The Lotte Lehmann Foundation
presents
The Lotte Lehmann Foundation Recitals
Inaugural Concert
Martha Guth, soprano ~ Jonathan Michie, baritone
Thomas Bagwell, piano
Sunday, December 19, 2010 at 3:00pm
Christ & St. Stephen's Church, 120 West 69th Street, New York, NY, 10023
$15 admission at the door / $10 students & seniors
featuring
songs of
Schubert and Schumann
duets of
Cornelius and Brahms
and contemporary works:
Tom Cipullo — Late Summer (2001)
Juhi Bansal + — A Line-Storm Song (2008/9)
Stephen Paulus — A Heartland Portrait (2006)
+ Winner, ASCAP/Lotte Lehmann Foundation Art Song Competition
The next Lotte Lehmann Foundation Recitals in 2010/11:
Sunday, March 13, 2011, 3:00pm:
Tami Petty, soprano, Matthew Boehler, bass, Thomas Bagwell, piano
Sunday, May 15, 2011, 3:00pm:
Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano, Christopher Herbert, baritone, Thomas Bagwell, piano
About the Lotte Lehmann Foundation:
Since 1997, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation has worked to continue Lotte Lehmann’s vision of the unifying power of music. In sponsoring the biennial ASCAP / Lotte Lehmann Foundation Art Song Competition, a major national prize for composers of art song, the LLF has awarded over $16,000 to composers under the age of 35 since 2005, extending commissions, sponsoring premiere and repeat performances, and procuring publication (with the prestigious E.C. Schirmer ) of new works by these emerging artists. In the service of young singers, the Foundation's newest project, The Lotte Lehmann Foundation Recitals, showcases gifted emerging vocalists in the performance of art song. With a vibrant Board of Directors consisting of professional singers, collaborative pianists, composers, arts management professionals, conductors, academics, music journalists, and executives with a passion for the arts, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation continues to strengthen, extend, and expand its mission:
To support emerging singers and composers of vocal music.
For more information about the Lotte Lehmann Foundation please visit: www.lottelehmann.org
About the Lotte Lehmann Foundation Recitals:
The 2010-11 concert season sees the debut of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation Recitals. Pianist Thomas Bagwell curates the series, as well as accompanying six hand-picked young singers in three duo recitals at the Church of Christ and St. Stephen’s on New York’s Upper West Side. Featured are sopranos Martha Guth and Tami Petty; mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson; baritones Jonathan Michie and Christopher Herbert; and bass Matt Boehler. In keeping with the Foundation’s mission, the recitals will feature these artists in repertoire both old and new, including classic works from the Lieder repertoire as well as work by promising young composers, many of whom are laureates of the ASCAP / Lotte Lehmann Foundation Song Cycle Competition.
About the performing artists:
Called by Marilyn Horne “a pioneer for his age,” pianist Thomas Bagwell is one of a handful of today’s most active pianists in the field of song recital. His appearances as a collaborative pianist have taken him to such venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein, the Concertgebouw, and numerous halls across the United States and Canada. Thomas Bagwell’s activities as a coach and teacher have led to invitations to give masterclasses for colleges and apprentice programs in opera companies. Mr. Bagwell was an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera for nine seasons, and has served in the same capacity for many seasons at the Washington National Opera, the Santa Fe Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Thomas Bagwell has partnered in recital such singers as Marilyn Horne, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Frederica von Stade, Andrea Rost, Kristine Jepson, James Morris and Roberta Peters. His recital partnerships with the rising generation of singers include Elaine Alvarez, Gregory Turay, Rinat Shaham, Eric Cutler, Thomas Meglioranza and Jesse Blumberg. Under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation he has performed numerous recitals and galas. For his accompanying, Peter G. Davis in New York magazine wrote, “Thomas Bagwell’s bejeweled playing showed that the art of the accompanist is alive and well.” At the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, Mr. Bagwell presented a series of seven all Hugo Wolf Lieder recitals to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the great Austrian composer. This series, which involved thirty singers from the rosters of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera and many prestigious art song competition winners, was followed by a Mahler Lieder series again at the Austrian Cultural Forum. As a teacher and coach, Thomas Bagwell has taught at Yale University and is on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music.
Acclaimed for her “intuitive sensitivity” (Montreal Gazette) and her “thrilling top range, rare breath control and an awesome legato” (Globe and Mail), soprano Martha Guth has emerged onto the international classical music scene as a finely developed and persuasive artist, traits which earned her the first prize in the Wigmore Hall International Competition in 2007, a career grant from the Canada Council, and 2nd Prize in the the CBC’s Young Musicians Competition. Concerts and recitals are an important part of Ms. Guth’s activities. She recently performed with Graham Johnson’s Young Song Makers concert series in London which was also recorded for the BBC. Other recitals and concerts have included the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Windsor Symphony, The Hamilton Philharmonic, the Calgary Philharmonic, The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Debut Series in Ottawa (CBC radio), Jeunesses Musicales recitals in Montreal, the Offcentre Music Salon in Toronto (CBC radio), and various recitals throughout Europe, U.S.A., and Canada. She also appeared with the Santa Fe Symphony as soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ah, Perfido. She recently appeared in world premieres of songs and cycles by Thomas Pasatieri, Tom Cipullo and Clint Borzoni. On the operatic stage, she has attracted notice for her interpretations of Mozart and Handel, including as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Lyra Ottawa and Mallorca, Spain; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Opera Lyra Ottawa, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in Augsburg, and the title role of Handel’s Alcina in Lucca, Italy. Martha has also created a new podcast that she co-hosts with pianist Erika Switzer on classical song entitled Sparks and Wiry Cries which is available for free download from itunes or directly from her website. The podcast features discussions of repertoire, collaboration, performance practice, historical context and poetry, often including conversations and interview with composers and performers, and live performances by artists active in this art form.
Praised as “suavely elegant” and “possessing a lustrous, unforced tone and equally easy stage presence,” American baritone Jonathan Michie is pursuing a versatile performing career. He is currently in residency with The Florida Grand Opera where he is singing roles in Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. This summer brings an Apprenticeship with The Santa Fe Opera where he will cover roles in Die Zauberflöte, Albert Herring, Les contes d’Hoffmann, and the world première of Lewis Spratlan’s Life is a Dream. Highlights of Michie’s recent work include his solo debut at Alice Tully Hall singing Bach’s Ich habe genug, Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel with Maestro James Conlon, premiering the role of FDR in Vehar’s Eleanor with Lake George Opera, Carmina Burana, A Little Night Music, and Kern & Hammerstein’s Music in the Air. Other credits include the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute for Young Artists and two seasons with the Chautauqua Opera. He has been featured in concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Spoleto Festival USA, the Ravinia Festival, and with orchestras throughout North America. Favorite past roles include Danilo in The Merry Widow, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, John Wilkes Booth in Assassins, Robert in Company, Pandolfe in Cendrillon, and Strephon in Iolanthe. Michie is the youngest first prize winner in the history of the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya competition. He is the recipient of awards from the Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundation, the Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges, the Palm Beach Opera Competition, the Charles A. Lynam Competition, the National Orpheus Competition, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, the Liederkranz Foundation, and was a Regional Finalist in the MET National Council Auditions.
###
