Questa o quella from Rigoletto Verdi

Four Songs to Poems by Victor Hugo Liszt S’il est un charmant gazon Oh! Quand je dors Comment, disaient-ils Enfant, si j’etais roi

Zueignung StraussCäcilie

Tutto parea sorridere … Si: de’ corsari il fulmine from Il Corsaro Verdi

Nè pouvant réprimer … Adieu donc, vains objets from Hérodiade Massenet

La vie antérieure DuparcChanson TristePhidylé

L’ultima canzone TostiL’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra

Ecco la casa ... Torna ai felici dì from Le Villi Puccini

Program is subject to change. The artists and your fellow audience members appreciate silence during the performance. Please be sure that you have switched off all electronic devices. Videotaping, photographing and audio recording are strictly forbidden. Violators are subject to removal.

A Director’s Choice Series Event

Thursday, May 23, 2013 • 8PM

Jackson Hall

There will be one intermission.

We express our deepest appreciation to Barbara K. Jackson for her individualsupport of this and so many other performances during this 10th Anniversary Mondavi Center season.

Sponsored by

Anderson FAmily CAtering & BBQ

Michael Fabiano, tenorJohn churchwell, piano

Ph

oto by Arielle D

oneson

Intermission

proGraM

DebutMC

proGraM notes

Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) opens on a party scene in the palace of the libertine Duke of Mantua, who declares that he takes his pleasure where he finds it in the aria Questa o quella (“This one or that one”).

The first song Franz Liszt (1811–1886) wrote was a lullaby in 1839 for his four-year-old daughter, Blandine. Later that year he set three sonnets by Petrarch, which also served as the germs for three movements in the second volume of his Années de Pèlerinage (“Years of Pilgrimage”). The 82 songs that came to comprise his output in this genre over the next 44 years reflect the dazzling cosmopolitanism of his life: 58 are in German, fourteen in French, five in Italian, three in Hungarian, and one each in Russian and English. As with the Petrarch sonnets, he arranged some two dozen of his songs for piano, and orchestrated eight of them. The genre proved to be a congenial one for Liszt’s lyrical and poetic gifts, and his best songs present a distillation of the finest qualities of his unique genius.

Liszt’s friend Victor Hugo included the poem S’il est un charmant gazon (“If There Be a Lovely Lawn”) in his 1834 collection Les Chants du Crépuscule (“Songs at Twilight”), and Liszt made a vernal setting of it in 1844. Enfant, si j’étais roi (“My Child, If I Were King,” from Les Feuilles d’automne [“Autumn Leaves,” 1829]) and Oh! quand je dors (“Oh, While I Sleep,” from Les Rayons et les Ombres [“Rays and Shadows,” 1840]) also date from about 1844, when Liszt’s standing as the musical darling of Paris was at its height. Comment, disaient-ils (1842, “‘How,’ They Asked”), based on a poem from Hugo’s 1840 collection Les Rayons et les Ombres, creates a charming dialogue between the anxious enquiries of the young lovers and the soothing replies of their sweethearts.

The great tradition of the 19th-century German Lied came to its end with the songs of Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Though he wrote songs throughout his long life—his first piece, penned at age six, was a Christmas carol; his last was the magnificent Four Last Songs—he composed most of his Lieder before he turned from the orchestral genres to opera at the beginning of the 20th century. Much of the inspiration for song composition during his early years came from his wife, Pauline de Ahna, an excellent singer who had performed at Bayreuth and taken part shortly before they were married in the premiere of her fiancé’s first opera, Guntram. The best of Strauss’ songs are imbued with a soaring lyricism, a textural and harmonic richness, and a sensitivity to the text that place them among the most beautiful and enduring works of their type.

Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg (1812-1864) was an Austrian civil servant who wrote religious polemics and lyrical poetry as avocations. Strauss’ first published collection of songs—Op. 10 of 1885—was the Acht Gedichte aus “Letzte Blätter” von Hermann Gilm (“Eight Songs from the ‘Last Leaves’ of Hermann Gilm”). The opening song of Op. 10, Zueignung (“Dedication”), helped established Strauss’ reputation as a Lieder composer and has remained one of his most frequently performed vocal pieces. Strauss included a setting of Cäcilie by the German poet, drama critic and literary journal publisher Heinrich Hart (1855–1906)

in his Op. 27, a set of four songs he wrote as a wedding gift for Pauline.

Verdi’s Il Corsaro, based on Byron’s poem The Corsair, is set on a Greek island in the Aegean from which Corrado, leader of the pirates of the opera’s title, launches raids on his victims. In Tutto parea sorridere (“Everything seemed to smile”), Corrado laments the happy days of his youth and his current exile from society. After receiving a report about a Turkish enemy, he rallies his forces for an attack in the aria’s second section—Si: de’ corsari il fulmine (“Yes; the pirates’ thunderbolt I myself intend to wield”).

Hérodiade, based on Flaubert’s novella, treats the ancient story of the Roman tetrarch Herod and his lust for his step-daughter Salome, the child of his second wife, the opera’s titular Herodias. In the version by Jules Massenet (1842–1912), Salome has fallen into a chaste love with John the Baptist, who prophesies the advent of the Messiah (and trouble for the Roman occupiers). Herod condemns John to death both for his subversive political activities and for the love he has inspired in Salome that has fixed her resolve to thwart the tetrarch’s advances. In the aria Nè pouvant réprimer ... Adieu donc, vains objets (“Since they could not repress the power of Thy Truth, their impotent rage has struck at Thy prophet ... Farewell, Then, Vain Things”), John, in prison at the beginning of Act IV, takes leave of his life and his mission, and of “that child”—Salome—who has aroused affection in him.

Troubled in spirit and in health and sufficiently self-critical to destroy much of what he composed, Henri Duparc (1848–1933) left a tiny musical legacy to posterity: two tone poems (Lénore and Aux étoiles), a suite of waltzes for orchestra, a half-dozen pieces for piano, a cello sonata, one vocal duet, a motet for three voices, a few arrangements of organ works by Bach and Franck, and sixteen songs. He is remembered almost entirely for his handful of songs, but what songs they are—exquisite, fluid, precisely inflected musical wrappings of voluptuously beautiful verse that count among the greatest contributions to the French vocal repertory.

La vie antérieure (1884, “The Former Life”), the last of Duparc’s songs, sets a verse from Charles Baudelaire’s notoriously sensual Les Fleurs du Mal (“Flowers of Evil”), six of whose poems had been banned from further distribution as “offensive to religion and public morality” immediately upon the collection’s publication in 1857. Duparc’s music traces the emotional arc of the poem, from its austere opening and its mounting passion fueled by memory to its ultimate weary regret, echoed in a poignant piano postlude. Chanson triste, one of Duparc’s earliest songs, sets a poem by Henri Cazalis (1840–1909), whose interest in Orientalism lent his writings an exotic sensuality highly favored in Second Empire France. The nobility, restraint and unruffled spirit of Phidylé, composed in 1882 and dedicated to Duparc’s fellow composer Ernest Chausson, perfectly match for the poem by Charles Marie Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894), the Parnassian poet who sought to embody exactly such qualities in his verses.

Paolo Tosti (1846–1916), singing teacher to royalty and song composer to drawing rooms and recital stages across Europe and

Questa o quella This one or that one? per me pari sono They all seem alike to me a quant’altre d’intorno mi vedo, when I see such beauty around me. del mio core l’impero non cedo But I give my heart no more meglio ad una che ad altra beltà. to one beauty than to another. La costoro avvenenza è qual dono If today one smiles on me graciously, di che il fato ne infiora la vita; tomorrow it will be another! s’oggi questa mi torna gradita, I hate tyrannous constancy of heart. forse un’altra doman lo sarà. It is cruel. La costanza, tiranna del core, Let him who wishes to detestiamo qual morbo crudele; be faithful; sol chi vuole si serbi fedele; he wants not love non v’ha amor se non v’è libertà. who wants not liberty. De’ mariti il geloso furore, Ignore the husband’s jealous anger, degli amanti le smanie derido, and the lover’s derided fury. anco d’Argo Yes, even were the hundred eyes i cent’occhi disfido, of Argus to frown on me, se mi punge una qualche beltà. I’d not stop if I saw a pleasing beauty!

Verdi: Questa o quella from RigolettoText: Francesco Maria Piave

text and translations

America, created some of the most enduring musical mementos of the Victorian era. Born in 1846 in Oranto, on the Adriatic coast south of Pescara, Tosti was sent to the other side of the Italian boot when he was twelve to study violin and composition at the Naples Conservatory. His talent and dedication sufficiently impressed his principal composition teacher, Saverio Mercadante, to be taken on as his assistant, but ill health from overwork sent Tosti back home in 1869. During his convalescence in Oranto, he played organ and directed the choir at the local 12th-century cathedral and started writing songs, for which response was strong but publication was difficult. To better his fortunes, he moved to Rome, where the celebrated pianist, conductor and teacher Giovanni Sgambati invited him to sing his music at one of his recitals. Crown Princess Margherita of Savoy attended the event, was duly impressed with the young Tosti, and hired him as her singing teacher. In 1875, Tosti visited London for the first time, and returned there every spring until he settled permanently in the city in 1880, when he was appointed singing teacher to the royal family. In 1888, he married an Englishwoman, Bertha

Pierson; in 1906, he became a British citizen; and in 1908, he was knighted by King Edward VIII. He retired to Italy in 1912, and died in Rome four years later. Tosti’s many songs, in Italian, French and English, remain among the beloved items in the singer’s repertory.

The story of Le Villi by Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) takes place in the Black Forest of Germany. Roberto, engaged to Anna, has inherited a large fortune from an elderly aunt and must go to Mainz to claim it. He leaves for the city, promising to return and marry Anna but succumbs to a life of debauchery on his travels. Anna, forgotten, dies of heartbreak. After her death, she is joined by the Villi (“Wilis,” the witches of German legend) to exact revenge upon her faithless lover. Roberto is pursued by the Villi as he again approaches Anna’s house and sings of his fear and remorse in the dramatic aria Torna ai felici dì (“My anguished thought returns to those happy days”) before the witches tempt him into a furious dance from which he dies of exhaustion.

©2013 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

S’il est un charmant gazon If there be a lovely lawnQue le ciel arrose, Watered by the sky,Où brille en toute saison Where each new seasonQuelque fleur éclose, Blossoming, flowers spring up,Où l’on cueille à pleine main Where lily, woodbine and jasmineLys, chèvre-feuille et jasmin, Can be gathered liberally,J’en veux faire le chemin I would strew the way with themOù ton pied se pose! For your feet to tread!

S’il est un rêve d’amour, If there be a dream of loveParfumé de rose, With the scent of roses,Où l’on trouve chaque jour Where each day may be foundQuelque douce chose, Some sweet new delight,Un rêve que Dieu bénit, A dream blessed by the LordOù l’âme à l’âme s’unit, Where soul unites with soul,Oh! j’en veux faire le nid Oh, I shall make of it the nestOù ton coeur se pose! Where your heart will rest.

Liszt: Four Songs

S’il est un charmant gazonText: Victor Hugo

Oh! quand je dors, viens auprès de ma couche, Oh, while I sleep come to my bedside,Comme à Pétrarque apparaissait Laura, as Laura appeared to Petrarch,Et qu’en passant ton haleine me touche ... and in passing let your breath touch me ...Soudain ma bouche all at once my lipsS’entr’ouvrira. will smile.

Sur mon front morne où peut-etre s’achève On my somber brow, where perhaps there is endingUn songe noir qui trop longtemps dura, a dismal dream that has lasted too long,Que ton regard comme un astre s’élève ... let your face rise like a star ...Et soudain mon réve all at once my dreamRayonnera! will glow!

Puis sur ma lèvre où voltige une flamme Then on my lips, where a flame flutters,Eclair d’amour que Dieu méme épura. a flash of love purified by God himself,Pose un baiser et d’ange deviens femme ... place a kiss, and be transformed from angel to woman ...

Soudain mon âme all at once my soulS’éveillera. will awaken.

Oh! quand je dorsText: Victor Hugo

Comment, disaient-ils, “How,” they asked,Avec nos nacelles, “in our small craftFuir les alguazils? can we escape the law?”Ramez, disaient-elles. “You must row,” the girls replied.

Comment, disaient-ils, “How,” they asked,Oublier querelles, “can we forget quarrels,Misère et périls? griefs and perils?”Dormez, disaient-elles. “You must sleep!” the girls replied.

Comment, disaient-ils, “How,” they asked,Enchanter les belles “can we enchant the fairSans philtres subtils? without rare potions?”Aimez, disaient-elles. “You must love!” the girls replied.

Comment, disaient-ilsText: Victor Hugo

Enfant, si j’étais roi, je donnerais l’empire My child, if I were king I would surrender empires,Et mon char et mon sceptre et mon peuple à genoux, my chariot and my sceptre and my subjects,Et ma couronne d’or et mes bains de porphyre I’d give my crown of gold, my baths of porphyryEt mes flottes à qui la mer ne peut suffire and my ships that the sea cannot hold,Pour un regard de vous! all to gain one look from you!

Si j’étais Dieu, la terre et l’air avec les ondes If I were God, I’d forfeit earth, air and ocean,Les anges, les démons courbés devant ma loi, the angels, the demons bowed before my decree,Et le profond chaos aux entrailles fécondes. and the darkness of profound Chaos,L’éternité, l’espace et les cieux et les mondes eternity, space, the heavens and worldsPour un baiser de toi! to win one kiss from you!

Enfant, si j’étais roiText: Victor Hugo

Ja, du weisst es, teure Seele, Yes, you know it, dearest soul,Dass ich fern von dir mich quäle, How I suffer far from you,Liebe macht die Herzen krank, Love makes the heart sick,Habe Dank. Have thanks.

Einst hielt ich, der Freiheit Zecher, Once I, drinker of freedom,Hoch den Amethysten-Becher, Held high the amethyst beaker,Und du segnetest den Trank, And you blessed the drink,Habe Dank. Have thanks.

Und beschworst darin die Bösen, And you exorcised the evils in it,Bis ich, was ich nie gewesen, Until I, as I had never been before,Heilig, heilig an’s Herz dir sank, Blessed, blessed sank upon your heart,Habe Dank. Have thanks.

Strauss: Two Songs

Zueignung (“Dedication”), Op. 10, No. 1Text: Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg

Wenn du es wüsstest, If you only knew Was träumen heisst von brennenden Küssen, what it’s like to dream of burning kisses, Von Wandern und Ruhen mit der Geliebten, of wandering and resting with one’s beloved, Aug in Auge, eye turned to eye, Und kosend und plaudernd, and cuddling and chatting,Wenn du es wüsstest, if you only knew, Du neigtest dein Herz! you would incline your heart [to me]! Wenn du es wüsstest, If you only knew Was bangen heisst in einsamen Nächten, what it’s like to feel dread on lonely nights, Umschauert vom Sturm, da niemand tröstet surrounded by a raging storm, while no one comforts Milden Mundes die kampfmüde Seele, with a mild voice your struggle-weary soul, Wenn du es wüsstest, if you only knew, Du kämest zu mir. you would come to me. Wenn du es wüsstest, If you only knew Was leben heisst, umhaucht von der Gottheit what it’s like to live, surrounded by God’s Weltschaffendem Atem, world-creating breath, Zu schweben empor, lichtgetragen, to float up, carried by the light, Zu seligen Höhn, to blessed heights,Wenn du es wüsstest, if you only knew, Du lebtest mit mir! then you would live with me!

Cäcilie (Cecily), Op. 27, No. 2Text: Heinrich Hart

Tutto parea sorridere Everything seemed to smile all’amor mio premiero: upon my first youthful love. L’aura, la luce, l’etere The breeze, the sunlight, the sky, e l’universo intero; and the whole universe. ma un fato inesorabile But an inexorable fate ogni mio ben rapi, stole all my happiness away. più non vedrò risorgere Nevermore shall I see dell’innocenza i dì. the days of innocence return.

Si. Si: de’ corsari il fulmine Yes. Yes; the pirates’ thunderbolt vibrar disegno io stesso; I myself intend to wield. dal braccio nostro oppresso Crushed by our might il Musulman cadrà. the Mussulman shall fall. All’armi, all’armi e intrepidi To arms, to arms; and fearlessly cadiam, cadiam sull’empia Luna. let us fall upon the impious Crescent.Qual possa in noi s’aduna The power that we can muster il perfido vedrà. the treacherous foe shall see.

All’armi, all’armi, all’armi! To arms, to arms, to arms!

Verdi: Tutto parea sorridere ... Si: de’ corsari il fulmine from Il CorsaroText: Francesco Maria Piave

Nè pouvant réprimer les élans de la foi, Since they could not repress the power of Thy Truth, Leur impuissante rage a frappé ton prophète. their impotent rage has struck at Thy prophet, Seigneur! ta volonté soit faite, O Lord! Thy will be done. Je me repose en toi! I trust in Thee!

Adieu donc, vains objets Farewell, then, Qui nous charment sur terre. vain things of earthly charm. Salut! Salut! Hail! Hail! Premiers rayons de l’immortalité! first rays of immortality. L’infini m’appelle et m’éclaire; The infinite calls me, and lights my way. Je meurs pour la justice et pour la liberté! I die for justice and for liberty! Je ne regrette rien de ma prison d’argile, I do not regret this prison of clay, Fuyant l’humanité, for when I leave this humanity Je vais calme et tranquille, to find calm and tranquility,M’envelopper d’éternité! I shall be clothed in eternity.Je ne regrette rien, I do not regret anything,Et pourtant ... ô faiblesse! yet, such is my weakness, Je songe à cette enfant. I dream of that child. Je songe à cette enfant I dream of that childDont les traits radieux whose radiant features Sont toujors présents à mes yeux, are present to my eyes. Souvenir qui m’oppresse! Her memory weighs upon me. Souvenir qui m’oppresse toujours ... Her memory weighs upon me always ...Je songe à cette enfant! Ever do I dream of her! Seigneur! si je suis ton fils, O Lord! I am your son, Seigneur! si je suis ton fils, O Lord! I am your son, Dis-moi pourquoi, Tell me why, Dis-moi pourquoi, Tell me why, Tu souffres que l’amour Why do you permit love Vienne ébranler ma foi? to come to me and disturb my faith? Seigneur! si je suis ton fils! O Lord! Yes, I am your son! Si je suis ton fils! Yes, I am your son! O Seigneur! O Seigneur! O Lord! O Lord!

Massenet: Nè pouvant réprimer ... Adieu donc, vains objets from HériodadeText: Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont

Dans ton coeur dort un clair de lune, In your heart moonlight sleeps,Un doux clair de lune d’été, A gentle summer moonlight.Et pour fuir la vie importune, And to escape this troublesome lifeJe me noierai dans ta clarté. I shall drown myself in your radiance. J’oublierai les douleurs passées, I shall forget the past sorrows,Mon amour, quand tu berceras My love, when you cradleMon triste coeur et mes pensées My sad heart and my thoughtsDans le calme aimant de tes bras. In the loving peacefulness of your arms! Tu prendras ma tête malade, You will take my aching head,Oh! quelquefois, sur tes genoux, Oh!, sometimes upon your knees,Et lui diras une ballade And you will recite a balladQui semblera parler de nous; That will seem to speak of us, Et dans tes yeux pleins de tristesse, And in your eyes full of sorrows,Dans tes yeux alors je boirai In your eyes then I shall drinkTant de baisers et de tendresses So many kisses and tender caressesQue peut-être je guérirai. That, perhaps I shall be healed.

Duparc: Three Songs

Chanson tristeText: Jean Lahor

L’herbe est molle au sommeil sous les frais peupliers, The grass is soft for sleep beneath the cool poplars,Aux pentes des sources moussues On the banks of the mossy springsQui, dans les prés en fleur germant par milles issues, That flow in flowering meadows from a thousand sources,Se perdent sous les noirs halliers. And vanish beneath dark thickets.

Repose, O phidle! Midid sur les feuillages Rest, O Phidylé! Noon on the leavesRayonne, et t’inviteau sommeil. Is gleaming, inviting you to sleep.Pare le tréfle et le thym, seules, en plein soleil, By the clover and thyme, alone, in the bright sunlight,Chantent les abeilles volages. The fickle bees are humming.

Un chaud parfum circule au détour des sentiers; A warm fragrance floats about the winding paths,La rouge fleur des blé s’incline; The red cornflower tilts;Et les oiseaux, rasant de l’aile la colline, The red birds, skimming the hillside with their wings,Cherchent l’ombre des églantiers. Seek the shade of the eglantine.

Mais quand l’Astre, incliné sur sa courbe éclatante, But when the sun, low on its dazzling curve,Verra ses ardeurs s’apaiser, Sees it brilliance wane,Que ton plus beau sourire et ton meilleur baiser Let your loveliest smile and finest kissMe récompensent de l’attenéte! Reward me for my waiting!

PhidyléText: Leconte de Lisle

J’ai longtemps habité sous de vastes portiques For a long time I lived beneath the immense porticoesQue les soleils marins teignaient de mille feux, That the sea-suns dyed with a thousand rays,Et que leurs grands piliers, droits et majestueux, And whose great columns, erect and majestic,Rendaient pareils, le soir, aux grottes basaltiques. At night seemed just like basalt grottoes.

Les houles, en roulant les images des cieux, The rolling waves tossing the celestial imagesMêlaient d’une façon solennelle et mystique Blended in a solemn and mystic wayLes tout puissants accords de leur riche musique The all-powerful chords of their rich musicAux couleurs du couchant reflété par mes yeux. Colored like the sunset reflected in my eyes.

C’est là, c’est là que j’ai vécu dans les voluptés calmes It is there, there that I lived in tranquil luxuryAu milieu de l’azur, des vagues, des splendeurs, In the midst of the azure, the waves and the wonders,Et des esclaves nus tout imprégnés d’odeurs And the nude slaves imbued with fragrance

Qui me rafraîchissaient le front avec des palmes, Who refreshed my brow with palm leaves,Et dont l’unique soin était d’approfondir And whose sole purpose was to understand in depthLe secret douloureux qui me faisait languir. the agonizing secret that made me suffer.

La vie antérieure (“The Former Life”)Text: Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) from Les Fleurs du Mal

M’han detto che domani, Nina, vi fate sposa, They told me that tomorrow, Nina, you are getting married,ed io vi canto la serenata! and still I serenade you!Là, nei deserti piani, là, ne la valle ombrosa, There, in the deserted plains, there in the shady valleys,oh quante volte a voi l’ho ricantata: Oh, how many times I sang it to you:“Foglia di rosa, o fiore d’amaranto, se ti fai sposa, “Rose leaf, o amaranth flower, if you get married,io ti sto sempre accanto.” I will always stay beside you.”Domani avrete intorno feste sorrisi e fiori, Tomorrow you will have festive smiles and flowers all around,nè penserete ai nostri vecchi amori. not thinking of our former loves.Ma sempre, notte e giorno, piena di passione Night and day, full of passion,verrà gemendo a voi la mia canzone: my song will come moaning to you:“Foglia di menta, o fiore di granato, “Mint leaf, o deep-red flower,Nina, rammenta i baci che t’ho dato!” Nina, remember the kisses that I have given you!”

Tosti: Two Songs

L’ultima canzone (“The Last Song”)Text: Francesco Cimmino

Ecco la casa. Here is her house. Dio, che orrenda notte! O God, what a horrid night! Strane voci m’inseguon. Weird voices pursue me. Le Villi—evvia! The Wilis—away with them! Son fole! They are imaginings!No, delle Villi me non perseguita No, the fatal vendetta of the Wilis la vendetta fatal! does not pursue me! Tu sol m’insegui, rimorso! Thou alone, remorse, dost plague me, Vipera dal veleno infernal! viper of the poison of Hell!

Torna ai felici dì My anguished thoughtdolente il mio pensier, returns to those happy days ridean del maggio i fior, when May was gay with flowers fioria l’amor, fioria per me l’amor. and love blossomed for me. Or tutto si coprì Then everything was blackened di lugubre mister, by lugubrious mysteries, ed io non ho nel cor and now in my heart there is che tristezza e terror! naught but sadness and terror!

L’alba sepàra dalla luce l’ombra, The dawn divides the darkness from the light,E la mia voluttà dal mio desire. And my sensual pleasure from my desire,O dolce stelle, è l’ora di morire. O sweet stars, the hour of death is now at hand.Un più divino amor dal ciel vi sgombra. A love more holy sweeps you from the skies.

Pupille ardenti, O voi senza ritorno Gleaming eyes, O you who’ll ne’er return,Stelle tristi, spegnetevi incorrotte! sad stars, snuff out your uncorrupted light!Morir debbo. Veder non voglio il giorno, I must die, I do not want to see the day,Per amor del mio sogno e della notte. For love of my own dream and of the night.

Chiudimi, O Notte, nel tuo sen materno, Envelop me, O Night in your maternal breast,Mentre la terra pallida s’irrora. While the pale earth bathes itself in dew;Ma che dal sangue mio nasca l’aurora But let the dawn rise from my bloodE dal sogno mio breve il sole eterno! And from my brief dream the eternal sun!

L’alba sepàra dalla luce l’ombraText: Gabriele D’Annunzio

Puccini: Ecco la casa ... Torna ai felici dì from Le VilliText: Ferdinando Fontana

Michael FabianoOf Michael Fabiano’s recent performance as Oronte in Verdi’s I Lombardi Alla Prima Crociata, with Opera Orchestra of New York, The New York Times wrote, “What everyone who attended a concert by the Opera Orchestra of New York at Avery Fisher Hall on Monday night seemed to be thinking when the show was over might have been summarized in a Twitter post: ‘Michael Fabiano OMG.’ The sentiment was evident whenever that tenor opened his mouth, to judge by the prolonged ovations and shouts that followed.”

The 2013–14 season brings with it a variety of concerts and new productions for Fabiano. He returns to the Opéra National de Paris – Opéra Bastille for performances as Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, sings the Verdi Requiem with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and in a special concert with the San Francisco Opera, performs the role of Alfred in a new production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera, sings the title role in a new production of Gounod’s Faust at the Nederlandse Opera and makes his Glyndebourne debut as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. He will also perform two concerts in Washington, D.C. — a recital at the Kennedy Center and a performance of Verdi’s Il Corsaro with Washington Concert Opera.

Fabiano ushered in the 2012–13 season with his return to the Metropolitan Opera for performances as Cassio in Otello. He made his debuts at the Seattle Opera and Opera Lyra Ottawa as Rodolfo in La Bohème, a role he also performed at the Dresden Semperoper. Fabiano made his debuts at the Casals Festival and with the Oslo Philharmonic in the Verdi Requiem, and will make his San Francisco Symphony debut in two Beethoven concerts: the first will feature the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, and the second, the Missa Solemnis under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. He created a sensation singing Oronte in Opera Orchestra of New York’s concert performance of Verdi’s I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata in Avery Fisher Hall, will perform in recital at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, and this summer will debut at the Santa Fe Opera as Alfredo in La Traviata. Fabiano recently made a highly acclaimed American recital debut as part of the distinguished Harriman-Jewell Series in Kansas City, MO.

In the course of the 2011–12 season, Fabiano made his debuts at the San Francisco Opera as Gennaro in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, the Teatro Real as Christian in Alfano’sCyrano de Bergerac, Los Angeles Philharmonic in the world premiere performances of the “Prologue” to Shostakovich’s opera Orango (under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen), The Dream of Gerontius with the Wiener Symphoniker, Grant Park Music Festival (VerdiRequiem), and Rigoletto at Florida Grand Opera. He returned to the Dresden Semperoper for performances in Rigoletto, and sang in a staged performance of the Verdi Requiem at Oper Köln. Fabiano debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival and at the Stern Grove Festival with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in showcases of arias and duets.

Additional performances of distinction include: his debuts at the Opéra National de Paris as Cassio in Otello, the Asociacíon Bilbaina de Amigos de la Ópera, and Vancouver Opera as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Deutsche Oper Berlin as Rodolfo in La Bohème, Dresden Semperoper as the Duke in Rigoletto, Gennaro in English National Opera’s premiere production of Lucrezia Borgia (which was broadcast in the first-ever, live 3D simulcast of an opera), Metropolitan Opera debut as Raffaele in Verdi’s Stiffelio, London debut at ENO as the Duke in Rigoletto, Alfredo in La Traviata at the Teatro San Carlo, Respighi’s La Fiammaat the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, La Scala debut as Rinuccio in Gianni

Schicchi, the title role in Stravinsky’s Mavra at the Greek National Opera, performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, and Orchestre National Bordeaux, and the soloist for “O Holy Night” during the nationally televised midnight mass from St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Christmas Day.

Fabiano is the winner of numerous competitions, most notably Grand Prize Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Grand Prize winner from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, First Place winner in the Loren Zachary Competition, and First Prize winner of the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Competition He is a graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

John churchwellOne of the leading collaborative pianists of his generation, John Churchwell enjoys a career on the concert stage as well as in the nation’s leading opera houses.In August 2011, Churchwell was named Head of Music for San Francisco Opera. For the past fourteen years Churchwell has been an assistant conductor for both the Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Opera. In that time he has assisted on more than 95 productions and has collaborated with some of the world’s leading conductors including James Levine, Nello Santi, Nicola Luisotti, James Conlon, Donald Runnicles, Sir Charles Mackerras, Marco Armilliato, and Fabio Luisi.

A champion of American music, Churchwell has participated in the world premieres of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby and Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. In recent seasons, Churchwell has led musical preparation for the world premieres of the Christopher Theofanidi’s opera Heart of a Soldier, as well as the Philip Glass opera Appomattox and the Stewart Wallace/Amy Tan collaboration, The Bonsetter’s Daughter, all for San Francisco Opera. From 2005 – 2008, Churchwell was the official accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

On the recital stage, Churchwell has partnered some of today’s most sought-after vocalists including Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, Diana Damrau, Frederica von Stade, Leah Crocetto, Dawn Upshaw, Carol Vaness, David Pittsinger, Patricia Schuman and Jill Grove. This season, appearances include San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall with tenor Michael Fabiano and the Hollywood Bowl for Prairie Home Companion with soprano Ellie Dehn. In addition to song recitals, Churchwell is an active chamber musician and has appeared regularly with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.Churchwell spends his summers at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA, where he has been a member of the voice and piano faculty since 2000. While there, in addition to chamber music performances and public master classes, Churchwell is instrumental in the training of young singers and apprentice coaches.

A native of Knoxville, TN, Churchwell studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and Tufts University where he earned a bachelor of music in piano and a bachelor of arts in French, respectively. Churchwell continued his studies at the University of Minnesota where he earned a Master of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Accompanying. Churchwell studied song literature at the Banff Centre for the Arts and remains the only pianist to be invited for three summers as a Tanglewood Fellow. Churchwell is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program.