2009-05-27 Feminist Theory and Music One [recital program]

              School of Music
U N C G
Feminist Theory and Music 10:
Improvising and Galvanizing
Concert One
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
8:00 pm
Recital Hall, School of Music
Program
Three Chinise Paintings for Solo Piano Pui-shan Cheung
Lotus Ponds
Cloudy Mountain
Wildly Flowering
Agnes Wan, piano
Art-Poem-Music: Body and Soul, Volume 2 Pamela Marshall
Mulched by Moonlight
O Trill
The Lost Roots
Jodi Hitzhusen, soprano
Laura Dangerfield Smith, flute
Alexander Ezerman, cello
Andrew Willis, piano
O Let Me Weep: Distressed Women in Music, 1650-1750
Amor dormiglione Barbara Strozzi
(1619-after 1664)
Semelé (excerpt) Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Récitatif (1665-1729)
Air
from Silent Shades (Bess of Bedlam) Henry Purcell
(1659-1695)
Lucrezia (excerpt) Georg Frideric Handel
Recitativo (1685-1759)
Aria
Judith (excerpt) Jacquet de La Guerre
Récit
Sommeil
Récit
Accompagnement
De mouvement
Accompagnement
Nancy Walker, soprano
Vivian Montgomery, harpsichord
Treadmill Kelly Natasha Foreman
Fabián López and Stephanie Ezerman - violin
Alexander Ezerman, Brian Carter, Lena Timmons, and Kevin Lowery - cello
Penelopeʼs Song (2004/2007) Judith Shatin
Susan Fancher, soprano saxophone
Criseyde Alice Shields
Criseydeʼs Aria
Troilusʼs Aria
Duet: Consummation
Lorena Guillén, soprano
Charles Williamson, tenor
Alexander Ezerman, cello
Andrew Willis, piano
Carole Ott, conductor
I wish to thank the faculty, students, alumni, and staff of the UNCG School of Music who
have worked so tirelessly to bring these composersʼ music to our recital hall for FTM10.
You have re-defined “collegiality.” Most especially, I wish to thank Mark Engebretson and
Kelly Burke, whose wisdom, perspicacity, and technical chops have made these concerts
possible. Thanks to technical consultant Braxton Sherouse, volunteer coordinator Dalyn
Cook, and the “usual suspects,” whom we rely on every day, but who went above and
beyond for this event, including Noah Hock, Dennis Hopson, Jennifer Scott, Dean John
Deal, all the fine musicians on our program, and the many others who have assisted, from
stage crew to poster-hangers. Thanks.
Elizabeth L. Keathley, FTM10 Organizer
Program Notes
Three Chinese Paintings Pui-Shan Cheung
Three Chinese Paintings was inspired by Chinese painter Wu Guan Zhongʼs three
paintings “Lotus Pond”, “Cloudy Mountains” and “Wild Flowers.” Each movement of this
work for piano solo bears the name of the painting that inspired it. In composing this piece,
I tried not only to broaden my view and insight as a painter, but also to depict my own
expression and voice as a composer by manipulating contrasting piano timbres. The
silence in the interval of “Lotus Ponds” and the undulating musical lines evoke the
atmosphere of Zen. In “Cloudy Mountain,” the dissonant chords and the arabesque
appregios cross intricately to create an abstract effect. And in “Wildly Flowering,” groups of
running notes gather together or break apart with abandon.
Art-Poem-Music: Body and Soul, Volume 2 Pamela Marshall
Over the past two years, three Massachusetts artists have collaborated to produce a large
set of songs, visual art, and poetry. Our ongoing project, Art-Poem-Music, is a full-circle
collaborative project between visual artist Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer, poet Elizabeth
Kirschner, and composer Pamela Marshall. Sirarpiʼs art is full of bold color, abstracted
female figures and faces, and textures of collaged materials. It has an introspective quality
as if the figure, or the viewer, is immersed in complex and deep thoughts. View Sirarpiʼs
paintings in the atrium before or after the concert this evening. Likewise, Elizabeth's poems
are suffused with color. The poems organically combine images of death and sadness with
transformation and transcendence and a remaking of oneself—ideas and images that came
to Elizabeth as she studied Sirarpi's paintings and collages. For Pamela, the project has
been transformational, affecting her view of death and life in profound ways. At first, she
thought to treat the poems literally, in particular that the references to death and grief
required a mournful music, but Sirarpi led her to see the imagery as a continuum of
existence, rather than good and bad experiences, and the music came to reflect the idea of
a transformative journey. Pamela has set several of Elizabethʼs poems as accompanied
readings, in addition to song settings, such as those on tonightʼs program.
Body and Soul Volume 2
Poems by Elizabeth Kirschner
in collaboration with artist Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer
MULCHED BY MOONLIGHT
How alluring and enduring is
the secret radiance of the soul
so full of melting music
it throbs inside my body
as though it were an ancient bell.
The singing enigmas slip down
silken strands until Iʼm a figure
fingered by painterly patinas.
Let my soul be wind-spirited,
let my body be the last gold leaf
in a golden autumn humming
with drowsy honey bees which know
the secret sweetness that dwells
inside every shining cell. My soul
is an invisible vase holding tipsy
flowers and my flesh, dear flesh,
is as plush as time rushing into
the infinitudes found in the nut,
the stone, in the heart of every tree
stunted, skeletal, stripped bare
as the breath breathing in an
atmosphere mulched by moonlight
until the luxuries of love
loosely garment me while loveliness
gilts me, tilts me free.
O TRILL
Undoubtedly I will die. Undoubtedly
the petals of my flesh will eddy
in the wellspring. Sprung loose my soul
will envelop frostbitten stars, flying webs
and the tooth and the nail and the tooth
and the nail. Embodied, I will be
embodied by reams of shimmering
veils which will sweep across an earth
suffering its death throes. Undoubtedly
I will die. Undoubtedly the petals
of my flesh will eddy in the wellspring.
Till then, I will sing the song nobody knows
but everybody longs to hear—o trill, o thrill
o will-of-the-wisp trembling notes.
© 2007 Elizabeth Kirschner.
Reprinted with her kind permission.
THE LOST ROOTS
Arabesques of air stir into arias
while my botanical body grows. stronger
Be limber as light, whispers a God
no bigger than a nightingale. When he sings
colors bleed into petal, seeds, perfumes.
I recover the lost roots which moored me
like an angel on a pinhead. As well,
I remember the rush of whirring wings
slight as ribbons drawn through the aching
acreage of space. My soul is such an
acreage
while full-blown flowers orbit this love-quickened
earth. Always beware that the
path
we need to walk upon is filmed with black
ice
whose shards go deep into our utterly
mortal
flesh. Letʼs be awash with the breath
a singer takes in before she hits a note
so gorgeous
the stars vibrate. This, too, our hearts,
sweet hearts,
nothing more than the weight of a butterfly
whose wings just now are unfolding.
O Let Me Weep: Distressed Women in Music, 1650-1750 Barbara Strozzi, et alia
The pieces performed here are but a small sampling of Baroque vocal works revolving
around musical characterization of women alarmed, despairing, and under pressure. The
inspiration for such a program was Antonia Padoani Bemboʼs extraordinary depiction of an
enraged Juno from the composerʼs 1707 Ercole Amante (unveiled in Claire Fontijnʼs award-winning
2006 book, Desperate Measures: The Life and Music of Antonia Padoani Bembo).
The pieces weʼve chosen to perform in this concert share many of the unfettered and
impassioned tendencies (as well as some similarly unconventional compositional practices)
found in Bemboʼs work. Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerreʼs Judith and Semele, Purcellʼs
mad Bess, Handelʼs Lucrezia, and Barbara Strozzi as her lamenting, discontented, and
changeable self—all of these are women presented with dimension, guts, and varying
degrees of indignation at their respective lots. In providing this microcosmic context for both
the characters and the composers (as authors of dramatic gendered narratives), we aim to
place firmly the expressive and deeply individualistic output of Jacquet and Strozzi into the
company of their contemporaries, and to illuminate the impassioned female figure as a
crucial vehicle for vocal artistry in the Baroque.
Barbara Strozzi:
Amor Dormiglione
Amor, Amor, non dormir più!
Sù, sù, sù, sù!
Svegliati homai
Che mentre dormi tù
Dormon le gioie mie.
Vegliano i guai
Love Sleeping
Arise, Love, sleep no more!
Awake!
For while you sleep,
my joys sleep
and my troubles are clouded.
Non esser amor dappoco!
Strali, foco, sù, sù!
Non dormir più
Svegliati su!
Oh pigro, oh tardo
Tù non hai senso!
Amor melenso, Amor codardo!
Ahi! Quale io resto
Che nel mio ardore
Tù dorma Amore!
Mancava questo
Ahi! Quale io resto!
Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre:
Semelé
Récitatif
Jupiter avoit fait un indiscret serment.
Dʼaccorder tout aux voeux dʼune amante
fidelle.
Semelé doute encor du rang de son amant,
Et ce doute fait son tourment;
Elle aspire à le voir dans sa gloire
immortelle;
Mais lʼAmour par pitie pour elle,
Dʼun plaisire si funeste éloigne le moment!
Semelé cependant, gêmit, sʼimpatiente.
Elle se plaint ainsy dʼune trop longue
attente.
Air
Ne peut-on vivre en tes liens
Sans souffrir de mortelles peines?
Amour, tu promets mille biens,
Quʼon me trouve point dans tes chaines.
Un coeur qui sʼest laissé charmer
Doit immoler tout à sa flàme.
Mon amant sʼil scavoit aimer,
Previendroit les voeux de mon âme.
Henry Purcell:
Bess of Bedlam
From silent shades and the Elysian groves,
Where sad departed spirits mourn their
loves;
From crystal streams, and from that country
where Jove crowns the fields with flowers
all the year.
Poor senseless Bess, clothʼd in her rags
and folly,
Is come to cure her lovesick melancholy.
Bright Cynthia kept her revels late,
Do not be useless, Love,
take up arrows and fire,
sleep no more!
Awake, arise!
Oh, lazy, slow one,
you have no feelings
foolish Love.
Ah what would become of me
if you should sleep
among my passions
when your arrow was missing.
Ah! what would become of me!
Recitative
Jupiter had made an indiscreet promise
to grant any wish to his faithful mistress.
Semele doubted the rank of her lover,
and this doubt tormented her—
she wished to see him in his immortal glory,
but Love, pitying her,
postponed such a fatal pleasure.
Still Semele whined and fretted,
and thus she complained of waiting too
long:
Air
Is it possible to live in your bonds
without suffering deadly pains?
Love, you promise a thousand gifts,
but one cannot find them within your chains.
A heart that has allowed itself to be
charmed
must perish in his flames.
If my lover really knew how to love,
he would already know the desires of my
soul.
While Mab, the Fairy Queen did dance,
And Oberon did sit in state
When Mars at Venus ran his lance.
In yonder cowslip lies my dear,
Entombʼd in liquid gems of dew;
Each day Iʼll water it with a tear,
Its fading blossom to renew.
For since my love is dead, and all my joys
are gone,
Poor Bess for his sake
A garland will make,
My music shall be a groan.
Iʼll lay me down and die
Within some hollow tree,
The ravʼn and cat,
The owl; and bat,
Shall warble forth my elegy.
Did you not see my love as he passʼd by
you?
His two flaming eyes, if he come nigh you,
They will scorch up your hearts!
Ladies beware ye,
Lest he should dart a glance that may
ensnare ye.
Hark! Hark! I hear old Charon bawl,
His boat he will no longer stay;
The Furies lash their whips and call,
“Come, come away, come, come away.”
Poor Bess will return to the place whence
she came,
Since the world is so mad she can hope for
no cure;
For loveʼs grown a bubble, a shadow, a
name,
Which fools do admire, and wise men
endure.
Cold and hungry am I grown,
Ambrosia will I feed upon,
Drink nectar still and sing. Who is content
Does all sorrow prevent,
And Bess in her straw,
Whilst free from the law,
In her thoughts is as great, great as a King.
G. F. Handel:
Lucrezia
Recitativo
O Numi eterni! O stele!
Che fulminate empii tiranni,
Impugnate a miei voti orridi strali voi
con fochi tonanti
Incennerite il reo Tarquinio e Roma;
Recitative
O eternal gods, O stars,
you who strike down wicked tyrants,
take up at my bidding your terrible darts!
With your thundering flames,
reduce to ashes the evil Tarquin and Rome
itself!
Dalla superba chioma,
Omai trabocchi il vacillante alloro
Sʼapra il suolo in voragini
Si celi, con memoranto essempio
Nelle viscere sue lʼindegno e lʼempio.
Aria
Già superbo del mio affanno,
Traditor dellʼ onor mio parte lʼempio lo sleal.
Tu punisci il fiero inganno
del fellon, del mostro rio
giusto Ciel, parca fatal!
Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre:
Judith
Récit
Enfoncez le trait qui le blesse Judith,
Jettez sur luy les regard les plus doux,
Hâtez, hâtez lʼyvresse, qui doit le livrer à
vos coups,
Ne le voyez-vous pas charmé de sa
conquête,
Qui boit lʼamour et le vin à long traits.
Mais vainement lʼimpie au triomphe
sʼapprête,
Déjà de ses pavots épais, le sommeil a
couvert sa tête.
Sommeil
Récit
Cʼen est fait le repos, le silence, la nuit;
vous livrent à lʼenvi cette grande victime,
Armez-vous et dʼun bras magnamine,
eteignez dans son sang lʼamour qui lʼa
seduit.
Accompagnement
Judith implore encore la celeste puissance,
Son bras prêt à fraper demeure suspendu;
Elle fremit de la vengeance, soutenez, son
coeur éperdu.
O ciel! qui lʼinspirez, soyez son assurance!
De mouvement
From his proud brow
may the trembling laurel fall!
May the earth open an abyss at his feet
and, making of him an example none will
forget,
hide the impious miscreant in its bowels!
Air
Already exulting in my suffering,
the betrayer of my honour, wicked and
faithless , takes his leave.
Oh, punish the arrogant deceit
of this traitor, this evil monster,
just heaven, O deadly Fate!
Recit
Press in the sword that will kill him, Judith.
Give him the sweetest looks,
Haste, Haste to the drunkenness, be
warned,
So that his stupor will bring him to his death.
Don't you see that he is already charmed by
her conquest,
he who is drinking wine in long swallows?
Vainly the impious one is getting ready to
triumph.
Already the opium-like poppies have taken
their effect, and a thick sleep is descending
upon his head.
Sommeil
Recit
All is ready, repose, silence, and darkness
descend upon the grand victim.
Arm yourself -- the sure arm that seduced
him will extinguish the love from his blood.
Accompagnement
Judith again implores the celestial powers --
Her arm stands ready to strike, suspended
in air,
She is shivering in her vengeance, wavering
in the loss of her heart.
O heavens, you that inspire her, be now her
assurance.
De mouvement
Treadmill Kelly Natasha Foreman
When I began graduate school in 1991 conferences were bursting with papers featuring
new feminist research, and I plunged deeply and confidently into my own feminist musical
research. However, after returning from years overseas in field research, I discovered that
not only had this fervor cooled within academe, but women as scholars were fewer than I
had remembered. After defending my dissertation and teaching newly pregnant, I learned
some shocking lessons about the realities of life for fertile women in the academy: neither
our pregnant bodies nor theories about them are really wanted. In spite of the large body of
work within feminist studies, in some important ways much less progress has been made
than we had hoped.
As I struggle as an adjunct lecturer to combine motherhood with teaching, publishing,
and composition/performance art, the image of a treadmill constantly comes to mind. I
composed this piece to address the frustrations that I and women like me have felt, being
engaged in feminist discourse while constantly marginalized as a child-bearing woman. I
based the composition on a single repetitive theme layered and exchanged amongst the
four celli and two violins. It travels forward with increasing complexity and seems to
develop, but in fact it merely recycles itself and travels in static circles.
Penelopeʼs Song (2004/2007) Judith Shatin
Penelopeʼs Song for soprano saxophone and electronics, with video by Kathy Aoki and
Marco Marquez, is a tribute to Penelope, Queen of Ithaca and wife of Odysseus. It was
inspired by Homerʼs epic, the Odyssey, but reflects Penelopeʼs point of view. The piece
sings of Penelopeʼs adventures as she worked to stave off various suitors during her
husbandʼs twenty-year absence. In one, she said she would take no suitor until she
finished weaving a shroud for her husbandʼs aged father. But since she unraveled at night
what she wove by day, she made no progress. The electronics were created from a
recording of a local weaver working on wooden looms. This version, for soprano
saxophone, was commissioned by and is dedicated to Susan Fancher. – Judith Shatin
Criseyde Alice Shields
Alice Shieldsʼ opera-in-progress Criseyde is a feminist retelling of Chaucerʼs Troilus and
Criseyde. The libretto by medieval scholar Nancy Dean is a new Middle English resetting
of Chaucerʼs famous romance. While being used by her family as a sexual trophy, a prize
for political gain, and then in an intense love affair, Criseyde struggles for survival,
autonomy, self-respect and love within patriarchy. Tonightʼs FTM 10 concert presents three
romantic scenes from the opera: the world premiere of Criseydeʼs Aria and Troilusʼ Aria,
and new music from the Consummation Scene, in a setting for soprano, tenor, cello and
piano. Music from Criseyde was performed by the New York City Opera VOX 2008
Festival in May 2008 and by The American Virtuosi CUNY Graduate Center in April 2008.
The Criseyde Project, which supports the development of the opera, has received funding
from the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Alice M. Ditson Fund, PatsyLu Fund for Womenʼs
Music Projects, and Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. Tonightʼs performance was funded
in part by the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center. Criseyde was
Accompagnement
Courez, courez Judith, que rien ne vous
arrête,
Un peuple allarmé vous attend;
Allez, allez sur vos remparts arborer cette
tête
Le presage assûré dʼun triomphe plus
grand.
Accompagnement
Run, run Judith, so that nothing will stop
you,
A feverish nation awaits you.
Tell the people to go to the top of the walls
of the city,
Prepare a pike on which to mount the head
of the slain Holofernes.
Victory is now assured.
originally commissioned by Nancy Dean. A new concert of music from Criseyde with
multimedia is planned for 2010. If you would like to get involved or hear about opportunities
for participating in Criseydeʼs development and its use promoting the economic and social
liberation of women, please email Alice Shields at info@aliceshields.com. And of course,
your tax-deductible donations are gladly accepted! Please go to www.aliceshields.com or
www.criseyde.com, and be in touch!
Three Romantic Scenes from the opera
ʻCriseyde”
Text in Middle English by librettist Nancy
Dean, based on Geoffrey Chaucerʼs “Troilus
and Criseyde.”
1. Criseydeʼs Aria (from Act One)
(Having just seen Troilus, Criseyde is
seized with infatuation. She considers the
pros and cons of becoming Troilusʼ lover.)
Criseyde: “Who yaf me drynke? Lo, this is
he which that myn uncle swerith he moot be
deed, but I on hym have mercy and pitee!
“t were honour with pleye and with
gladnesse
in honestee with swich a lord to deele, for
myn estat and also for his heele.
My kynges sone is he. And sith he hath to
se me swich delit, if I wolde his sighte flee,
he myghte have me in despite, and I stonde
in worse plite. Now were I wis me hate to
purchase, when I may stonde in grace?
What wonder is though he of me have joye?
I am myn owene womman, wel at ese.
Oon the fairest, oon the goodliest, myn
owene womman wel at ese, yes, well at
ese.
Shal noon housbonde seyn to me 'chek
mat,' for either they ben ful of jalousie, or
maisterfull, or loven novelrie. What shal I
doon? to what fyn lyve I thus? Shal I nat
love, in cas if that me leste?
Alas, syn I am free, sholde I now love,
and put in jupartie my sikernesse and
libertee?
Alas, how dorst I thenken that folie? for love
is the mooste stormy lyf, Therto we
wrecched wommen nothing konne, whan us
is wo, but wepe and sitte and thinke; oure
wrecche is this, oure owen wo to drynke.
He moot be dede, but I have mercy!
---It were honour with swich a lord to deele,
Three Romantic Scenes from the opera
“Criseyde”
1. Criseydeʼs Aria (from Act One)
(Having just seen Troilus, Criseyde is
seized with infatuation. She considers the
pros and cons of becoming Troilus' lover.)
“Who gave me this potion? This is the man
my uncle swears will die, unless I have
mercy on him!
It would be an honor to deal with such a lord
with propriety, for my enjoyment and well-being,
as well as for his health.
My kingʼs son is he. and since he has such
delight to see me, if I reject him, he might
be angry at me, and I might be worse off
than I am now. Now would I be wise to
purchase hate when I could stand in his
grace?
But what wonder is it that he takes joy in
me?
I am my own woman, well at ease, one of
the fairest, one of the most gracious, my
own woman, well at ease, yes, well at ease.
And no husband can say to me ʻcheck
mate.ʼ
--Indeed, they are either full of jealousy, or
are dominating, or love novelty. What shall
I do? To what end do I live like this? Shall I
not love, if it pleases me to do so?
Alas, since I am now free, why should I
love, and put in jeapardy my security and
my liberty? Alas, how dared I consider such
folly? Love is the most stormy life, in which
we wretched women can do nothing when
woe comes upon us, but weep and sit and
think. Our misery is this, our own woe to
drink.
But he may die, unless I have mercy on
him!
for myn estat and also for his heele. By alle
right, it may do me no shame.
(Finally convinced, and excited:)
Ah! What wonder is though he of me have
joye? I am myn owene womman, wel at
ese. Oon the fairest, oon the goodliest, myn
owene womman wel at ese, yes, well at
ese.
Al dredde I first to love hym to bigynne,
now woot I wel, ther is no peril inne!”
2. Troilusʼ Aria (from Act Three)
Troilus, dying from a mortal wound, speaks
to Criseyde, who embraces him:
Troilus: “Softe taak me in youre armes
tweye, for love of God. Fare wel, my
sweete foo. Allas, the wo! allas, the peynes
stronge, that I for yow have suffred, and so
long. Allas, the deeth! allas, myn Criseyde!
-- myn hertes queene, my wyf, myn hertes
lady, endere of my lyf! Fare wel, my sweete
foo. To yow, my lady, that I love moost; I
biquethe the servyce of my goost, syn that
my lyf may no lenger dure. Bot for ye loved
your lyf, the lasse I you blame. Mercy,
Criseyde!”
3. Duet from the Consummation Scene
(from Act Two)
Troilus: “Allas, have mercy, and if that in tho
wordes that I seyde be any wrong, I wol no
more trespace.”
Criseyde: “I foryeve al this. And now, that I
have don yow smerte, foryeve it me, myn
owene swete herte.”
(Troilus takes Criseyde in his arms:)
Troilus: “O swete, now be ye kaught, now
yeldeth yow, for other bote is non!”
Criseyde: “Ne hadde I er now, my swete
herte deere, ben yold, ywis, I were now
nought here. Yee, herte myn, God thank I of
his grace!”
Troilus: “For certes, fresshe wommanliche
wif, this dar I seye, that trouthe and
diligence, that shal ye fynden in me al my
lif.”
Criseyde: “Myn owen hertes list, my ground
of ese! Gramercy, for on that is al my triste!
Evere more this nyght yow recorde!”
Troilus and Criseyde: “Trouth and diligence,
that shal ye fynden in me al my lif!”
---It would be an honor, to deal with such a
lord, for my well-being, and also for his
health. By all rights, it may do me no
shame.
(Finally convinced, and excited:)
Ah, what wonder is it that he takes joy in
me? I am my own woman, well at ease,
one of the fairest, one of the most gracious,
my own woman, well at ease, yes, well at
ease. Although I feared at first to begin
loving him, now I understand well: there is
no danger in it!”
2. Troilusʼ Aria (from Act Three)
Troilus, dying from a mortal wound, speaks
to Criseyde, who embraces him:
Troilus: “Softly take me in your arms, for
love of God. Farewell, my sweet foe. Alas,
the woe, alas the strong pain, that I for you
have suffered, and for so long. Alas, death!
Alas, my Criseyde, my heartʼs queen, my
wife, my heartʼs lady, ender of my life!
Farewell, my sweet foe. To you, my lady,
that I love the most, I bequeathe the
service of my spirit, since my life may no
longer last. Because you protected your
life, the less I blame you.
Mercy, Criseyde!”
3. Duet from the Consummation Scene
(from Act Two)
Troilus: “Alas, have mercy, and if in the
words I said be any wrong, I will trespass
no more.”
Criseyde: “I forgive all this. And now that I
have caused you pain, forgive me, my own
sweet heart.”
(Troilus takes Criseyde in his arms:)
Troilus: “O sweet, now you are caught!
Now yield, for there is no other remedy!”
Criseyde: “If I had not yielded ere now, my
sweet heart dear, indeed, I would not be
here. Yes, my heart, I thank God for his
grace!”
Troilus: “For certain, my fresh womanly
love, this dare I say, that faithfulness and
devotion, that you shall find in me all my
life.”
Criseyde: “My own heartʼs desire, my
ground of ease! Mercy, for on that is all my
trust! Evermore will you remember this
night!”
Troilus and Criseyde: “Faithfulness and
devotion, that shall you find in me all my
life!”
(She takes him in her arms and kisses him
over and over:)
Criseyde: “Welcome my knyght, my
suffisaunce!”
(The music mounts to a climax. Criseyde
and Troilus then step out of character,and
address the audience:)
Troilus and Criseyde: “And thus Fortune a
tyme ledde in joie, Criseyde, and ek this
kynges sone of Troie.”
(She takes him in her arms and kisses him
over and over:)
Criseyde: “Welcome my knight, my soulʼs
desire!”
(The music mounts to a climax. Criseyde
and Troilus then step out of character, and
address the audience:)
Troilus and Criseyde: “And thus Fortune a
time led in joy, Criseyde, and this kingʼs son
of Troy.”
Biographies: Composers, Poets, Visual Artists
Pui-shan Cheungʼs music has been described as "beautiful sounds with abrupt intrusions
of jagged explosive ideas" (Peninsula Review). Among her many awards and prizes are
first prize in the II International Lepo Sumera Composition Contest in Tallinn, Estonia; the
Libby Larsen Prize in International Alliance for Women in Music Composition Contest, and
a special prize in the IBLA World Competition in Italy. Dr. Cheung has served as Assistant
Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and is currently composer-in-residence
for the Wuji Chinese Plucked String Music Ensemble. She resides in California,
San Diego.
Librettist Nancy Dean (b. 1930) is a scholar of medieval literature and holds degrees from
Vassar, Harvard, and New York University. She has published scholarly articles on her
specialization, Chaucer, in Hunter Studies, Comparative Literature, and Medium Aevum.
She is also a poet, novelist, and playwright who has published short stories, three novels—
Song in Three Voices being the latest—and has co-edited an anthology of contemporary
feminist short stories and, with M. G. Soares, Intimate Acts: Eight Contemporary Lesbian
Plays. Dean has retired as a full professor from Hunter College of the City University of
New York, where she taught Medieval Studies, Creative Writing, and Women's Studies.
Kelly Natasha Foreman studied composition at Fontainebleau and received a Ph.D. in
ethnomusicology from Kent State in 2002. She specializes in the music of Japan, with a
focus on the shamisen, women/geisha, and Japanese musical aesthetics. She is author of
The Gei of Geisha: Music, Identity, and Meaning (Ashgate Press, 2008), and has
contributed chapters in Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave, 2005) and Bowing to Etiquette:
Manners and Mischief in Japan (forthcoming). Foreman oversees the New Music Collective
and teaches ethnomusicology and musicology at Wayne State University. She is also
deeply engaged in the emerging post-industrial urban Detroit art scene both as musician
and dancer.
ART-POEM-MUSIC Collaborators
Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer, visual artist, is director of Art Without Borders, which helps
artist-refugees re-establish their artistic careers. She is also the principal of Consult and
Design, a small-business consulting firm, providing graphics, web development and design
services. Sirarpi has degrees in biomedical and systems engineering from Boston
University and a degree from the Academy for Fine Arts, “The Etage,” in Germany, where
she studied painting, stage, and theatre design. In Berlin, where she lived for thirteen years,
Sirarpi worked with director/stage designer Andrej Woron, environmental artist Peter
Erskine, and Ati Gropius, among others. (www.swalzer.com)
Poet Elizabeth Kirschner has published three collections of poems, Twenty Colors, Postal
Routes, and Slow Risen Among the Smoke Trees all with Carnegie Mellon University
Press. She has published widely both nationally and internationally and teaches at Boston
College. Kirschnerʼs poetic settings of Schumannʼs Dichterliebe, retitled as The Dichterliebe
in Four Seasons with soprano Jean Danton and pianist Thomas Stumpf was recently
released on Albany Records. She enjoys musical collaborations and has worked with
composers Thomas Oboe Lee, Paul Wehage and Carson P. Cooman.
(www.elizabethkirschner.com)
Composer Pamela J. Marshall studied at Eastman and Yale and has been a fellow at the
MacDowell Colony. She has written music for chamber ensembles, chorus, synthesizers,
mandolin, and orchestra, including commissions from the Rivers School Conservatory,
South Beach Chamber Ensemble of Miami, The Master Singers of Lexington, MA, Green
Mountain Youth Symphony, Assabet Valley Mastersingers, and Concord Chamber
Ensemble. She leads improvisation workshops and does on-location audio and nature
recording. Her music is on Living Artists and ERMMedia, among others. Spindrift Music
Company publishes her work (www.spindrift.com).
Judith Shatin (b. 1949) is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor and Director of the Virginia
Center for Computer Music, which she founded at the University of Virginia. She is a sonic
explorer whose music spans chamber, choral, dance, Electroacoustic, multimedia and
orchestral genres. Her music has been called “highly inventive... on every level; hugely
enjoyable and deeply involving (Washington Post).
Alice Shields (b. 1943) holds a DMA in music composition from Columbia University and is
well known for her electronic and computer music as well as opera: her electronic opera
Apocalypse was released by CRI Records, and Shaman (1987) and Mass for the Dead
(1993) were premiered by the American Chamber Opera Company. Additionally, her
oeuvre includes chamber music and works for dance and voice. Shields has been a
professional opera singer, performing traditional and modern roles at the New York City
Opera and beyond. Since 1991 she has performed Nattuvangam (South Indian rhythmic
recitation) for Bharata Natyam dance-drama, and since 1996 has studied Hindustani raga
singing with the Bangladeshi singer Marina Ahmed Alam. www.aliceshields.com
Biographies: Performers
Alexander Ezerman recently joined the UNCG School of Music faculty as the associate
professor of cello. A prize winner in national and international competition, he has appeared
internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. Ezerman has been on the faculties at
Texas Tech University, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, the Brevard Music
Center and the Killington Music Festival. An active advocate and performer of new music,
he has been involved in numerous premiers. Ezerman holds a BM from Oberlin College
Conservatory and a MM and DMA from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
His primary mentors include Timothy Eddy, Norman Fischer, David Wells and his
grandmother Elsa Hilger.
Violinist Stephanie Ezerman has appeared in concerts across North America as a soloist
and chamber musician. She has performed with the Houston Symphony, North Carolina
Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Memphis Symphony, New World Symphony, Pine
Mountain Music Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA, and held leadership positions in such
orchestras as the Lubbock Symphony, Caprock Pro Musica, and Abilene Philharmonic. A
registered Suzuki teacher, she co-founded and directed the Suzuki Talent Education of the
Lubbock Region from 2001 to 2008. She performs regularly with her husband, Alex
Ezerman, as part of the Ezerman Duo, has participated in numerous premiers, and has
recorded with the Innova label.
Susan Fancherʼs tireless and passionate search for a personal repertoire of colorful, lyrical
and compelling compositions has produced dozens of commissioned works, as well as
published transcriptions of music by composers as diverse as Josquin Desprez, Ben
Johnston and Steve Reich. A much sought-after performer of new music, she has worked
with a multitude of composers and has performed in many of the worldʼs leading concert
venues and contemporary music festivals. Susan Fancher is an artist for the Vandoren and
Selmer companies. She is a regular contributing author to the Saxophone Journal and
teaches saxophone at Duke University.
The Washington Post has described Lorena Guillén as a “delicate soprano” and praised
her “polished performance” of French cabaret song and “total mastery” of Sprechtstimme.
Guillén has devoted her singing career to premiering and recording compositions by living
composers and performing the classics of contemporary music, including Berio, Crumb,
and Stockhausen. She has performed in numerous new music venues including New Music
New Haven (Yale), June in Buffalo Festival, and Stockhausen Festival (Germany). On
Stockhausenʼs recommendation, Guillén has toured his Indianerlieder and conducted
workshops of his vocal music internationally. She is a founding member of the word/music
experimental group Lake Affect (1999-2002) and a regular soloist of the multidisciplinary
ensemble Musica Aperta (Wash. DC).
At the age of 10, soprano Jodi Hitzhusen made her singing debut as a soprano soloist in
Britten's Ceremony of Carols. Since then, she has performed all across the United States,
as well as in the Philippines, Panama, England, Canada and France. In 2003, Hitzhusen
made her operatic debut as Pamina in "The Magic Flute." She has been a voice and piano
instructor since 1999 and performs outreach programs in schools through Bostonʼs “Handel
and Haydn Society”. Hitzhusen is also a pianist and an advocate for ethnomusicology.
Most recently, she was awarded an Emerging Artists Grant to study in Scotland and
France.
Fabián López is a native of Málaga, Spain. He studied at the Conservatorio Superior de
Música de Málaga, Colgate University, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Baylor
University (M.M), and The University of Michigan (D.M.A). His principal teachers include
Nicolae Duca, Laura Klugherz, Kevork Mardirossian, and Camilla Wicks. Fabián has
appeared as soloist with orchestras including Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville,
Orquesta Ciudad de Córdoba, Chamber Orchestra of Andalucía, Orquesta Filarmónia de
Málaga, Orquesta Ciudad de Almeria, “Manuel de Falla” Chamber Orchestra, etc. Fabián
taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music “Manuel de Falla” of Cádiz, Spain (1999-2004).
He is currently Assistant Professor of violin at UNCG.
Vivian Montgomery is an award-winning early keyboardist and recipient of a Solo
Recitalist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She performs with her
acclaimed ensembles Ceciliaʼs Circle and the Galhano/Montgomery Duo, as well as
chamber, concerto and solo recitals across the US. She records with the Centaur, Innova,
and Schubert Club labels. She teaches harpsichord and historical performance practice at
the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and currently holds a post as a
Visiting Scholar at the Brandeis University Womenʼs Studies Research Center, preparing
her book and CD “Brilliant Variations on Sentimental Songs” under a fellowship from the
American Association of University Women.
Carole Ott recently joined the faculty at UNCG as an Assistant Professor of Choral Music.
Her degrees include a BM in Music Education from the University of Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music and an MM and DMA from the University of Michigan. At UNCG, Dr.
Ott directs the Chorale and teaches undergraduate and graduate level conducting.
Additionally, she is the director of the Winston-Salem Symphony Chorale. As a soloist, Ott
has appeared with the Early Music Ensemble at the University of Michigan, has participated
in master classes with Early Music Vancouver, and premiered the works of Susan Botti at
the American Academy in Rome.
Laura Dangerfield Stevens is the principal flutist of the Western Piedmont Symphony and
holds the piccolo position with the Salisbury Symphony. She has performed with many
orchestras, including the New World Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Long Bay
Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Long Leaf
Opera Orchestra, and the Piedmont Opera Orchestra. Laura is the Applied Flute Instructor
at Lenoir-Rhyne University and maintains a private flute studio in Winston-Salem. Ms.
Stevens is currently pursuing a DMA at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She
received a BM from the Salem College School of Music and a MM from the University of
North Carolina School of the Arts.
Lena Timmons began playing cello in the fifth grade in an El Paso, Texas ISD orchestra
program. She completed her bachelor of music degree at Baylor University in Waco, Texas
where she studied with Dr. Gary Hardie. Lena finished her master of music performance
degree at Baylor University, during which time she also pursued a music history degree
under the direction of Dr. Jean Ann Boyd. In August 2008 she began her doctoral work at
the University of North Carolina-Greensboro as a student of Dr. Alexander Ezerman and a
member of the UNCG Liberace String Quartet.
Nancy Walker has performed as a soloist in Carnegie Hall (Weill Hall), Lincoln Center in
Washington D.C., in Europe and throughout the United States. She has won numerous
awards and competitions. Dr. Walker teaches voice at the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro. She has degrees from Hastings College, the University of Colorado and
Indiana University. As a Fulbright scholar she studied the songs of German composer
Josephine Lang in Munich, Germany. In 2004-05 she returned to Europe to research
German voice teaching methods. She has presented her findings at National Conferences
of NATS and the College Music Society.
A winner of the Special Presentation Award from Artists International, Hong Kong native Dr.
Agnes Wan gave a successful recital debut at Merkin Concert Hall in New York in 2007.
She holds a DMA in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa and an
Artist Diploma in Piano from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Agnes has appeared as soloist in orchestral concerts, served as a resident artist at the
Banff Centre for the Arts, and has given solo recitals throughout the Southeastern U.S. She
is an Adjunct Artist Teacher of Piano at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University.
A Native of Passaic, New Jersey, Charles Williamson is establishing himself in the genres
of opera and recital with a distinctive lyric tenor voice. Reviewed by Classical Voice of
North Carolina as “an audience favorite…with a robust voice,” Charles has portrayed Vasek
in The Bartered Bride with UNCG Opera Studio as well as Eisenstein in Der Fledermaus
with North Carolina Central University. Mr. Williamson was awarded first place in the North
Carolina Federation of Music Clubs state competition. A student of Levone Tobin-Scott,
Charles is pursuing his Master of Music degree at the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro.
Andrew Willis is internationally recognized for his performances on historical and modern
pianos and has recorded a wide variety of solo and chamber repertoire. At UNCG, Willis
serves as Artistic Director of the biennial Focus on Piano Literature. Willis holds the BM in
Piano from The Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Mieczyslaw Horszowski, the
MM in Accompanying from Temple University, where he studied with George Sementovsky
and Lambert Orkis, and the DMA in Historical Performance from Cornell University, where
he studied with Malcolm Bilson. He served as keyboardist of The Philadelphia Orchestra for
several seasons and has taught at several colleges and universities and at Tanglewood.