New York Festival of Song January 30, 2020 Board of Program Book Contact Directors Credits Us
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NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG JANUARY 30, 2020 BOARD OF PROGRAM BOOK CONTACT DIRECTORS CREDITS US James Reel Arizona Friends of Editor President Chamber Music Jay Rosenblatt Post Office Box 40845 Paul Kaestle Tucson, Arizona 85717 Vice-President Contributors Robert Gallerani Phone: 520-577-3769 Joseph Tolliver Holly Gardner Email: [email protected] Program Director Nancy Monsman Website: arizonachambermusic.org Helmut Abt Jay Rosenblatt Recording Secretary James Reel Operations Manager Cathy Anderson Wes Addison Advertising Treasurer Cathy Anderson USHERS Philip Alejo Michael Coretz Nancy Bissell Marvin Goldberg Barry & Susan Austin Kaety Byerley Paul Kaestle Lidia DelPiccolo Laura Cásarez Jay Rosenblatt Susan Fifer Michael Coretz Randy Spalding Marilee Mansfield Dagmar Cushing Allan Tractenberg Elaine Orman Bryan Daum Susan Rock Alan Hershowitz Design Jane Ruggill Tim Kantor Openform Barbara Turton Juan Mejia Diana Warr Jay Rosenblatt Printing Maurice Weinrobe & Trudy Ernst Elaine Rousseau West Press Randy Spalding VOLUNTEERS Paul St. John George Timson Dana Deeds Leslie Tolbert Beth Daum Ivan Ugorich Beth Foster Bob Foster Traudi Nichols Allan Tractenberg Diane Tractenberg 2 FROM THE PRESIDENT Remember when even a lot of people who liked There are ways around that very real problem. You can classical music thought that chamber music was best follow printed translations while you listen, but left to those with a taste for dreary, abstract, over- tonight we’ll make it even easier for you. The theme intellectual, deadly-serious compositions? Thank for this year’s Tucson Desert Song Festival is The goodness we got over that notion. American Voice, and while America has a wonderful diversity of cultures and languages, English is the Today, nobody thinks that about anything but language of the majority of American art songs art song. written during the past hundred-plus years. Part of that prejudice, I think, begins with So open your ears tonight, and our emissaries from assumptions about how the voices themselves will the New York Festival of Song will move you, excite sound. We grow up with this cartoonish image of you, and amuse you, even if you’re not already a song obese people wearing horned helmets and belting out aficionado. Wagner at the top of their lungs, smothering everything in a vibrato wide enough to drive the Met’s Ring set through. Well, it’s true that sometimes you find that sort of sound in full-scale operas, but certainly not all of them, and hardly ever in art songs. JAMES REEL Song is to opera as chamber music is to a symphony: President more intimate, more tightly focused, but all the more involving on a personal level. Then there’s the question of language. The “language” of Beethoven versus the “language” of Bartók is merely a matter of style, and if you can understand one composer, with a slight adjustment you can easily understand the other. But song puts music to words, and if those words are in a language you don’t speak, you can get the emotional gist of what’s happening, and enjoy a pretty tune, but you won’t be able to figure out everything that’s going on. 3 NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG JANUARY 30, 2020 NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG Now celebrating its 32nd season, New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) is dedicated to creating intimate song concerts of great beauty and originality. Weaving music, poetry, history, and humor into evenings of compelling theater, NYFOS fosters community among artists and audiences. Founded by pianists Michael Barrett and Steven Blier in 1988, NYFOS continues to produce NYFOS MAINSTAGE, its flagship series of thematic song programs, drawing together rarely-heard songs of all kinds, overriding traditional distinctions between classical and popular performance genres, and exploring the character and language of other cultures while keeping a focus on New York Festival of Song the wide spectrum of American music. Steven Blier, artistic director Michael Barrett, associate artistic director Among its discography, NYFOS has produced five recordings on the Koch label, including a Grammy Christine Taylor Price, soprano Award-winning disc of Bernstein’s Arias and Michaela Wolz, mezzo-soprano Barcarolles and the Grammy-nominated recording Daniel McGrew, tenor of Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen (also a Theo Hoffman,bass NYFOS commission) on New World Records. Steven Blier, pianist/arranger In 2010, NYFOS launched NYFOS NEXT, a mini- series for new songs hosted by guest composers in New York Festival of Song intimate venues. The series, which places an emphasis 307 Seventh Avenue, Suite 2004 New York, New York 10001 on spontaneity, novelty, and collaboration, offers today’s song composers a forum to create a program of their work alongside that of their peers, students, and mentors. NYFOS is also passionate about nurturing the artistry and careers of young artists and through its NYFOS EMERGING ARTISTS program has developed professional training residencies around the country. These intensive programs train young artists in programming and translation, presentation and production, and research and musical style. NYFOS’s concert series, touring programs, radio broadcasts, recordings, and educational activities continue to spark new interest in the creative possibilities of the song program, and have inspired the creation of thematic vocal series around the world. For more information on New York Festival of Song’s complete schedule of special programs, residencies, and tours, please visit www.nyfos.org. 4 NOW MUSIC SERIES TONIGHT’S PROGRAM Love EUBIE BLAKE (1887–1983) KILLER B’S FLOURNOY EAKIN MILLER (1885–1971) “You Got to Get the Gittin’ While the Gittin’s Good” The Early Years Mr. Hoffman IRVING BERLIN (1888–1989) BOLCOM WEINSTEIN & ROBERT ALTMAN (1925–2006) “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy,” from Mammy The Ensemble “A Lot of Lawn to Mow,” from A Wedding Mr. Hoffman, Ms. Price AMY BEACH (1867–1944) ROBERT BROWNING (1812–1889) JASON ROBERT BROWN (b. 1970) “I Send My Heart Up to Thee,” fromThree Browning “A Miracle Would Happen (Temptation),” Songs, Op. 44, no. 3 from The Last Five Years Ms. Price Mr. McGrew HARRY BURLEIGH (1866–1949) BERLIN FRANK STANTON (1857–1927) “I Used to Be Color Blind,” from Carefree “Jean” Mx. Wolz Mr. Hoffman “Outside of That, I Love You,” from Louisiana Purchase The Ensemble Survival MARC BLITZSTEIN (1905–1964) “Nickel Under the Foot,” from The Cradle Will Rock INTERMISSION Mx. Wolz “I Wish It So,” from Juno Ms. Price WILLIAM BOLCOM (b. 1938) ARNOLD WEINSTEIN (1927–2005) “The Establishment Route,” fromCasino Paradise Mr. McGrew 5 NOW MUSIC SERIES TONIGHT’S PROGRAM BERNSTEIN (CONT.) JULIA DE BURGOS (1914–1953) “A Julia de Burgos,” from Songfest (text and translation on page 13) Up at Night Ms. Price SAMUEL BARBER (1910–1981) CHRISTOPHER MIDDLETON (1925–2015) The Past and the Future “Oh Boundless, Boundless Evening,” DEREK BERMEL (b. 1967) (after the German of Georg Heym) WENDY S. WALTERS from Three Songs, Op. 45 Mr. Hoffman “Lucky Number,” from Golden Motors Mr. McGrew, Mr. Hoffman BOLCOM WEINSTEIN BOLCOM HILDA DOOLITTLE (1886–1961) “Toothbrush Time,” from Cabaret Songs, Book II Mx. Wolz “Never More Will the Wind,” from I Will Breathe a Mountain THE BEACH BOYS Mx. Wolz BRIAN WILSON (b. 1942) & GARY USHER (1938–1990) BERNSTEIN BETTY COMDEN (1917–2006) “In My Room” & ADOLPH GREEN (1914–2002) The Ensemble “Spring Will Come Again,” THE BOBS intended for The Skin of Our Teeth GUNNAR MADSEN The Ensemble & RICHARD GREENE “Johnny’s Room” This evening’s concert is The Ensemble sponsored by the generous contribution of Jack & Terry Solitary Souls Forsythe, and is made possible PAUL BOWLES (1910–1999) by a grant from the Tucson “Once a Lady Was Here” Ms. Price Desert Song Festival. LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–1990) GREGORY CORSO (1930–2001) “Zizi’s Lament,” from Songfest Mr. McGrew 6 STEVEN BLIER MICHAEL BARRETT Steven Blier is the Artistic Director of the New York Festival of New York Festival of Song Associate Artistic Director Song (NYFOS), which he co-founded in 1988 with Michael Michael Barrett started NYFOS in 1988 with his friend and Barrett. Since the Festival’s inception he has programmed, colleague Steven Blier. In 1992, he co-founded the Moab performed, translated, and annotated more than 150 vocal Music Festival with violist Leslie Tomkins. From 1994 to 1997, recitals with repertoire spanning five centuries of art song and he was the Director of the Tisch Center for the Arts at the popular song. NYFOS has made in-depth explorations of 92nd Street Y in New York, and from 2003 to 2012, he was music from Spain, Latin America, Scandinavia, and Russia. Chief Executive and General Director of the Caramoor New York Magazine gave NYFOS its award for Best Classical Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, NY. He is currently Programming, while Opera News proclaimed Blier “the busy working on the Leonard Bernstein Centennial as a coolest dude in town.” producer, conductor, and pianist. Mr. Blier’s career has included partnerships with Renée He has distinguished himself as a conductor with major Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Samuel Ramey, Lorraine Hunt orchestras here and abroad in the symphonic and operatic Lieberson, Susan Graham, Jessye Norman, and José van Dam, world. A protégé of Leonard Bernstein, he began his long in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to La Scala. He is also on association with the renowned conductor and composer as the faculty of The Juilliard School and has been active in a student in 1982. He served as Maestro Bernstein’s assistant encouraging young recitalists at summer programs, including conductor from 1985–1990. A champion of new music, the Wolf Trap Opera Company, Santa Fe Opera, Ravinia’s Mr. Barrett has conducted and played premieres by sixty Steans Music Institute, and the San Francisco Opera Center.