Voice Divisional Recital, 22 April 2009

Last Wednesday, I was asked to accompany a friend, who is a Vocal Performance major at UNC Chapel Hill. He wanted me to play the organ as he sang "Draw near, all ye people" from Mendelssohn's Elijah.

The event kind of reminded me of In-House Seminars, except instead of graduate students giving lectures to each other, we have undergraduate students singing pieces for each other. It seemed like a really nice, supportive atmosphere, and with this being the last Wednesday recital of the current academic year, every singer received a standing ovation.

Before the program started, the students presented a plaque to Professor Stafford Wing in appreciation for his teaching throughout his long and distinguished career. The group hug at the end was very endearing.

Here is the program.

• From Giulio Cesare: Quel torrente, che cade dal monte (G.F. Handel; Zachary Ballard, baritone; Lyuba Egorova, piano)
• Vittoria, vittoria (G. Carissimi; Chris Nickell, baritone; Egorova, piano)
• Per la gloria d'adorarvi (G.B. Bononcini; H. Burchett, soprano; Egorova, piano)
• Ich schwebe (R. Strauss; Caroline Mason, soprano; Egorova, piano)
• Schlafendes Jesuskind (H. Wolf; Dani Nowell, soprano; Frank Zachary, piano)
• Geheimis (F. Schubert; Honor Morgan, soprano; Egorova, piano)
• Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte (W.A. Mozart; Bizzy Maness, soprano; Mary Hamilton, piano)
• Mignonne (C. Chaminade; Joncie Sarratt, mezzo-soprano; Zachary, piano)
• From Songs of Travel: Bright is the Ring of Words (R.V. Williams; Taylor Weddle, baritone; Zachary, piano)
• It's all I have to bring (E. Bacon; Lilly Kantarakias, soprano; Valerie Elvers, piano)
• Straightway Beauty On Me Waits (R. Hundley; Kaitlin Baden, soprano; Zachary, piano)
• From Die Winterreise: Der Lindenbaum (F. Schubert; Eric Di Marzio, tenor; Elvers, piano)
• Nacht und Traüme (F. Schubert; Lauren Schultes, soprano; Egorova, piano)
• Freisinn (R. Schumann; Aaron Salley, baritone; Elvers, piano)
• Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen (F. Mendelssohn-Hensel; Forrest Flemming, baritone; Hamilton, piano)
• From Elijah: Draw near, all ye people (F. Mendelssohn; Warren Weisler, baritone; Lyn Francisco, organ)
• From Acis and Galatea: Recitative: I rage, I melt, I burn; Aria: O ruddier than the cherry (G.F. Handel; Wiley Smith, bass; Fallon Blaser, piano)

It was really nice to receive compliments on the piece Warren and I did. People were going on about how wonderful it was to hear that Mendelssohn piece accompanied by organ. It was fun to play. And, considering Warren is from around these parts, I just may very ask him to sing that piece in church sometime over the summer ...