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Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano & Members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Warren Jones, piano |
—Newsday
Program
ALAN SMITH: Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman (Bay Area Premiere)
JOHN ANTES: Trio in D minor for Strings, Op. 3, No. 2
GERSHWIN: Lullaby for String Quartet
AMY BEACH: Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor, Op. 67
About This Performance
Please join us for a pre-concert talk with Stephanie Blythe and composer Alan L. Smith, from 7:00-7:30pm in the Herbst Theatre.
Vibrant and versatile mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe joins some of the nation’s best chamber musicians for an evening of American masterworks old and new. At the forefront will be the San Francisco Performances’ co-commissioned premiere of Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman, based on the journals of 19th century pioneer Margaret Frink. Blythe says, “Alan’s ability to marry the voice and the text is palpable, and I am thrilled to give people an opportunity to experience this work.” Stephanie Blythe has enjoyed a career that embraces challenges and constantly invites the music world to re-evaluate her expansive artistry. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center embodies the quality and caliber of the art form in America, with performances, tours, recordings and the creation of bold, new music.
Read more about this performance in
Stephen Smoliar's blog on examiner.com.
Artist Biography
Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is considered to be one of the most highly respected artists of her generation.
Ms. Blythe has appeared in the great opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Opera National de Paris. Her many roles include the title roles in Carmen, La Grande Duchesse, Tancredi, Mignon, and Guilio Cesare; Frugola, Principessa, and Zita in the Il Trittico, Baba the Turk in The Rake's Progress, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, Mere Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites; Isabella in L'Italiana in Algeri, Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, and Ino/Juno in Semele.
This season she returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Ulrica and Fricka, the Arizona Opera as Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and makes her debut at the Pittsburgh Opera as Amneris in Aida. Ms. Blythe has appeared with many of the world's finest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra (in Boston and in Tanglewood), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Opera Orchestra of New York, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Ensemble Orchestre de Paris. The many conductors with whom she has worked include Harry Bicket, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, James Levine, Sir Charles Mackerras, John Nelson, Antonio Pappano, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Robert Spano, Patrick Summers, and Michael Tilson Thomas. This season she makes her debut with the Halle Orchestra, and returns to the Los Angeles Opera for the Verdi Requiem and the Philadelphia Orchestra for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Christoph Eschenbach (both in Philadelphia and in Carnegie Hall)
A frequent recitalist, Ms. Blythe has been presented in recital with her collaborative partner, Warren Jones, by Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series at Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Vocal Arts Society and at the Supreme Court at the invitation of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in Washington, DC; the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Shriver Hall in Baltimore. She premiered Vignettes: Ellis Island, a song cycle written especially for her by Alan Smith, and which was subsequently featured in a special television program entitled Vignettes: An Evening with Stephanie Blythe and Warren Jones, presented by Opera News on the WNYE television series Opera New York. This past summer, she performed the piece again in recital at the Ravinia Festival. This season, Ms. Blythe will premiere another piece by Alan Smith entitled Covered Wagon Woman, which has been commissioned for her residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Ms. Blythe’s most recent solo recordings include a collection of pieces by Mahler, Brahms, and Wagner and an album of Handel and Bach arias—all released on the Virgin Classics label.
Ms. Blythe was the winner of the 1999 Richard Tucker Award.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is one of twelve constituents of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the largest performing arts complex in the world. Along with other constituents such as the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center Theater, and The Metropolitan Opera, the Chamber Music Society has its home at Lincoln Center, in Alice Tully Hall. Through its performance, education, and recording/broadcast activities, it draws more people to chamber music than any other organization of its kind.
CMS presents annual series of concerts and educational events for listeners ranging from connoisseurs to chamber music newcomers of all ages. Performing repertoire from over three centuries, and numerous premieres by living composers, CMS offers programs curated to provide listeners a comprehensive perspective on the art of chamber music. The performing artists of CMS, a multi-generational selection of expert chamber musicians, constitute an evolving repertory company capable of presenting chamber music of every instrumentation, style, and historical period (see Artists of the Society and Guests). Its annual activities include a full season of concerts and events, national and international tours, nationally televised broadcasts on Live From Lincoln Center, a radio show broadcast nationwide, and regular appearances on National Public Radio’s Performance Today.
In 2004, CMS appointed cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han artistic directors. They succeed founding director Charles Wadsworth (1969-89), Fred Sherry (1989-93), and David Shifrin (1993-2004).
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