Season Preview
MEDIA CONTACT: Inna Heasley 215.280.4824 inna@lyricfest.org
LYRIC FEST ANNOUNCES CONCERT SEASON 2010-2011
PHILADELPHIA, PA: Lyric Fest, a unique musical offering in Philadelphia, announces its eighth season of eclectic mix of themes, new and returning artists, first-time creative collaborations, and repertoire designed to attract diverse audiences.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION: Adults $25 ($20 Early Bird before September 30th), Students $5, Family Concert: Adults $10/Students $5. Buy tickets at www.LyricFest.org, call 215-438-1702, or at the door. Season Subscriptions and Group Rates available.
BIOGRAPHY IN MUSIC ~ SAMUEL BARBER
Saturday, October 23 at 8 pm, The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
Sunday, October 24 at 3 pm, The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
Lyric Fest begins its concert season close to home, with Philadelphia composer, Samuel Barber. “Biography in Music” features a first time collaboration with the award-winning professional chamber choir The Crossing, directed by Donald Nally. Commemorating Barber’s 100th anniversary with an in-depth life story alongside his operas, choral works and songs, including several previously unpublished. Guest Artists: Emily Bullock, Bryan Hymel, Michelle Johnson, William Stone and The Crossing, Donald Nally conductor.
NIGHT AND DAY ~ THE HARMONY OF YIN-YANG
Sunday, November 21 at 3 pm, The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
Night and Day, “crabbed” age and youth, laughter and tears, freedom and captivity… This exploration into the mystery of yin~yang is inspired by the inherit harmony of forces in opposition and offers songs from Schubert to Cole Porter, plus a World premiere composed by Thomas Lloyd, Associate Professor of Music at Haverford College, PA. Guest Artists: Daniel Mobbs, Barbara Shirvis, Richard Troxell and pianist Harold Evans.
I’VE GOT RHYTHM! Family Concert
Friday, January 28 at 10 am, GAMP School, Philadelphia (students and groups only)
Saturday, January 29 at 3 pm, The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
Lyric Fest tips its top hat to the art of the dance in song. This interactive dance-inspired tribute to rhythm is crafted for kids of all ages and their families, with songs and dances from around the world: tangos, habaneras, rumbas, reels, minuets, waltzes and more. Guest Artists: Timothy Bentch, Lorraine Hinds, Wes Mason, the Motets of the Pennsylvania Girlchoir directed by Mark Anderson, and Philadelphia choreographer Myra Bazell and dancers from SCRAP Performance Group in the first-time collaboration with Lyric Fest.
STRANGER THINGS… PARIS IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY
Sunday, April 10 at 3pm, The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
As part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, Lyric Fest dives into the city-wide theme of Paris in the early 20th century to explore the fascination with all things “Other”: Exoticism, Orientalism, Animal songs, African and American Jazz influences the Occult and the Forbidden. “Stranger Things” offers historic narrative interspersed with the reflections of contemporaneous composers and poets, featuring songs from Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses, Stravinsky’s Three Japanese Lyrics, Albert Roussel’s Jazz dans la nuit, Francis Poulenc’s Le bestaire, and Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins. Guest Artists: Clara O’Brien, Manon Strauss Evrard and Randall Scarlata.
CONCERT VENUES 2010-2011:
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19118, www.chestnuthillpres.org
The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
201 S. 21st Street Philadelphia, PA 19103, www.fpcphila.org
Girard Academic Music Program School
22nd and Ritner Streets, Philadelphia 19145, www.gamp.phila.k12.pa.us
BIOGRAPHY IN MUSIC ~ SAMUEL BARBER
Click here to get the PR release for the Biography in Music concert as a .doc file: PR Samuel Barber 2010.
Click here to read our interview with Donald Nally.
September 27, 2010
Lyric Fest Invites The Crossing to Celebrate the Centennial of the Philadelphia Composer
PHILADELPHIA, PA: Lyric Fest is a unique musical offering presenting leading vocal artists, a pianist and the spoken word. The annual vocal recital series Biography in Music opens its 2010/11 season and is devoted to the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Samuel Barber (1910-1981), one of the 20th century’s most renowned and best-loved song composers. Barber’s biography will be featured alongside his songs, including several previously unpublished, opera excerpts, and choral works performed by The Crossing, Donald Nally conductor.
Saturday, October 23rd at 8 PM
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, October 24th at 3 PM
The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
21st and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia, PA
Soloists: Emily Bullock, Suzanne DuPlantis, Bryan Hymel, Michelle Johnson, Randi Marrazzo,William Stone, and The Crossing, Donald Nally, conductor, with pianist Laura Ward.
Tickets: General $25, Student $5. Call 215-438-1702 to pre-order, online at www.lyricfest.org (online purchasing not available currently, but coming soon), or purchase at the door. Groups $10 per ticket for 10 or more people.
“With this program, our aim is to celebrate Barber’s unique contribution to 20th century American art song and choral music,” states Randi Marrazzo, co-founding artistic director of Lyric Fest. “He brought us beautiful, lyrical, challenging music, much loved by singers… and he was practically a native son, born in West Chester, PA.”
The first name when speaking of American art song, Samuel Barber, a prodigy, was enrolled in the very first class of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age 14, majoring in not only composition, but voice and piano. “Barber was a gifted singer himself,” states co-founding artistic director Suzanne DuPlantis, “He possessed a beautiful Baritone voice (early recordings of which exist) and debuted many of his own songs.”
The Lyric Fest audiences will hear art songs and choral works that have become part of the Western classical standard. One of Barber’s best-known, but rarely heard live, song cycles, Despite and Still (1968), will be presented in its entirety, with each singer taking a song. Other offerings include: The Watchers, written for and championed by Barber’s aunt, Metropolitan Opera Contralto Louise Homer; Do not utter a word and the final quartet from “Vanessa,” Barber’s first opera (1958) set to libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his longtime companion, the composer and fellow-Curtis alumnus.
The Samuel Barber program marks the first collaboration between Lyric Fest and The Crossing, a Philadelphia-based award-winning professional chamber choir of 22 voices, led by Donald Nally. DuPlantis is convinced that “Barber’s writing, at turns both lush and stark, is perfectly suited to the sound world, so masterfully created by Donald Nally and The Crossing.” It also helps that Nally wrote his doctoral dissertation on the poetry choices in Barber’s choral works.
“Samuel Barber holds an important place for me,” says Nally, “because of his connection to Gian Carlo Menotti whom I knew very well, to Spoleto, where I conducted many of our singers for years, and his love for poetry and literature which I share, and – this is quite specific – his unique and entirely beautiful manner of using modal music to achieve a certain kind of warmth contrasted with a certain kind of emptiness.”
The Crossing will present two unaccompanied choral works: the stunning Twelfth Night (poetry by Laurie Lee), the intimate To be sung on the Water (poetry by Louise Bogan), and his choral masterpiece, Reincarnations, a three-song setting of James Stephens poetry. The choir will also perform On the Death of Antony from the opera Antony and Cleopatra and a choral rendition of Barber’s most famous song, Sure on this Shining Night (setting of James Agee).
Baritone William Stone makes a welcome debut with Lyric Fest. Mr. Stone has had an illustrious international career including performances in most of the major European opera houses, at theVatican for Pope John Paul II and numerous appearances at the Metropolitan Opera. As a concert artist, Stone has appeared with every major orchestra in the country, including the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa. Mr. Stone is currently on the voice faculty at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
Lyric Fest welcomes back tenor Bryan Hymel, now enjoying a major international career in opera and hailed by The New York Times as “a strong, flexible tenor, with an attractive warm timbre.” In the summer of 2010, Hymel, a graduate of Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, made his highly notable debut as Don Jose in Carmen at the Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House.
Michelle Johnson, noted for her lush soprano, will debut with Lyric Fest. A native of Pearland, Texas and winner of numerous awards, including second place at Giargiari Bel Canto Competition and an Encouragement Award at the Gerda Lissner Foundation Vocal Competition, Michelle is a current third-year resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
Mezzo-soprano Emily Bullock is equally at home with opera, operetta, musical theatre, recital and oratorio settings. Having performed with such companies as Nashville Opera and the Colorado Symphony, Ms. Bullock is currently a professor of voice and opera at West Chester University in West Chester, PA.
NIGHT AND DAY ~ THE HARMONY OF YIN-YANG
The Press Release as a Word file: PR Night and Day
MEDIA CONTACT: Inna Heasley 215.280.4824 inna@lyricfest.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2010
Lyric Fest invites Montgomery and Chester County artists for a cross-over program
PHILADELPHIA, PA: Lyric Fest, a unique offering of themed vocal programs, presents
“Night and Day ~ The Harmony of Yin-Yang”, a program inspired by the inherent harmony of forces in opposition, Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 3 pm at The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, 21st and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
Vocal Soloists: Suzanne DuPlantis, Randi Marrazzo, Daniel Mobbs, Barbara Shirvis, Richard Troxell. Singers are joined by pianists Laura Ward and Harold Evans.
Tickets and Information: General $25, Student $5. Groups of 10 or more $12.50 per ticket. Buy online at http://lyricfest.org/tickets/, by calling 215-438-1702, or at the door. For more information visit www.LyricFest.org.
Night and day, youth and old age, male and female, laughter and tears — “The Harmony of Yin-Yang” reflects upon all these themes, and more, in a lighthearted afternoon program. “This concert is our take on what happens when opposites interplay and the balance, or imbalance, that results, – comments co-founding artistic director Suzanne DuPlantis. – It’s often funny, but it’s also very satisfying as we recognize these pieces of life’s puzzle that fit together to make a whole.”
The program “crosses over,” offering a wide spectrum of repertoire: from classical arias and art songs – to music theater, jazz, pop and Broadway; with favorites like Edith Piaf’s “La vie en rose”, Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile”, Steven Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” fromA Little Night Music, songs from Berlin’s Annie Get your Gun and, of course, Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”. The program is intertwined with songs by Wagner, Schubert, Sibelius, Rachmaninov and Vaughan Williams.
“The Harmony of Yin-Yang” presents “Fatherly Reflections”, a premiere work especially composed for this concert by Thomas Lloyd, professor of Music and Director of Vocal and Choral Studies at Haverford College, PA.
Lyric Fest invited guest pianist Harold Evans, an accomplished improvisational virtuoso, to join Laura Ward in accompanying. Evans, of Wynnewood, PA, has appeared with Lyric Fest in earlier programs such as “Four Hands – Warm Hearts” in 2009 and “Last Songs” in 2007. Evans currently serves on the faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
“I think this will be a very enjoyable program for many – it reaches out to lovers of popular song as well as classical,” commented co-founder artistic director soprano Randi Marrazzo.
About Lyric Fest:
Lyric Fest was founded in 2003 by three distinguished Philadelphia-area musicians: mezzo-soprano Suzanne DuPlantis, soprano Randi Marrazzo, and pianist Laura Ward. Lyric Fest is the only performing organization in the Metropolitan Philadelphia dedicated exclusively to the voice recital. Seeking to revitalize and expand the song tradition, Lyric Fest invites regional and internationally recognized artists, who together produce unique and educational programming, built around compelling themes and presented in an intimate setting. Find out more at www.LyricFest.org.
I’VE GOT RHYTHM
The Press Release as a Word file: GotRythm.PR
MEDIA CONTACT: Inna Heasley 215.280.4824 inna@lyricfest.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2010
PHILLY KIDS TO LEARN ABOUT WORLD MUSIC AND DANCE WITH FINEST ARTISTIC FORCES IN “I’VE GOT RHYTHM” BY LYRIC FEST
PHILADELPHIA, PA: Lyric Fest, a musical organization offering unique themed programs, presents its annual family program entitled “I’ve Got Rhythm,” a dance-inspired tribute to rhythm, for children of all ages.
Featured artists: tenor Timothy Bentch, mezzo-soprano Suzanne DuPlantis, soprano Cristina Nassif, bass baritone Wes Mason, Motet Choir of Pennsylvania Girlchoir, directed by Mark Anderson, guest choreographer Meredith Rainey and dancers from Carbon Dance Theatre; all accompanied by pianist Laura Ward.
Friday, January 28, 2011 at 10am* (performance for school students only)
Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP) School
22nd and Ritner, Philadelphia, PA 19145
Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 3pm* (public performance)
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118
*Q-and-A session with artists will follow the performance.
Tickets and Information: General $10, Student and Youth $5, kids 3 and under admitted free. Buy online at http://lyricfest.org/tickets/, call 215-438-1702, or at the door. Program duration: 1 hr 15 min, no intermission. More information atwww.LyricFest.org.
Sharing great music with kids is one of the most important missions of Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest. This season, the young audiences will explore many cultures through song and dance, by sampling different kinds of music and the added attraction of the world’s rhythms and dances, presented by acclaimed vocalists and dancers.
“First, there was joyous movement to sound. Who can resist the urge to sway to the beat of great song? Over time, these simple natural responses became formalized into waltzes, polonaises, then into foxtrots and boogie-woogies! All the while these dance forms were working their way into vocal music,” said Suzanne DuPlantis, co-founding artistic director. “That is a fun evolution and a great hook to engage kids visually and aurally.”
For the first time, Lyric Fest brings one of the two shows to a public school venue, Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP) School, to perform exclusively in front of school-aged student audiences. “For a long time, our aspiration was to share the music with the kids in the area’s public schools. With this program debuting at GAMP, we are finally able to reach out to these children,” DuPlantis said. The GAMP’s 600-seat theater will host up to 350 guest students from neighboring public schools.
“I’ve Got Rhythm” is the first-time collaboration with the Philadelphia choreographerMeredith Rainey and his new company, Carbon Dance Theatre. Founded in 2009, the company produces theatrical dance works rooted in classical ballet. “I feel that this collaboration could lead to more for and between both companies in the future,” said Rainey, who will be also dancing in this program. “I am looking forward to creating original dances and perform them to the beautiful live music they will be singing. What a treat!”
Lyric Fest has compiled an acclaimed cast of guest singers: Wes Mason, bass-baritone, a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA); Timothy Bentch, tenor; sopranoCristina Nassif, an AVA alumna, praised by The Washington Post for her “electric stage presence”. The audiences will be inspired by the sound of Pennsylvania Girlchoir’sMotet Choir, directed by Mark Anderson, drawing young singers from several counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The family concert offers some of the widest varieties of music and dance in Lyric Fest’s eight-year history: from Purcell and Rossini to Copland, Bernstein, and Johann Strauss, mixed with native tunes from Serbia, Africa and Ukraine, and favorites like “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, “Fly Me to the Moon”.
“Learning about the world and world culture makes this big place feel smaller. It helps us feel connected to those who live differently,” said DuPlantis. Mark Anderson added: “When children grow up hearing and singing great music, seeing art works or dance, this broad foundation is set for life and opens up tremendous dimensions of the world to these formative minds and hearts. It is just like planting a seed and nurturing it: the longer the seed has to grow, the deeper the roots, and the more substantial the vines.”
STRANGER THINGS ~ PARIS IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY
MEDIA CONTACT:
Inna Heasley
215.280.4824
inna@lyricfest.org
The Press Release as a Word file: Stranger Things PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2011
Lyric Fest: Stranger Things ~ Paris in the Early 20th Century
Top Singers and Instrumentalists Perform In PIFA-Inspired Exotic Program
PHILADELPHIA, PA: Inspired by the theme of Philadelphia’s first International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), Lyric Fest closes its season with Stranger Things ~ Paris in the early 20th Century, Sunday, April 10, at 3 PM at The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia (21st & Walnut Sts., Philadelphia, PA). The program of vocal works, poetry, music and live commentary explores the allure of all things “other” in Paris in the first years of the 20th century: Exoticism, Orientalism, American jazz influences, animal songs, and the Forbidden.
Soloists: Manon Strauss Evrard, Randi Marrazzo, Clara O’Brien, and Randall Scarlata with Laura Ward, piano, Lois Bliss Herbine, flute, and Lynne Bratlie Beiler, cello.
Tickets and Information: General $25, Student $5. Groups of 10 or more $12.50 per ticket. Buy online at http://lyricfest.org/tickets/, by calling 215-438-1702, or at the door. For more information visit LyricFest.org and PIFA.org.
In its first ever French-inspired program, Lyric Fest offers both complete and partial works, with singers joined by instrumentalists. The program is a journey exploring the trajectory of fascination with all things “other” in French song and poetry, with highlights like Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses, Stravinsky’s Three Japanese Lyrics, Albert Roussel’sJazz dans la nuit, Francis Poulenc’s Le bestiaire, and Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins.
“We start as early as Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867) who penned verses of exotic locations, intoxication and decadence,” says co-founding artistic director Suzanne DuPlantis. “We travel through the great expositions of Paris in the latter part of the 19th century, where exhibitions of music, art and (even inhabitants) from Africa, Asia, the America were on display and fueled the imagination of more than a generation of artists.”
A highly distinguished cast of established and promising artists brings additional interest to audiences.
Hailed by The Boston Globe as “a triumph,” Philadelphia-based baritone Randall Scarlata has appeared on all five continents to the highest acclaim. Scarlata will offer works by Ravel, Debussy, Cole Porter and Milhaud.
Paris-born soprano Manon Strauss Evrard, an Academy of Vocal Arts alumna, recently made her debut in Lulu at the Met, where she will return for Capriccio this spring. Manon’s blossoming career has brought her, in leading roles, to a variety of well-known opera houses in Europe, Asia and America. In Stranger Things, Evrard performs works by Poulenc, Roussel, Stravinsky, Satie and more.
Clara O’Brien spent a large part of her career as the leading mezzo in Karlruhe, Germany; she is back in the US, performing stateside and teaching at University of North Carolina. O’Brien will grace the program with Ravel’s complete Chanson Madécasses, songs of Duparc, Nin-Culmel, and others.
Lyric Fest’s own soprano Randi Marrazzo performs the 3rd and 4th of the Quatre poèmes Hindous by Maurice Delage, set to the poetry by the 7th century Bhartrihari, andLe bestiaire by Poulenc.
Joining the cast for the first time, Lois Bliss Herbine is a solo piccolo artist on Crystal Records who has served as principal flute for Peter Nero’s Philly Pops and was a backup artist for SONY artists John Legend and Il Divo. Cellist Lynne Bratlie Beiler has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and recorded under Riccardo Muti and Wolfgang Sawallisch; she can be regularly heard with the Philadelphia Opera orchestra, the Pennsylvania Ballet orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.
“Stranger Things is an exotic, enjoyable and unexpected take on the city-wide festival celebrating Paris in the Twenties,” Marrazzo commented. “Through its intimate setting, superb talent and a fascinating synthesis of song, poetry and narrative Lyric Fest reveals to its audience a vision, a sense of this exuberant time in the artistic life of Paris.”
About Lyric Fest:
Lyric Fest was founded in 2003 by three distinguished Philadelphia-area musicians: mezzo-soprano Suzanne DuPlantis, soprano Randi Marrazzo, and pianist Laura Ward. Lyric Fest is the only performing organization in the Metropolitan Philadelphia dedicated exclusively to the voice recital. Seeking to revitalize and expand the song tradition, Lyric Fest invites regional and internationally recognized artists, who together produce unique and educational programming, built around compelling themes and presented in an intimate setting. Find out more at LyricFest.org.
About PIFA:
Stranger Things is being presented in partnership with the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), a three-week festival inspired by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, showcasing creativity, collaboration and innovation throughout Philadelphia’s artistic and cultural communities. For more information about PIFA programs and partners, go to PIFA.org.
