away. This song verges on the territory of aria; the extended piano introduction could easily be an orchestral introduction to an aria in one of Donizetti’s operas, and, in fact, this song is sometimes performed with obligato horn. The ardent romanza culminates in pleading cries of “t’amo, dicesti” (“I love you, you said”) that rise chromatically with each repetition, amping up the intensity and desperation. The song ends tenderly with the voice in quiet duet with a single piano line as if the voice of the absent lover.
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“O luce di quest’anima” from Linda di Chamounix Much of Donizetti’s later works, such as this opera semiseria (or semiserious opera—a genre that mixes pathos and irony), have been underrated and neglected until recently. Written for the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna, Linda di Chamounix was a huge success when it premiered in 1842. It is mostly remembered for the protagonist’s thrilling aria, “O luce di quest’anima,” which has been a favorite concert piece among coloratura sopranos, even though the opera is rarely performed. Unusual for a bel canto opera, this showstopper comes in the first act instead of at the denouement, leaving the audience with somewhat of an anticlimax—a fact that is often cited as one of the reasons this opera largely disappeared from the common repertoire. Set in Savoy in the 18th century, Linda di Chamounix tells the story of a peasant girl, Linda, who is in love with a penniless painter named Carlo. We later discover that he is actually a nobleman in disguise. Linda follows him to Paris, where a series of misfortunes befall her until she is rescued, and they live happily ever after. Typical of bel canto opera, the plot is full of mistaken identities, misunderstandings, and even a mad scene (a Donizetti specialty). Linda sings “O luce di quest’anima” before she knows Carlo’s true identity and before anything can cloud her happiness. In this scene, Linda arrives for a rendezvous with Carlo but is too late and has missed him. She finds the flowers he left for her as a token of his love and sings that she will live only for him. Here, the vocal athleticism that is the hallmark of bel canto style is on full display.
La promessa from Les soirées musicales By age 37, Gioachino Rossini had written some 40 operas, but after composing Guillaume Tell in 1829, he became disenchanted with the genre
“Pretty Yende is one of today’s most sought-after sopranos, best known for her charisma and vocal fireworks. She is exciting to watch and has proven herself to be a performer capable of exposing new insights into each character she inhabits.” —Operawire
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and never again wrote for the stage. For the next 40 years of his life, he composed little else besides a few sacred works and a series of short vocal and instrumental pieces, including three collections of songs. Many of these songs were performed during the weekly musical salons he and his wife held in their Parisian home. La promessa is the first song in a set called Les soirées musicales, published in 1835 as a nod to these legendary musical evenings. The set comprises 12 songs: eight solo canzonettas and four duets written for various voice types. The songs are simple in form but masterfully crafted. La promessa is a straightforward love song with poetry by the prolific 18th-century poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio. In it, a lover swears eternal love and faithfulness to their beloved. It begins and ends in the style of a gentle barcarolle (a traditional Venetian gondolier song), which contrasts with the more impassioned middle section.
“Partir o ciel desio” from Il viaggio a Reims Rossini was commissioned to write Il viaggio a Reims to celebrate the coronation of the French king Charles X in 1825. In occasional works such as this, Rossini often took musical material from previous compositions or later reworked the score into new pieces. In the case of Il viaggio a Reims, Rossini withdrew the opera after only four performances despite the enthusiastic public reception and eventually reworked about half of the score into one of his greatest and most enduring operas, Le Comte Ory, three years later. Had he not done so, this music may have been lost forever, especially given the specificity of the plot and the vocal demands it places on its large cast. Even so, the opera was lost to the annals of time until it was rediscovered and reassembled in the 1980s. The plot, which was tailored to the occasion the opera was written to celebrate, centers on a group of European aristocrats who have stopped at a spa resort on their way to Charles X’s coronation in Reims. However, they suffer a series of transportation mishaps that prevent them from attending, so they devise their own way to celebrate at the resort. In this aria, the fashion-crazed Countess di Folleville has just arrived at the hotel, but the stagecoach carrying her clothes has overturned. Upon hearing this news, the countess faints, lamenting the loss of her beloved garments. Luckily, her maid enters with a bonnet that has survived the accident, and the countess rejoices. In typical Rossinian style, this challenging aria is full of impossibly fast coloratura, playful staccati, and exuberant runs that traverse the singer’s whole range, painting a vivid picture of this charming but frivolous character.
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Pace non trovo, Benedetto sia’l giorno, and I’ vidi in terra angelici costumi from Tre sonetti di Petrarca As a famous piano virtuoso, Franz Liszt toured extensively throughout Europe. He wrote a three-volume set of piano suites called Années de Pèlerinage (or Years of Pilgrimage) in an attempt to capture the essence of the places he visited. Tre sonetti di Petrarca, the solo piano version of which appears in the Italian volume, was directly inspired by Liszt’s travels to Italy in 1838–1839. During this trip, he discovered the sonnets of the Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarca (or Petrarch). As the story goes, Petrarch fell madly in love with a woman named Laura whom he saw in the church of Sainte-Claire d’Avignon on Good Friday in 1327. The passion he felt for this woman, though unrequited, led him to leave his vocation as a priest and write 366 poems in her honor in an influential collection known as Il Canzoniere, or The Songbook. Before attempting to write his own art songs, Liszt transcribed other composers’ vocal works for solo piano, even transcribing Rossini’s Les soirées musicales. Despite this reverence for other composers’ works, Liszt always had an eye to the future. He treated songs as a milieu for compositional experimentation, challenging the preconceived notions of the genre by expanding their formal structure, harmonic language, and virtuosity. Though Italian opera suffuses the vocal lines in Tre sonetti di Petrarca, Liszt uses much more adventurous harmonic progressions and elaborate piano accompaniments than bel canto opera composers dared to at the time. In Pace non trovo, the poet reflects on the contradictory feelings of being in love. He burns, but is made of ice—imprisoned, yet free. To convey these paradoxes, the vocal line alternates between agitated operatic outbursts 8
and expansive lyrical lines, the frustration erupting into epic high D-flats. In Benedetto sia’l giorno, the poet asks for blessings upon every aspect of his love for Laura, including the suffering it has caused him. After some harmonic meanderings in the piano introduction, the song begins simply but then cycles through numerous keys as Laura’s name is uttered. Finally, in I’ vidi in terra angelici costumi, the poet describes the heavenly, earthshattering beauty of his beloved. With a tender start, the piano plays luminescent, celestial interludes in the keyboard’s upper register between verses. After a brief climactic moment with a few surprising key changes, the song returns to a mood of reverence as the poet sings of Laura’s sweetness filling the air.
Ballade No. 2 in F Major, op. 38 What better bridge between the Italian opera-inspired grandeur of Liszt’s songs and the melancholy sweetness of the following Bellini aria could there be than Chopin’s masterful work, Ballade, No. 2? Uniting the pianistic virtuosity of the Hungarian composer and the melodic poignance of the Sicilian, the Polish master had already begun work on opus 38 when he departed on his ill-fated and highly operatic lovers’ tryst to Mallorca with writer George Sand. Aside from some rather startling harmonic and thematic pre-echoes of Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra (Act 1, scene 2 duet) in its development section, the coda of Chopin’s work also presages the tonality and ruthless momentum of the yet-to-be-written closing pages of Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes. — Program note by Kamal Khan.
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“Oh, se una volta sola,” “Ah! non credea mirarti,” and “Ah! non giunge uman pensiero” from La Sonnambula Bellini’s opera La Sonnambula shows the composer at the height of his compositional powers. Written in 1831 for two of the most revered singers of the day, Giuditta Pasta and Giovanni Rubini, the opera combines Bellini’s characteristic melodies with impressive feats of vocalism. This scene is in the form of a cavatina and cabaletta—an archetypal pairing in bel canto opera in which a slow, contemplative cavatina that shows off the singer’s legato, breath control, and soft singing is contrasted with an energetic, virtuosic cabaletta full of coloratura, ornaments, and high notes. Earlier in the opera, Amina innocently sleepwalks into Count Rodolfo’s room at the inn. Fortunately, he decides to not take advantage of her and leaves her to sleep in his bed. When the villagers discover the girl the next morning, her betrothed, Elvino, believing she has betrayed him, calls off their engagement. He ends up back with his ex, Lisa, and the two intend to marry. Rodolfo and Amina’s adopted mother, Teresa, try to convince Elvino of Amina’s innocence as he and Lisa make their way to the church. All of a sudden, a figure dressed in white appears on the mill roof. It’s Amina, sleepwalking yet again. Still asleep, she prays for Elvino’s happiness but grieves the loss of her beloved (“Oh, se una volta sola . . . Ah! non credea mirarti”). The beauty of her song convinces Elvino that she is innocent, and he returns the engagement ring to her finger. Amina awakes and is overjoyed, singing the lively cabaletta “Ah! non giunge uman pensiero.” — Program notes by Katherine Buzard © 2021, unless otherwise indicated.
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Pretty Yende, soprano Born in South Africa, Pretty Yende made her career debut in Riga as Micaela in Carmen. Her rise onto the global stage features performances from the most prominent venues worldwide, including appearances with Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Vienna Staatsoper, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Los Angeles Opera. Her signature roles include Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Violetta (La traviata), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Norina (Don Pasquale), Amina (La sonnambula), Elvira (I puritani), Countess Adele (Le comte Ory, which marked her house debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2013), Marie (La fille du régiment), Fiorilla (Il Turco in Italia), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Musetta (La bohème), Teresa (Benvenuto Cellini), Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de perles), as well as title roles in Manon and Lucia di Lammermoor. Highlights on the concert stage include her Carnegie Hall appearances in recital with pianist Kamal Khan and with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Yende has presented concerts in Switzerland, Spain, Austria, South Africa, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Prague; and she appeared in solo recitals at Oper Frankfurt, Opernhaus Zürich, Smetana Hall in Prague, and Barbican Centre in London. An exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical, her debut album A Journey (2016) was awarded the 2017 International Opera Award for Best Recording (Solo Recital) and the 2017 Echo Klassik Awards for Best Newcomer. Her second album, Dreams, was released in 2017. A graduate of the Young Artists Accademia of the Teatro alla Scala, Yende was the first artist in the history of the Belvedere competition to win top prize in every category, and went on to win First Prize in the Operalia Competition in 2011.
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Kamal Khan, piano Indian-American conductor and pianist Kamal Khan combines an active performing career with a passionate commitment to the globalization of operatic training. He has performed with many opera companies around the world including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Baltimore Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil, and Teatro de las Bellas Artes in Mexico City, among others. As a recitalist and accompanist, Khan has appeared in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Weill Hall in New York; the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; Gran Teatro Liceu and the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona; Palais Garnier in Paris; Suntory Hall and Casals Hall in Tokyo; the Palau de Congressos in Andorra; and the Baxter Concert Hall and Montecasino in South Africa with singers such as Marcelo Alvarez, Nadine Benjamin, Harolyn Blackwell, Nico Castel, Justino Diaz, Placido Domingo, Michael Fabiano, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Larisa Martinez, Angela Meade, Juan Pons, Herman Prey, Nadine Sierra, Sir Bryn Terfel, and Veronica Villarroel, and violinist Joshua Bell. Khan is a visiting Extraordinary Professor at North West University in South Africa, a founding member of Opera for Peace, artistic director of Classical Vocal Arts International, and director of the Taller para Cantantes in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is affiliate faculty at the Royal Opera Covent Garden Jette Parker Young Artists Program, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and the Voices of South Africa Festival and Competition. A native of Washington, DC, Khan was the recipient of the first National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts prize. He has also received prizes and grants from the National Association of Music Teachers and the National Symphony Orchestra. The PBS documentary I Live to Sing, based on his work in South Africa, won the 2014 Emmy for best cultural program. 12
Schwartz Center Staff
Rachael Brightwell, Managing Director Terry Adams, Box Office Coordinator Lisa Baron, Communications Specialist Carrie Christie, Program Coordinator Kathryn Colegrove, Associate Director for Programming and Outreach Lewis Fuller, Associate Director for Production and Operations Jennifer Kimball, Assistant Stage Manager Jeff Lenhard, Operations Assistant Alan Strange, Box Office Manager Nicholas Surbey, Senior Graphic Designer Mark Teague, Stage Manager Nina Vestal, House Manager Matt Williamson, Multimedia Specialist The Schwartz Center gratefully acknowledges the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz. To support this program, visit schwartz.emory.edu/give.
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Upcoming Music Events Many fall music events at Emory will require free online registration or tickets. Visit music.emory.edu or schwartz.emory.edu to view upcoming music events and their attendance requirements. To register, visit tickets.arts.emory.edu or call the Schwartz Center Box Office at 404.727.5050. Ticket prices are listed in the following order: Full price/Emory student price (unless otherwise noted as the price for all students). Thursday, October 7, 6:00 p.m., Jazz on the Green, Patterson Green, free, no registration required Friday, October 15, noon, Piano for Four Hands, ECMSA: Cooke Noontime Series, Michael C. Carlos Museum, free online registration required Friday, October 15, and Saturday, October 16, 8:00 p.m., This Amazing Day, Atlanta Master Chorale, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $35/$10 all students, tickets required Thursday, October 21, 6:00 p.m., Jazz on the Green, Patterson Green, free, no registration required Saturday, October 23, 8:00 p.m., Emory University Symphony Orchestra, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free tickets required Sunday, October 24, 4:00 p.m., Just Jazzin’ Around, ECMSA: Family Series, Michael C. Carlos Museum, free Sunday, October 24, 4:00 p.m., Emory Wind Ensemble, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free online registration required Friday, October 29, 8:00 p.m., Emory Choirs, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free online registration required Saturday, October 30, 8:00 p.m., Beethoven and a Big Band, ECMSA: Emerson Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free tickets required Tuesday, November 2, 8:00 p.m., Leonidas Kavakos, violin, and Yuja Wang, piano, Candler Concert Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $80/$10, tickets required Sunday, November 7, 4:00 p.m., Emory Chamber Ensembles, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free online registration required 14
WELCOME BACK to the SCHWARTZ CENTER! More Candler Concert Series Coming Soon schwartz.emory.edu Leonidas Kavakos, violin and Yuja Wang, piano
Tuesday, November 2 at 8 p.m. This pair of superstars share the stage in their first visit to the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Each outstanding soloists, together they leave audiences breathless with the beauty and intensity of their performance.
Our Song, Our Story—The New Generation of Black Voices Friday, January 28 at 8 p.m.
Created and directed by composer, conductor, and multi-genre musician Damien Sneed, Our Song, Our Story highlights some of the world’s most well-known operatic arias, art songs, and spirituals. Featuring Raehann Bryce-Davis, mezzo soprano, and Brandie Inez Sutton, soprano, with a string quartet and Sneed on piano.
An Evening with Branford Marsalis
Friday, February 18 at 8 p.m. Branford Marsalis, musician, composer, and bandleader, returns to the Schwartz Center stage with his powerful jazz ensemble. Known for its deep book of original music and unrivaled spirit in performance, the Branford Marsalis Quartet has long been recognized as the standard to which other ensembles of its kind must be measured. 15
CANDLER CONCERT SERIES
Welcome back! The Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series brings internationally-renowned artists to Emory University's Schwartz Center for Performing Arts—to the Emerson Concert Hall or the virtual stage. The artists come from a variety of musical genres—traditional classical ensembles including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and contemporary artists like Kronos Quartet. The series is made possible by a generous gift from the late Flora Glenn Candler, a friend and patron of music at Emory University.