Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center Presents Tuesday Matinees: Naomi O’Connell, mezzo-soprano With Brent Funderburk, piano Tuesday, Nov 13, 2012 at 2 pm Words to Love and Live By: Works by Barber, Copland, Ives, Bernstein, Satie, Hugo Wolf, William Bolcolm & Frank Bridge CLAUSE DEBUSSY - Chansons de Bilitis HERMANN ZILCHER - Four Songs, Op. 12 AARON COPLAND - Selections from Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson ALFRED BACHELET - Chère Nuit ERIC SATIE - Daphénéo HUGO WOLF - Anakreon’s Grab HUGO WOLF - Auch kleine Dinge HUGO WOLF - Erist’s MICHAEL HEAD - The Estuary FRANK BRIDGE - Love went a-riding CHARLES IVES - Memories WILLIAM BOLCOM - Cabaret Songs Hailed by The New York Times as “a radiant mezzo-soprano,” Irish singer Naomi O'Connell is the First Prize Winner of the 2011 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and the Altamura/Caruso International Voice Competition. She began 2012 starring on London’s West End in Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play Master Class in the role of an aspiring young opera singer opposite Tyne Daly, who portrays the legendary Maria Callas. The Times called her performance “spectacular,” and The Independent lauded her “thrilling rendering of an aria from Verdi’s Lady Macbeth.” Highlights of her 2012-13 operatic season include: Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, co-produced by the Juilliard Opera Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program in fall 2012, under the baton of Alan Gilbert and directed by Stephen Wadsworth; and in spring 2013, she appears in New York City Opera’s new production of Offenbach’s La Pericholé . Featured recital appearances this season include her Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall presented by CAG, as well as the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Purdue University Convocations, the Artist Series of Tallahassee and Merkin Concert Hall. A gifted musician and natural performer, Ms. O'Connell deftly balances her love of opera with that of art song, musical theater and popular song with repertoire ranging from Schumann, Strauss and Ravel to Bernstein, Sondheim and Randy Newman. She has performed with the Marlboro Music Festival, Steans Musical Institute at Ravinia, the Juilliard FOCUS! Festival, and the New York Festival of Song, where critics hailed her performance as “evocative, appealing and expressive.” Recent engagements include her professional operatic debut singing the title role in Offenbach’s La Pericholé with Garsington Opera in June 2012, where London critics hailed her as “a star in the making.” Ms. O’Connell made her Lincoln Center debut in March 2011 in the Juilliard Honors Recital at Alice Tully Hall with pianist Brent Funderburk. She spent the summers 2011 and 2012 performing chamber music at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, where her 2012 performance of Ravel’s Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé was hailed by The Boston Globe as “outstanding - her voice cool, precisely controlled and perfect for this music.” Ms. O'Connell has performed in venues throughout the United States, Europe, the UK and Ireland. Her recordings have been broadcast on WQXR, BBC Three, RTE television, Lyric FM, Clare FM and Radio One. Her operatic roles include Monteverdi's Ottavia, Ravel's L'Enfant and Concepción, Purcell's Dido, Mozart's Cherubino, Bizet's Carmen and Handel's Ariodante. About Tuesday Matinees Merkin Concert Hall’s Tuesday Matinees series presents some of the brightest young classical stars from around the world in the early stages of what are sure to be long and successful careers. The 2012-13 season continues with Shuffle Concert (12/11/12), Giora Schmidt, violin (1/15/13), Gabriela Martinez, piano (2/12/13), Henry Schneider Scholarship Concert (3/12/13) Harlem Quartet (4/6/13) and Benjamin Beilman, violin with Yekwon Sunwoo, piano (5/7/13). Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center 129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam) Ticket Information Single tickets: $18 4-concert mini-subscription: $58 Students: $9 Tickets at 212 501 3330 or http://kaufman-center.org/mch Press information Press releases and hi-res images: http://kaufman-center.org/press Kaufman Center is New York’s creative home for listeners, learners and performers. Founded in 1952 as a community school for pre-conservatory music training, today's Kaufman Center is home to Merkin Concert Hall; Lucy Moses School, New York’s largest community arts school; and Special Music School, a K-12 public school for musically gifted children. Kaufman Center presentations in Merkin Concert Hall are made possible, in part, with institutional support from: Bloomberg Philanthropies, BMI Foundation Inc., The Edward T. Cone Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, The Friars Foundation, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation, The Janis and Alan Menken Foundation, The Edith Meiser Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation and TD Charitable Foundation. Presentations in Merkin Concert Hall are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and from the New York City Council through the good offices of Councilmember Gale Brewer. Kaufman Center presentations in Merkin Concert Hall are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Merkin Concert Hall has also been awarded support from the National Endowment for the Arts. .