Sunday, January 28, 2018 • 3:00 p.m.

Composers Focus Forum (1957-1990)

DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Sunday, January 28, 2018 • 3:00 p.m. DePaul Concert Hall Composers Focus Forum Vocal works of Leonard Bernstein (1957-1990) Kit Bridges, piano Christopher Magiera, coordinator

Program

“Tonight” Ensemble from (1957)

Riff Ryan Wolfe Bernardo Lauren Jacob Tony Sebastian Armendariz Maria Miranda Levin Anita Kelby Roth

“Simple Song” from (1973)

Emily Margevich,

I hate music!: A cycle of 5 kid songs (1943) My Name is Barbara Jupiter Has Seven Moons I Hate Music! A Big Indian and A Little Indian I’m a Person Too

Angela De Venuto, soprano

La bonne cuisine: Four Recipes (1947) Plum Pudding Queues de boeuf (Ox-tails) Taveuk gueunksis Civet à toute vitesse (Rabbit at Top Speed)

Abagael Martin, mezzo-soprano Composers Focus Forum • January 28, 2018 program

Pitkin’s Song from (1944)

Ryan Wolfe, baritone

“Glitter and Be Gay” from (1956)

Angela Zúñiga, soprano

“Carried away” from On the Town (1944)

Chase Gutierrez, baritone & Sarah Szeszol, soprano

“2 Love Songs” Extinguish my eyes (1949) When my soul touches yours (1963)

Lauren Jacob, mezzo-soprano

“Piccola Serenata” (1979))

Madeline Ehlinger, soprano

“I was standing in a garden” from (1952)

Maria Consamus, soprano

“It must be so” from Candide (1956)

Daniel O’Hearn,

“I am easily assimilated” from Candide (1956)

Olivia Leone, mezzo-soprano Composers Focus Forum • January 28, 2018 program

“Maria” from West Side Story (1957)

Sebastian Armendariz, tenor

“Make our Garden Grow” from Candide (1956)

Candide Daniel O’Hearn Cunegonde Madeline Ehlinger Paquette Emily Margevich Governor Sebastian Armendariz Maximilian Chase Gutierrez Pangloss Ryan Wolfe Composers Focus Forum • January 28, 2018

About Composers Focus Forum This is the tenth year that DePaul voice students have had the opportunity to explore and present works from modern-era composers. We are following in the footsteps of in-depth examinations of music by such composers as Olivier Messiaen, Paul Hindemith, Francis Poulenc; extended vocal works of George Crumb and John Cage, Arnold Schoenberg; and the moving tribute to composers of World War I and 20th century Italian composers. This year we revert back to vocal works of a singular composer and we have chosen to feature songs by Leonard Bernstein. The DePaul School of Music is proud to showcase vocal students of excellence whose talents allow the presentation of such demanding vocal and musical material of a more modern idiom. Program Notes “Leonard Bernstein loved music. ALL of it. And he gave a clear signal to his audiences that it was OK to love all music — and not to put a value judgment on one genre over another. He was the unsnobbiest person you could ever hope to meet. He loved people and was curious about everything...In his own compositions, my father lived by the same creed. He wrote jazzy music for the concert hall and symphonic music for the Broadway stage. And of course, everybody thoroughly benefited from the cross-pollination.”

“His brain was on fire with curiosity. And what he loved most was to communicate his excitement to others. Luckily for all of us, it wasn’t enough for Leonard Bernstein to compose music and conduct orchestras. He felt equally compelled to talk about music — to try and explain what made it tick, what made it good, and what made it affect us in all the ways that music does.” -from “Leonard Bernstein: A Born Teacher” by Jamie Bernstein (Leonard Bernstein’s daughter)

Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1918, Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, author, teacher, and pianist. He was raised by Jewish-Russian immigrants and attended school as a boy at the Boston Latin School. From a young age he believed in experimenting with music - during his teenage years he once put on a performance of Bizet’s Carmen in which he played the title role (the other roles were also subject to gender- reversal). He then attended Harvard and the Curtis School of Music, where he worked with mentors such as Aaron Copland, Randall Thompson, Fritz Reiner, and Renee Longy. Composers Focus Forum • January 28, 2018 program notes

Over the course of his career, Bernstein would become one of the most famous American conductors of all time. He became an assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1943, and took up the post of Music Director of the Orchestra in 1958 - the first American conductor to hold the position. He made many appearances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and also conducted , including performances at La Scala with Maria Callas. Among his many accolades are the Kennedy Center Honor for Lifetime of Contributions to American Culture Through the Performing Arts, the Sonning Prize, the Siemens Prize, eleven Emmy Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, and many more.

Bernstein is perhaps best remembered for his vast and varied compositions, which is what brings us here today in year of the 100th anniversary of his birth. His vocal music spans the genres of musical theater, opera, song cycles, and more. Noted conductor and musicologist Will Crutchfield once remarked that the “Tonight” quintet fromWest Side Story, the opening number, “is above all an occasion for celebrating one of the great of our century. ...This idea is hotly resisted, but the best argument for it is here on the records in the music itself. I can see no reason why the ‘Tonight’ ensemble should not be compared to the quartet from Rigoletto.” The concert also includes other well-known selections from Bernstein’s celebrated works of Candide, Trouble in Tahiti, and On the Town.

However, in this concert, rather than focussing on only the greatest hits of Bernstein’s career, many different styles of his compositions are highlighted. Among Bernstein’s lesser-known works are “I hate music” - a song cycle inspired by Bernstein’s flatmate who reportedly was bothered by Bernstein’s consistent coaching of singers in their shared space - and the “2 Love Songs” - compositions set to the poetry of famed writer Rainer Maria Rilke which were written a decade-and-a-half apart. The entirety of this program is in English, with the exception of “Piccola Serenata” which is sung in gibberish, allowing the music to be conveyed immediately to the audience, which is hopefully just as Bernstein would have wanted it.

Notes by Christopher Magiera Composers Focus Forum • January 28, 2018

Biography

Alban “Kit” Bridges accompanies extensively in the Chicago area. He has performed in recital series at Orchestra Hall, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Grant Park Music Festival, the University of Chicago, and in broadcasts heard on radio stations WGN, WFMT, NPR, and PBS. A finalist in the Young Keyboard Artists Association International Competition, Dr. Bridges had his Chicago solo debut at Orchestra Hall in 1993.

Upcoming Events

Thursday, February 1 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Ensemble 20+

Friday, February 2 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Concert Orchestra

Saturday, February 3 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Wind Symphony

Saturday, February 10 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Chamber Choir and Concert Choir

Monday, February 19 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Percussion Ensemble

Friday, February 23 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall New Music DePaul

Saturday, February 24 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Baroque Chamber Ensemble

Sunday, February 25 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Wind/Mixed Chamber Showcase I Wednesday, February 28 • 8:00 p.m. Composers Focus Forum • January 28, 2018 Upcoming Events

Concert Hall Wind/Chamber Showcase II

Thursday, March 1 • 7:00 p.m. Recital Hall Jazz Combos I

Thursday, March 1 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall String Chamber Showcase I

Friday, March 2 • 7:00 p.m. Recital Hall Jazz Combos II

Friday, March 2 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall String Chamber Showcase II

Saturday, March 3 • 3:00 p.m. Concert Hall African Drum Ensemble

Saturday, March 3 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Wind Ensemble

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