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Sunday July 30, 2023
Emerson Avenue Salonlines Proudly Presents
a Live YouTube Broadcast
– A “hybrid” concert –
OpenPageEnsemble
Sally McLain, violin
Lori Barnet, cello
Kathryn Brake, piano
Rosa Lamoreaux, voice
“A Sense of Joy”
PROGRAM
- Note: see texts, translations and additional information about the composers below
Two Songs — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1759-1796)
Un moto di gioia K.579 *
Komm, Lieber Mai K. 596 *
From Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 31, No. 2 (1924) — Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) *
Fünf Variationen über das Lied *
“Komm Lieber Mai”: Leicht bewegte *
It’s The Voice That Shall Remain (2018) — Ramin Amin Tafreshi (1992) *
voice, violin, cello, piano *
Nocturnal Prayer (2014) — Chris Rogerson (1988)
cello, piano
Nightsongs II (2021) — Justus Parrotta (1988)
voice, piano
Vocalise I
Choose Something Like a Star *
Intermezzo
Returning *
Vocalise II
Trio in E Major. Hoboken XV:28 — Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Allegro moderato
Allegretto
Allegro
TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS
Un moto di gioia | A Sense of Joy |
Un moto di gioia mi sento nel petto, Che annunzia diletto in mezzo il timor! Speriam che in contento finisca l’affanno, Non sempre tiranno il fato ed amor. Lorenzo da Ponte | A sense of joy moves through my breast, Announcing delight in the middle of fear! Let’s hope our worries will end in happiness. Fate and Love are not always tyrants. |
Komm, Lieber Mai | Come Lovely May |
Komm, Lieber Mai, Und mache die Bäume wieder grün. Und laß mir an dem Bache Die kleinen Veilchen blühn! Wie möcht’ ich doch so gerne Ein Veilchen wieder sehn, Ach, Lieber Mai, Wie gerne ein mal spazieren gehn! Zwar Wintertage haben Wohl auch der Freuden viel, Man kann im Schnee traben Und treibt manch’ Abendspiel. Baut Häuserchen von Karten, Spielt Blindekuh und Pfand, Auch gibt’s wohl Schlittenfahrten Aufs liebe freie Land. Ach, wenn’s doch erst gelinder Und grüner draußen wär! Komm, Lieber Mai, wir Kinder, Wir bitten dich gar sehr! O komm und bring’ vor allem uns Viele Veilchen mit, Bring’ auch viel Nachtigallen Und schöne Kuckucks mit! Christan Adolf Overbeck | Come lovely May And make the trees green again. and let for me, by the brook The little violets bloom! How I would dearly love to see a violet again. Ah, lovely May, How gladly I would take a stroll! It is true that winter days Have much joy as well: One can trot in the snow And play many games in the evening Building little houses of card, Play blind-man’s-bluff and forfeits, Also go sledding In the lovely open countryside. Ah, if only it would grow milder And greener out there! Come, lovely May, we children, we beg you! Oh come and bring for us, ahead of anyone else, lots of violets, Also bring lots of nightingales And pretty cuckoos! |
One of the most important composers of the first half of the 20th century, Paul Hindemith dominated German musical life during the Weimar Republic (1919–33). A versatile musician, he sustained an astonishing level of productivity in his composing while pursuing a successful career as a solo violist and member of a professional string quartet. These gifts, coupled with his dedication to teaching, ensured that he was able to prosper even after he chose to leave Germany during the Third Reich and make his home in the United States. Hindemith came from a humble background and faced severe poverty during his childhood. Nevertheless his parents encouraged him to learn music and his burgeoning talent as a string player was quickly recognised. Awarded a scholarship at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt just before the First World War, he was taught composition by Arnold Mendelssohn and Bernhard Sekles while still continuing his violin studies. Initially, Hindemith composed in an extravagant late-Romantic manner inspired by Richard Strauss, Franz Schreker and Arnold Schoenberg. But by the beginning of the 1920s he had repudiated this style, first of all enthusiastically embracing Expressionism and then subscribing to the then-fashionable idea of a ‘new objectivity’: music created for music’s sake rather than being accompanied by some kind of philosophical message.
Deutsche Grammaphone
It’s The Voice That Shall Remain
I said what I said to defy or to cry, come what may.
It’s the voice that shall remain.
You want to erase my being but I shall remain.
It’s the voice that shall remain.
I’ll wither away.
You want to erase my being,
But in this land I shall remain.
As long as I sustain, I will continue the Dance!
I will dance!
My verse, as vast as a meadow,
Its universe rooted in my homeland.
In the world of ghazal
I’m a fleet-footed gazelle.
I speak as long as I’m alive.
Fury, Roar, and revolt!
Your stones and rocks I fear not:
I’m flood, my flow you can’t halt.
I’m not the woman your deceit
Can lock up in your fortress end.
I’m lightning, my silence will not adorn the sight.
I’m prelude to thunder:
Till then I illuminate the night.
I said what I said to defy or to cry,
Come what may.
It’s the voice that shall remain.
In this land I shall remain.
Simin Behbahani, translated to English by Sheema Kalbasi
Simin Behbahani, (born July 20, 1927, Tehrān, Iran—died August 19, 2014, Tehrān), Iranian poet who earned the sobriquet “the lioness of Iran” for eloquently challenging national authorities and expressing her steadfast opposition to oppression and violence in more than 600 poems.
Ramin Amin Tafreshi is an Iranian Composer and Pianist based in the Netherlands. Ramin in the first place is a critical observer and then, an expressive composer. With his music, he tells stories, expresses emotions, and reflects on society and his surroundings. He brings literature and drama, dance and theatre, and visual arts in combination with his music. Furthermore, he is constantly searching for new ways to connect cultures from east to west. In December 2018, His composition, It’s the Voice that shall Remain won the Second Prize and The Audience Prize from the Alba Rosa Composition Competition. Ramin’s works have been performed on many international stages and broadcast on radio in countries like Netherlands, Italy, and Portugal. In the Netherlands, his works got performed in music festivals such as Dutch Classical Talent, Schiermonnikoog Festival, Grachten Festival, Opera Forward Festival, Oranjwoud Festival, and WonderFeel Festival.
Chris Rogerson is a composer whose work has been performed by orchestras across the United States, including the San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, as well as esteemed artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony McGill, Ida Kavafian, Anne-Marie McDermott, and David Shifrin.
Choose something like a star
O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud—
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to the wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says, ‘I burn.’
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats’ Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.
Robert Frost
Returning
My soul is lifted above the galaxies, above the Milky Way,
Above Pisces and Pegasus, Pinwheel and Cartwheel,
Rising past our Honey Home.
My soul is lifted above the galaxies, above the Milky Way,
Above Whirlpool and Tadpole, Andromeda and Sombrero,
Cygnus and Sculptor.
Rising past our Honey Home.
“Galaxies are past cosmic islands of stars,
Gas, dust and dark matter, held together by gravity.”
And I, I am part of the honey Milky Way, I am.
My eyes are stars, my fingers dust.
Rising, I am.
Bursting to velvet silence, No motors grind or weeping.
My soul is springing beyond equinox,
Of light and dark, no mark or clock
But harmony and music. Rising I am.
Diane Heath
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, but his family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1884 following his father’s death. The move was actually a return, for Frost’s ancestors were originally New Englanders, and Frost became famous for his poetry’s engagement with New England locales, identities, and themes. Frost graduated from Lawrence High School, in 1892, as class poet (he also shared the honor of co-valedictorian with his wife-to-be Elinor White), and two years later, the New York Independent accepted his poem entitled “My Butterfly,” launching his status as a professional poet with a check for $15.00. Frost’s first book was published around the age of 40, but he would go on to win a record four Pulitzer Prizes and become the most famous poet of his time, before his death at the age of 88.
Poetry Foundation
In addition to writing lyrical poetry, Diane Heath, organist, maintains an energetic studio of piano and organ students in Northwest Washington, D.C., with students ranging in age from eight through senior citizen. Additionally, she serves as half-time Assistant Director of Music at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church.Diane has served on the music faculty of several Washington, DC, independent schools, including National Cathedral School, St. Alban’s School, The Maret School and Sheridan School. In 2005 she created “J. S. Bach and His Awesome Organ Music“, a fun and educational concert for young people and their families. Ms. Heath’s concert performances have included all French programs and all Mozart programs, as well as all Bach concerts. Her Bach playing is included in the Flentrop Organ Company anniversary CD series.
Biography
OpenPageEnsemble performs vocal and instrumental small-ensemble works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Founding directors, Rosa Lamoreaux, voice, and Lori Barnet, cello, are continually grateful for the privilege of performing music of the past 10 centuries, yet are compelled by curiosity to explore and perform music of our own era, and to commission new vocal and instrumental works for small ensemble.
Lori Barnet, cello, is a graduate of Bennington College. Her primary teachers include Robert Newkirk, George Finkel and Barbara Stein Mallow on cello, Phoebe Carrai on baroque cello, and Josef Gingold, Artur Balsam, Joseph Fuchs and Jacob Glick on chamber music. She is principal cellist of the National Philharmonic, Wolf Trap Opera Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra First Editions in Philadelphia. She has appeared as soloist with the Augusta (GA) Symphony, Alexandria and Mclean Symphonies, Orchestra 2001, National Philharmonic, Washington Chamber Symphony, Chamber Orchestra First Editions, and several university ensembles. She was principal cellist of Penn Contemporary Players (Philadelphia) and the Contemporary Music Forum (DC), each for 20 years, and of Orchestra 2001 (Philadelphia) where she held the Dell Venarde Principal Cello Chair. She also served five seasons as the continuo cellist on period instruments for the Washington Bach Consort’s cantata series. Other appearances as a baroque cellist include those with the National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, the Vivaldi Project, Ensemble Gaudior, ArcoVoce, Kontra Bande and with the National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble. She has toured in Russia, Italy, Denmark, England, Cuba, and China and recorded for Orion and CRI. Miss Barnet has taught at the National Philharmonic Summer String Institutes since their inception, was the cello sectional coach for MCYO for 11 years and now coaches chamber ensembles for MCYO. She has been a faculty member at The George Washington University since 1991 where she teaches cello, coaches chamber music, and appears regularly with the University’s faculty performance ensemble, the Columbian Consort.
Soprano, Rosa Lamoreaux has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Kennedy Center and Strathmore Center, in opera and oratorio, chamber music and as a recitalist, Ms. Lamoreaux’s performances have been cited as combining “fresh lyricism and near-angelic purity of tone with surprising intensity” (Washington Post). Recent and upcoming highlights include the B minor Mass and Bach cantatas for the Bethlehem Bach Festival, Handel’s Messiah with the Rogue Symphony Orchestra, French opera with Opera Lafayette, American SongBook with the Washington Men’s Camerata (at the Terrace Theatre, KC, on May 30, 2019), performances with ArcoVoce and the Folger Consort. Ms. Lamoreaux has performed with the Atlanta, Dallas, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, the Washington Chamber Orchestra, and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra. Her extensive repertoire includes works of Hildegard von Bingen through current composers. As a recitalist her venues include the Terrace Theatre, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the Corcoran Gallery, the Holocaust Museum, and the Phillips Collection. As a chamber music, Ms. Lamoreaux has toured with Musicians from Marlboro, Four Nations Ensemble, ArcoVoce, and Musica Aperta, in wide- ranging small-ensemble repertoire spanning early chant to present-day works. She is the recipient of numerous WAMMIE awards. Rosa’s newest CDs, Bach Among Friends, arias and duets with baritone and members of Four Nations Ensemble, Oh, So Nice featuring songs from the Great American Songbook in imaginative arrangements by Rosa, Betty Bullock, piano, and Jon Nazdin, string bass, and Evening Serenade, an elegant mix of melodies for voice and guitar including transcriptions of Mozart and Schubert. For a complete discography and further information, please visit www.rosasings.com.
Pianist Kathryn Brake -Characterized as a “compelling and imaginative performer” by The Washington Post, pianist Kathryn Brake has performed solo recitals in the United States, Canada, Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain. A winner of the National Young Chopin Competition, the Beethoven Competition, the Kosciusko Foundation Awards and the Elizabeth Davis Award, she has performed as soloist with several orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony and the National Symphony. A much sought-after chamber music player and recitalist who is equally at ease with a wide range of musical styles, Ms. Brake has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Phillips Gallery and the National Gallery in Washington DC, the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. She is a regular performer at the Sun Valley Symphony Chamber Music Festival and is pianist for the Washington based group Music Aperta. Ms. Brake has performed live on WETA and WGMS radio stations and has recorded broadcasts for France Musique and Radio Television Espanola. She can be heard on the Albany Records label in several critically acclaimed recordings of duos and chamber music.
Violinist Sally McLain received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with High Distinction from Indiana University where she studied with James Buswell. She has participated in the Bach Aria Festival and Institute, the New York String Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center. Sally was the concertmaster of the Washington Chamber Symphony for ten seasons and is currently the concertmaster of Washington Concert Opera. She was a member of the Theatre Chamber Players. Her recordings include the complete quartets of David Diamond and Quincy Porter with the Potomac String Quartet for Albany Records. Sally is currently violinist with the Left Bank Quartet and is an adjunct Chamber Music Faculty at the University of Maryland.
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