DOCSLIB.ORG

MU 270/Voice

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona COURSE SYLLABUS MU 270 - Performance Seminar/VOICE –Spring 2014 Time and Location: T 1-1:50 Bldg. 24-191 Instructor/ office: Lynne Nagle; Bldg. 24 – 155 and 133 Office Hours: M 9:30-10:30; T11:00-12:00; T 4:00-5:00; others TBA Phone: (909) 869-3558 e-mail: [email protected] Textbook and Supplies: No textbook is needed; notebook required. Course Objectives: To provide a laboratory recital situation wherein students may perform for each other, as well as for the instructor, for critical review. They will share song literature, musical ideas, production techniques, stylistic approaches, etc., in order to learn from each other as well as from the instructor. Assignments and Examinations:!In-class performances: You will be expected to perform a minimum of 3 times (5 for upper division) during each quarter, each performance taking place on a different day. Songs may be repeated for performance credit, but lower division students must perform at least 3 different songs and upper division at least 4 different songs. Please provide a spoken translation when performing in a foreign language. A brief synopsis of an opera, musical or scene is also appropriate if time allows. ALL PERFORMANCES IN SEMINAR ARE TO BE MEMORIZED except for traditional use of the score for oratorio literature. You are also expected to contribute to the subsequent discussion. Concert Reports: TWO (2) typed reports on choral/vocal concerts, recitals or shows must be submitted by week 10 seminar or sooner. You may use any concert you have attended since the end of the previous quarter. Concerts in which you participate and receive a grade are not acceptable. Please use this assignment to learn about your craft! Try to attend at least one professional level concert this quarter. Seminar Notebook (Fall & Spring Quarters): A seminar notebook of all seminar performances is required. Purchase a spiral notebook or continue with the previous quarter’s notebook. Write each student’s name at the top of a separate page. Take notes on each performance, writing the song title and composer and the date of the performance. Write your own impressions of performances focusing on how you might help the person improve if you were the teacher. Keep journal pages for yourself and write others’ comments made on your performance in seminar and thoughts about your voice lessons and coachings. Keep it simple and do-able. This notebook is due (please do not re-type it) at the jury exam or the last day of class. Viewing and listening to professional singers (Winter Quarter): Facebook, ITunes, Amazon and youtube make it possible to see and hear some of the greatest artists of our times, and those of previous eras. Listen to 3 hours of singing (about 20 minutes per week) and use the column headings below to write/describe what you have heard and place in a notebook. You may view/listen on line, use videos/DVDs, CDs, radio, television— whatever is most convenient for you. If I forward links to you, these may also be used. Column headings are to be:!1. Artist 2. Composer 3.Work 4.Source 5.Length of time listening 6.Observations/Reactions Part A: Choose 1.5 hours of viewing/listening selected from the attached list of classical artists. Try to select your own voice type. Also, find at least one song or aria that you are studying and listen to at least 2 different singers performing it. Do a comparison and tell me what you learned. Part B: Choose 1.5 hours of viewing/listening of your choice; genres to include musical theatre, jazz, commercial styles. Focus on the best of the singers who perform in the styles in which you are most interested. Notebook is due at the jury exam or earlier. Course Policies: !Every music major enrolled in MU 177or MU 377 should also be enrolled in MU 270 during the same quarter. Please sign up for a 30-minute coaching time with Ms. Janet Noll during the first week of the quarter. The coachings are to provide sufficient time in preparation for seminar and juries. Please do not enter the classroom when someone is performing. Please let the instructor know if you came in late as attendance is taken for each class. There is absolutely no eating or drinking in room 101 or 191 (water bottles excepted). These are your performance spaces. Please help to protect them! Plan to perform 1/2 the number of required songs by the middle of the quarter. Do not wait for the final two weeks! Grading Policies: Grades for this course are based on the following: Class Participation: 10% (Includes your willingness to offer comments and participate in discussion.) Performance: 50% (Includes how many times you perform, numbers of new songs, quality of performances.) Concert Reports: 20% Seminar Notebook or Listening Journal: 20% Due to the nature and infrequency of this class, it is important to attend each week and to either perform and/or observe. One absence will not affect your grade. Additional absences will drop the grade by one letter for each absence. More than one tardy will also affect your grade as two tardies = one absence Check-Out Policy for Studio Music: The vocal materials in the studios (rooms 132-133) are needed for the teaching process. They can be made available to students on a limited basis, and the following policy is intended to codify acceptable use by students. Vocal anthologies and books are available for checkout on a one-hour return basis. They may be checked out with Janet Noll only. Bring your car or dorm keys and leave them for the time that you have the music. Please return the music during the time between subsequent coaching sessions, as close to the one-hour time limit as possible. We have purchased several new anthologies this year, especially in the commercial/jazz/pop area. Background CD’s are also available but must be checked out from Janet. Music Preparation for Lessons and Coachings: Music preparation materials: please make sure that you have two copies of your music or your background CD (to save the time it takes us to locate a book). Music will need to be in one of three forms: 1. Well broken-in original (which stays open on piano stand). 2. Back-to-back in a 3-ring binder (if plastic sleeves are used for accompanist copy, please use non-glare. Sleeves are not appropriate for student copy as they discourage appropriate marking of music). 3. Accordion-fold taped music (small pieces of tape applied side-to-side function as hinges). Classical Singers List SOPRANOS TENORS Anna Moffo (Una voce poco fa) Nicolai Gedda Beverly Sills Jussi Bjoerling Joan Sutherland Jose Carreras Lily Pons Franco Corelli Sumi Jo Richard Tucker Carol Vaness Placido Domingo Kathleen Battle Luciano Pavarotti Diana Damrau (O Zittre Nicht; Glitter, Be Gay) Alfredo Kraus Arleen Auger Jon Vickers Natalie Dessay Fritz Wunderlich Leontyne Price Mario Lanza Birgit Nilsson George Shirley Monserrat Caballe Ramon Vargas Maria Callas Lauritz Melchior Renee Fleming Kiri Te Kanawa Renato Scotto BARITONES Dawn Upshaw Tito Gobbi Deborah Voigt Dmitri Hvorostovsky Angela Gheorghiu Vladimir Chernov Aprile Millo Robert Merrill Mirella Freni Hermann Prey Elly Ameling Thomas Hampson Anna Netrebko Sherrill Milnes Leona Mitchell Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Robert McFerrin MEZZOS Josh Groben Frederica Von Stade Ingvar Wixell Cecilia Bartoli Rod Gilfrey Marilyn Horne Susan Graham Elīna Garanča BASS/BARITONE Teresa Berganza Samuel Ramey Simon Estes Janet Baker Bryn Terfel Joyce DiDonato Kevin Berdette Jennifer Larmore René Pape Tatiana Troyanos Anne Sofie von Otter Grace Bumbry Denyce Graves CONTRALTOS Marion Anderson Agnes Baltsa Kathleen Ferrier Master Classes on youtube: Joyce DiDonato, Thomas Hampson, Renee Flemiing, Susan Graham, Grace Bumbry, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballe, Barbara Bonney, Denyce Graves .
Recommended publications
  • Voice Types in Opera

    Voice Types in Opera

    Voice Types in Opera In many of Central City Opera’s educational programs, we spend some time explaining the different voice types – and therefore character types – in opera. Usually in opera, a voice type (soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor, baritone, or bass) has as much to do with the SOUND as with the CHARACTER that the singer portrays. Composers will assign different voice types to characters so that there is a wide variety of vocal colors onstage to give the audience more information about the characters in the story. SOPRANO: “Sopranos get to be the heroine or the princess or the opera star.” – Eureka Street* “Sopranos always get to play the smart, sophisticated, sweet and supreme characters!” – The Great Opera Mix-up* A soprano is a woman’s voice type. There are many different kinds of sopranos within the general category: coloratura, lyric, and spinto are a few. Coloratura soprano: Diana Damrau as The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute (Mozart): https://youtu.be/dpVV9jShEzU Lyric soprano: Mirella Freni as Mimi in La bohème (Puccini): https://youtu.be/yTagFD_pkNo Spinto soprano: Leontyne Price as Aida in Aida (Verdi): https://youtu.be/IaV6sqFUTQ4?t=1m10s MEZZO SOPRANO: “There are also mezzos with a lower, more exciting woman’s voice…We get to be magical or mythical characters and sometimes… we get to be boys.” – Eureka Street “Mezzos play magnificent, magical, mysterious, and miffed characters.” – The Great Opera Mix-up A mezzo soprano is a woman’s voice type. Just like with sopranos, there are different kinds of mezzo sopranos: coloratura, lyric, and dramatic.
  • 13Th February 2021 Dear All Tomorrow Is One of Those Strangely

    13Th February 2021 Dear All Tomorrow Is One of Those Strangely

    13th February 2021 Dear all Tomorrow is one of those strangely named Sundays – the Sunday Next Before Lent. I’m not quite sure why the ‘next’ comes in , but it interesting that both of the penitential seasons in the church calendar have a countdown… 3rd Sunday before Advent, 2nd Sunday before Lent etc.. We often see Advent and Lent as periods leading up to the exciting seasons of Christmas and Easter, but the church calendar requires us to take them seriously in their own right. What will we be doing for Lent? Let’s gear ourselves up… get ready… set… and, go! In a recent letter I suggested a few books or courses you might be interested in. I also invited anyone to request an ash cross stone, to be left on their doorstep. Please let me know by Wednesday, so that I know how many to prepare. Tomorrow’s service details: Readings – 2 Kings 2: 1-12; 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6; Psalm 50: 1-6; Mark 9: 2-9 Hymns: Jesus on the mountain peak; ‘Tis good, Lord, to be here. Lent Course: Next Thursday is the day after Ash Wednesday, and so we will put our study of Mark’s gospel on hold, and instead follow our Lent Course. The details are the same as always: We will meet on Zoom, Thursdays 2.30-3.30ish pm. The Zoom details are: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8109399155?pwd=STVVTU44RzJxTFFHbTY1MnI0bjJ2Zz09 Meeting ID: 810 939 9155 Passcode: 1w2C9a Please note that, on Thursday 25th February the Lent Course will take place in the morning , at 10.30am.
  • Voix Nouvelles, Concert Des Lauréats

    Voix Nouvelles, Concert Des Lauréats

    Concert Voix Nouvelles du mercredi Concert des lauréats du Concours Voix Nouvelles 2018 me 12 décembre 18h PROG_VOIX NOUVELLES_140190.indd 1 04/12/2018 16:22 Hélène Carpentier ©Harcourt Caroline Jestaedt ©DR Eva ZAÏCIK ©Philippe Biancotto Gilen Goicoechea ©DR Concert des lauréats du Concours Voix Nouvelles 2018 PROG_VOIX NOUVELLES_140190.indd 2 04/12/2018 16:22 Concert du Mercredi en Grande Salle Surtitré en français +/- 1h10 sans entracte Caroline Jestaedt ©DR Concert des lauréats du Concours Voix Nouvelles 2018 Voix Nouvelles Avec Hélène Carpentier soprano Caroline Jestaedt soprano Eva Zaïcik mezzo-soprano Gilen Goicoechea baryton Gilen Goicoechea ©DR Direction musicale Cyril Diederich Orchestre de Picardie Concert des lauréats du Concours Voix Nouvelles 2018 Le Concours Voix Nouvelles est co-organisé par le Centre Français de Promotion Lyrique, la Fondation Orange et la Caisse des Dépôts, avec le soutien du Ministère de la Culture, du Ministère des Outre-Mer et de l’Adami, en partenariat avec France 3, France Musique et TV5 Monde PROG_VOIX NOUVELLES_140190.indd 3 04/12/2018 16:22 ••• Programme Airs d’opéras de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) 1. Ouverture des Noces de Figaro 2. Air de Chérubin : « Voi che sapete » (Les Noces de Figaro) 3. Air du Comte : « Hai già vinta la causa » (Les Noces de Figaro) 4. Duo Comtesse et Susanne « Canzonetta sull’aria » (Les Noces de Figaro) 5. Air de Guglielmo : « Donne mie, la fate a tanti » (Così fan tutte) 6. Trio Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Alfonso : « Soave Sia il vento » (Così fan tutte) 7. Ouverture de Don Giovanni 8. Air de Zerline : « Vedrai carino, se sei buonino » (Don Giovanni) 9.
  • Verdi Week on Operavore Program Details

    Verdi Week on Operavore Program Details

    Verdi Week on Operavore Program Details Listen at WQXR.ORG/OPERAVORE Monday, October, 7, 2013 Rigoletto Duke - Luciano Pavarotti, tenor Rigoletto - Leo Nucci, baritone Gilda - June Anderson, soprano Sparafucile - Nicolai Ghiaurov, bass Maddalena – Shirley Verrett, mezzo Giovanna – Vitalba Mosca, mezzo Count of Ceprano – Natale de Carolis, baritone Count of Ceprano – Carlo de Bortoli, bass The Contessa – Anna Caterina Antonacci, mezzo Marullo – Roberto Scaltriti, baritone Borsa – Piero de Palma, tenor Usher - Orazio Mori, bass Page of the duchess – Marilena Laurenza, mezzo Bologna Community Theater Orchestra Bologna Community Theater Chorus Riccardo Chailly, conductor London 425846 Nabucco Nabucco – Tito Gobbi, baritone Ismaele – Bruno Prevedi, tenor Zaccaria – Carlo Cava, bass Abigaille – Elena Souliotis, soprano Fenena – Dora Carral, mezzo Gran Sacerdote – Giovanni Foiani, baritone Abdallo – Walter Krautler, tenor Anna – Anna d’Auria, soprano Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Vienna State Opera Chorus Lamberto Gardelli, conductor London 001615302 Aida Aida – Leontyne Price, soprano Amneris – Grace Bumbry, mezzo Radames – Placido Domingo, tenor Amonasro – Sherrill Milnes, baritone Ramfis – Ruggero Raimondi, bass-baritone The King of Egypt – Hans Sotin, bass Messenger – Bruce Brewer, tenor High Priestess – Joyce Mathis, soprano London Symphony Orchestra The John Alldis Choir Erich Leinsdorf, conductor RCA Victor Red Seal 39498 Simon Boccanegra Simon Boccanegra – Piero Cappuccilli, baritone Jacopo Fiesco - Paul Plishka, bass Paolo Albiani – Carlos Chausson, bass-baritone Pietro – Alfonso Echevarria, bass Amelia – Anna Tomowa-Sintow, soprano Gabriele Adorno – Jaume Aragall, tenor The Maid – Maria Angels Sarroca, soprano Captain of the Crossbowmen – Antonio Comas Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona Uwe Mund, conductor Recorded live on May 31, 1990 Falstaff Sir John Falstaff – Bryn Terfel, baritone Pistola – Anatoli Kotscherga, bass Bardolfo – Anthony Mee, tenor Dr.
  • Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss

    Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss

    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 Octavian and the Composer: Principal Male Roles in Opera Composed for the Female Voice by Richard Strauss Melissa Lynn Garvey Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC OCTAVIAN AND THE COMPOSER: PRINCIPAL MALE ROLES IN OPERA COMPOSED FOR THE FEMALE VOICE BY RICHARD STRAUSS By MELISSA LYNN GARVEY A Treatise submitted to the Department of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010 The members of the committee approve the treatise of Melissa Lynn Garvey defended on April 5, 2010. __________________________________ Douglas Fisher Professor Directing Treatise __________________________________ Seth Beckman University Representative __________________________________ Matthew Lata Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii I’d like to dedicate this treatise to my parents, grandparents, aunt, and siblings, whose unconditional love and support has made me the person I am today. Through every attended recital and performance, and affording me every conceivable opportunity, they have encouraged and motivated me to achieve great things. It is because of them that I have reached this level of educational achievement. Thank you. I am honored to thank my phenomenal husband for always believing in me. You gave me the strength and courage to believe in myself. You are everything I could ever ask for and more. Thank you for helping to make this a reality.
  • Richard Strauss's Ariadne Auf Naxos

    Richard Strauss's Ariadne Auf Naxos

    Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos - A survey of the major recordings by Ralph Moore Ariadne auf Naxos is less frequently encountered on stage than Der Rosenkavalier or Salome, but it is something of favourite among those who fancy themselves connoisseurs, insofar as its plot revolves around a conceit typical of Hofmannsthal’s libretti, whereby two worlds clash: the merits of populist entertainment, personified by characters from the burlesque Commedia dell’arte tradition enacting Viennese operetta, are uneasily juxtaposed with the claims of high art to elevate and refine the observer as embodied in the opera seria to be performed by another company of singers, its plot derived from classical myth. The tale of Ariadne’s desertion by Theseus is performed in the second half of the evening and is in effect an opera within an opera. The fun starts when the major-domo conveys the instructions from “the richest man in Vienna” that in order to save time and avoid delaying the fireworks, both entertainments must be performed simultaneously. Both genres are parodied and a further contrast is made between Zerbinetta’s pragmatic attitude towards love and life and Ariadne’s morbid, death-oriented idealism – “Todgeweihtes Herz!”, Tristan und Isolde-style. Strauss’ scoring is interesting and innovative; the orchestra numbers only forty or so players: strings and brass are reduced to chamber-music scale and the orchestration heavily weighted towards woodwind and percussion, with the result that it is far less grand and Romantic in scale than is usual in Strauss and a peculiarly spare ad spiky mood frequently prevails.
  • Navigating, Coping & Cashing In

    Navigating, Coping & Cashing In

    The RECORDING Navigating, Coping & Cashing In Maze November 2013 Introduction Trying to get a handle on where the recording business is headed is a little like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall. No matter what side of the business you may be on— producing, selling, distributing, even buying recordings— there is no longer a “standard operating procedure.” Hence the title of this Special Report, designed as a guide to the abundance of recording and distribution options that seem to be cropping up almost daily thanks to technology’s relentless march forward. And as each new delivery CONTENTS option takes hold—CD, download, streaming, app, flash drive, you name it—it exponentionally accelerates the next. 2 Introduction At the other end of the spectrum sits the artist, overwhelmed with choices: 4 The Distribution Maze: anybody can (and does) make a recording these days, but if an artist is not signed Bring a Compass: Part I with a record label, or doesn’t have the resources to make a vanity recording, is there still a way? As Phil Sommerich points out in his excellent overview of “The 8 The Distribution Maze: Distribution Maze,” Part I and Part II, yes, there is a way, or rather, ways. But which Bring a Compass: Part II one is the right one? Sommerich lets us in on a few of the major players, explains 11 Five Minutes, Five Questions how they each work, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. with Three Top Label Execs In “The Musical America Recording Surveys,” we confirmed that our readers are both consumers and makers of recordings.
  • April 1 & 3, 2021 Walt Disney Theater

    April 1 & 3, 2021 Walt Disney Theater

    April 1 & 3, 2021 Walt Disney Theater FAIRWINDS GROWS MY MONEY SO I CAN GROW MY BUSINESS. Get the freedom to go further. Insured by NCUA. OPERA-2646-02/092719 Opera Orlando’s Carmen On the MainStage at Dr. Phillips Center | April 2021 Dear friends, Carmen is finally here! Although many plans have changed over the course of the past year, we have always had our sights set on Carmen, not just because of its incredible music and compelling story but more because of the unique setting and concept of this production in particular - 1960s Haiti. So why transport Carmen and her friends from 1820s Seville to 1960s Haiti? Well, it all just seemed to make sense, for Orando, that is. We have a vibrant and growing Haitian-American community in Central Florida, and Creole is actually the third most commonly spoken language in the state of Florida. Given that Creole derives from French, and given the African- Carribean influences already present in Carmen, setting Carmen in Haiti was a natural fit and a great way for us to celebrate Haitian culture and influence in our own community. We were excited to partner with the Greater Haitian American Chamber of Commerce for this production and connect with Haitian-American artists, choreographers, and academics. Since Carmen is a tale of survival against all odds, we wanted to find a particularly tumultuous time in Haiti’s history to make things extra difficult for our heroine, and setting the work in the 1960s under the despotic rule of Francois Duvalier (aka Papa Doc) certainly raised the stakes.
  • A Culture of Recording: Christopher Raeburn and the Decca Record Company

    A Culture of Recording: Christopher Raeburn and the Decca Record Company

    A Culture of Recording: Christopher Raeburn and the Decca Record Company Sally Elizabeth Drew A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of Music This work was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council September 2018 1 2 Abstract This thesis examines the working culture of the Decca Record Company, and how group interaction and individual agency have made an impact on the production of music recordings. Founded in London in 1929, Decca built a global reputation as a pioneer of sound recording with access to the world’s leading musicians. With its roots in manufacturing and experimental wartime engineering, the company developed a peerless classical music catalogue that showcased technological innovation alongside artistic accomplishment. This investigation focuses specifically on the contribution of the recording producer at Decca in creating this legacy, as can be illustrated by the career of Christopher Raeburn, the company’s most prolific producer and specialist in opera and vocal repertoire. It is the first study to examine Raeburn’s archive, and is supported with unpublished memoirs, private papers and recorded interviews with colleagues, collaborators and artists. Using these sources, the thesis considers the history and functions of the staff producer within Decca’s wider operational structure in parallel with the personal aspirations of the individual in exerting control, choice and authority on the process and product of recording. Having been recruited to Decca by John Culshaw in 1957, Raeburn’s fifty-year career spanned seminal moments of the company’s artistic and commercial lifecycle: from assisting in exploiting the dramatic potential of stereo technology in Culshaw’s Ring during the 1960s to his serving as audio producer for the 1990 The Three Tenors Concert international phenomenon.
  • Berlioz's Les Nuits D'été

    Berlioz's Les Nuits D'été

    Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été - A survey of the discography by Ralph Moore The song cycle Les nuits d'été (Summer Nights) Op. 7 consists of settings by Hector Berlioz of six poems written by his friend Théophile Gautier. Strictly speaking, they do not really constitute a cycle, insofar as they are not linked by any narrative but only loosely connected by their disparate treatment of the themes of love and loss. There is, however, a neat symmetry in their arrangement: two cheerful, optimistic songs looking forward to the future, frame four sombre, introspective songs. Completed in 1841, they were originally for a mezzo-soprano or tenor soloist with a piano accompaniment but having orchestrated "Absence" in 1843 for his lover and future wife, Maria Recio, Berlioz then did the same for the other five in 1856, transposing the second and third songs to lower keys. When this version was published, Berlioz specified different voices for the various songs: mezzo-soprano or tenor for "Villanelle", contralto for "Le spectre de la rose", baritone (or, optionally, contralto or mezzo) for "Sur les lagunes", mezzo or tenor for "Absence", tenor for "Au cimetière", and mezzo or tenor for "L'île inconnue". However, after a long period of neglect, in their resurgence in modern times they have generally become the province of a single singer, usually a mezzo-soprano – although both mezzos and sopranos sometimes tinker with the keys to ensure that the tessitura of individual songs sits in the sweet spot of their voices, and transpositions of every song are now available so that it can be sung in any one of three - or, in the case of “Au cimetière”, four - key options; thus, there is no consistency of keys across the board.
  • The KF International Marcella Sembrich International Voice

    The KF International Marcella Sembrich International Voice

    The KF is excited to announce the winners of the 2015 Marcella Sembrich International Voice Competition: 1st prize – Jakub Jozef Orlinski, counter-tenor; 2nd prize – Piotr Buszewski, tenor; 3rd prize – Katharine Dain, soprano; Honorable Mention – Marcelina Beucher, soprano; Out of 92 applicants, 37 contestants took part in the preliminary round of the competition on Saturday, November 7th, with 9 progressing into the final round on Sunday, November 8th at Ida K. Lang Recital Hall at Hunter College. This year's competition was evaluated by an exceptional jury: Charles Kellis (Juilliard, Prof. emeritus) served as Chairman of the Jury, joined by Damon Bristo (Vice President and Artist Manager at Columbia Artists Management Inc.), Markus Beam (Artist Manager at IMG Artists) and Dr. Malgorzata Kellis who served as a Creative Director and Polish song expert. About the KF's Marcella Sembrich Competition: Marcella Sembrich-Kochanska, soprano (1858-1935) was one of Poland's greatest opera stars. She appeared during the first season of the Metropolitan Opera in 1883, and would go on to sing in over 450 performances at the Met. Her portrait can be found at the Metropolitan Opera House, amongst the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Giuseppe Verdi. The KF's Marcella Sembrich Memorial Voice Competition honors the memory of this great Polish artist, with the aim of popularizing Polish song in the United States, and discovering new talents (aged 18-35) in the operatic world. This year the competition has turned out to be very successful, considering that the number of contestants have greatly increased and that we have now also attracted a number of International contestants from Japan, China, South Korea, France, Canada, Puerto Rico and Poland.
  • Give Me Excess of Hampson

    Give Me Excess of Hampson

    Play On: Give Me Excess of Hampson By Janos Gereben—October 2, 2008 Humans, in general, mellow with age. Thomas Hampson doesn't. Au contraire, he is more intense, dramatic, overwhelming, multitasking, brilliant than ever. Beyond the simple excellence of his other master classes, such as the one in Wigmore or in the old S.F. Conservatory of Music, his six hours over Thursday and tonight went beyond all expectations. Here he was, in the new Conservatory building, at the first "LIEDER ALIVE!" master workshop, singing duets of traditionally "single-voice" lieder, massaging skulls (his own and those of others), discussing music, literature, psychology, anatomy, the transporter beaming process in "Star Trek" (more about that later), and other subjects too numerous to list. The two evenings were reminiscent of what was going on in the nearby War Memorial: the amaZing excess, surfeit, daZZle of "Die Tote Stadt." Another similarity: above all, both events are about music, other factors - however numerous - be damned. And yet, sometimes it was difficult to remember that main theme, watching Katherine Tier surrounded by Hampson phantoms - one pressing in on the meZZo's cheekbones, the other singing "Kindertotenlieder" with her, the third in throes of the grief and resolution she should convey, and the fourth thundering an interpretation of the text speaking of the eyes of dead children becoming stars of future nights: "It happens. Your children will not stay with you. And guess what: you will die too. It's OK." And suddenly, instead of crumbling under that manifold "attack," Tier sang "Nun seh'ich, wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen" beautifully, with an understanding of its subtle catharsis, rather than sentimentally.