Morgan State University Department of Fine & Performing Arts Dr. Eric Conway, Chairperson

Vocal Studies and Opera

MASTER CLASS SERIES Issachah Savage, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 7:00-9:00PM MURPHY FINE ARTS CENTER - RECITAL HALL Mr. Marvin Mills, Collaborative Pianist PROGRAM Si, tra i ceppi from BERENICE George Frideric Handel(1685-1759) Matthew McCoy, baritone

Anderò, volerò, griderò from ORLANDO FINTO PAZZO Antonio Vivaldi(1678-1741) Hisham Breedlove, counter-tenor

Vainement, ma bien aimée from LE ROI D’YS Édouard Lalo(1823-1892) George Wilkerson, tenor

Deh vieni alla finestra from DON GIOVANNI Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-1791) Stephen Rogers, baritone

Recondita armonia from (1858-1924) Kendrick Lee, tenor

Voilà donc la terrible cité from THAïS (1842-1912) Darian Peer, baritone

Alternate: Una furtiva lagrima from L’ELISIR D’AMORE (1797-1840) Dimitrius Graham, tenor

SING-TEAM FACULTY Janice Chandler Eteme, soprano Lecturer Applied Voice – Lyric Diction Ridley Chauvin, baritone Assistant Professor Applied Voice – Vocal Pedagogy JoAnna Ford, soprano Adjunct Applied Voice Loretta Giles, mezzo-soprano Adjunct Applied Voice Marquita Lister, soprano Adjunct Applied Voice Kenneth Kamal Scott, tenor Artist-in-Residence Vincent Dion Stringer, bass-baritone Assistant Professor – Coordinator of Vocal Studies and Director of Opera

Opera@Morgan Presents: Puccini’s Suor Angelica & Moore’s The Devil and Daniel Webster School Matinee: Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 10:30 AM | Opening Evening: Friday, April 11, 2014 at 8:00PM Friends & Family Matinee: Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 2:00 PM| Final Performance: 8:00 PM Murphy Fine Arts Center - Gilliam Concert Hall

Issachah Savage, tenor

Grand prize winner of the 2012 Marcello Giordani International Competition and one of America’s most promising young dramatic , Issachah Savage has performed the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, the world premiere of Leslie Savoy Burr’s Egypt’s Night with Philadelphia’s Opera North, with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony in Gershwin’s Blue Monday, and with the Opera Orchestra of New York alongside Elina Garanca in Massenet’s La Navarraise. Mr. Savage will perform Radames in Verdi’s Aida with this fall. Recent performances as Radames at Opera North Carolina were critically acclaimed by Opera Lively as “phenomenal, starting with his beautiful timbre and continuing through great projection…all the way to excellent pitch control on the top and the bottom…superb.”

With a sound that shines in Verdi and Wagner, Mr. Savage has participated in a number of programs designed for young artists with powerful voices including Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Program, ’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices where he performed scenes from Otello and ACMA’s Wagner Theater program where he performed scenes from Die Walküre, Parsifal and Samson and Delilah. Critical acclaim has followed the young tenor throughout his career. In the prestigious Merola Opera Program for gifted young singers, Mr. Savage was featured in two concerts. Writing of his performances of the last act of Otello….San Francisco Chroniclecritic Joshua Kosman stated… “From his opening notes - impeccably shaded and coiled with repressed fury - to the opera's final explosion of grief and shame, Savage sang with a combination of power and finesse that is rare to observe.” His featured performances with Washington Chorus last spring prompted Anne Midgette of the Washington Post to comment… “I wasn’t prepared for the easy, rich, warm sound that poured out of him in one of the most beautiful arias in the repertory.”

Acclaimed for a voice with both dramatic and lyrical qualities, Mr. Savage excels on the concert stage and has performed with many notable conductors and ensembles. In addition to those mentioned above, he has performed Verdi’s with the Flint Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the New Dominion Chorale, Mendelsohn’s Elijah with One Voice Chorale and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with Morgan State University.

Mr. Savage’s distinctive voice has resulted in numerous opportunities, from his first audition for Philadelphia’s acclaimed School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) through his ‘discovery’ by the legendary choral director Nathan Carter. Mr. Carter happened to hear him sing the Star Spangled Banner with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, a chance encounter that resulted in an invitation to attend Baltimore’s Morgan State University. In addition to his 2012 grand prize with the Marcello Giordani International Competition, Issachah has received a number of prestigious awards, recognition and career grants from institutions such as Wagner Societies of New York, Washington, D. C., and Northern California, Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation, Olga Forrai Foundation, Gerda Lissner Foundation, Jensen Vocal Competition, Opera Index, and Giulio Gari Foundation. The tenor’s special talents were recognized early on by the Marian Anderson Society of Philadelphia, where he honored as its very first Scholar Artist and then again in 2009 as a prize winner in their Classical Icon competition. He has received two first places prizes in the esteemed Liederkranz Foundation competition, most recently in the 2012 Wagner Division and for General Opera in 2009.

Born into a musical and religious family in the Philadelphia area, Issachah vividly remembers his first public performance – in church at age 5. In fact, he can’t remember a time when he wasn’t singing either at school or in church. A last minute decision to audition for CAPA secured him a place at the school and it was CAPA’s choral director, David King, who first introduced him to opera through a recording of Jussi Bijorling singing Ingemisco from Verdi's Requiem. Mr. King went on to serve as an important mentor, encouraging the young artist to undertake rigorous vocal study and seriously consider a career as a professional singer. Well-traveled throughout North America, Europe, and South Africa, Issachah is only the second person in his family to attend college. He possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Morgan State University and a Master’s Degree in Opera Voice Performance from The Catholic University of America.