HOPKINS CENTER presents

Handel Society of Dartmouth College Robert Duff, conductor

Fire and Ice with special guests Sally Pinkas piano Elizabeth Keusch soprano Erma Gattie Mellinger mezzo-soprano Paul Shikany tenor David Arnold baritone Hanover Chamber

This performance is made possible in part by generous support from the Friends of the Handel Society Fund; the Handel Society Foundation of New Hampshire; the Gordon Russell 1955 Fund; and the Gift of Gretchen ’77 and Robert ’76 Wetzel.

Saturday, May 19, 2007 • 8 pm Spaulding Auditorium • Dartmouth College Handel Society’s Bicentennial Commemoratives

The Handel Society of Dartmouth College 1807-2007 By Heywood Alexander with David Robinson This recently published history, complete with archival recordings, is available for purchase in the lobby at intermission and at the post-concert reception at the Top of the Hop. Proceeds support Handel Society.

Fire and Ice By Louise Clearfielda Fire and Ice is not just the name of Andrea Clearfield’s cantata commissioned for the Bicentennial, it’s also the name of a watercolor created for the occasion by the ’s mother, artist Louise Clearfield. Signed reproductions of the artwork will be available for purchase at the Top of the Hop after tonight’s performance. Proceeds support the newly established Handel Society Commissioning Fund, which will underwrite future commissions. HANDEL SOCIETY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Celebration for the Season November 28, 2006 • 7 pm with special guests Carla Chrisfield, soprano Catherine Hedberg, mezzo-soprano Ray Bauwens, tenor Mark Andrew Cleveland, bass and the Hanover Chamber Orchestra A Salute To Choral Arts Within The Ivy League March 3, 2007 • 7 pm with special guest Yale Camerata Dr. Marguerite Brooks, conductor World Premiere Fire and Ice May 19, 2007 • 8 pm A choral cantata for orchestra, chorus and soloists, based on the poetry of Robert Frost, commissioned from composer Andrea Clearfield Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy Brahms’ Nänie Handel’s Messiah November 28 & 29, 2007 • 8 pm with special guest conductor Helmuth Rilling, music director, Bachakademie Stuttgart and artistic director, Oregon Bach Festival

Celebrating 200 years 1 8 0 7 - 2 0 0 7 program

Nänie, Op. 82 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Choral Fantasy, Op. 80 (1770-1827) Sally Pinkas piano Elizabeth Keusch soprano Erma Gattie Mellinger mezzo-soprano Sue Neighbor mezzo-soprano Paul Shikany tenor Brandon Zeigler GR tenor David Arnold baritone

Presentation of the first annual Melinda O’Neal Award

• INTERMISSION •

Fire and Ice Andrea Clearfield (b. 1960) I. To The Thawing Wind II. October, Fragmentary Blue, Going for Water III. The Demiurge’s Laugh, Fire and Ice, Stars IV. Pan With Us Elizabeth Keusch soprano David Arnold baritone

This commission is made possible with generous support from Gretchen ’77 and Robert ’76 Wetzel, the Handel Society Foundation of New Hampshire, the Dartmouth College Office of the Provost, and the Hopkins Center for the Arts.

The composer wishes to express her gratitude to Yaddo, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Blue Mountain Center and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. program notes Nänie, Op. 82, Johannes Brahms not. Brahms makes it serene and accepting, quite in Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany, the spirit of Schiller’s poem and the gentle fatalism on May 7, 1833, and died in Vienna on April 3, 1897. of Greek antiquity. He composed Nänie in 1881, and the first performance took place in Zürich on December 6 that year. The score Schiller’s poem is cast in Greek hexameters—long calls for four-part mixed chorus and an orchestra con- lines that Brahms found challenging to set. They in- sisting of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns spired him to create a long-breathed flowing melody in pairs, three trombones, timpani, harp (doubled, if in 6/4 first heard in the oboe, then forming the ba- possible) and strings. sis of a gentle canon in the voices, soaring, hovering and intertwining from part to part. At the mention Nänie, Op. 82 (from the Greek word nenia, or of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, rising from the sea to “song of lamentation”), is one of the least known of lament the death of her son, the music moves to a Brahms’s major works, and one of the most exqui- bright and serene F sharp Major and a more homo- sitely beautiful in its balance and repose. Schiller’s phonic texture. The final two lines round out the poem, a lament that “Even Beauty must die,” was an musical shape with a return to the home key of D ideal choice of text for a piece to memorialize the Major and the opening material. Brahms chooses to composer’s friend, the painter Anselm Feuerbach. pass rather quickly over Schiller’s final line, “For the Brahms may have first encountered the poem in a Common go down to Orcus unsung,” and to draw setting by Hermann Goetz, which happened to have out and emphasize the penultimate line, “To be even been performed in Vienna in February 1880, within a song of lamentation in the mouth of the beloved is a month of Feuerbach’s death. He did not choose the splendid.” text immediately, however. In July 1880 he wrote his friend Elisabet von Herzogenberg, assuring her that Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, Ludwig van Beethoven he was “quite willing to write motets or anything else Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Ger- for chorus (I am heartily sick of everything else!)”— many, on December 17, 1770, and died in Vienna on but the problem was finding a text that could inspire March 27, 1827. He composed the Choral Fantasy late his musical imagination. “They are not heathenish in 1808 to serve as the grand finale to his benefit con- enough for me in the Bible. I have bought the Koran cert at the Theater-an-der-Wien; the composer him- but can find nothing there either.” Elisabet’s sugges- self was the piano soloist in the first performance on tion that he look through the Psalms again bore no December 22 that year. The Fantasy is scored for solo fruit. Instead, he remembered Schiller’s poem, filled piano, six vocal soloists (two sopranos, alto, two ten- with its classical Greek references—a perfect “hea- ors and bass), mixed chorus, and an orchestra includ- thenish” poem, especially as a memorial to Feuer- ing two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets , bassoons, two bach, whose favorite subjects were drawn from clas- horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. sical mythology. After having contributed both as composer and per- In any case, Brahms completed his setting in the former to a series of charity concerts in 1807 and summer of 1881. It is one of his most exquisite cre- 1808, Beethoven received permission to use the The- ations, yet is performed surprisingly rarely. A musi- ater-an-der-Wien for a concert for his own benefit cal setting of a text that laments the transitory na- (that is, one in which he would receive any profits ture of all things, life, love, beauty and heroic glory that might accrue) on December 22, 1808. He chose might have turned out profoundly gloomy—but it is this opportunity to reveal to the world some of his program notes continued major new compositions in a program that consisted and communicate his criticisms to the concertmas- entirely of his own works in their first performances. ter. When the time came for the performance, just Among the new works were such major pieces as the about everything that could possibly go wrong did. Fourth Piano Concerto (for which Beethoven him- The concert ran four hours in length, the hall was self was to be the soloist), and the Fifth and Sixth unheated and bitterly cold, and the soprano had Symphonies, as well as the concert aria Ah! perfido already ruined the aria out of nervousness. To top and several movements from the Mass in C, Op. 86 it all off, the Choral Fantasy fell apart during the (which had to be advertised as “hymns in the church performance (apparently through some mistake in style” because the censor did not allow liturgical counting by the orchestra) and Beethoven stopped music to be performed in theaters). That list of piec- the performance to begin it again. The financial out- es would seem to be enough to exhaust an audience come of the evening is unknown, but it certainly had (not to mention an orchestra), especially when all a psychological effect on him: he never played the of the works were utterly unfamiliar, difficult and piano in public again. performed with far too little rehearsal. The overall structure of the Choral Fantasy is as But Beethoven decided that it wasn’t enough; he bold as it is unusual: on the principle of gradually wanted a closing piece. He felt (with considerable increasing the number of performers, Beethoven justification) that it would not be fair to either the begins with an improvisatory introduction for solo work or the audience to put the Fifth Symphony at piano, the finest written example that we have of the end of such a long program, although it would what his own keyboard improvisations must have make a rousing conclusion, because people would been like. Then the orchestral basses enter softly in simply be too tired to pay much attention to it. So he a march rhythm, inaugurating a dialogue with the put the Fifth at the beginning of the second half (the keyboard soloist hinting at the tune to come. Finally Pastoral Symphony opened the evening) and quickly the pianist presents the melody which will be the composed a work designed specifically as a con- basis for the remaining variations, and the finale is cert-closer, employing all of the forces that he had fully underway. gathered for the event (chorus, orchestra and piano soloist), arranged in a variation form designed for One of the most striking things about the tune is maximum variety of color and for “easy listening.” the way it hovers around the third degree of the He went back to a song, Gegenliebe (WoO 118), that scale (mi), moving away from it and then returning he had composed more than a dozen years previous- in smooth stepwise lines. Much the same descrip- ly, ordered a new text written in a hurry by the poet tion can be given of the main theme for the finale Christoph Kuffner, and set to work. of the Ninth Symphony. Indeed, the Choral Fantasy is sometimes described as a kind of dry run for the The piece was finished too late for a careful rehears- Ninth, though that mighty work was still some fif- al. In any case, Beethoven and the orchestra, which teen years away. Still, at least the notion of variation was a pick-up group consisting of a heterogeneous treatment of a simple, almost hymn-like melody in mixture of professionals and reasonably advanced the orchestra, followed by the unexpected appear- amateurs, had already had such a falling-out dur- ance of voices, can be traced to this work. ing rehearsals that the orchestra would not consent to practice with Beethoven in the room—he had to But of course, the finale of the Ninth is the power- listen from an anteroom at the back of the theater ful culmination of an enormous symphonic edifice; program notes continued the Choral Fantasy does not pretend to such impres- surface it is New England homespun; but its imme- sive architectural power, yet it certainly provided diacy conceals many layers of significance. Beethoven with a closing number that is at once lively and colorful, naively cheerful and original in Andrea Clearfield has spent most of her life in and form. around , where she has studied (at Muhlenberg College in nearby Allentown, at the Fire and Ice, Andrea Clearfield University of the Arts, where she received her mas- Andrea Clearfield was born in Philadelphia on August ter’s degree in piano and at Temple University, where 29, 1960, and lives in Philadelphia. The cantata Fire she earned a D.M.A. in composition as a student of and Ice was commissioned by the Handel Society of Maurice Wright), but her music has been performed Dartmouth College, directed by Dr. Robert Duff, on widely all over the United States and in Europe and the occasion of its bicentennial anniversary, 2007. This Japan. Her large and growing list of works include is the first performance. The score calls for soprano pieces that range from solo or chamber works for and baritone soloists, mixed chorus and an orchestra instruments and sometimes voice, choral works, consisting of two flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), two orchestral compositions to full-scale cantatas and oboes (2nd doubling English horn), two clarinets (2nd oratorios. Her long experience with choral music— doubling bass clarinet), two bassoons (2nd doubling starting as an accompanist to her school chorus in contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three fourth grade and extending to the composition of trombones, percussion for two players, timpani, harp, the oratorios Women of Valor (2000) and The Golem piano/celesta and strings. Psalms (2006)—make her an obvious choice to com- pose a work for the 200th anniversary of America’s When Handel Society conductor Robert Duff was oldest town/gown choral organization. looking ahead to the 200th anniversary of the founding of the ensemble, he invited a number of Since she wanted to create a sense of place with this to propose a work that would be appro- score, Clearfield visited the sites of Robert Frost’s priate for the event. The composer chosen to receive homes to get a feeling for the life that produced so the bicentennial commission was Andrea Clearfield, many famous and much-loved poems—to see, for who researched prominent Dartmouth alumni for example, the actual stone wall that is the subject of ideas and, upon learning that Robert Frost was one “Mending Wall” (even though that particular poem of the college’s distinguished sons, proposed a can- plays no role in her cantata). She also found a specif- tata that would be a cycle of his poems. ic musical inspiration on the Dartmouth campus in the form of the Baker Tower carillon, which provides Frost’s poetry is a natural for music. It is compact, a “thematic glue” in the form of the four separate linguistically spare and straightforward, filled with phrases of the melody that signals the hours, each of images (especially of nature) that composers have which is used to suggest some of the musical mate- always delighted in depicting in music, and pro- rial of one of the four movements in the cantata. foundly layered with meanings that can resonate deeply, both through the words themselves and their All of this—plus much reading of Frost’s poems— musical setting. The critic Leonard B. Meyer once was part of the pre-compositional process that is es- wrote an essay about Mozart’s music in which he sential for any vocal work: establishing the text that described its “grammatical simplicity and relational is to be set to music. The aim was to celebrate Frost richness.” Frost seems to work the same way. On the and the Handel Society. Inevitably, too, given the program notes continued nature of Frost’s poems, the cantata evokes many directs the chorus to sing it “like a folksong”) depicts elements of New England weather. Clearfield chose a late autumn stroll to a brook that is still running, her poems carefully and shaped them into four sec- though the movement ends with shimmering antici- tions, which became the separate movements of the pation of the frost to come. cantata in such a way as to embody universal themes in a structural arch. The outer movements are set- The third movement embodies the struggle of the tings of a single poem; the two inner movements human spirit through the confrontation of oppo- each set a group of three poems. sites. The harmonic language is edgier, colored by a major seventh in the third phrase of the Dartmouth The first and last movements have to do with art, carillon. The three poems that make up the move- and the creative process. To the Thawing Wind, in ment are The Demiurge’s Laugh, Fire and Ice and the first movement, depicts clearly the spring winds Stars. The first of these is a wildly energetic outburst that thaw the frozen world of winter, opening it up of animal spirits in a dialectic between man/God/ to new possibilities—here conceived as freeing the demon, all apparently symbolized by the burgeon- poet, the artist to new creation. One thematic ele- ing life-force of a New England spring. Fire and Ice, ment, the opening phrase of the Dartmouth caril- the most famous poem chosen for the cantata, deals lon, is a descending major scale which becomes the with man against himself, against his frequently falling rain figure that dies away at the end of the violent emotions. The setting builds to an explosive movement. outburst that transitions suddenly, in Stars, to what the composer calls “a dispassionate place” in which The second movement contains three poems— each choral line sings wordlessly (with the syllable October, Fragmentary Blue and Going for Water, each “oh”) on a gently undulating turn figure evoking the of which emphasizes the ephemeral nature of time impassivity of nature, including the stars that dis- in human experience. In this second movement, tantly observe our sometimes crazed behavior. Clearfield builds much of the harmonic language on the intervals of fourths and fifths that are prominent The final movement is a setting of Frost’s Pan With in the second phrase of the Dartmouth carillon. Oc- Us, which, to Andrea Clearfield, “questions what tober calls upon nature to slow the inevitable process the art of the future should be.” A fragment of the of change, of the autumnal shifts that have always fourth carillon phrase evokes Pan in the orchestral symbolized the brief transit of human life. (The full introduction, and the melody at the choral entrance Dartmouth carillon appears, with twelve strokes of begins with the final notes of the carillon phrase, the hour, in the chimes, when the poet speaks of noon singing of the mythical Pan, who appears only to and the slow change of autumn: “At noon release an- learn that his powers have faded with the millennia other leaf.”) Fragmentary Blue is the brief scherzo in and that it is time to seek a new song to play. This this section, evoking wonder at the power of momen- idea spreads through the entire ensemble, and all set tary flashes of blue, which is spread out in the sky but up a kind of dance song to ask the eternal question appears only fleetingly in the world below. And the of art, “What should he play?” simple flowing line of Going for Water (the composer Steven Ledbetter © 2007 Texts and Translations Nänie, Op. 80 Poetry by Friedrich Schiller

Auch das Schöne muß sterben! Even Beauty must die! Das Menschen und Götter bezwinget, That which overcomes men and gods, nicht die eherne Brust does not touch the breast rührt es des stygischen Zeus. of Stygian Zeus. Einmal nur erweichte die Liebe Only once did love soften den Schattenbeherrscher, the ruler of shadows, und an der Schwelle noch, streng, and then, at the very threshold, rief er zurück sein Geschenk. he sternly called back his gift.

Nicht stillt Aphrodite Aphrodite could not staunch dem schönen Knaben die Wunde, the wound of the beautiful youth die in den zierlichen Leib grausam which the boar savagely ripped der Eber geritzt. in his delicate body. Nicht errettet den göttlichen Held Nor could the immortal mother die unsterbliche Mutter, save the godlike hero, wenn er, am skäischen Thor fallend, when he, falling at the Scaean gate, sein Schicksal erfüllt. fulfilled his destiny.

Aber sie steigt aus dem Meer But she ascends from the sea mit allen Töchtern des Nereus, with all the daughters of Nereus, und die Klage hebt an and raises the lament um den verherrlichten Sohn. for her glorified son. Siehe, da weinen die Götter, Behold, the gods weep, es weinen die Göttinen alle, and all the goddesses, too, daß das Schöne vergeht, that Beauty must pass away, daß das Volkommene stirbt. that the Perfect must die.

Auch ein Klaglied zu sein Even to be a song of lamentation im Mund der Geliebten ist herrlich, in the mouth of the beloved is splendid, denn das Gemeine For that which is common geht klanglos zum Orkus hinab. goes down to Orcus unsung. Texts and Translations continued Choral Fantasy, Op. 80 Poetry by Christoph Kuffner

Schmeichelnd hold und lieblich Beguiling, gracious and lovely klingen unsres Lebens Harmonien, sound our life’s harmonies, und dem Schönheitssinn entschwingen and awareness of beauty begets Blumen sich, die ewig blüh’n. flowers which bloom eternally. Fried’ und Freude gleiten freundlich Peace and joy move in concord wie der Wellen Wechselspiel; like the rhythm of waves; was sich drängte rauh und feindlich, all the harsh and hostile tumult ordnet sich zu Hochgefühl. is resolved into delight.

Wenn der Töne Zauber walten When the magical sound holds sway, und des Wortes Weihe spricht, consecrated by the word, muß sich Herrliches gestalten, beauty must emerge, Nacht und Stürme werden Licht. night and tempest turn to light. Äuss’re Ruhe, inn’re Wonne Outer peace and inner bliss herrschen für den Glücklichen. reign for the lucky one. Doch der Künste Frühlingssonne Yet the spring sunshine of the arts läßt aus beiden Licht entstehn. draws light from both.

Großes, das ins Herz gedrungen, The greatness which permeates the heart blüht dann neu und schön empor, blooms again with fresh beauty, hat, ein Geist sich aufgeschwungen, when the spirit exalts, hallt ihm stets ein Geisterchor. a spirit chorus reverberates forever. Nehmt denn hin, ihr schönen Seelen, Receive then, all noble souls, froh die Gaben schöner Kunst. with joy the gifts of high art. Wenn sich Lieb’ und Kraft vermählen, When love and power unite, lohnt den Menschen Göttergunst. then god’s favor rewards mankind. Texts and Translations continued Fire and Ice For the grapes’ sake, if they were all, Poetry by Robert Frost Whose leaves already are burnt with frost, Whose clustered fruit must else be lost— I. For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

To the Thawing Wind Fragmentary Blue Come with rain, O loud Southwester! Why make so much of fragmentary blue Bring the singer, bring the nester; In here and there a bird, or butterfly, Give the buried flower a dream; Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye, Make the settled snowbank steam; When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue? Find the brown beneath the white; But whate’er you do tonight, Since earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)— Bathe my window, make it flow, Though some savants make earth include the sky; Melt it as the ices go; And blue so far above us comes so high, Melt the glass and leave the sticks It only gives our wish for blue a whet. Like a hermit’s crucifix; Burst into my narrow stall; Going for Water Swing the picture on the wall; The well was dry beside the door, Run the rattling pages o’er; And so we went with pail and can Scatter poems on the floor; Across the fields behind the house Turn the poet out of door. To seek the brook if still it ran;

II. Not loth to have excuse to go, Because the autumn eve was fair October (Though chill), because the fields were ours, O hushed October morning mild, And by the brook our woods were there. Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild, We ran as if to meet the moon Should waste them all. That slowly dawned behind the trees, The crows above the forest call; The barren boughs without the leaves, Tomorrow they may form and go. Without the birds, without the breeze. O hushed October morning mild, Begin the hours of this day slow. But once within the wood, we paused Make the day seem to us less brief. Like gnomes that hid us from the moon, Hearts not averse to being beguiled, Ready to run to hiding new Beguile us in the way you know. With laughter when she found us soon. Release one leaf at break of day; At noon release another leaf; Each laid on other a staying hand One from our trees, one far away. To listen ere we dared to look, Retard the sun with gentle mist; And in the hush we joined to make Enchant the land with amethyst. We heard, we knew we heard the brook. Slow, slow! Texts and Translations continued

A note as from a single place, Stars A slender tinkling fall that made How countlessly they congregate Now drops that floated on the pool O’er our tumultuous snow, Like pearls, and now a silver blade. Which flows in shapes as tall as trees When wintry winds do blow!—

III. As if with keenness for our fate, Our faltering few steps on The Demiurge’s Laugh To white rest, and a place of rest It was far in the sameness of the wood; Invisible at dawn, — I was running with joy on the Demon’s trail, Though I knew what I hunted was no true god. And yet with neither love nor hate, It was just as the light was beginning to fail Those stars like some snow-white That I suddenly heard— all I needed to hear: Minerva’s snow-white marble eyes It has lasted me many and many a year. Without the gift of sight.

The sound was behind me instead of before, IV. A sleepy sound, but mocking half, As one who utterly couldn’t care. Pan With Us The Demon arose from his wallow to laugh, Pan came out of the woods one day— Brushing the dirt from his eye as he went; His skin and his hair and his eyes were gray, And well I knew what the Demon meant. The gray of the moss of walls were they— And stood in the sun and looked his fill I shall not forget how his laugh rang out. At wooded valley and wooded hill. I felt as a fool to have been so caught, And checked my steps to make pretense He stood in the zephyr, pipes in hand, It was something among the leaves I sought On a height of naked pasture land; (Though doubtful whether he stayed to see). In all the country he did command Thereafter I sat me against a tree. He saw no smoke and he saw no roof. That was well! and he stamped a hoof. Fire and Ice Some say the world will end in fire, His heart knew peace, for none came here Some say in ice. To this lean feeding save once a year From what I’ve tasted of desire Someone to salt the half-wild steer, I hold with those who favor fire. Or homespun children with clicking pails But if it had to perish twice, Who see so little they tell no tales. I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice He tossed his pipes, too hard to teach Is also great A new-world song, far out of reach, And would suffice. For a sylvan sign that the blue jay’s screech And the whimper of hawks beside the sun Texts and Translations continued Were music enough for him, for one. Times were changed from what they were: They were pipes of pagan mirth, Such pipes kept less of power to stir And the world had found new terms of worth. The fruited bough of the juniper He laid him down on the sun-burned earth And the fragile bluets clustered there And raveled a flower and looked away. Than the merest aimless breath of air. Play? Play? — What should he play? About the artists HANDEL SOCIETY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE College, and as the Director of Music for the Roman is the oldest student, faculty, staff and community Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where he di- organization in the United States devoted to the per- rected the music programs for nearly 300 parishes. formance of choral-orchestral major works. The So- He holds degrees in conducting, piano and voice ciety was founded in 1807 by Dartmouth faculty and from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, students to “promote the cause of true and genuine Temple University and the University of Southern sacred music.” Led by John Hubbard, Dartmouth California, where he earned a doctorate of musical Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy, the Soci- arts in 2000. ety sought to advance the works of Baroque masters through performance. Members of the Society be- An active commissioner of new music, Robert Duff lieved the grand choruses of Georg Frideric Handel has given several world premieres of works for both exemplified their goals and thus adopted his name orchestral and choral forces. He has been appointed for their group. Since its inception, the Handel Soci- by Governor John Lynch as Councilor to the New ety has grown considerably in size and in its scope of Hampshire Council on the Arts, and he sits on programming. Today with 85 members drawn from the executive board of the Eastern Division of the the Dartmouth student body, faculty and staff, and American Choral Directors Association. the Upper Valley community, the Society performs three concerts a year of major works both old and David Arnold baritone has appeared as principal new. soloist with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony, Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony, Leonard For more information about the Handel Society, Bernstein in a world premiere of David Diamond’s including how to audition for it or support it, call Ninth Symphony for Baritone and Orchestra at Carn- 603.646.3414 or visit our website, handelsociety.org. egie Hall, Roger Norrington and the St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra and also with the of Dr. Robert Duff conductor is the director of the Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Handel Society of Dartmouth College and the Louis, Atlanta, Houston, Pittsburgh, Amsterdam Dartmouth Chamber Singers and teaches courses in and The Israel Philharmonic. In May 2003 at the music theory in the Music Department. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., he sang the premiere of James Grant’s Such Was the War, A Cho- Before coming to Dartmouth in 2004, Dr. Duff ral Symphony for Baritone, Chorus and Orchestra, the served on the faculties of Pomona College, Clare- baritone solos of which were written for Mr. Arnold. mont Graduate University and Mount St. Mary’s In 2004, Mr. Arnold stepped in on three days’ notice About the artists continued to sing a demanding role in the world premiere of Ucross Foundation, Blue Mountain Center, Virginia Gaian Variations with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Center for the Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York. the Millay Colony and the Tyrone Guthrie Center and was awarded a residency at the Helene Wurlitzer Mr. Arnold has sung leading roles with the Met- Foundation this summer in Taos. ropolitan , the English National Opera, The Opera Company of Boston, New York City Op- Her hour-long cantata on breast cancer, The Long era, L’Opera de Montreal, L’Opera de Quebec and Bright, commissioned by David Wolman, who also has performed leading baritone roles with Berlin’s wrote the libretto, was premiered at the Kimmel famed Komische Oper. Also abroad, Mr. Arnold Center in 2004 with soprano Hila Plitmann, the has appeared with the Spoleto and Holland Festi- Temple University Music Prep Children’s Chorus vals, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Singapore and Orchestra 2001. Her oratorio on the women of Symphony and has toured Austria and Yugoslavia in the Bible, Women of Valor, was premiered at Royce concert. In the summer of 2004, he performed two Hall in Los Angeles in 2000, and portions of the concerts in American music at the Concert Hall in work were broadcast nationally on NPR’s All Things Beijing’s Forbidden City and served as voice profes- Considered. Her cantata, The Golem Psalms, to texts sor in the Beijing Festival and School of Music. by Ellen Frankel, commissioned and premiered by the Mendelssohn Club with baritone Sanford Sylvan He has recorded Mendelssohn’s Walpurgisnacht, John and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, had its Harbison’s opera Full Moon in March, Zaimont’s The world premiere in 2006 in Philadelphia. Recently Magic World, Mozart’s Requiem (Levin completion), her violin concerto Romanza was commissioned Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and and premiered by Orchestra 2001 with soloist Glo- Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder. ria Justen. Sonic Circuits for cello and film with in- teractive technology, commissioned by Chamber David Arnold’s awards include the New York City Music Now, premieres May 19, 2007 at the Annen- Opera Gold Debut Award, as well as honors from berg Center, Philadelphia, and a new work for the the Sullivan and Shoshana Foundation and a career Debussy Trio, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and grant from the National Opera Institute. organist Cherry Rhoades premieres at Disney Hall in Los Angeles in 2008. Andrea Clearfield composer has had her music for instrumental and vocal soloists, mixed chamber en- A native of Philadelphia, Dr. Clearfield received sembles, chorus, orchestra and dance performed by a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from noted artists internationally. She has received nu- Temple University, where she studied with Maurice merous grants and awards from organizations such Wright, an MM in Piano from The Philadelphia as ASCAP, the Leeway Foundation, the National En- College of the Performing Arts (now The University dowment for the Arts, the American Music Center, of the Arts) as a student of Susan Starr, and a BA in the American Composers Forum, the Independence Music from Muhlenberg College, where she studied Foundation, the Council on the Arts with her mentor, Margaret Garwood. She serves on and the International Alliance for Women in Mu- the composition and interarts faculty at The Univer- sic. She has been in residence at Yaddo (where she sity of the Arts and is the pianist in the Relâche En- was awarded the Aaron Copland Residency for an semble for Contemporary Music. A strong believer American Composer), the MacDowell Colony, the in creating community through music, Clearfield is About the artists continued also the host and founder of the Philadelphia SA- vatory. She resides in Worcester, Massachusetts. LON Concert Series which features contemporary, classical, jazz, electronic and world music and is Erma Gatie Mellinger mezzo-soprano and vocal now celebrating its 20th year. coach has been a principal artist with many opera companies across the United States, including the Elizabeth Keusch soprano is rapidly emerging as Cleveland Opera, the Florida Grand Opera, the Dal- “an artist to watch.” She has performed recently las Opera, the Sarasota Opera, the Chautauqua Op- with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and composer/ era, the Fresno International Grand Opera, Opera conductor Thomas Ades and with Helmuth Rill- North, the Pittsburgh Opera Theater and the Shreve- ing of the Oregon Bach Festival and Internationale port Opera. Her roles, in over 30 include Bachakademie Stuttgart. The soprano gave the world Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Così premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s L’espace dernier in fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Idamante her debut with Opéra National de Paris in January in Idomeneo, Empress Ottavia in L’incoronazione 2005. During 2006-07 she makes her debut with the di Poppea, Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Oliver Knussen’s Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino, Prince Orlofsky Songs for Sue under the composer’s direction, collab- in Die Fledermaus, Prince Charming in Cendrillon, orates again with Helmuth Rilling and the Interna- Martha in Faust, Tisbe in La Cenerentola and Berta tional Bachakademie Stuttgart as Merab in Handel’s in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Saul and sings under Norman Scribner and the DC Choral Arts Society in Poulenc’s Stabat Mater and Hailed for her “rich, vibrant, creamy voice,” Ms. Amy Beach’s Canticle to the Sun. Appearances with Gattie Mellinger is also at home on the concert and the Florida Orchestra in Schubert’s Mass No. 6 un- recital stage. She has appeared as soloist with many der Stephan Sanderling and the Xalapa Symphony major orchestras, including the Fort Wayne Phil- with Haydn’s Jahreszeiten under Carlos Miguel Pri- harmonic, the Monterey Symphony, the Rochester eto round out the season. Philharmonic Orchestra, the Florida Symphony Or- chestra, the Westfield Symphony, the New Hamp- Widely recognized for her remarkable musicianship, shire Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vermont Ms. Keusch is an avid champion of chamber music Symphony Orchestra. She has given solo recitals and new music. In 2006 she toured Portugal with sponsored by the Buffalo Opera, the Adirondack the Ensemble Contrapunctus performing Schoen- Ensemble, ChamberWorks at Dartmouth College berg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Shostokovich’s Seven Block and Classicopia. Songs. Keusch has had successive collaborations on Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series Ms. Gattie Mellinger graduated first in her class and with Boston Musica Viva and the Kammeren- from Northwestern University, where she received semble Neue Musik Berlin. In 2005 she debuted at her Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance. the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society in Al- She earned her Master of Music Degree from the ice Tully Hall with the Pacifica Quartet in Osvaldo Eastman School of Music, where she also received Golijov’s Tenebre and How Slow the Wind. honors in performance and teaching. She is a fre- quent guest artist on the Dartmouth campus, per- Elizabeth Keusch holds a Master of Music degree forming regularly with the Handel Society, the from the New England Conservatory, where she was Chamber Singers, the Wind Symphony and the named the 2001 Presidential Scholar for the Conser- Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Gattie Mel- About the artists continued linger began teaching voice at Dartmouth in 1996. Nocturnes (Musica Omnia), which was named one of 2002’s best CDs by Richard Dyer of the Boston Sally Pinkas pianist-in-residence of the Hopkins Globe. Her 3-CD recording of Philippe Gaubert’s Center at Dartmouth College, pursues an active per- Complete Chamber Works for Flute and Piano (with forming career as both a soloist and a chamber musi- Fenwick Smith) was recently released by Naxos. cian. Among her credits are solo recitals at London’s Current projects include Fauré’s two Piano Quartets Wigmore Hall, Villa Serbelloni (Bellagio) and Villa (with the Adaskin Trio) and a solo Schumann disc. Aurelia (Rome) in Italy, Israel Radio “Etnachta” Se- ries in Jerusalem, The Phillips Collection in Wash- Born and raised in Israel and educated in the U.S., ington, D.C., and Jordan Hall in Boston. Ms. Pinkas Sally Pinkas holds performance degrees from Indi- has participated in summer festivals at Marlboro, ana University and the New England Conservatory Tanglewood, Aspen, Kfar Blum (Israel), Lucerne of Music, and a Ph.D. in Composition and Theory (Switzerland), Rocca di Mezzo (Italy) and Pontlevoy from Brandeis University. Her major teachers were (France). She has appeared as the concerto soloist Russell Sherman, George Sebok, Luise Vosgerchian with the Boston Pops, Aspen Philharmonia, Jupiter and Genia Bar-Niv (piano), Sergiu Natra (compo- Symphony and the Tallahassee Symphony Orches- sition) and Robert Koff (chamber music). A dedi- tra, among others. cated teacher, she serves as Professor of Piano at Dartmouth’s Music Department and is an Artist- An avid chamber musician, Ms. Pinkas has collabo- teacher at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, rated with Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Ciompi, Massachusetts. Leontovych and Lydian String Quartets, the Adaskin Trio and flutist Fenwick Smith. Since 1992 she has Paul Shikany tenor is a versatile performer whose also been active as part of the Hirsch-Pinkas Piano talents have afforded him opportunities ranging Duo, with her husband, Evan Hirsch. The two have from baroque opera through musical theater and performed throughout the U.S. as well as in Nige- modern composition. He recently appeared as Pe- ria, Israel, Italy and Russia. In 2003-2004 they made drillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Op- their first appearances in Bulgaria and France, and era Company of Brooklyn and took on numerous most recently they performed and taught in Beijing character roles in Opera Pacific’s production of Can- and Xian, China. The Duo has commissioned, pre- dide. Other recent opera roles have included Léon miered and recorded major works by George Roch- in Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso and Ali in a recording of berg, Daniel Pinkham, Thomas Oboe Lee and Peter Spohr’s Zemire und Azor. Child for the Gasparo and Arsis labels. He is an enthusiastic interpreter of oratorio and sa- Ms. Pinkas’ extensive repertoire ranges from the cred music; his repertoire includes Bach’s St. John traditional to the contemporary, and includes many Passion and St. Matthew Passion, Handel’s Messiah, works written for her. In 1996 she was awarded a Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Howard Fellowship by Brown University for a 2-CD Mozart’s Requiem. He has performed a wide vari- recording of George Rochberg’s solo piano works, ety of recital repertoire and is particularly fond of which was later released by Gasparo. Other solo song cycles, including Schubert’s Winterreise and discography includes Debussy’s Twelve Etudes and Die schöne Müllerin, Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Estampes (Centaur), Bread and Roses: Piano works Liederkreis Op. 39, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, by Christian Wolff (Mode) and Fauré’s Thirteen Poulenc’s Tel jour telle nuit, Faure’s La bonne chanson About the artists continued and Britten’s Winter Words. verdi chamber opera Il combattimento di Tancredi et Clorinda. Mr. Shikany is a frequent collaborator with instru- mental ensembles in the presentation of chamber A native of Danville, California, Paul Shikany at- music. Performances have included Stravinsky’s In tended the University of Southern California and memoriam Dylan Thomas, the world premiere of the Manhattan School of Music. He and his wife, Erik Lindsey’s Vaivén, Britten’s Canticles and Ser- soprano Anne Shikany, have a one-year-old son, enade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings and the Monte- Isaiah, and reside in New York City.

Acknowledgements Many thanks are extended to the Board of Directors of the Handel Society and the numerous members-at-large of the organization, community and student, for their fine work on behalf of the Handel Society.

We thank the Friends of the Handel Society (Dartmouth College alumni, past and present community Handel Society members and regional audience supporters of the Handel Society) and the Handel Society Foundation of New Hampshire for financial support of the Handel Society’s concert season.

In addition, we offer our warmest thanks to Hilary Pridgen of The Trumbull House Bed & Breakfast for providing accommodations for guest soloists. The Trumbull Bed & Breakfast, 40 Etna Road, Hanover, NH 03755; phone 603.643.2370 or toll-free 800.651.5141; web: www.trumbullhouse.com.

We also thank the many members of the Handel Society and Hanover Chamber Orchestra for housing our out-of-town orchestral players.

If you would like more information about the Friends of the Handel Society or the Handel Society Foundation of New Hampshire, please visit our table at the post-concert reception or send a request, with your name and address, to:

Friends of the Handel Society of Dartmouth College Handel Society Foundation of New Hampshire 6187 Hopkins Center P.O. Box 716 Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 Hanover, NH 03755-3599 [email protected] [email protected] handel society of dartmouth college

Dr. Robert Duff conductor Daniel Weiser collaborative pianist Erma Gattie Mellinger vocal coach Johanna Evans ’10 student manager

Soprano Katharine Christie Robert Howe Eugenia Braasch Joanne Coburn Jamie King* Catherine A. Bue GR Jane Conklin Stephen R. Langley Karen Endicott* Joan Cooke* Joel Lazar Marie Gouba Johanna Evans ’10* Jeffrey Parsonnet Mardy High Linda L. Fowler David Robinson Linda M. Hoover Anna Gado ’90 Stanley J. Stys GR ’97* Elissa Jones Cally Gilbert David Thron Barb Kline-Schoder* Debby Hall Terence Wilson ’08 Emily Koepsell ’09 Kristi Medill Brandon Zeigler GR* Isabel McCarthy* Bethany Mills ’10 Elaine McIntyre Sue Neighbor* Bass Shelly Parker Rosemary Orgren Paul Belaski Mary Quinton-Barry Kathy Parsonnet William Braasch Rebecca Rotello GR Judy Pond Charles Faulkner II Elizabeth Sensenig* Bonnie Robinson Charlie Freeman Carole Stashwick Margaret Robinson* Julian Fung ’09 Denise B. Steele GR Nancy Serrell Coonley* Terry W. Martin Joan Stepenske Jacqueline Smith Daniel Meerson* Antonia Syson Elizabeth A. Terry ’07 Thomas Noel Gretchen Twork Alison B. Willis David M. Pierce Meghan Wendland ’08 Marvin Rogers Claire Wiley ’09 Tenor Thomas T. Wang ’07

Brendan Anderson ’09 Benjamin Williams* Alto Alan J. Bergeronˇ Tom Willis Carol Barr Michael Cukan Ricker Winsor Andréa N. Brown Scot Drysdale Emily Bryant Douglas G. Harp *Member, Handel Society Board of Directors hanover chamber orchestra

1st Violin Clarinet John Lindsey, concertmaster Chester Brezniak, principal Marla Rathbun Rebecca Leonard Betty Clendenning (clarinet/bass clarinet) Ann Cooper Julie Baker Goldberg Bassoon Lino Tanaka Rachael Elliott, principal Sally Merriman 2nd Violin (bassoon/contrabasoon) Bozena O’Brien, principal Scott Knopf Horn Davetta Faria George Sullivan, principal Jessica Helie Jennifer Larsen Gianna Messier David Rufino Alex Romanul Nina Miller

Viola Trumpet Marilyn Johnson, principal Vincent Monaco, principal David Auerbach Charles Gasque Rodger Ellsworth Jim Boccia Russell Wilson Elizabeth Reid Trombone Claude Richter Nicholas Orovich, principal James Bennet Cello John Mead Linda Galvan, principal Tim Roberts Timpani John Bumstead Dov Schiller Perri Zimmerman Percussion Bass Douglas Perkins, principal Andy Wilson, principal Nathan Davis Daniel Gorn Piano Flute Daniel Weiser Berta Frank, principal Heidi Baxter (flute/piccolo) Harp Marilinda Garcia Oboe Margaret Herlehy, principal Ann Greenawalt (oboe/English horn) coming events Dartmouth Chamber Singers Spring Fever Buoyant program celebrating the renewal of life in springtime.

Friday, May 25 • 8 pm • Rollins Chapel $16 • Dartmouth students $3 • All other students $6 • General admission

Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, Bernstein’s symphonic dances from West Side Story and Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole in D minor, with guest violinist Tereza Stanislav. Saturday, May 26 • 8 pm • Spaulding Auditorium $20 • Dartmouth students $3 Pre-performance discussion with Anthony Princiotti, 7 pm, Faulkner Recital Hall

Sally Pinkas, piano An elegant and diverse recital of both classic and contemporary music.

Tuesday, May 29 • 7 pm • Spaulding Auditorium $18 • Dartmouth students $5 • 18 & under $14

For tickets or information call the Box Office at 603.646.2422 or visit hop.dartmouth.edu

Hopkins Center Management Staff Jeffrey H. James Director Associate Director/General Manager Marga Rahmann Director of Marketing Mary Bashaw Business and Administrative Officer Jay Cary Director of Hopkins Center Film Bill Pence Director of Programming Margaret Lawrence Director of Student Performance Programs Joshua Price Kol

Please turn off your cell Assistive Listening Devices DARTM OUTH If you do not wish to keep your playbill, please discard phone inside the theater. available in the lobby. RECYCLES it in the recycling bin provided in the lobby. Thank you.

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