Members of the Bard College Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program with Yumi Nomoto, piano and Dylan Greene, percussion present Between Suffering & Hope Songs for the Forgotten

Sunday, November 6, 2016 4:00pm Hudson House Program (Please hold applause until the brief pause.) the little match girl passion: come, daughter A winter night ...... Lori Laitman (b. 1955) Katherine Rossiter Kid in the park ...... (b. 1956) Mary-Elizabeth O'Neill Brother, can you spare a dime? ...... Jay Gorney (1894-1990) Christopher Remkus Hallelujah, I'm a bum! ...... traditional Nathaniel Sullivan, with ensemble

the little match girl passion: dearest heart Home thoughts ...... Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) Mary-Elizabeth O'Neill little four paws ...... John Cage (1912-1992) Nathaniel Sullivan Rough wind ...... Charles Ives (1874-1954) Christopher Remkus I'm nobody ...... Lori Laitman (b. 1955) Katherine Rossiter Hard times come again no more ...... Stephen Foster (1826-1864) Ensemble

BRIEF PAUSE

Page 2 Program (Please hold applause until the end of the program.) the little match girl passion: penance and remorse A man said to the universe ...... Alexis Bacon (b. 1975) Nathaniel Sullivan Cinder ...... James Primosch (b. 1956) Katherine Rossiter Question ...... Elie Siegmeister (1909-1991) Christopher Remkus Bessie Bobtail ...... (1910-1981) Mary-Elizabeth O'Neill The penny owing ...... Juliana Hall (b. 1958) Christopher Remkus A prayer to Saint Catherine ...... Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) Nathaniel Sullivan

the little match girl passion: in the dawn of morning A hope carol ...... David Conte (b. 1955) Mary-Elizabeth O'Neill Litany ...... John Musto (b. 1954) Christopher Remkus Everyone sang ...... David Conte (b. 1955) Nathaniel Sullivan Postlude: Forever young ...... John Corigliano (b. 1938) Katherine Rossiter

the little match girl passion: we sit and cry

Page 3 PROGRAM NOTE

As soon as we began planning this recital, we knew it was a risky subject.

The parameters for this group recital project were open-ended. The only requirements were to create a program comprised of music solely by American composers, and to perform the recital somewhere other than on the Bard College campus. From the beginning, we knew we wanted to use this considerable opportunity to communicate something important, rather than to just put together a pleasant afternoon of music.

Very quickly, we latched onto the idea of increasing awareness of homelessness and poverty, given that the week following this recital is designated as National Homelessness Awareness Week. We began drawing repertoire together that approached the themes of feeling lost, unsettled, and forgotten. The decision to use David Lang's groundbreaking piece the little match girl passion as a trellis of sorts on which to hang the rest of the program came very early in the process, and we moved forward confidently.

However, as we proceeded, the uneasy reality that we increasingly struggled with is that all of us participating in this recital have had relatively privileged lives. As such, we know precious little about the realities of poverty and true material need. This reality made itself most apparent when we decided to partner with the Jayne Brooks Memorial Food Pantry, in the hopes of allowing our art to procure tangible good. A member of the clergy at Church of the Messiah pointed out to us, very graciously and kindly, that billing the event as a "recital to increase homelessness awareness" was perhaps a little naive, given that we are partnering with a food pantry. He explained that clients of a food pantry

Page 4 PROGRAM NOTE

typically have a home or shelter of some sort, and in fact live in constant fear of eventually becoming homeless. Automatically linking those in need with those who are homeless is an unfortunate misnomer.

This insight, while it seems perfectly obvious in hindsight, showed us just how out-of-touch with this issue we really are. And so we began approaching the recital in a modified manner, using it as a chance to increase awareness of all of those in our community who are in need or feel forgotten. We stepped away from the potentially narrative aspects of the recital, and focused more on the humanity in the music and the poetry: the power of the art to bring these difficult issues to light.

In his program note for the little match girl passion, David Lang states: "What drew me to The Little Match Girl is that the strength of the story lies not in its plot but in the fact that all its parts—the horror and the beauty—are constantly suffused with their opposites. The girl's bitter present is locked together with the sweetness of her past memories, her poverty is always suffused with her hopefulness. There is a kind of naïve equilibrium between suffering and hope."

This observation became our guiding light as we built a program that consists of pieces that are at times despairing, at times hopeful, and at times just plain silly. Our hope is that we have created a program that inspires reflection on this very real issue of poverty and need of all kinds: material, emotional, spiritual. Each set of songs confronts a different aspect of this theme: recognition, empathy, identity, and hope. We hope you will join us in exploring this space between suffering and hope. —Nathaniel, Katherine, Mary-Elizabeth, & Christopher

Page 5 About the Artists

Mary-Elizabeth O'Neill maryelizabethoneillmezzo.com

Mezzo-soprano Mary-Elizabeth O’Neill was born and raised in Huntington, New York. This past season, Ms. O’Neill performed the roles of Third Lady and Third Boy in Bard College’s production of Die Zauberflöte, and the role of Eduige in Handel’s Rodelinda at the Halifax Summer Opera Festival. Ms. O’Neill also performed with the Albany Symphony, led by David Alan Miller, as well as The Orchestra Now in their inaugrual season, led by Leon Botstein. Alsongside Dawn Upshaw, Ms. O’Neill performed in the Haydn Project, curated by Peter Serkin. Other past operatic performances include Greek Woman in Iphigénie en Aulide, Sally in Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, Barbarina in the Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and L’Esprit in Massenet’s Cendrillion at the Juilliard School. Ms. O’Neill has been recognized for her talent on both a local and national level. At the Juilliard Pre- College Class of 2011 Commencement, she was the only vocalist selected by the faculty to receive a prestigious Achievement Award/ Prize. She placed 2nd in the 2010 Classical Singer National Vocal Competition, High School division. Other notable honors include being named a 2011 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts NFAA Young Arts Finalist in Voice/Level 1 Winner, a 2011 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts Award Semifinalist, a 2011 Long Island Arts Alliance LIAA Scholar Artist, a 2011 Huntington Men’s Chorus Scholarship recipient, and a 2011 Friends of Oheka Otto Kahn Scholarship Award winner.

Page 6 About the Artists

Christopher Remkus christopherremkus.com

Tenor Christopher Remkus hails from Miller Place, New York. A diverse musical artist by training, Christopher maintains an affinity for his work in opera, , chamber music, and musical theater. He was recently seen as Goro in Madama Butterfly at Hubbard Hall Opera Theater for their summer festival in Cambridge, NY. Christopher also traveled to Los Angeles this summer, performing as a featured professional artist for the twentieth-anniversary of SongFest at the acclaimed Colburn School. This past season, Christopher’s performances included multiple appearances at the renowned Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, including his debut in the role of Tamino for the Bard College Conservatory’s production of Die Zauberflöte. He also performed as the tenor soloist for both Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Handel’s Messiah. This season includes solo performances of Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge and Bard’s Winter Songfest.

Page 7 About the Artists

Katherine Rossiter katherinerossiter.com

Soprano Katherine Rossiter is a second year Fellow in the Bard College Conservatory of Music Graduate Vocal Arts Program, led by soprano Dawn Upshaw. This past season at Bard, she sang the roles of Second Lady and First Spirit in Die Zauberflöte, as well as the soprano solos in The Haydyn Project, curated by Peter Serkin. In May of 2015, Ms. Rossiter received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, where she worked with Dr. Gwen Detwiler. While at CCM, she performed the roles of Morgana in Alcina and Le Feu/Le Rossignol in L’enfant et les sortilèges. Throughout the Cincinnati area, she has also performed the soprano solos in Handel's Messiah, Fauré’s Reqiuem, and Brahms’s Requiem. Ms. Rossiter is also an advocate for bringing opera to new, young audiences: in the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons, she sang with Roundabout Opera for Kids: Cincinnati, performing the roles of The Sandman/The Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel and Rosina in an abridged version of Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Page 8 About the Artists

Nathaniel Sullivan nathanielsullivanbaritone.com

Baritone Nathaniel Sullivan is a New York-based performer of vocal music and theatre. Sullivan has received two recognitions from the Nebraska District National Council Auditions, and has been the recipient of the Orpheus Vocal Competition’s Bizet Award. His opera roles have included Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Sid (Albert Herring), and the Count (Le nozze di Figaro). Inspired by the music of modern composers, Sullivan recently covered the roles of Gilgamesh and the Young Monk in Paola Prestini’s Gilgamesh and Scott Wheeler’s Naga, produced by Beth Morrison Projects as part of the 2016 world premiere of the Ouroboros Trilogy in Boston. Sullivan frequently engages in concert engagements around the country: he appeared with the Albany Symphony Orchestra in 2016 to premiere five songs in the Songs of the Earth project for voices and chamber ensemble, composed by students of Aaron Jay Kernis at the Yale School of Music. In addition to the classical repertoire, Sullivan takes an interest in American , having performed in multiple premieres of new musicals by such composers as Georgia Stitt, Joey Contreras, and Allan Harris. Originally from Bettendorf, Iowa, he received a Bachelor’s of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he graduated in 2014 as a Chancellor's Scholar. He is currently earning his Master’s of Music degree at the Bard College Conservatory of Music’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, led by soprano Dawn Upshaw.

Page 9 About the Artists

Yumi Nomoto

Yumi Nomoto was born in Japan and moved to London at the age of eight. She gave her first solo recital at age ten at St. Martin-in-the- Fields in London and performed for HRH the Prince of Wales at St. James’s Palace. She made her orchestral solo debut the following year at London’s Royal Festival Hall and with the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Ms. Nomoto has given numerous solo and collaborative performances at important venues including the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, and St. John’s Smith Square in London; Salle Cortot in ; and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. She has also performed at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C. for the Japanese Ambassador and Ambassadors to ASEAN, and at festivals including the Japan Festival under the baton of Hideomi Kuroiwa in the UK, the Russian Music Festival at the Southbank Centre in London, and Les notes blanches de Courchevel and Masters au Château de Crémault in France. Ms. Nomoto has appeared on BBC and Classic FM in the UK, NHK in Japan, and has collaborated with artists including Suren Bagratuni, Alexandre Brussilovsky, Roustem Saitkoulov and Keng- Yuen Tseng. She has received awards from the Fondation Adami at the Paris Conservatoire, and Fagus Trust and Philharmonia/Martin Scholarship in London. Ms. Nomoto studied with Irina Zaritskaya at the Royal College of Music in London, with Théodore Paraskivesco and Laurent Cabasso at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, and with Boris Slutsky at the Peabody Conservatory. Ms. Nomoto is currently a Piano Fellow at the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

Page 10 About the Artists

Dylan Greene hunterchee.com

Dylan Hunter Chee Greene is a New York-based musician and artist who omnivorously works through the mediums of percussion, composition, image, design, and word. Alongside his incessant collaborative practice, he creates works of autofiction and the ambient. Dylan is from an island in the Pacific Northwest. Greene is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where he was mentored by Joe Gramley, Johnathan Ovalle, Stephen Rush, Master Wasentha Young, and Christian Mecca, among many others. There he helped found the art ensemble Willo, with which he plays as a percussionist and works as the artistic director. Dylan was a Bang On A Can Summer Festival fellow at Mass MoCa in 2016 and currently studies with Sō Percussion at Bard College.

Page 11 The Jayne Brooks Memorial Food Pantry

The Jayne Brooks Memorial Food Pantry is an outreach ministry of the Church of the Messiah in Rhinebeck, NY. The pantry provides an estimated 80,000 pounds of food and personal care items per year to families and individuals in Rhinebeck, Red Hook, Hyde Park, and Staatsburg, serving approximately 1,200 individuals in 365 registered households (as of August, 2016). Approximately one-third of these clients are made up of children and the elderly. The pantry is, at its heart, a non-sectarian, community-oriented operation that focuses primarily on hospitality and assisting those in need.

All donations received at today's recital will go directly to the pantry. If you are able, we encourage you to make a monetary and/or non- perishable food donation at the door as you leave the Opera House. A representative from the pantry will be at the door to collect donations directly.

If you have any questions about the Jayne Brooks Memorial Food Pantry, or if you wish to donate or volunteer your time in the future, please email [email protected], or call 845-876-3533.