Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar May 22- 28, 2017 Crane School of Music SUNY Potsdam Fall Island Celebrates New Works with Old Friends Wednesday, May 24, 7:30 PM Sara M. Snell Music Theatre* Tickets are available for purchase from Community Performance Series or at the door. The order of the program will be announced during the concert. The War Prayer Steven Mark Kohn from American Folk Song Set (2000) Ten Thousand Miles The Farmer’s Curst Wife Steven Brennfleck, tenor Mario Antonio Marra, piano Windows (Five Songs of Love) (2014) Alan Louis Smith Heart Windows Kaleidoscope Lapis Lazuli I Sing You to Sleep - Lullaby When You Carry Me to the Stars Diana Newman, soprano Alan Louis Smith, piano 8 *Dialogue: Fall Island’s 2017 Commission* Composer Daniel J. Mertzlufft Performers Stephanie Blythe and Alan Louis Smith far memory Daniel J. Mertzlufft 1. convent Lucille Clifton 2. someone inside me remembers 3. again 4. trying to understand this life 5. sinnerman 6. karma 7. gloria mundi Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano Alan Louis Smith, piano The artists will be pleased to greet audience members briefly in the lobby directly following the performance. 9 We are grateful to the following who make Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar possible each year! State University of New York Potsdam Dr. Kristin Esterberg, President Dr. Bette Bergeron, Provost The Crane School of Music Dr. Michael Sitton, Dean Community Performance Series Jason Dominie, Interim Operations Director Deborah Massell & Jackson Francisco John & Christine Lancaster Michael Sitton & Mark Martin François Germain, Julie Miller, Kirk Severtson, Eugenia Tsarov Lorelei Murdie, Douglas McKinnie, Lane Miller PACES Catering, Lori Smith Residence Life, Josh McClear Great Northern Printing Program & Schedule Welcomes from the Artistic, Executive, and Music Directors 4 Participants 6 Tuesday, May 23 Masterclass 1 7 Wednesday, May 24 Masterclass 2 7 Fall Island Celebrates New Works with Old Friends* 8 7:30PM, Sara M. Snell Music Theater. Tickets: $18 Gen Admin/$15 SUNY ID Thursday, May 25 Masterclass 3* 10 10:30AM, Sara M. Snell Music Theater. Free and open to the public. Friday, May 26 Masterclass 4 11 10:30AM, Sara M. Snell Music Theater. Free and open to the public. Echoes of Patriot Voices: 12 Early American Songs in Times of War and Peace 7:30PM, Wakefield Recital Hall. Free and open to the public. Saturday, May 27 Masterclass 5 14 10:30AM, Sara M. Snell Music Theater. Free and open to the public. Sunday, May 28 Final Public Recital* 15 2:00PM, Sara M. Snell Music Theater. Free and open to the public. Giving to the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar 17 Biographies 18 Composer/Librettist Dates 29 * This event will be live streamed at http://www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/streaming/ From the Artistic Director Dear friends, It is such a joy to welcome you all to our sixth season of Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar! There are so many reasons to be excited about this week. As those of you who have joined us for previous seasons already know, Fall Island is committed to performing the works of living American composers. We began three years ago with a wonderful lecture recital presented by our own Alan Louis Smith, and in the next two seasons, presented composers Ricky Ian Gordon and Tom Cipullo. This season we have the incredible honor of showcasing our very first commissioned song cycle, by Potsdam alumna and FIVAS new assistant director, Daniel Mertzlufft. far memory, composed on the poetry of American poet, Lucille Clifton, will be the featured work on our midweek concert, and Alan and I will be honored to be the first to perform it. This marvelous concert will also bring the return of three of our beloved Fall Island alumni: soprano, Diana Newman, tenor, Steven Brennfleck, and pianist, Mario Antonio Marra. I would also like to invite you to join me in welcoming Dr. Lorraine Yaros Sullivan as the new Executive Director of FIVAS. Lorraine has been a supporter of Fall Island from the very beginning, and when our beloved former director, Carleen Graham made the decision to become director of HGOco in Houston, TX, we both knew that Lorraine would be our first choice to take on the mantle of director. We are so grateful that she agreed to become an intrinsic part of the seminar. She has taken on this role with skill, dedication and passion, and has done a magnificent job. Thank you so much, Lorraine- you are a terrific partner in this effort, and I look forward to what the future brings us! The last week of May has become my favorite time of the year, something that I look forward to with great love and anticipation. Working with our wonderfully talented and enthusiastic singers and pianists on songs that define us artistically and culturally is incredibly important. Your participation this week is equally important- you are the reason that we strive to become better performers and better communicators. Thank you for you dedication to our mission! Heartfelt thanks to all those who make this week a reality every year. To Dean Michael Sitton and President Kristin Esterberg for the enduring support and generosity, to our wonderful interns that work so diligently to make the gears turn all week for our artists, and to everyone at Potsdam College and the Crane School of Music that provide for so many of our day-to-day needs. FIVAS has a great many friends, and we are grateful for every one of you! Season Six- wow!! Wishing you all a great week, Stephanie Blythe From the Executive Director Welcome! I’m so honored to join the Fall Island family in its sixth year. I’ve been a fan of Fall Island from the beginning because of the importance of its commitment to American art song. What has kept me coming back year after year has not just been my love of the music, though that would certainly be enough. In the course of one week we can study the origins of American art song in an insightful and 4 entertaining lecture recital with Dr. Gary Busch, engage in an in-depth exploration of established repertoire during masterclasses with the incomparable artists and master teachers Stephanie Blythe and Alan Louis Smith, and be the first to hear an exciting new commission by our own Daniel J. Mertzlufft, all while getting to know another group of outstanding young artists. How very fortunate we are to have all of this here in Potsdam! I owe a debt of gratitude to Carleen Graham, who has patiently answered my endless questions over the course of the past year. I’m also grateful to Stephanie and Alan for their acceptance, understanding, and encouragement. I have to give special thanks to Dan Mertzlufft and Katrina Sheats for all of their hard work and always turning into whatever I needed them to be, whether or not I knew what that was. Of course, Fall Island couldn’t happen without the guidance and support of Dean Michael Sitton and President Kristin Esterberg. And thanks to all of you, whose patronage keeps us going. Please enjoy all this week has to offer. I hope you find as much to love about it as I have over the years! Lorraine Yaros Sullivan From the Music Director Here we are at the sixth season of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar! What was a dream, a vision, in the hearts and minds of Stephanie Blythe and Carleen Graham to create a sanctuary in which to study, celebrate, and dedicate ourselves to American art song has over six years flowered and borne fruit in the most wonderful ways. After last season we bade a loving farewell to our former General Director and dear friend, Carleen Graham, who has done so much for the Seminar since its inception. We welcome warmly our new General Director, Lorraine Yaros Sullivan, who has with immense hard work and generosity of spirit taken on the mantle of that position. Welcome, Lorraine! The artistry and creativity of the young artists who have given themselves over to the words and music of American poets and composers and who have committed their talents and souls to that art form are truly impressive and inspiring; and this year continues the journey with nine exceptional young artist-fellows. This year, also, we proudly celebrate some of our illustrious alumni in a special concert dedicated to their artistry as well as to a brand new commissioned song cycle, the first song cycle commissioned by FIVAS, by our outstanding young composer and FIVAS Assistant Director, Daniel Mertzlufft. We also are honored to have the continued expertise and boundless enthusiasm of Dr. Gary Busch, who will again lead a class in American song from its rich historic past. Our all-important donors have generously allowed dreams to turn into reality. Thank you! The administration of SUNY Potsdam and of the Crane School of Music have welcomed us and created an open hearted artistic home to our endeavors. A special word of gratitude goes to Dean Michael Sitton, who has been at the forefront among those. And, of course, since art song is a communicative art form, human being to human being, the program could not have its fullest success without the audiences who attend and so warmly foster through their show of appreciation the aims of FIVAS. Year Number Six, here we go! Alan Louis Smith 5 Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar Artistic Director: Stephanie Blythe Executive Director: Lorraine Yaros Sullivan Music Director: Alan Louis Smith Assistant Director: Daniel Mertzlufft Faculty Lecturer: Gary Busch Administrative Assistant: Katrina Sheats Fellowship Artists Kristina Bachrach, La Grange, IL Stephen Carroll, Scotch Plains, NJ Mieczyslaw FitzDaniel, Boston, MA Kateri Gormley, Chicago, IL Katie Hannigan, Rochester, NY ChoEun Lee, Korea Daniel Overly, Cleveland, OH Chelsea Whitaker, Boston, MA Yeji Yoon, New York, NY Guest Artists Diana Newman, soprano Steven Brennfleck, tenor Mario Antonio Marra, piano Repertoire Development for Teachers Program Guk-Hui Han, Staff Accompanist, Bob Cole Conservatoy of Music Sharon Johnson, Asst.