A Century of American Music
| 1. | Introduction | 00:00:31 |
| 2. | Crawford Seeger: String Quartet 1931 | 00:14:06 |
| 3. | Smith: Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman (from the Daily Journal of Margaret Ann Alsip Frink, 1850) for Mezzo-Soprano, Piano, Violin, and Cello | 00:43:52 |
This program pairs the work of a pioneering American composer with music inspired by a literal American pioneer. Ruth Crawford Seeger wrote her innovative string quartet in 1931, and it was soon recognized as a milestone piece in the history of American modernism. It is full of dense expression, particularly in the glorious third movement, in which she turns the ensemble into a throbbing, glowing organism that is thrilling to behold. The Parker Quartet brings fire and verve to this exciting and groundbreaking work. We then hear music of Alan Louis Smith, sung by his long-time collaborator and friend Stephanie Blythe. “Covered Wagon Woman,” from Smith’s series of musical vignettes, creates a sublime musical landscape out of the diary of Margaret Ann Alsip Frink. In 1850, she recorded her daily life as she and her husband travelled to California during the Gold Rush. In this setting of her words for mezzo-soprano and piano trio, Smith creates an intimate and expressive chamber music portrait out of this important document from American history.
PROGRAM
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Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901–1953) |
String Quartet 1931 Jupiter String Quartet (Nelson Lee, Meg Freivogel, violin; Liz Freivogel, viola; Daniel McDonough, cello) |
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Alan Louis Smith (1955–2023) |
Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman (from the Daily Journal of Margaret Ann Alsip Frink, 1850) for Mezzo-Soprano, Piano, Violin, and Cello (2006) Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano; Warren Jones, piano; Ani Kavafian, violin; Priscilla Lee, cello |
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Stephanie Blythe
Ani Kavafian
A renowned opera singer and recitalist, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is one of the most highly respected and critically acclaimed artists of her generation. Her repertoire ranges from Handel to Wagner, German lieder to contemporary and classic American song. Ms. Blythe has performed on many of the world's great stages, such as Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Paris National Opera and San Francisco, Chicago Lyric and Seattle Operas. Ms. Blythe was named Musical America's Vocalist of the Year in 2009, received an Opera News Award in 2007 and won the Tucker Award in 1999.
Ms. Blythe has sung in many of the renowned opera houses in the US and Europe including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Opera National de Paris. Her many roles include the title roles in Carmen, Samson et Dalila, Orfeo ed Euridice, La Grande Duchesse, Tancredi, Mignon, and Giulio Cesare; Frugola, Principessa, and Zita in Il Trittico, Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera, Baba the Turk in The Rake's Progress, Ježibaba in Rusalka, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, Mere Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites; Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, and Ino/Juno in Semele. She also created the role of Gertrude Stein in Ricky Ian Gordon's 27 at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Ms. Blythe has also appeared with many of the world's finest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, Minnesota Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Ensemble Orchestre de Paris, and the Concertgerbouworkest. She has also appeared at the Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, and Ravinia festivals, and at the BBC Proms. The many conductors with whom she has worked include Harry Bicket, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Alan Gilbert, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Charles Mackerras, John Nelson, Antonio Pappano, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Robert Spano, Patrick Summers, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
A frequent recitalist, Ms. Blythe has been presented in recital with her collaborative partner, Warren Jones, in New York by Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center in both its Great Performers Series at Alice Tully Hall and its American Songbook Series at the Allen Room, Town Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has also been presenter by the Vocal Arts Society and at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC; the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Shriver Hall in Baltimore, and San Francisco Performances.
A champion of American song, Ms. Blythe has premiered several song cycles written for her including Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson by the late James Legg, Covered Wagon Woman by Alan Smith which was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and recorded with the ensemble (CMS Studio Recordings); and Vignettes: Ellis Island, also by Alan Smith and featured in a special television program entitled Vignettes: An Evening with Stephanie Blythe and Warren Jones.
Ms Blythe starred in the Metropolitan Opera’s live HD broadcasts of Orfeo ed Euridice, Il Trittico, Rodelinda, Falstaff, and the complete Ring Cycle. She also appeared in PBS's Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic's performance of Carousel and her acclaimed show, We'll Meet Again: The Songs of Kate Smith. Her recordings include her solo crossover album with pianist, Craig Terry, as long as there are songs (Innova), and works by Mahler, Brahms, Wagner, Handel and Bach (Virgin Classics).
Her musical theater credits include her appearance with the San Francisco Opera as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and with the New York Philharmonic as well as the Houston Grand Opera as Nettie Fowler in Carousel. She has performed her acclaimed American Song singalong program, Sing, America! with presenters such as The Tanglewood Music Festival and Carnegie Hall. On occasion, she moonlights as her alter-ego, dramatic tenor, Blythely Oratonio, and has been presented as such in opera/cabaret shows with Philadelphia Opera, The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Resonant Bodies, and had a Lincoln Center debut in January 2020 on their American Songbook Series in the Appel Room.
Ms. Blythe was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year for 2009. Her other awards include the 2007 Opera News Award and the 1999 Richard Tucker Award. She is the Artistic Director of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar at the Crane School of Music, and was appointed Artistic Director of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College in the fall of 2019.
Violinist Ani Kavafian enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, chamber musician, and professor. She has performed with many of America’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony. In the 2019-20 season, she continued her longtime association as an artist of the Chamber Music Society with appearances in New York and on tour. Last summer she participated in several music festivals, including the Heifetz International Institute and the Sarasota Chamber Music, Bridgehampton, Meadowmount, Norfolk, and Angel Fire festivals. She and her sister, violinist and violist Ida Kavafian, have performed with the symphonies of Detroit, Colorado, Tucson, San Antonio, and Cincinnati, and have recorded the music of Mozart and Sarasate on the Nonesuch label. She is a Full Professor at Yale University and has appeared at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall numerous times with colleagues and students from Yale. She has received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions award and has appeared at the White House on three occasions. Her recordings can be heard on the Nonesuch, RCA, Columbia, Arabesque, and Delos labels. Born in Istanbul of Armenian heritage, Kavafian studied violin in the US with Ara Zerounian and Mischa Mischakoff. She received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School under Ivan Galamian. She plays the 1736 Muir McKenzie Stradivarius violin.