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Midge Woolsey: Hello, I'm Midge Woolsey. Tonight, highlights from an evening with the Juilliard School's Ellen and James Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, a program presented last spring in The Greene Space on this edition of the McGraw Family's Young Artist Showcase.
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Midge Woolsey: For over 45 remarkable years, the Young Artist Showcase has been introducing emerging artists of all kinds to WQXR's classical music lovers, thanks to generous underwriting support from the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Family Foundation. On tonight's program, the McGraw Family joins forces with The Gerda Lissner Foundation for Singers to shine the spotlight on vocalists from the Juilliard School whose stars are most definitely on the rise.
One of America's most prestigious programs for educating singers, the Juilliard School's Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts offers young artists programs tailored to their talents and needs. From Bachelor and Master of Music degrees to an Advanced Artist Diploma in Opera Studies, Juilliard provides performance opportunities in its own recital halls on Lincoln Center's stages and around New York City. Juilliard graduates can be heard on stages throughout the world.
The Institute's artistic director, Brian Zeger, was the host on a rainy spring evening in The Greene Space when three very talented singers presented an inspired program of art, song, and arias. Brian also worked his magic at the piano during the program, along with one of Juilliard's gifted artists from the collaborative piano division. We will, of course, hear Brian speak and play from the stage, but he's also here with me in the studio right now. Welcome, Brian.
Brian Zeger: Thank you, Midge. It's great to be here.
Midge Woolsey: Now, this event that you curated features three singers at very different points in their careers. Tell us about that.
Brian Zeger: Well, uh, Joseph Parrish, the bass-baritone you will hear, is currently a student at Juilliard. Uh, next year, he'll be in his last year in the artist diploma program. Megan Moore, the mezzo-soprano, is launched into her career just a couple of years out of school. She's got exciting stuff happening all over the country and a little bit in Europe as well. And then Hera Hyesang Park is already a really est-established opera star with quite a few seasons at the Met under her belt.
Midge Woolsey: And she's already signed with Deutsche Grammophon, right?
Brian Zeger: Yes, she's got a beautiful, uh, CD of bel canto arias that's been out for a couple of years. And there's one in the can which I think is-is getting ready to be, uh, put out in the next few months.
Midge Woolsey: Well, very special to have her here with us. And it was a very special treat for us to hear you play for Hyesang.
Brian Zeger: Thank you.
Midge Woolsey: But tell us about the other young pianist on the program.
Brian Zeger: Yes, Francesco Barfoed is a Danish pianist who's in our collaborative piano program getting his doctorate at Juilliard. A very talented young man. And I think some listeners may not be aware of kind of how pianists train for this collaborative field, but someone like Francesco would have collaborations both with instrumentalists, let's say, violinists, cellists, et cetera, but also with singers. So he's really learning a huge variety of different kinds of repertoire at the same time to prepare him for his future career.
Midge Woolsey: Very special touch on the piano, I should say. I should also mention that the audience that evening was incredibly intrepid. It was really pouring rain, if you will remember. But I have to say that the great thing about The Greene Space is that it's completely, completely soundproof. It's very wonderful. So the storm didn't interrupt the music at all. So let's go to The Greene Space now and start the show.
Brian Zeger: Thank you.
[applause]
Brian Zeger: Thank you. It's so nice to be here with you tonight. And we were so honored at Juilliard to work with the Lissner Foundation. For those of you who th-- who, um, even think about what it takes to become a classical singer, you'll quickly come to the conclusion that it takes a village to raise a singer. And the Lissner Foundation has been an incredibly important part of that village for many, many years. All three of the singers you're going to hear tonight are Lissner winners. They are also all either current Juilliard students or recent Juilliard alums. So this partnership is a- is a very healthy one, it's a very happy one. And we are always grateful for the support of the Lissner Foundation. The support they give is absolutely vital to what we do.
So we're gonna start tonight with a wonderful mezzo-soprano, Megan Moore, with some classic Schubert Lieder, accompanied by pianist Francesco Barfoed. Please enjoy.
MUSIC - Schubert: Auf dem Wasser zu singen
MUSIC - Schubert: Im Frühling
[applause]
Midge Woolsey: Mezzo-soprano Megan Moore and pianist Francesco Barfoed with two songs by Franz Schubert especially suitable for a rainy spring night in New York, Auf dem Wasser zu singen to be sung on the water and Im Frühling in spring. Brian Zeger, Joseph Parrish is next. Tell us a little bit about his rising star as it were.
Brian Zeger: Well, Joseph is a very talented young singer with a-a b-- a very bright future and, uh, I think one of the ingredients in that future that's so exciting for him is-is the fact that he won the Young Concert Artists auditions recently so he's going to be on many recital stages and concert stages in the next couple of seasons due to this-this terrific win.
Midge Woolsey: And he's a YCA artist along with Megan Moore, right?
Brian Zeger: That’s right, they're both-both YCA winners, and in fact, when Megan won YCA that was with Francesco, the pianist.
Midge Woolsey: Interesting. Tell us a little bit about what Joseph is going to sing.
Brian Zeger: Joseph is gonna sing some songs by Rachmaninoff and by Tchaikovsky. He has, uh-uh, just a deep love of Russian repertoire, and it's one of the things we're proud to be able to coach at Juilliard.
MUSIC - Rachmaninoff: My Child, You Are Beautiful as a Flower
MUSIC - Tchaikovsky: Amid the Din of the Ball
[applause]
Midge Woolsey: Bass-baritone Joseph Parrish with pianist Francesco Barfoed and two lovely songs, My Child, You Are Beautiful as a Flower followed by Tchaikovsky's dreamlike waltz set to text by Tolstoy, Amid the Din of the Ball. You're listening to the McGraw family’s Young Artist Showcase on WQXR. I'm Midge Woolsey with Brian Zeger, artistic director of the Juilliard School’s Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts. We're listening to highlights from an event presented by Juilliard last spring live in The Greene Space. Brian hosted the event from the stage.
Brian Zeger: Several decades ago when I was a student at the Juilliard School, I was in school with a wonderful Korean soprano called Mi-Hae Park who later went on to sing at the Metropolitan Opera and around the world before settling back in Korea as a teacher. Now-now, fast forward a number of years, I'm in Korea through Mi-Hae listening to students who are finishing their training in Korea and hoping to come to the US for conservatory training.
So I'm hearing some wonderful talents, men and women, all-all-all voice types and Mi-Hae said, "You know, there's a young woman who's not ready to graduate. She's got about two more years here. But just come in this practice. Just-just come listen for a minute." And that turned out to be the next singer tonight, Hera Hyesang Park. She came to Juilliard-- she came to the Lindemann program at-at the Metropolitan Opera and now is having a fantastic international career.
And I have to say, as the proud educator, that nothing gives me more pleasure than to see someone who already had a spark of incredible communication, expressivity, personality, even at this very young age as a student, really turn out to be such an important and vital artist. In fact, tonight she performs courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera, where she is in the middle of a run of Falstaff's. She plays the role of Nannetta. It is my great joy to introduce to you, Hera Hyesang Park.
[applause]
MUSIC - Grever: Te Quiero, Dijiste
MUSIC - Lara: Granada
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Midge Woolsey: Soprano Hera Hyesang Park and pianist Brian Zeger with two lovely Spanish songs, Maria Grever's Te Quiero, Dijiste, and Augustine Lara's Spanish standard Granada. Rather refreshing, I have to say, to hear the song sung by a woman for a change. It's time for a quick break now, and I'll be back with Brian Zeger and more music, including a beautiful performance of the farewell trio from Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte by the talented vocalists of the Juilliard School's Marcus Institute of Vocal Arts here on the McGraw Family's Young Artist Showcase.
Welcome back. I'm Midge Woolsey. Today we're enjoying highlights from a program sponsored by The Gerda Lissner Foundation and presented last spring by the Juilliard School's Marcus Institute of Vocal Arts in The Greene Space here at WQXR. The program was conceived and curated by the Institute's artistic director, Brian Zeger. Brian hosted the event from the stage.
Brian Zeger: Not so many years ago when Hera Hyesang Park was still a student at Juilliard, we mounted a production of Rossini's somewhat less often performed but marvelous comic opera Il Turco in Italia. Did any of you catch that show? Other than Meche and a few-few- a few others? Anyway, she gets to play Fiorilla, who's this very kind of spunky, proto-feminist, typical Rossini heroine in a Rossini comedy who sort of ha-has it all over everyone.
And you can imagine that Hera's fantastic sense of wit and sparkle on stage, uh, was really sort of born in New York at that time and so-- for New York audiences and has gone on to-to, um, grace stages all over the world. So here's Hera Hyesang Park in Rossini.
[applause]
MUSIC - Rossini: Non Si Da Follia Maggiore
[applause]
Brian Zeger: One of the things I think you can gather from tonight's presentation is that the Juilliard community of both students and faculty is a very international one. We have over 40 countries represented at our school and we really, uh, love the-the international flavor and the-the cultural breadth that that gives to our school community. So the next, uh, selection by Megan Moore. I'll have them come out, we'll talk a little bit about how this came to be. Come on out.
[applause]
Brian Zeger: So not only are, of course, singers a part of our international community, but also pianists. And I have to say, when Francesco Barfoed, who is a- who is a Danish pianist joined our student body, there was-- it became an-an explosion of Scandinavian song because his knowledge about it, his knowledge of language, and his passion for this music really infected dozens of singers. So I'd like to ask Francesco to just say a few words about the-the next song.
Francesco Barfoed: So the next song you're gonna hear is by a composer named Rued Langgaard or Langgaard, as I would call him here. And [chuckles] -and he was a-a composer I think is very underrepresented. In fact, as part of my doctoral study at Juilliard, I-I'm-I'm really interested in this composer. He lived in the first half of the 20th century, but it's very hard to define his style. There were other Danish composers, like Carl Nielsen, that were very Danish that you might have heard of. Langgaard is not represented in the same way internationally.
This song is a song that was initially written when he was 22 and he composed a lot of songs when he was very young. A lot of very beautiful songs that we've done together, he composed when he was a teenager. This is one of them, although he rewrote it 30 years later in 19-- in the '40s. And I think when you hear this song, you'll notice that it's kind of timeless. You can't really place it. I-- If I had heard it, I wouldn't think of it as a 1940 song, but something that's much more retrospective. Um, but it is a song about spring, about love for spring, and about optimism for what comes next.
MUSIC – Langgaard: Foraarssang
[applause]
Brian Zeger: So this is the part of the program we call c-- um, Choose Your Own Adventure. I thought- I thought since we're kind of getting into single songs now, we'd give these performers an opportunity to do something very idiosyncratic, very much of their own. And, uh, one thing Joseph Parrish has been doing since he came to school, actually, is accompanying himself at the piano, which, as a pianist, I can say, I think probably breaks the kind of piano union rules.
[laughter]
Brian Zeger: But, uh-- but anyway, we-we love what he does. And I think it brings out a kind of creativity and a kind of a very personal delivery from Joseph that, uh, we're very excited to hear.
MUSIC - Hathaway: A Song for You [applause]
Brian Zeger: Well, we are definitely in trouble with the piano-- pianist union now. Or-or you are. Let me tell you, some people are just too talented. It's-it's too much. But one-one thing I think we can demonstrate in this whole program is the incredible stylistic range that these singers have. It's something we're so proud of at Juilliard. And, uh, in fact, the other thing that Joseph is involved in right now is--
Joseph Parrish: Gianni Schicchi, which--
[cheering]
Joseph Parrish: Yes. You know, it's been a lot, uh, right there. It's been a-a great pleasure and honor. I've been in, oh, six productions, I think, at the school, um, sort of in various capacities. But to be able to be, um, a titular role in a double bill is, uh, really, really significant, and I think a jumping-off point for me. And I'm just so grateful. The music is wonderful. The character is absolutely ridiculous in the best possible way.
[applause]
Brian Zeger: Uh, good job. Thank you, brother. The next selection by Hera Hyesang Park is, uh, a setting of Psalm 23 and, uh-- i-in Korean. And, uh, you'll know, when you get to thine is the kingdom and the power part. That is very clear. And-and amen also at the end. But I-I find that-that everything that Hera Hyesang Park sings is-is imbued with so much- so much belief, so much personality. It's really thrilling in whatever language she sings in. So here's Psalm 23.
[applause]
MUSIC - Hera Hyesang Park: Psalm 23
[applause]
Midge Woolsey: Soprano Hera Hyesang Park and pianist Brian Zeger with Korean composer Un-Yung La setting of Psalm 23. Before that, you heard Hyesang and Brian performing Fiorella's Act I aria from Rossini's The Turk in Italy. Mezzo-soprano Megan Moore and pianist Francesco Barfoed with a song by Danish composer Rued Langgaard, and bass-baritone Joseph Parrish accompanying himself in a song by the great American soul man, Donny Hathaway. We heard A Song for You. To bring Juilliard's Evening at The Greene Space to a close, Brian Zeger return to the stage with all three singers to introduce the finale.
Brian Zeger: Well, we'd like to say a few thank yous before we say goodnight. Number one to The Gerda Lissner Foundation for bringing us here tonight. Number two to WQXR, which is a-- such an important home for music here in New York City. And of course to Juilliard, who is really responsible for bringing all these wonderful talents from all over the world together.
?Speaker 1: Thank you.
Brian Zeger: Yes. We're gonna--
[applause]
Brian Zeger: So we're gonna end with the farewell trio from Cosi Fan Tutte, which is the thing I could think of that all three singers could sing together. [laughter] And-and of course it's an incredibly f-- strange moment in the opera because the two sisters, Fiordiligi and Dorabella think they're saying goodbye to their loved ones. Don Alfonso here, who's kind of the villain of the piece is-is sending them off to this crazy social experiment he's doing. But I think we can all reinterpret it for tonight to say, basically, may your journeys be smooth ones. May the seas treat you gently. And with big, big thanks to our performers for tonight.
[applause]
MUSIC - Mozart: Soave Sia Il Vento from Cosi Fan Tutte
[applause]
Midge Woolsey: Hera Hyesang Park, Megan Moore, and Joseph Parrish with pianist Francesco Barfoed bidding us gentle winds and calm waves with the farewell trio from Act I of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. Brian Zeger, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule at Juilliard to be with us. And thank you for sharing your talented young artists with the WQXR listeners.
Brian Zeger: I'm delighted to be here. It meant so much for me to help host and play this program 'cause I can remember back when I was a student having the great privilege of playing this show when it was Bob Sherman's Young Artist Showcase and what a- what a wonderful boost that was for me and I'm-I'm thrilled to be able to pass that along to young people.
Midge Woolsey: Okay. Well, it's great to have you here. Long may your career thrive, Brian Zeger.
Brian Zeger: Thank you.
Midge Woolsey: The McGraw Family's Young Artist Showcase on WQXR is generously underwritten by the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Family Foundation. Here's Terry McGraw with more.
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Terry McGraw: Good evening, everyone. It's great to be with you and it's always great being with the Young Artist Showcase and to hear these really wonderful and inspiring musicians as they continue to share their incredible gifts with us every week. I can't wait to hear the fabulous talent coming up on the showcase, and I am so pleased to be able to support the series all through. It's well over four decades on WQXR and there's so much more to come.
Midge Woolsey: Thank you, Terry. Special thanks to Michael Fornabaio and the board of The Gerda Lissner Foundation and Karl Michaelis of the Lissner Charitable Trust for sponsoring the live event in The Greene Space, and to Brian Zeger and his team from the Juilliard School's Ellen and James Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, including associate administrative director, DeAnna Sherer, and projects administrator for performance activities, Sofia Selowsky.
And our thanks to you for listening. If you would like to watch this entire performance, you can find it online at wqxr.org. Our WQXR program producers are Laura Boyman and Max Fine. Special thanks to the team in The Greene Space for their production wizardry and very special thanks as always to our generous Young Artist Showcase series underwriter, the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Family Foundation. I'm Midge Woolsey. Goodnight.
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