6 SIX Westminster Hall Minneapolis, MN August 5–9, 2019
TH SEASO
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THE MENDELSSOHNS
Music of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn Saturday, April 4, 2020, 8-10 PM
Benson Great Hall, Bethel University, Arden Hills Musical talent often runs in families, and one of history’s most talented set of siblings were the Mendelssohns—Felix and Fanny. Felix was known for his symphonies and oratorios, while his sister, Fanny, was an accomplished pianist and composer who wrote cantatas and over 100 art songs and had an unerring feel for spoken word. Will you be able to discern who wrote what? Hear their music side-by-side in this celebration of Felix and Fanny’s marvelous musical creations.
Tickets: $20-$40 | vocalessence.org | 612-371-5656
SOURCE: noun [s urs] : someone or something that provides what is wanted or needed : the cause of something : a person, book, etc., that gives information : A GENERATIVE FORCE Hello, and welcome to the SIXTH annual Source Song Festival. Because you are here, reading this, we think we know a few things about you: you are curious, you appreciate good words, you support good music, you value good performances and you are energized by the magic that is created when those things collide. So. Are. We! That magic is a Song. There’s a lot that goes into a Song, and we have built our sixth season around those ingredients. OpenSource is always our way to showcase our home: Minnesota. In past years, we have celebrated a single composer, presented world premieres and commissions, and even managed one special composer his very own bus pass. This year, we present a chronology of songs: songs 60 years old, and songs not yet heard. What an honor to play a small part in this rich history. A Song starts with the text. 2019 marks the bicentennial of Walt Whitman, and to celebrate the foundational role of words in Song, we have curated an entire day celebrating Whitman’s output and his impact. We proudly welcome national Whitman scholar Ed Folsom, as we explore Whitman’s influence, but more importantly: the critical role of all poets and writers in Song. A poem transitions into Song by way of the composer. On Monday, we’ll hear nearly 30 Minnesotan composers, Friday evening, we’ll hear 5 more from Minnesota, and Friday night: we hear what’s next. Our MNSong program, lead by Libby Larsen, and joined this year by David Evan Thomas, showcases new voices and perspectives from across the continent, and celebrates new Songs, performed by world-class musicians who live right here. So, a poem has been set to music, and we have a Song, but without skilled and thoughtful musicians to perform it - it remains silent. Our MNDuo program is lead by our outstanding faculty of Arlene Shrut, Ruth Palmer, and guest artists Paul Sperry, Warren Jones and Tamara Wilson. These artists bring to Source a deep understanding and respect for both the text and the music, and the passionate insight of consummate communicators. Thursday’s recital with Tamara and Warren, entitled ‘Frontiers,’ shows us the best of America; it celebrates our spirit of exploration, our diversity of musical languages, our technological achievements, and the groundbreaking women who exemplify these skills, traits, . Songs bring out the best in us - and this concert celebrates the best of us. Finally: if a Song is performed in Westminster Hall, but there is no one there to hear it, is it really a Song? Audiences complete the cycle of a Song’s life. They are meant to be heard, discussed, enjoyed, disliked, celebrated, and heard again. By being here, you are furthering the life of these Songs, you are participating in the work of the writers, composers and performers. You are necessary. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being curious. Thank you for caring about words and music. Thank you for coming back tomorrow and bringing a friend.
-Mark Bilyeu and Clara Osowski
Schedule of public Events Monday, August 5 3:00p Masterclass: Arlene Shrut, pianist 7:30p RECITAL: OpenSource: Six Decades of MN Song Tuesday, August 6 10:00a Masterclass: Arlene Shrut, pianist 2:30p Workshop: Grant Writing with Noah Keesecker 5:00p Workshop: Text Setting with Libby Larsen 6:30p Masterclass: Warren Jones, pianist
Chapel Westminster Hall Chapel Meisel Room Westminster Hall
Wednesday, August 7 - WALT WHITMAN WEDNESDAY 10:00a Lecture: Walt Whitman, Bard of Democracy Meisel Room with Ed Folsom 1:30p Discussion: The Pitfalls of Setting Whitman Meisel Room with Libby Larsen & Paul Sperry 3:00p Panel: To the Perfect Shape Comes Common Ground: Meisel Room How Text Gets Paired with Song 7:30p RECITAL: Walt Whitman in Song Westminster Hall hosted by Ed Folsom & Paul Sperry Thursday, August 8 1:00p Workshop: Libby Larsen on Commissioning 3:00p Masterclass: Comedic Songs with Paul Sperry, tenor 7:30p RECITAL: Frontiers with Tamara Wilson & Warren Jones Friday, August 9 1:00p Masterclass: Tamara Wilson, soprano 6:00p RECITAL: MNDuo Music of Minnesota with MNDuo Performers 8:00p RECITAL: MNSong Composer Showcase with Libby Larsen & MNSong Composers
Meisel Room Westminster Hall Westminster Hall
Westminster Hall Westminster Hall Westminster Hall
Westminster Hall, Chapel & Meisel Room are located on the first floor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church campus.
1200 Marquette Avenue | Minneapolis, MN 55403 Pay Parking is off Alice Rainville Place (13th St) between Nicollet Mall and Marquette Ave. please pay for your parking at the Westminster welcome desk
very special thanks to our LEAD SPONSOR:
for the donation of this beautiful piano for use during our festival 408 Snelling Ave South | St Paul, MN | 55105 https://www.wellspianos.com/
SOURCE SONG FESTIVAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jon Lewis, President Dawn Johnson, Treasurer Alexandra Wigley, Secretary Amy Gort, At-Large Kelly Krebs, At-Large Justin Miedema, At-Large Scott Rehovsky, At-Large Marg Walker, At-Large
Source Song festival Staff Clara Osowski, Founding Artistic Director
Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, who sings “from inside the music with unaffected purity and sincerity” (UK Telegraph), is an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe. Recognized for her excellence in Minnesota, Clara was a recipient of the prestigious 2018-2019 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Musicians administered by MacPhail Center for Music. In international competition with pianist Tyler Wottrich, in March of 2017, Clara became the first ever American prize winner when she placed second at Thomas Quasthoff’s International Das Lied Competition in Heidelberg, Germany. In September, the duo was also one of four to reach the finals in the prestigious Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Song Competition in London, and Clara was awarded the Richard Tauber Prize for the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder. She recently won the Radio-Canada People’s Choice Award and third place in the song division at the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montréal. 2018-2019 season highlights include debuts with the Mid-Columbia Symphony, St. Paul Civic Orchestra, Tulsa Signature Symphony, Back Bay Chorale, and the Mobile Symphony Orchestra. Clara also teaches on the faculty at Aspen Music Festival’s Professional Choral Institute in partnership with Seraphic Fire. Please see www.claraosowski. com for more
Mark Bilyeu, Founding Artistic Director
Described as “superb partner,” (schubert.org), pianist Mark Bilyeu passionately engages in music as a committed performer, inspiring teacher and enterprising curator. He maintains an active performing schedule as a sought-after partner, and has served as faculty at Viterbo University and was the Visiting Artist in Vocal Coaching and Collaborative Piano at the University of Northern Iowa He has been heard via live radio broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio with soprano Lori Phillips, and on WFMT via the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series with Clara Osowski. Recognized for his investment in Minnesota, the Star Tribune wrote “…Bilyeu… [is] to the Minnesota classical music scene what craft brewers are to the beer industry — purveyor of a distinctive local product, at a period when corporate brands and entities seem increasingly distant and distrusted.” Mark is the Artistic Director of the South Metro Chorale, Assistant Conductor of Calliope Women's Chorus, Director of Music at Calvin Presbyterian Church, and curates The Listening Circle at the Schubert Club of Saint Paul. He holds degrees from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and the University of Minnesota, studying with Timothy Lovelace and Chicago Symphony Orchestra pianist Mary Sauer. He has studied at the Aspen Summer Music Festival, Britten-Pears, Vancouver International Song Institute and l’Academie Françis Poulenc. Additional studies with Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles and Susan Manoff. He is heard on the Navonna and Bridge labels, and a Winterreise recording with English tenor Jon Valender on Leaf Records due this fall. Please see www.markbilyeu.com for more.
Emily Riley, Festival Administrator
Considered a "vocal standout" by The Washington Post, soprano Emily Riley finds herself at home on the concert and operatic stage. She was a 2018 Fellow in the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar as well as a past participant at the Baldwin Wallace Art Song Festival and Songfest. She was an Encouragement Award recipient from the Metropolitan Opera Council DC District Auditions in 2014 and holds a Bachelor of Music from Towson University and Master of Solo Voice from the University of Maryland. She is currently based out of Washington, D.C. and studies with Jennifer Casey Cabot. Emily joined Source Song Festival in 2015. Mark and Clara have no idea how they managed that first year without her.
MUSIC OF MN RECITAL Friday, August 9 | 6:00p Westminster Hall Hear the exceptional students of the MNDuo program perform music of local composers: Abbie Betinis, Edie Hill, Linda Tutas Haugen, Timothy C. Takach, and David Evan Thomas. This FREE concert is followed by the culminating recital of the MNSong Composer Showcase at 8:00p.
Source Song Festival presents
OpenSource: Six Decades of Minnesota Song Celebrating the six years of Source Song Festival August 5, 2019 7:30p | Westminster Hall
PROGRAM
(please hold your applause until the end of each decade)
1960's
Minnesota, Tapestry of Living Lace ('64) Hush’d be the camps ('64) (Whitman) The Crow from Three Scenes ('65) A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall ('63) Lullaby ('63) from Belloc’s Beasts ('60) The Polar Bear The Whale The Frog
1970's
The Light of Other Days from Spoon River Anthology ('71) The Cambridge ladies from four e.e. cummings songs ('74) Baby ('78) Parents from From the Diary of Virginia Woolf ('74)
Hanna Rolfsrud Weltzin Celius Dougherty Philip Rhodes Bob Dylan / arr. Andrew Staniland Gene Gutchë Paul Fetler
Hiram Titus Carol Barnett Prince / arr. Liam Moore Dominick Argento
1980's Song from Night Dances ('87) How Will I live My Life Now from O’Mary’s ('89) When I am Dead, my Dearest ('83) Musicians wrestle everywhere from An Emily Dickinson Cycle ('87)
Juliana Hall Victor Zupanc Daniel Kallman Cary John Franklin
INTERMISSION
1990's I Am the One ('98) Night ('92) Perineo ('93) The Loons ('92)
Janika Vandervelde Mary Ellen Childs Libby Larsen Carolyn Jennings
2000's A Blessing ('00) Obligation … In Excelsis† from Amy Lowell: A Rare Pattern ('02) Für Elise... from Virgie Rainey - Two Narratives ('02)
David Evan Thomas Edie Hill Judith Lang Zaimont
2010's February* ('18) Torch Song from Glensheen ('15) Winter and Construction§ † ('18) Refugee (Variations on immigration) ('18) Outside Work* ('19)
Justin Rubin Chan Poling Liam Moore Steve Heitzeg J. David Moore
with Bergen Baker, Tracey Engleman, Emily Riley, Rachel Storlie, & Norah Long, sopranos Clara Osowski & KrisAnne Weiss†, mezzo-sopranos Jacob Christopher†, tenor | Pablo Siqueiros, baritone & Alan Dunbar† bass-baritone Mark Bilyeu† & Timothy Lovelace & Ruth Palmer†, pianists
* World Premiere | § Source Commission | †Premiering Artist
OpenSource artists Source is Digital!
In an effort to conserve paper, complete biographies of Source Artists can be found online. We encourage you to use the built-in camera on your phone to read about these artists indepth. Simply open your camera, or QR Code reader, hold your device over the QR Code so that it’s clearly visible within your smartphone’s screen, and Presto! Your smartphone reads the code and navigates to our website with complete bios of all performers! (note: This might not happen instantly. It may take a few seconds on most devices.). We thank you for helping us transition more of our content to a digital platform!
Bergen Baker, soprano
Hailed by the Star Tribune as having a “fetching blend of grace, warmth and humor on stage,” Bergen Baker has been a featured performer with local companies such as Minnesota Opera, The Minnesota Orchestra, and Skylark Opera, as well as many operatic and symphonic companies across the country. Ms. Baker holds a passion for arts education and served as Teaching Artist for Minnesota Opera from 2012-14. She is the Managing Director and a frequent performer for LOFTrecital, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing new and forgotten music to the next generation of recital audiences. Ms. Baker joined Source Song Festival in 2018.
Jacob Christopher, tenor
Jacob Christopher has delighted audiences with his unique combination of vocal and dramatic skills in performance styles ranging from art song to country western to opera. He began his professional career in Chicago where he sang with Music of the Baroque and as a chorister with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2016 Jacob is beginning his fourth season as a tenor and Artistic Director of Cantus, an eightmember vocal chamber ensemble based in Minneapolis. Mr. Christopher has been a frequent performer with Source Song Festival since 2016.
Alan Dunbar, bass-baritone
Alan Dunbar is a versatile performer, lauded for his beautiful tone and his nuanced musical and textual interpretation. He was heard recently as the baritone soloist in the world premiere of Justin Merritt’s oratorio The Path. Past performances include the title role of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde at Santa Fe Opera, Handel’s Messiah with the Santa Fe Symphony and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and recitals at the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute. Alan made his European solo recital debut at the Oslo Grieg Festival and was a Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Mr. Dunbar has been a frequent performer with Source Song Festival since 2014.
Tracey Engleman, soprano
With a voice the Boston Globe called “extraordinary in range, tonal quality, musicianship and dramatic effect,” soprano Tracey Engleman has gained a reputation for excellence in opera, recital, and concert. A recipient of the prestigious McKnight Artist Fellowship for Musicians, Her CD Lift me into Heaven Slowly featuring song cycles by Libby Larsen was released by Innova Records in 2017. An alumni of the Tanglewood Music Center and the Art Song Festival of Cleveland, she is Assistant Professor of Music at her alma mater, St. Olaf College. Ms. Engleman has been a frequent performer with Source Song Festival since 2014.
Norah Long, soprano
Norah Long has built an award-winning and strongly integrated singing-acting career performing over 100 principal roles and originating over a dozen with companies including the Guthrie, Arvada Center, Riverside Theater, Penumbra, Ordway, Skylark Opera, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Nautilus Music-Theater, Minnesota Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. She is a founding member of Upstream Arts, an organization which uses arts-based curriculum to foster social and communication skills in the disability community, and serves as voice and theater faculty at North Central University. 2019 marks Ms. Long's debut with Source Song Festival.
OpenSource artists Timothy Lovelace, pianist
Pianist Timothy Lovelace heads the Collaborative Piano program at the University of Minnesota and is an active recitalist, having been featured at Rio de Janeiro’s Sala Cecilia Meireles, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, New York’s Merkin Concert Hall, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, and on chamber music series sponsored by the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, he has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä. He has recorded for the Albany, Arabesque, Blue Griffin, Boston Records, MSR, and Naxos labels. Mr. Lovelace last appeared with Source Song Festival in 2014.
Ruth Palmer, pianist
Ruth Palmer has a distinguished career as pianist, vocal coach, and choral conductor, all in pursuit of following her passion and belief in the art of singing and its importance in our human connection. Her concertizing career brought her to stages such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, The National Gallery of Art, The Beaux Arts Society of Brussels, and locally to the Ordway McKnight Theatre and Orchestra Hall. She has played for masterclasses of Art Song greats such as Elly Ameling and Gerard Souzay, and pianist for premieres of Gian Carol Menotti, Libby Larsen, Richard Hundley, Abbie Betinis, and Edie Hill. Ms. Palmer has been a frequent performer and clinician with Source Song Festival since 2014.
Pablo Siqueiros, baritone
Baritone Pablo Siqueiros is enjoying his second year as a Teaching Artist with Minnesota Opera. During his time there he has delivered educational programming to thousands of people, from toddlers to seniors, gaining praise for his innovative and friendly approach. He has also been seen onstage in Minnesota Opera’s recent productions of Silent Night and The Italian Straw Hat. Before moving to Minnesota, he was an established presence at the Florentine Opera Company and was a Young Artist with Opera Theater of Pittsburgh. Other professional credits include Skylight Music Theater, Milwaukee Opera Theater, and Sugar Creek Opera (IL). 2019 marks Mr. Siqueiros' debut with Source Song Festival.
Rachel Storlie, soprano
Rachel Storlie's singing adventures have taken her from the midwest to Europe, with a surprising Russian-Italian connection leading to her Weill Recital (Carnegie) Hall debut in 2018. An avid art song researcher and collector, Ms. Storlie has been awarded institutional grants to study obscure or underappreciated composers. She hails from Spring Grove, MN. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Northern Iowa, and currently teaches voice at her undergraduate alma mater, Luther College in Decorah, IA. 2019 marks Ms. Storlie's debut with Source Song Festival.
KrisAnne Weiss, mezzo-soprano
KrisAnne Weiss has performed leading roles in many operas, with companies such as Skylark Opera, Arbeit Opera Theatre, Lyric Opera of the North, Opera Omaha, Central City Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Opera on the Lake, and concert work with organizations from Zeitgeist to the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. An advocate of contemporary music and art song, Dr. Weiss has premiered and workshopped countless new compositions, among them, Edie Hill’s dramatic concert work Amy Lowell: A Rare Pattern. She has taught on the faculties of the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, Lawrence University, and Luther College, and currently teaches privately in St. Paul. Ms. Weiss has been a frequent performer with Source Song Festival since 2014.
For Biographies of Mark Bilyeu, Clara Osowski & Emily Riley, please see p. 5 or visit the Source Song Festival Website via the QR Code.
Arlene Shrut pianist & MNDuo Mentor
Collaborative pianist and coach Arlene Shrut is heralded as both a steward for the artistic traditions of classical music as well as a visionary for its future. Hailed by The New York Times as a “strong and sensitive pianist,” she performs with the elite performers of today while training the musicians of tomorrow. In January 2018, Shrut was appointed to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music Artist Faculty. Having served in the past as head coach and pianist for the Atlantic Music Festival, she has been chosen to chair the new Collaborative Piano Program beginning in summer 2018. Shrut has also been selected to serve as the Collaborative Piano Master Teacher at the 2018 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Intern Program in Boulder, Colorado. In the spring of 2017, Shrut launched a new performance project that celebrates the piano as an orchestral substitute. The Sorel Organization presented her with its first Sorel Legacy Medallion, which supported the premiere performance of the Requiem of Solace: Brahms’ Human Requiem at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As a performer, Shrut has collaborated with Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, Angela Meade, Isabel Leonard, Carla Rae Cook, Michael Fabiano, Anton Belov, Alissa Deeter, and Takaoki Onishi. She regularly serves as official pianist and judge for international opera competitions sponsored by The Gerda Lissner Foundation, The Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, The Giulio Gari Foundation, The Loren Zachary Society, The Marcello Giordani Foundation, and the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation. While on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, Shrut taught classes and coached productions featuring Mozart and German operas. She also served as head of the Accompanying Department at Syracuse University and on the Evening Division Faculties of The Juilliard School and Mannes College and in May 2016, Shrut was honored for her twenty-five years of service as a faculty member of The Juilliard School. In 2003, Classical Singer magazine named Shrut its inaugural “Coach of the Year.” Shrut has been on the artist faculty at Source Song Festival as a featured pianist and teacher since 2015. Other festivals that have recently featured Shrut as pianist, vocal coach, and teacher for collaborative pianists include the Vancouver International Song Institute, Opera Experience Southeast, Greensboro Light Opera and Song, Operafest on Martha's Vineyard, Resonanz Festival in New Jersey, and Songfest in Malibu. A musical visionary, Shrut has been at the forefront of music's changing landscape, serving as Founder and Artistic Director of New Triad for Collaborative Arts (2003-14), which advanced training, generated opportunities, and created innovative solutions to promote classical music. Shrut continues to develop groundbreaking performance and educational projects that are moving and sustainable for our times. Please visit ArleneShrut.com for more information.
Mark Bilyeu, Artistic Director
Now holding Fall 2019 Auditions audition@southmetrochorale.org | www.southmetrochorale.org
ON A
g re a te r SCALE music.umn.edu
Source Song Festival presents
Walt Whitman in Song
an evening celebrating the Bicentennial of Whitman's birth hosted and curated by Ed Folsom & Paul Sperry and featuring the artists of the MNDuo Program August 7, 2019 7:30p |Westminster Hall
PROGRAM
(concert order subject to change)
I Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the Organ Scott Eyerly Michaela Gleason, mezzo-soprano | Valdone Arffa, pianist A Clear Midnight Tom Cipullo Shari Eve Feldman, soprano | Jonathan King, pianist The Commonplace Ernst Bacon Krista Costin, mezzo-soprano | Xiang Wei, pianist Ethiopia Saluting the Colors H.T. Burleigh Harrison Hintszche, baritone | Mary Trotter, pianist Three Whitman Songs Ruth Schönthal Thought Visor’d A Child’s Amaze Annie Tillotson, soprano | Nathan Cicero, pianist Dirge for Two Veterans Liza Forrester Kelly, soprano | Donald Speer, pianist
Kurt Weill
28 Young Men Shari Eve Feldman, soprano | Jonathan King, pianist
Lee Hoiby
As I Watched the Ploughman Plowing Robert Ward Lauren Craig, soprano | Szu-Ying Huang, pianist Specimen Case Daron Hagen Annie Tillotson, soprano | Nathan Cicero, pianist Look Down, Fair Moon Charles Najinsky Krista Costin, mezzo-soprano | Xiang Wei, pianist
Inauguration Ball
Harrison Hintszche, baritone | Mary Trotter, pianist Darest Thou Now, O Soul
Krista Costin, mezzo-soprano | Xiang Wei, pianist
Ned Rorem Ernst Bacon
Sing on There in the Swamp Paul Hidemith
Michaela Gleason, mezzo-soprano | Valdone Arffa, pianist
Rhapsodie
Louis Campbell-Tipton
Annie Tillotson, soprano | Nathan Cicero, pianist To What You Said
Leonard Bernstein
Aleksandar Reupert, bass | Mackenzie Marr, pianist A Clear Midnight
Aleksandar Reupert, bass | Mackenzie Marr, pianist Paumanok
Lauren Craig, soprano | Szu-Ying Huang, pianist Full of Life Now
Liza Forrester Kelly, soprano | Donald Speer, pianist Complete biographies of MNDuo artists can be found towards the back of this program book
Lee Hoiby Russell Platt Ned Rorem
Ed Folsom, Walt Whitman Scholar Ed Folsom’s teaching and research have centered on nineteenth- and twentiethcentury American poetry and culture. He has been particularly interested in the ways American poets have talked back to Walt Whitman over the years, and how Whitman tapped into American culture in surprising ways to construct a radical new kind of writing. He has written, edited, or co-edited a number of books on Whitman, including Walt Whitman: The Measure of His Song (Choice “Outstanding Academic Book,” Independent Publisher Book Award for Poetry), Walt Whitman's Native Representations (Choice “Outstanding Academic Book”), Walt Whitman and the World, Walt Whitman: The Centennial Essays, Whitman East and West, Whitman Making Books / Books Making Whitman, Leaves of Grass: The Sesquicentennial Essays, Walt Whitman’s Democratic Vistas: The Original Edition, Re-Scripting Walt Whitman (coauthored with Kenneth M. Price), and Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, with a Complete Commentary (co-authored with Christopher Merrill). Mr. Folsom has directed or co-directed a number of the major national and international Whitman conferences of the past few decades, including a symposium on Whitman in Translation, the 1992 Walt Whitman Centennial Conference, a 2000 conference on Whitman in Beijing, China, and a 2005 symposium at Iowa on Whitman as a bookmaker. In 2005, the sesquicentennial of the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass, he gave the keynote talks at four national and international Whitman conferences. In 2011, he organized a symposium of ten Whitman scholar/translators from around the world. He helped organize and has frequently taught the Transatlantic Whitman Seminar, held each summer in a different international location. He has been a leader in the development of Digital Humanities, co-editing a CD-ROM archive of Whitman's work, co-directing the online Walt Whitman Archive, preparing the Whitman bibliography for Oxford Bibliographies Online, and in 2014 teaming up with Christopher Merrill to teach “Every Atom: Walt Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself,’” Iowa’s first MOOC, and in 2016 working with Merrill again to teach a MOOC on “Whitman’s Civil War.” Winner of Iowa’s Collegiate Teaching Award, the Graduate College Outstanding Mentor Award, the university’s President and Provost’s Teaching Award, and the Regents’ Award for Faculty Excellence, Ed teaches courses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature, including a survey of American poetry, and doctoral seminars on Whitman, Dickinson, and the history of American poetry. He edits the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review and the Whitman Series for the University of Iowa Press.
Paul Sperry, tenor American lyric tenor Paul Sperry is that rarity in today's musical world: a singer dedicated to preserving the song recital. Though his experience in opera extends from Monteverdi through Stockhausen, he continues to devote much of his time to the programming and performance of songs from every country and every period of music. Born in Chicago, Mr. Sperry started piano lessons at age five, graduated from Harvard College and continued his studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. He worked extensively with such masters of art-song interpretation as Pierre Bernac, Jennie Tourel, and Paul Ulanowsky and studied acting with Stella Adler. This combination of liberal arts education, supreme musicianship and dramatic flair contribute to what The New York Times called "one of today's leading song recitalists." Sperry's extraordinarily wide repertory includes songs, chamber works and oratorios in fifteen languages, and includes more than fifty works that have been written for him by many of today's leading composers both European and American--among them Beaser, Bolcom, Cipullo, Druckman, Hagen, Hundley, Larsen, Musto, Paulus, Rands, Talma, Henze, Stockhausen, and Maderna. Today Mr. Sperry is widely appreciated for his master classes from the Eastman School of Music to Harvard and Yale, to name a few. Between 1984 and 2004 he taught 19th and 20th-century song repertory and performance at the Juilliard School, and he created there what may have been the country's first full-year course in American song. He also teaches courses in American song at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and various song courses at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, including how to put together and prepare a song recital. In 1987 he became the Director of Joy In Singing, an organization dedicated to helping young singers, American composers and the art song. From 2004-6 he joined the faculty of the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Tel Aviv, Israel and Songfest from 2008-2010. In the summer of 2006 he delivered the keynote address at the annual convention of the National Association of Teachers of Singers--his subject was the delights of singing new American music. He lives in New York City.
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Source Song Festival presents
Tamara Wilson soprano Warren Jones pianist in
Frontiers August 8, 2019 7:30p |Westminster Hall
PROGRAM
The Western Frontier
Cowboy Songs Bucking Bronco Lift me into heaven slowly Billy the Kid
Libby Larsen
Sallie Chisum remembers Billy the Kid
Andre Previn
Coyote Song Riding Along Along the Santa Fe Trail The Hills of Home
Marion Bauer Oscar Fox Wilhelm Grosz Oscar Fox INTERMISSION
The Divine Ship Les Silhouettes To One Unknown Ariette Night Dark is the Night
The Final Frontier
Ernst Bacon John Alden Carpenter John Alden Carpenter Amy Cheney Beach Amy Cheney Beach Amy Cheney Beach
Weightless Dreams Cady Coleman Peggy Whitson Sally Ride Sunita Willimas Sally Ride II
James Kallembach
Tamara Wilson, soprano
Soprano Tamara Wilson is quickly gaining international recognition for her interpretations of Verdi, Mozart, Strauss and Wagner. She is the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award, an annual prize conferred by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation given to a rising American opera singer on the "threshold of an major international career." Other recent honors include a 2016 Olivier Award nomination and receipt of the 'Revelation Prize' by the Argentine Musical Critics Association. Ms. Wilson is also a Grand Prize Winner of the Annual Francisco Viñas Competition held at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain. Tamara's 2019/20 season includes performances with the Canadian Opera Company, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt and The Santa Fe Opera. In concert, she will sing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in a special Christmas performance and television broadcast with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and debut the role of Isolde with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Opera performance highlights in Tamara Wilson's 2018/19 season included a return to the Metropolitan Opera as the title role in Aida, the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Desdemona in Otello at the Canadian Opera Company, the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos at Teatro alla Scala, and Chrysothemis in Elektra at Opernhaus Zurich. In concert Ms. Wilson has performed at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also sang Bruckner's Te Deum at Teatro alla Scala, and Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Cleveland Orchestra. This summer she will perform her signaure role of Aida at Arena di Verona followed by a special guest performance at the Santa Fe Opera's summer Gala and a recital at the Source Song Festival. Ms. Wilson made her acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in Aida and London debut in Calixto Bieto’s new production of La forza del destino at the English National Opera, for which she received an Olivier Award nomination. She also inaugurated the new opera house in Kyoto, Japan with Seiji Ozawa as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. She was heard at Oper Frankfurt for her first performances as the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten conducted by Sebastian Weigle and subsequently released by Oehms Classics. On the concert stage, Ms. Wilson debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop and her Minnesota Orchestra debut singing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Osmo Vänskä. An alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Ms. Wilson’s awards include the George London Award from the George London Foundation, as well as both a career grant in 2011 and study grant in 2008 from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. Other notable awards include first place in the 2005 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers in Houston and finalist in the 2004 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She was a featured soloist at the 2010 NEA Opera Honors. In addition to her operatic and orchestral performances, Ms. Wilson is an avid lecturer of vocal technique. She has been a Guest Master Class Lecturer for the National Pastoral Musicians in the Chicago area. Ms. Wilson received her degree at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. 2019 marks Ms. Wilson’s debut with Source Song Festival.
Warren Jones, pianist
Warren Jones enjoys a notably eclectic career that has taken him to virtually every corner of the musical world. He performs with some of today’s best-known artists: Stephanie Blythe, Anthony Dean Griffey, Bo Skovhus, Eric Owens, John Relyea, and Richard “Yongjae” O’Neill—and is the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Principal Pianist for the exciting Santa Barbara-based chamber music group Camerata Pacifica. In the past he has partnered such great performers as Marilyn Horne, Håkan Hagegård, Kathleen Battle, Samuel Ramey, Christine Brewer, Barbara Bonney, Carol Vaness, Judith Blegen, Salvatore Licitra, Tatiana Troyanos, Thomas Hampson, James Morris, and Martti Talvela. He is a long-time member of the faculty of Manhattan School of Music as well as the Music Academy of the West, and received the “Achievement Award” for 2011 from the Music Teachers National Association of America, their highest honor. In 2010 he was selected as “Collaborative Pianist of the Year” by the publication Musical America. He has been an invited guest at the White House to perform for state dinners in honor of the leaders of Canada, Russia, and Italy; and three times the invited guest of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court for musical afternoons in the East Conference Room at the Court. A graduate of both New England Conservatory and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mr. Jones currently serves on the NEC Board of Visitors and has been honored with the Doctor of Music degree from SFCM. His discography contains thirty-one recordings on every major label in a wide range of repertory. His conducting repertory is similarly varied: he has led sold-out critically-acclaimed performances of Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Mozart’s Die Zauberfloete; and in 2014 he conducted the world premiere of a new operatic version of A Christmas Carol at the Houston Grand Opera. Mr. Jones returned to the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera for performances of Donizetti’s comedy Don Pasquale in the summer of 2015. In February 2016 he led an innovative new production of Menotti’s The Telephone and Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti for Tri-Cities Opera. 2019 marks Mr. Jones' debut with Source Song Festival.
Mr. Jones' masterclass is made possible by a generous gift of Rodney and Deb Presser, through the Emma Small Memorial Fund.
MNsong composers recital Friday, August 9 | 8p Westminster Hall Come enjoy the works by the emerging composers selected by Libby Larsen for the sixth annual MNSong Composers Workshop. Performed by local artists, by emerging composers. It doesn’t get much better than this!
Macalester College Music Department
Artistic Excellence in a Preeminent Liberal Arts Setting
Randall Bauer, Associate Professor (theory/composition) Victoria Malawey, Associate Professor Mark Mandarano, Associate Professor and Director of Instrumental Activities Mark Mazullo, Professor (musicology and piano) Michael McGaghie, Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities Laura Nichols, Visiting Assistant Professor and Instructor of Voice Chuen-Fung Wong, Associate Professor and Chair (ethnomusicology) Mike Breidenbach, Director of Piping Sowah Mensah, Director of the African Music Ensemble Clea Galhano, Director of Early Music Ensemble Joan Griffith, Director of Mac Jazz Shelley Hanson, Director of Wind Symphony Peter Hennig, Director of Jazz and Pop Combos
Source Song Festival presents
MNDuo Artists in Concert August 10, 2018 6p | Westminster Hall
Featuring the Music of Minnesota & Beyond PROGRAM CONCERT ORDER & ADDITIONAL REPERTOIRE TO BE ANNOUNCED AT 6PM
All Things Live Abbie Betinis from The Clan of the Lichens Annie Tillotson, soprano | Nathan Cicero, pianist The Waking Abbie Betinis Aleksandar Reupert, bass | Mackenzie Marr, pianist from Garland Songs Linda Tutas Haugen 2. The First Cigarette 4. Homage: The Wish Lauren Craig, soprano | Szu-Ying Huang, pianist Ballads for Sale Edie Hill Michaela Gleason, mezzo-soprano | Valdone Arffa, pianist Between the Limbs, Music Shari Eve Feldman, soprano | Jonathan King, pianist
Edie Hill
How to Triumph Like a Girl Timothy C. Takach from How to Triumph Like a Girl Krista Costin, mezzo-soprano | Xiang Wei, pianist Du bist die Ruh from An Academy of Ancient Music David Evan Thomas Liza Forrester Kelly, soprano | Donald Speer, pianist Music Speaks from An Academy of Ancient Music David Evan Thomas Harrison Hintszche, baritone | Mary Trotter, pianist
Source Festival artists Source is Digital!
In an effort to conserve paper, complete biographies of Source Artists can be found online. We encourage you to use the built-in camera on your phone to read about these artists indepth. Simply open your camera, or QR Code reader, hold your device over the QR Code so that it’s clearly visible within your smartphone’s screen, and Presto! Your smartphone reads the code and navigates to our website with complete bios of all performers! (note: This might not happen instantly. It may take a few seconds on most devices.). We thank you for helping us transition more of our content to a digital platform
Abbie Betinis
Michael Dennis Browne
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Source Song Festival Guest Artist last seen in 2015
Linda Tutas Haugen
Edie Hill
Source Song Festival Artist since 2016
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Noah Keesecker
Liam Moore
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Joyce Sutphen
Timothy C. Takach
Source Song Festival Guest Artist
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
David Evan Thomas
Patricia Zurlow
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composer & MNSong Composer Mentor Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
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lawyer
Source Song Festival Artist since 2017
Source Song Festival presents
MNSong Composer Showcase August 9, 2019 8p |Westminster Hall
A Concert of Music by Composers of the MNSong Institute Libby Larsen, Master Composer David Evan Thomas, Composer Mentor PROGRAM CONCERT ORDER TO BE ANNOUNCED AT 8PM
The Die was Already Cast (Beebe) Samuel Beebe from ASHLAND Riley Cardona, soprano | MaryJo Gothmann, pianist Songs on Poems of Robert Frost The Road Not Taken Dust of Snow Fire and Ice Emily Riley, soprano | Irina Stene, pianist
Emily Boyajian
À Travers Une Nuit Sans Repose (Proust) Dorian Cunningham Alex Nishibun, tenor | Casey Rafn, pianist from Ulysses (Tennyson) It little profits that an idle king I cannot rest from travel I am a part of all that I have met Justin Staebell, baritone | Jordan Buccholtz, pianist
Evan Snyder
Four Songs Jonathan Tauscheck What Should I say? (Sir Thomas Wyatt) Poor orphan child (Charlotte Brontë) To Daffodils (Robert Herrick) Weep You No More (Anonymous) Karin Wolverton, soprano | Roderick Phipps-Kettlewell, pianist
INTERMISSION fox songs Griffin Candey Three Foxes by the Edge of the Field at Twilight (Jane Hirshfield) Fox Score (Caki Wilkinson) Foxes (Anastasia Pennington-Flax) Linh Kauffman, soprano | Bryon Wilson, pianist
Like That Time (Levin) Aaron Israel Levin KrisAnne Weiss, mezzo-soprano | Sonja Thompson, pianist Études for a Dying Race (Zaba) Tristan Zaba Zeus Athena Hades Hera Tracey Engleman, soprano | Matthew McCright, pianist
Libby Larsen composer & head of MNSong Program Music exists in an infinity of sound. I think of all music as existing in the substance of the air itself. It is the composer’s task to order and make sense of sound, in time and space, to communicate something about being alive through music. — Libby Larsen
Libby Larsen (b. 24 December 1950, Wilmington, Delaware) is one of America’s most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over twelve operas. Grammy Award winning and widely recorded, including over fifty CDs of her work, she is constantly sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world, and has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory. As a vigorous, articulate advocate for the music and musicians of our time, in 1973 Larsen co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composers Forum, which has become an invaluable aid for composers in a transitional time for American arts. A former holder of the Papamarkou Chair at John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, Larsen has also held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, and the Colorado Symphony. Please visit libbylarsen.com for more information.
MNSong Performing artists Source is Digital!
In an effort to conserve paper, complete biographies of Source Artists can be found online. We encourage you to use the built-in camera on your phone to read about these artists indepth. Simply open your camera, or QR Code reader, hold your device over the QR Code so that it’s clearly visible within your smartphone’s screen, and Presto! Your smartphone reads the code and navigates to our website with complete bios of all performers! (note: This might not happen instantly. It may take a few seconds on most devices.). We thank you for helping us transition more of our content to a digital platform
Riley Cardona
Jordan Buddholz
Source Song Festival Artist since 2015
Source Song Festival debut
Tracey Engleman
MaryJo Gothmann
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Linh Kauffman
Matthew McCright
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Source Song Festival Artist since 2016
Alexander Nishibun
Roderick Phipps-Kettlewell
Source Song Festival debut
Source Song Festival Artist since 2017
Emily Riley
Casey Rafn
Source Song Festival Artist since 2015
Source Song Festival Artist since 2018
Justin Staebell
Irina Stene
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Source Song Festival debut
KrisAnne Weiss
Sonja Thompson
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Source Song Festival Artist since 2014
Karin Wolverton
Bryon Wilson
Source Song Festival debut
Source Song Festival Artist since 2018
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SOURCE SONG FESTIVAL AND
SPARKS & WIRY CRIES presents FEATURING
COMPOSER TEAMS AND $900 IN AUDIENCE
AWARDED PRIZES
song
SLAM
VOICE PIANO
REGISTRATION OPENS: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ 5PM PERFORMANCE: THURSDAY JANUARY 9, 2020 HOSTED BY CHRIS KOZA
ICEHOUSE MPLS 2528 NICOLLET AVE MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55404
WWW.SPARKSANDWIRYCRIES.ORG/TICKETS WWW.SPARKSANDWIRYCRIES.ORG/SONGSLAM
A COMPETITION FOR NEW ART SONG
MNDuo teams Krista Costin mezzo-soprano | Xiang Wei pianist Mezzo-Soprano Krista Costin has performed as a soloist and ensemble member with Oratory, Consortium Carissimi, Minnesota Bach Ensemble, The Singers, Minnesota Chorale, House of Hope Motet Choir, Mount Olive Bach Tage, Oregon Bach Festival, Transept, and various Bachakademies in Stuttgart and Weimar, Germany under the direction of Helmuth Rilling. An avid singer of Bach, she also is passionate about collaborating on new works. She won first place by audience choice at the 1st annual Source SongSlam at Icehouse in Minneapolis in January 2018, performing a new art song written by local composer Tim Takach, How to Triumph Like a Girl. Her 2018-2019 season highlights include alto solo engagements with Exultate (Bach - Mass in B Minor), Oratory (Bach - St John Passion with the Minnesota Dance Theatre), Minnesota Bach Ensemble (Bach BWV 132 and 164), and House of Hope Motet Choir (Duruflé - Requiem). For more information, visit www.kristacostin.com. Pianist Xiang Wei is recognized as a vocal pianist, chamber musician, and solo performer. Xiang has studied piano for more than twenty years, and performed in many locations. He performed at the 2017 Chamber Music Festival at North Dakota State University, at the invitation of Dr. Tyler Wottrich. In 2016, he was invited to perform at the PianoTexas International Academy & Festival by Dr. Tamás Ungár at Texas Christian University. He earned his bachelor's degree in Music Education from Xi'an, a Conservatory of Music in China. He earned his master's degree in Piano Performance from McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is currently working on his doctoral degree, majoring in Collaborative Piano with Dr. Tylor Wottrich at North Dakota State University.
Shari Eve Feldman soprano | Jonathan King pianist Shari Eve Feldman, soprano, is happiest when singing with her colleagues at Source Song Festival. She is passionate about all things musical, including chamber music literature, performance practice, avant garde repertoire, and Semitic song literature. She has sung in projects ranging from large choral, orchestral, and operatic works to solo recital engagements with such organizations as the Master Players Concert Series at the University of Delaware, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Concert Opera, Opera Delaware, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Choir School of Delaware, Washington Piano Society, New Music Delaware Festival, and StageFree. Shari was a national semifinalist for National Association of Teachers of Singing Solo Voice Competition and has performed as part of a Young Artist MNDuo at Source since 2015. Shari loves collaborating with composers to promote and perform new chamber music repertoire and she currently is pursuing a Doctorate in Musical Arts at the University of Maryland, where she studies with Martha Randall. Jonathan King, an active pianist and conductor based in Baltimore, MD, currently serves as Associate Music Director at Church of the Resurrection in Baltimore, MD, and Choral Activities Graduate Assistant at the University of Maryland School of Music, where he has directed the University Chorale and served as Assistant Conductor with Maryland Opera Studios. He has prepared choirs for conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, and Gianandrea Noseda, and has assisted conductor John Nelson in several performances with the Chicago Bach Project, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, and the MasterWorks Festival in Winona Lake, IN. As a collaborative pianist, King has worked with celebrated singers including J’nai Bridges, Nicole Cabell, Colin Ainsworth, Kenneth Overton, and Will Liverman, and has served as répétiteur at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Oregon Bach Festival. King currently is completing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting at University of Maryland, and his musical mentors include Edward Maclary, Jerry Blackstone, Martin Katz, and Julius Drake.
MNDuo teams Michaela Gleason mezzo-soprano | Valdone Arffa pianist Michaela Gleason has been recognized for her diverse abilities as a soloist, ensemble member, and conductor throughout the world. Performance highlights include alto soloist in the Mozart Requiem and Bach Magnificat; the role of Polly Peachum in Britten's The Beggar's Opera; Ms. Nolan in Menotti's The Medium; and a great variety of art song and chamber music. Recent performances have included SongFest's Celebration of Leonard Bernstein concert in Los Angeles, Janacek's The Diary of One Who Disappeared with the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, and the Rachmaninoff Vespers (alto soloist) with the Rockefeller Chapel Choir. Michaela has conducted choral works both in Chicago and abroad in Oxford. She currently serves as the alto section leader at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel under the direction of James Kallembach, where she is a regularly featured soloist. Valdone Arffa started her piano training in her native Lithuania. After winning the United World College Music Scholarship, she continued her studies with Igor Cognolato at the International Chamber Music School of Trio di Trieste, in Duino, Italy. Currently, Arffa is pursuing her bachelor's degree in Classical Piano Performance and Music Education at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, as a student of Dr. Ludmila Lazar. Arffa has earned awards in many competitions in Europe, including Honorable Mention and "Best Sonata" Prize at the Cremona International Music Academy in 2017, and was one of the finalists at the Aeolian Classics Emerging Artist Competition 2019. Arffa has performed piano concerti in Lithuania and has given solo and chamber music concerts throughout Europe and the US. In the summer of 2018, she participated in the Orvieto Musica Festival in Italy. She currently works as a piano instructor and a collaborative pianist in the Chicago area.
Harrison Hintzsche baritone | Mary Trotter pianist "Sonorous" (Opera News) baritone, Harrison Hintzsche, is a rising recitalist, concert singer, and ensemble musician, and has been praised for his warm lyric tone, musical subtlety, and dedication to text. Harrison's passion for song repertoire took him to London's Wigmore Hall in 2018, where he made his international debut with pianist Graham Johnson as a part of Johnson's recital series, "Franz Schubert: The Complete Songs." He placed first in the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota's 2018 Voice Competition, and was the first-ever recipient of the William H. Halverson Award in recognition for his interpretation and performance of Grieg's music. He is currently pursuing an M.M. in Early Music Voice at Yale University, where he recently had the opportunity to perform Handel's Alexander's Feast and Bach's cantatas 13 and 156 with Masaaki Suzuki. He holds a B.M. from St. Olaf College, and is a native of DeKalb, Illinois.
Mary J. Trotter, known for her lyrical and expressive sound, has been referred to as a 'poet at the piano'. Equally at home with operatic and concert repertoire, she is in high demand as a collaborative artist. In February 2018, Mary performed as guest pianist with the Spokane-based Cathedral Kantorei Choir in their program entitled Spokane Mid-Winter, featuring Morten Lauridsen's Mid-Winter Songs as well as the premieres of works by Spokane area composers. Her work as a music director has included performances with Opera Coeur d'Alene's "Opera-tunities" program as well as Peabody Opera Outreach, where she music directed and accompanied a world premiere production of Ariel's Tempest by Douglas Buchanan. Originally from Snohomish, WA, Mary earned her B.A. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Whitworth University and her M.M. in Vocal Accompanying from Peabody Conservatory. She is currently a second-year doctor of musical arts student in Collaborative Piano at the University of Minnesota.
MNDuo teams Liza Forrester Kelly soprano | Donald Speer pianist Liza Forrester Kelly is an active performing artist, stage director, and music educator. As a recitalist, she tours programs that range in repertoire from early music, to classical and contemporary art song, to jazz, musical theater, and pop song. Notable recital engagements include those with the New York Festival of Song, New York City Opera, Joy in Singing, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, the Five Burroughs Music Festival, the Pittsburgh Song Collaborative, and the Goldsboro Music Festival. She is an alumna of the Glimmerglass Opera Young Artist Program, the Ravinia Steans Institute, and the Carnegie Hall Weill Institute. Liza currently is an associate professor of voice and director of opera theater at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY. Donald Speer, Professor of Piano at Western Kentucky University, specializes in class piano, pedagogy, and accompanying, and maintains an extensive performance schedule in collaboration with WKU music faculty and numerous guest artists. He also has served as a summer faculty member of the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts since 2008. His collaborative performances have taken him throughout the US and to cities such as Toronto, Paris, Madrid, Birmingham England, and Novaro Italy. Dr. Speer has appeared in recital with well-known instrumental soloists including Paul Basler (horn), Vince DiMartino (trumpet), Walfrid Kujala (flute), Steven Mead (euphonium), and Frank Morelli (bassoon). He has premiered and recorded several works by contemporary composers, including Michael Kallstrom, Susan Kander, Bev Lewis, Lewis Neilson, and Rodney Rodgers. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Louisiana College, a Master of Music in Performance from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and a Ph.D. in Music Education from Louisiana State University.
Lauren Craig, soprano | Szu-Ying Huang pianist Lauren Craig is currently a student at North Dakota State University. This fall she will be entering her junior year studying vocal performance under Dr. Mariane Lemieux-Wottrich. She is very active in NDSU's Concert Choir, Madrigal Singers, and the NDSU opera program. This fall she will be playing the role of Sesto in Handle's 'Giulio Cesare' in the NDSU opera. She has competed in many NATS competitions, coming in first in her division both in the North Dakota and South Dakota competitions. Coming from a musical family, she has always loved sharing her music with others and looks forward to more opportunities to share her gift of music.
Taiwanese pianist Szu-Ying Huang has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician in major cities throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, China, and Taiwan. With significant background in art song, opera, and choral music, Huang holds the Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Peabody Institute, where she studied with Marian Hahn. She is pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at University of North Texas, where she held assistantships in collaborative piano (2014-2016), choral accompanying (2012-2016), and opera accompanying (2018-2019), under the instruction of Gustavo Romero and Elvia Puccinelli. Huang joined the musical staff of AIMS in Graz (Austria) in 2015, and also served as the resident pianist in Chicago Summer Opera in 2016 for Britten's Albert Herring. From 2016 to 2018, Huang was the collaborative piano fellow at Bard College Conservatory of Music, working closely with Grammy Award winner soprano Dawn Upshaw and vocal coach Kayo Iwama, and served as the rehearsal pianist for Leonard Bernstein's Candide and Ana Sokolović's Svadba.
MNDuo teams Aleksandar Reupert bass | Makenzie Marr pianist Aleksandar Reupert is a native Chicago artist born in Evanston, IL. Aleksandar has been recognized within the Chicago community for his bass voice, which can be heard around the city in liturgical services and in performance. Recently he performed in La Didone by Francesco Cavalli with Haymarket Summer Opera; the Durufle Requiem with St. James Cathedral; and The Beggars Opera by Benjamin Britten and Little Red Riding Hood by Seymour Barab with Roosevelt University. During his studies he collaborated with composer Dorian Cunningham on the performance of a W.H. Auden song cycle. In the past, Aleksandar attended Up North Vocal Institute. He currently is pursuing a bachelor's degree in Voice at Roosevelt University, studying with Thomas Studebaker.
Mackenzie Marr, pianist, has performed for renowned musicians and composers, most notably Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, Libby Larsen, and Jake Heggie. She has attended numerous prestigious summer programs such as SongFest, Bay View Music Festival (Opera Fellow), Castleman Quartet Program, the Atlantic Music Festival, and the Chamber Music Institute at Holy Cross. Her work on distance teaching piano lessons to girls at the Moi Girls School in Eldoret, Kenya was the subject of presentations at the Music Teacher's National Association conference and the MTNA Collegiate Piano Pedagogy Conference. Marr holds a master's degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Georgia where she studied with Liza Stepanova. She currently is pursuing a master's degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Maryland, studying with Rita Sloan.
Annie Tillotson soprano | Nathan Cicero pianist Coloratura soprano Annie Tillotson received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of Northwestern - St Paul. She has competed in Thursday Musical's Young Artist Competition, placing second in her division in 2018, and placed second in the Minnesota National Association of Teachers of Singing vocal competition in 2018, 2017, and 2016. Extending her stage and theatrical training, she also has participated in the Wesley Balk Opera/MusicTheatre Institute. She has performed a variety of roles in musicals and operas, most recently playing Adele in Die Fledermaus. During her undergraduate education, she discovered a love for performing and researching art song, with an affinity for the works of new American composers. Annie teaches private voice lessons and continues to expand her musical and performance education in Minnesota as she prepares to pursue a Master of Music in Vocal Performance. Nathan Cicero recently earned his Master of Music in Vocal Accompanying from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Eileen Cornett. While at Peabody, he held a graduate assistantship in Opera Accompanying; accompanied regularly in the vocal studios of Denyce Graves, William Sharp, and Stanley Cornett; and was a guest vocal coach and masterclass presenter at Morgan State University and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. A native of Wisconsin, in 2016 he earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano-Collaborative Emphasis from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In the summer of 2017, Nathan was a vocal accompanying fellow at the Miami Music Festival, where he assisted in preparing singers for operatic roles and accompanied masterclasses and recital performances. Alongside his collaborative piano activities, he is a church musician, serving as Director of Music and Organist for the Church of Saint Mark in St. Paul.
MNsong participants Samuel Beebe is a composer, sound designer, and performer whose work explores the dramatic possibilities of music. His work has been performed by Yarn/Wire, Stony Brook Opera Workshop, Chelsea Symphony, Castle of Our Skins, Boston Choral Ensemble, Sound Icon, WordSong, Texas Flute Society, and Calliope's Call. In addition, Beebe is a resident at the 2019 Collaborative Composition Initiative with Unheard-of Ensemble, and his song cycles Rocking Chair Child (2017) and The Woods (2018) were finalists for the American Prize. Beebe holds a M.M. in Composition from Boston University and a B.S. in Music Technology from Northeastern University. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Composition at Stony Brook University, working with Matthew Barnson, Daria Semegen, and Sheila Silver. You can find more information at: www.samuelbeebe.com
Emily Boyajian is a composer, music theorist, and pianist. She recently moved to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a master's degree in music theory. Apart from writing and playing music, she enjoys playing board games, biking, reading, and pursuing mathematics.
Griffin Candey is an American opera and theatre composer whose work performers praise for its "prosody that showcases both the words and the singers," its "intuitive rhythm," and its "lyricism and emotional depth." Recently named Composer-inResidence at Cleveland Opera Theatre, his first opera, Sweets by Kate, was performed at the Fort Worth Opera's Frontiers Festival. More recently, his comic opera Follow Suit, with libretto by Knoxville's Emily Anderson, premiered at Marble City Opera. 2019 and 2020 premieres include: an adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba for Cleveland Opera Theater; Fox Songs, in Cleveland and Washington D.C. with sopranos Ann Moss and Alex Nowakowski; and String Quartet No. 1, at Michigan Tech University. Premieres also include a Edna St. Vincent Millay setting for Jocelyn Zelasko's ensemble Juxtatonal, and a story ballet, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, for Northern Michigan University.
Dorian Cunningham is a young composer who specializes in vocal music. He began his musical career as a singer in a choir at the age of 6. The education he gained from the 8 years he spent with this group are still the bedrock of his technique and musicality. After this, Dorian continued his education at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in San Francisco. He is now studying composition at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and taking lessons with Dr. Kyong Mee Choi. For Dorian, writing music has always been about expressing emotions that are difficult or impossible to express with words alone, and studying composition is about giving him the necessary tools to express these feelings clearly and in a convincing way.
MNsong participants Aaron Israel Levin writes music that is guided by the emotional dynamism of storytelling and drama. He draws from a variety of musical and non-musical influences, including film, theater, and performance art, to create compositions that are both personal and wide-ranging. Aaron’s music has been performed by the American Composers Orchestra, the Bent Frequency Duo, the Chelsea Symphony, Fifth House Ensemble, loadbang, the Yale Philharmonia, mezzo-sopranos Kayleigh Butcher and Lisa Neher, and percussionists Dmitrii Nilov and Sam Um. Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Aaron earned his B.A. in music from Grinnell College in Iowa, where he studied composition with Eric McIntyre and John Rommereim. He completed his M.M. in composition at the Yale School of Music, where his teachers included Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, David Lang, Hannah Lash, and Christopher Theofanidis. www.aaronisraellevin.com
Evan L. Snyder, winner of the 2017 Frontiers Competition for A Capacity for Evil, is best known for his work for the operatic stage. A singer himself, Evan is drawn to lush melodic and harmonic writing, but most importantly, to the story-telling aspect of music. His first full-length opera, A Capacity for Evil, will be premiered this September by Detroit’s Opera MODO. Evan has also recently made his first forays into the world of chamber music, as a part of a 2017 collaboration between Michigan State University and the esteemed Fifth House Ensemble, and as a 2018 participant in Fifth House’s Fresh Inc Festival. Through these collaborations he has explored the narrative potentials of chamber music and the ways story can be pierced by audiences in that medium. Evan is a graduate student of the College of Music at Michigan State University and is a graduate assistant to MSU’s composition area.
Jonathan Tauscheck grew up in Minneapolis, beginning his formal music training at MacPhail Center. He holds Piano Performance degrees from the University of Minnesota (B.M., M.M.) and the University of Iowa (DMA). He served as a Staff Accompanist and taught Applied and Class Piano courses at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA. Jonathan currently teaches at MacPhail Center and is assistant music director at St. James AME Church in Minneapolis. Jonathan's first album of original piano works was selected by MNSpin, an online streaming platform through Hennepin County that promotes local artists. His second album consists of original songs featuring local artists Alexandra Sapan (soprano), Victoria Vargas (mezzo-soprano), and David Walton (tenor). Last January, he was awarded 3rd place at Source Song Festival's SongSLAM, a local competition for new art songs. Jonathan's third album will be released in September of this year.
Tristan Zaba’s music, inspired by musical communities across Canada and influenced by opera, philosophy, improvisation, literature, and film, breaks boundaries of genre and form. From his experimental rock albums to his chamber work, Tristan’s work questions itself, its audience members, and its performers through the use of intertextual reference and quotation. Zaba has performed and had pieces premiered at festivals including Source Song Festival, Winnipeg New Music Festival, Orford Musique, University of Toronto New Music Festival, and Casse Tête. Past collaborators include Quatuor Bozzini, David Fallis, the MacMillan Singers, the University of Manitoba Singers, Julian Pellicano, the University of Manitoba Symphony Orchestra, and Veronique Lacroix. He served as the 2018-2019 Composer in Residence for the University of Toronto’s MacMillan Singers, and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree under Christos Hatzis at the University of Toronto. He earned a Bachelor's of Music degree from the University of Manitoba under Gordon Fitzell and Örjan Sandred.
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT!
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We are grateful to the following members of the SongCircle. Your support empowers and inspires a new generation of musicians, supports continued artistic excellence, and sustains Source Song Festival. For information on giving, please visit www.sourcesongfestival.org/take-action
Franz Schubert Circle ($1,000+)
Martha Brown Dorothy J. Horns and James P. Richardson Family Foundation Jon & Lisa Lewis Debra & Rod Presser Nell Slater William & Marcelyn Smale Arturo Steely Francis Poulenc Circle ($500 - $999) Anonymous (1) Barbara Brown Dawn Johnson The Lebowski Urban Achiever Fund John Michel
Samuel Barber Circle ($100-499) Edyth Hill John Neuchterlein Annonymous (1) Julie & Anders Himmelstrup Angela & Brian Newhouse Suzanne Asher Kathryn Keefer Sheila Otte Jane Andersen Barry & Cheryl Kempton Ruth Palmer Lynne Beck Patricia King James Peter Michelle Blaeser Pamela Krank Donna & Jim Peter Craign Carnahan Kelly Krebs Paul Riedesel Zac Colby Mary Laurie Walczak-Sukam Family Roger & Wallys Conhaim Yunyue Liu Trust Katie Gabriel Justin Miedema Allie Wigley Amy Gort Patricia Zurlo John Haugen Wendy Zaro-Mullens
Supporters
Holly Broden Martha Guth Cheryl Brown Juliana Hall Mary Ellen Childs Linda Haugen Edward Coughlin Eric Hendrickson Rita Dibble Cathy Johnson Mary Duncan Linda Kachelmeier Shari Feldman Patricia Kent Samuel Grace Sarah Kinney Olga Grgoriants Catherine Kirkpatrick
Libby Larsen Jonathan Posthuma Brian Long Mary Schaffer Timothy Lovelace Martha Schmidt Beatrice Magee Charles Shaw Eric McEnaney Bridget Skaggs Monica Murray Regina Stroncek Haley Olson Robert Strusinski Sandra Penning Adriana Tavenas Sarah Vander Ploeg John Toren
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My experience at NDSU gave me the confidence and foundation to choose music as my career.
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Photo: Martin Walz
Clara Osowski, mezzo-soprano Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, 2008
Clara Osowski with NDSU professor Tyler Wottrich at the 2017 Das Lied International Song Competition.
WE TRAIN PROFESSIONALS SUCCESS STARTS HERE • • • • • • • • • • •
Bachelor of Music in Performance Bachelor of Music in Music Education Bachelor of Arts in Music Bachelor of Science in Music Master of Music in Collaborative Piano Master of Music in Conducting Master of Music in Music Education Master of Music in Performance Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance Contact Dr. Michael Weber, m.weber@ndsu.edu
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
ndsu.edu/music
701.231.7932