Nicholas Phan | Tenor Gabriel Kahane | Piano Sunday, July 18, 2021 | 2PM NICHOLAS PHAN Tenor GABRIEL KAHANE Piano
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Nicholas Phan | Tenor Gabriel Kahane | Piano Sunday, July 18, 2021 | 2PM NICHOLAS PHAN Tenor GABRIEL KAHANE Piano Sunday, July 18, 2021 | 2pm Herbst Theatre I. SCHUBERT Frühlingsglaube, D. 686 MATTHEW Final Privacy Song ZAPRUDER SCHUBERT Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren, D. 360 II. SARAH KIRKLAND How Graceful Some Things Are, SNIDER Falling Apart SCHUBERT Im Haine, D. 738 CAROLINE SHAW And So III. SCHUBERT Aus Heliopolis I, D. 753 SARAH KIRKLAND Mad Song SNIDER ESPERANZA Little Fly SPALDING 2 IV. SCHUBERT Frühlingssehnsucht from Schwanengesang, D. 957 Nachtstück, D. 672 V. SCHUBERT Des Fischers Liebesglück, D. 933 VI. GABRIEL KAHANE Final Privacy Song (World Premiere) Commissioned by San Francisco Performances Matthew Zapruder’s poem, which provides the text for the work, was commissioned for the occasion by the composer. VII. SCHUBERT Wandrers Nachtlied II, D. 768 Nicholas Phan is represented by Opus 3 Artists 470 Park Avenue South, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10016 opus3artists.com Gabriel Kahane is represented by MKI Artists One Lawson Lane, Suite 320, Burlington, VT 05401 mkiartists.com Hamburg Steinway Model D, Pro Piano, San Francisco 3 ARTIST PROFILES Nicholas Phan is SF Performances’ Vocal Artist-in-Residence Emer- itus (2014–18) and appears for the third time in a mainstage con- cert. SF Performances presents Gabriel Kahane for the fourth time. Described by the Boston Globe as “one of the world’s most re- markable singers,” American tenor Nicholas Phan is increas- ingly recognized as an artist of distinction. An artist with an incredibly diverse repertoire that spans nearly 500 years of music, he performs regularly with the world’s leading orches- tras and opera companies. Phan is also an avid recitalist and a passionate advocate for art song and vocal chamber music; in 2010, Phan co-founded Collaborative Arts Institute of Chica- go (CAIC), an organization devoted to promoting this under- served repertoire. A celebrated recording artist, Phan’s most recent album, Clairières, a recording of songs by Lili and Nadia Boulanger, was nominated for the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Clas- sical Solo Vocal Album. His album, Gods and Monsters, was nominated for the same award in 2017. Phan’s growing dis- cography also includes a Grammy-nominated recording of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony, as well as the world premiere recording Elliott Carter’s A Sunbeam’s Architecture. Sought after as a curator and programmer, in addition to his work as artistic director of CAIC, Phan has also created programs for broadcast on WFMT and WQXR, and served as guest curator for projects with the Philadelphia Chamber Mu- sic Society, Laguna Beach Music Festival, Apollo’s Fire, and San Francisco Performances, where he served as the vocal artist-in-residence from 2014–2018. Phan’s programs often ex- amine themes of identity, highlight unfairly underrepresent- ed voices from history, and strive to underline the relevance of music from all periods to the currents of the present day. Gabriel Kahane is a musician and storyteller whose work increasingly exists at the intersection of art and social prac- tice. Hailed as “one of the finest songwriters of the day” by 4 The New Yorker, he is known to haunt basement rock clubs and august concert halls alike, where you’ll likely find him in the green room, double-fisting coffee and a book. He has released four albums as a singer-songwriter, includ- ing, most recently, the intimate Book of Travelers (Nonesuch Records), which Rolling Stone called “a stunning portrait of a singular moment in America.” As a composer, he has been commissioned by many of America’s leading arts institu- tions, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Or- chestra, and the Public Theater, which in 2012 presented his musical February House. In 2019, Kahane was named the inaugural Creative Chair for the Oregon Symphony, following the premiere in Port- land of his oratorio emergency shelter intake form, a work that explores inequality in America through the lens of hous- ing issues. The piece was released as an album in March of 2020 and is scheduled for performance by half a dozen other American orchestras in the coming years. Kahane’s discography also includes 2014’s The Ambassa- dor, which received an acclaimed staging at BAM, directed by Tony and Olivier Award-winner John Tiffany; an album of chamber music, The Fiction Issue, with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and vocalist/composer Shara Nova; a record- ing with The Knights of his orchestral song cycle Crane Pa- limpsest; as well as the original cast album for February House. A frequent collaborator across a range of musical commu- nities, Gabriel has worked with an array of artists including Paul Simon, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Phoebe Bridgers, Caroline Shaw, and Chris Thile. After nearly two decades in Brooklyn, Kahane relocated with his family to Portland, Or- egon, in March of 2020. Their freakishly self-possessed cat, Roscoe Greebletron Jones III, when not under investigation for securities fraud, continues his fruitless attempts to mone- tize his Instagram account. 5 ABOUT THE PROGRAM This concert orbits the world premiere of Gabriel Kahane’s Final Privacy Song, a setting of a new text which finds its au- thor—the acclaimed poet Matthew Zapruder—grappling with our ever-shifting relationships to nature and technolo- gy. Tracing these themes from present to past and back again, the program juxtaposes Kahane’s music with a selection of Schubert songs: prophetic miniatures that chronicle the earth’s beauty, its divinity, and the sublime terror—found in nature—that brings us closer to an understanding of the hu- man condition. SONG TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS Please hold your applause until the end of each set. I. FRANZ SCHUBERT Frühlingsglaube, D. 686 Die linden Lüfte sind erwacht, Sie säuseln und weben Tag und Nacht, Sie schaffen an allen Enden. O frischer Duft, o neuer Klang! Nun armes Herze, sey nicht bang! Nun muß sich Alles, Alles wenden. Die Welt wird schöner mit jedem Tag, Man weiß nicht, was noch werden mag, Das Blühen will nicht enden. Es blüht das fernste, tiefste Thal. Nun armes Herz, vergiß der Qual! Nun muß sich Alles, Alles wenden. Text: Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862) 6 Balmy breezes are awakened Balmy breezes are awakened, They whisper and move day and night, And everywhere creative. O fresh scent, o new sound! Now, poor heart, don’t be afraid. Now all, all must change. With each day the world grows fairer, One cannot know what is still to come, The flowering refuses to cease. Even the deepest, most distant valley is in flower. Now, poor heart, forget your torment. Now all, all must change. Translation: © by David Gordon Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren, D. 360 Dioskuren, Zwillingsterne, Die ihr leuchtet meinem Nachen, Mich beruhigt auf dem Meere Eure Milde, euer Wachen. Wer auch, fest in sich begründet, Unverzagt dem Sturm begegnet; Fühlt sich doch in euren Strahlen Doppelt muthig und gesegnet. Dieses Ruder, das ich schwinge, Meeresfluthen zu zertheilen; Hänge ich, so ich geborgen, Auf an eures Tempels Säulen. Text: Johann Baptist Mayrhofer (1787–1836) 7 Dioscuri, twin stars Dioscuri, twin stars that shine upon my skiff, you comfort me on the ocean with your mildness and your watchfulness. He who firmly believes in himself and unswervingly meets the storm feels himself, in your light, doubly courageous and blessed. This oar that I ply to part the ocean waves, I shall hang, once I am safe on land, upon your temple’s pillars. Translation: © by Emily Ezust from the LiederNet Archive https://www.lieder.net/ II. SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER How Graceful Some Things Are, Falling Apart How graceful some things are, falling apart. Stopped clocks, a dancer tumbling, or a breaking heart. A missing child, an empty plate, the rust on a lost wind-up toy. A shattered glass. Or looming towers crumbling into dust. Text: Jonathan Breit 8 FRANZ SCHUBERT Im Haine, D. 738 Sonnenstrahlen Durch die Tannen, Wie sie fallen, Ziehn von dannen Alle Schmerzen, Und im Herzen Wohnet reiner Friede nur. Stilles Sausen Lauer Lüfte, Und im Brausen Zarte Düfte, Die sich neigen Aus den Zweigen, Atmet aus die ganze Flur. Wenn nur immer Dunkle Bäume, Sonnenschimmer, Grüne Säume Uns umblühten Und umglühten, Tilgend aller Qualen Spur! Text: Franz Seraph Ritter von Bruchmann (1798–1867) In the wood Sunbeams through the fir-trees falling, Draw from there all pain; and in our hearts dwells pure peace only. 9 The still murmuring of mild breezes, And the whispering of delicate scents: they float down from the branches, breathing gently on the entire meadow. If only the dark trees, the shimmering sunlight, and the green forest-edge, could blossom and glow around us all the time, erasing every trace of pain! Translation: © by Emily Ezust, from the LiederNet Archive https://www.lieder.net/ CAROLINE SHAW And So would a song by any other name sound as sweet and true would all the reds be just the same or violets as blue if you were gone would words still flow and would they rhyme with you if you were gone would i still know how to love and how to grow and how the vowel threads through. and so they say the saying goes a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a tired rhyme but in the verse there’s always time. 10 would scansion cease to mark the beats if i went away would a syllable interrupt the feet of tetrametric iambs when i am gone listen and i will sing a tune of love and life and of the ocean’s prose and the poetry of a red, red rose, that’s newly sprung in june.