¡ CANCIÓN !
A Celebration of Mexican Song
Cecilia Violetta López, soprano
Levi Hernandez, baritone with Laura Ward at the piano and with
Casa Villaseñor, Pedro Villaseñor, Mariachi
In Collaboration with the Esperanza Art Center
Friday, May 17, 2024 2pm - Student Performance
Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 3pm at Esperanza Arts Center - Teatro Esperanza
Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 3pm at The Academy of Vocal Arts,
PROGRAM
Cecilia Violetta López, soprano
Levi Hernandez, baritone
Laura Ward, piano
Selected Mexican Art Songs
Two Songs by Salvador Moreno to poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca
Verlaine
Alba
Levi Hernandez
Two Songs by Rodolfo Halffter to poetry of Rafael Alberti
Siempre que sueño las playas - Cecilia Violetta López
Gimiendo por ver el mar - Levi Hernandez
Notturno de las Rosas
by Manuel Ponce to poetry of Gonzáles Martinez
Cecilia Violetta López
Mirando las altas cumbres by Maria Teresa Prieto, music and lyrics
Levi Hernandez
From Cinco Canciones de Niños by Silvestre Revueltas, poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca
El Caballito
Las cinco horas
Canción tonto
El Lagarto
Cecilia Violetta López
Arrullo a la nina del retrato by Blas Galindo to poetry of Alfonso del Rio
Levi Hernandez
La Borrachita by Ignacio Fernández, music and lyrics
Cecilia Violetta López
Two Songs by Maria Grever, music and lyrics
Te Quiero Dijiste - Cecilia Violetta López
Despedida - Levi Hernandez
Besos Robados by Jorge del Mora, music and lyrics
Cecilia Violetta Lòpez
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Traditional Ranchera with Mariachi featuring the musicians of Casa Villaseñor
Pedro Villaseñor, leader
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Los laureles
Cecilia Violetta López
Mi Ranchito
Levi Hernandez
Hermoso Cariño
Cecilia Violetta López
Si nos dejan
Levi Hernandez
El Gustito
Cecilia Violetta López
Solamente Una Vez
Levi Hernandez
Cielo Rojo
Cecilia Violetta López
El Rey
Levi Hernandez
Amor de los dos
Cecilia Violetta López & Levi Hernandez
Our deep appreciation to Susan Sherman and The Independence Foundation for their generous support of this program and our collaboration with the Esperanza Art Center.
Lyric Fest extends heartfelt thanks to Conant Scott Rogers for contributing to the Mariachi musicians for today’s program.
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LYRIC FEST
With Special Thanks the Academy of Vocal Arts for welcoming Lyric Fest into their spaces. Heartfelt gratitude to Laura Ward & David Newmann, and Donald J. Nally & Steven Hyder for housing the artists for this program. Special thanks to Mignon Groch for helping to sponsor our receptions and we wish to also thank Charbel Yubaile, for sharing his knowledge of Mexican Art Song with Lyric Fest.
Suzanne DuPlantis and Laura Ward, Founders and Artistic Directors - Ben Robinson, Managing Director Lyric Fest Board of Directors: William Bosch, Chair; Jessica Cooper, Vice Chair; Melissa Dunphy, Secretary; Allan Schimmel, Treasurer; Jeffrey Brillhart, Peggy Curchack, Dimitrios Diamantaras, Suzanne Gerace, Peggy Gregg, Mignon Groch, William L. Leonard, Marissa Lieb, and Peter C. Phillips lyricfest.org, Lyric Fest, 312 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19119
Founder’s Circle $10,000 + Anonymous
The Arcadia Foundation
Barbara Cobb/Hamilton Family Foundation
The CHG Charitable Trust
Peggy & Mark Curchack
Mignon & James Groch
The Independence Foundation, Susan Shermann
John & Elizabeth Knorr Charitable Foundation
William Lake Leonard
Lisa & Gie Liem
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund
Allan Schimmel
Laura Ward & David Newmann
Artist’s Circle $5,000 - $9,999
Bill Bosch & Colby Madden
The Haverford Trust
Marilyn Fishman & James MacElderry*
The Presser Foundation
June & Norman Ward
Composer’s Circle $3,000 - $4,999
Jeffrey Brillhart & Joacy Mendonça
Jessica and Matthew Cooper
Peggy & Ronald Gregg
Suzanne DuPlantis & Kevin McDowell
Lori Laitman & Bruce Rosenblum
Lauren & Craig Meyer
The Musical Fund Society
Lieder Leaders $1,000 - $2,999
John Castagno*
Dimitrios Diamantaras & Marianne Miserandino
Ellen Frohnmayer
Linda & David Glickstein/The Lida Foundation
Sheila Kessler
Kreider Family Foundation in honor of Emina Cardamone
Carol Lidz
Peter & Georgette Phillips
Dr. Joel and Bobbie Porter
Ben Robinson & Michael Scarcelle
Ruth and Steven Ryave
Randall Scarlata and Andy Coopersmith
Anne Faulkner Schoemaker
Sandra & John Stouffer
Robert & Carol White
Champs de Chanson $500 - $999
Randy Apgar and Allen Black
Tony Checchia & Benita Valente
William Mark Conrad
Doris Dabrowski
Anne Marie Frohnmayer
Denyce Graves
A. Clinton Hewes
Jane Kamp & Thomas Lloyd
Michael and Eva Leeds
Elizabeth Lindsay (liddy lindsay gift?)
Eileen Marolla
Jeanne & Joseph McGinn
Laura & Philip McMunigal/PNC Foundation
Brenda Oliphant
Conant Scott Rogers
Dan Rothermel & Michael Hairston
Bryna S. Silver & Andrew Scott
Christina Stasiuk & George Farion
Michael Swanwick & Marianne Porter
- given in honor of Tom Purdom
Donald Williams & Kenneth Ross
Loretta & Tom Witt
Song Makers $250 - $499
Ellen Anderson & Brantly Rudisill
Margaret Baroody
Gene & Jean Bay
Alice Chase, Leslie Roesler
Barry Chester & Elissa Cogan
Norman Coopersmith
Anthony & Mary Creamer
Rose DiSanto
Harold & Louise Evans
Tim & Renee Farley
Caroline Vaughn Goodman
Daphne & Allen Hanford
Carolyn Hegeler
Mary Hegeler
Patrick Howley
Cynthia Jarvis
Susan Kane
Marjorie & Edward Kennedy
Leon & Fran Levy
Marissa & Timothy Lieb
Judith and Mark Maile
Diane & William Mattis
Benjamin Minick
Donald J. Nally & Steven Hyder
Joy Newmann
Rachel Newmann
Michael Rodgers
William Shoff
Larry Simmons & James Akerberg
Ronald Swaab
Song Partners $100 - $249
Paula & Bill Adelhelm
Ann Ainsworth
Martha and Al Barron
Judith Broudy
Beth Carruthers
Heewon Chang & Klaus Volpert
Harris & Louise Clearfield
Kristin Davidson
Cecelia & Joe Denegre
Marc DiNardo & Elizabeth Drum
Michael Djupstrom
Barbara Donnelly
Tom East
Laura Fox
Ethan & Shelley Geehr
Marion Heacock
Erin Horvat
Richard Kent
Allen M. Krantz
Clare and Jim Mackie
Robert Maggio
Dorothy Martin
John McCarthy
Michael & Betsy Merin
Patrice Michaels
Margaret Morgan
Joseph Newmann
Jeffrey & Elizabeth Podraza
Elizabeth Racheva
Suzanne Root
Jean Ruff
Elizabeth Shammash
Ulrike and David Shapiro
Karen Slack-Blackwell
Gail & Edward Snitzer
UPCOMING SEASON
BLUE SKIES – September 28/29, 2024
Historic Songs of Tin Pan Alley
NEVERTHELESS, SHE SANG – November 16/17, 2024
Women Composers, Women Poets
THE SOUL OF THE CITY - February 21/22/25
Paul Sperry
Susan Starr
Rev. Judith Sullivan
Charles Swanson
Rebecca Thornburgh
Richard Troxell and Lisa Lovelace
Steven & Lynn Tyre
Saul Wachs & Diane Cover
Laurie Wagman
Linda Weaver
Grant Youngblood
Song Partners up to $99
Emmeline & Romeo Abella
Jean Arfield
Frances B. Baylson
Alan Clark
Amanda Clementel
Robin Eisenberg
David Eskin
Donald Grimme
Juliana Hall
Alan Harler
Frances Hoenigswald
Claire Huff
Susan Kander
Tasleem Khan
Mary Loiselle
Judy Lovat, Cynthia Russell
Laura Madeleine
Colleen McCauley
Karl Middleman
Keith Myers
Emma Newmann
Anne O’Donnell
Carol Otte
Kirk Redmann
Howard Rosenblatt
Ann Seelaus
Kile Smith
Sandra J. Stevens
Carol Stirton-Broad
Elisa Sutherland
Arlene & Herbert Wartenberg
Marcia Wood
* deceased
I have never felt salvation in nature. I love cities above all. - Michelangelo City life is millions of people being lonely together. – Henry David Thorough
The best and worst of times; Urban living explored
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN – April 5/6, 2025
Old Songs made New, in Collaboration with The Denyce Graves Foundation
Program Notes
by Suzanne DuPlantisTwo Songs by Salvador Moreno to poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca
Salvador Moreno (1916-1999) was born in Orizaba in the Mexican State of Veracruz. He enjoyed success as a composer of opera and song, but was also an art historian and a painter. Moreno’s vocal music was championed by Placido Domingo (who made his professional debut in 1961 in Moreno’s opera, Severino) and by Victoria de los Ángeles, who frequently programmed his songs. Moreno’s correspondences with many painters and intellectuals have historical significance for helping to document the Spanish Republican Exile that occurred when dictator Francisco Franco took power in Spain following the Spanish Civil War. *
A brief note on the great Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca (1898 – 1936), whose splendid, diverse poetry inspired more than 200 musical settings by composers from all over the western world – Garcia Lorca was born to a wealthy landowner in Granada, and began his young artistic life as a pianist, composer, and talented draftsman. In his late teens he transitioned to literature, and found abundant inspiration in the cultural and literary history of Andalusia, the land of his birth. He was also greatly influenced by his relationship with Salvador Dalí, who encouraged him to embrace the avantgarde in his plays and poetry.
During the 19 years in which Garcia Lopez was creating mature artistic works, he collaborated with many great artists in various creative endeavors, he explored countless styles and avenues for his art, and he traveled the world. Sometimes in the vicissitudes of life, he suffered mentally and spiritually, yet throughout it all he continued to produce an extraordinary body of literary work.
Even while his art was in full flower, Garcia Lorca’s life came to an abrupt and violent end in the summer of 1936, when Civil War broke out in Spain. The poet was arrested by Spanish Nationalists for his liberal leanings and for his homosexuality. He was imprisoned without a trial, and was subsequently shot by firing squad in August, 1936.
Verlaine
The song that I’ll never sing Has fallen asleep on my lips.
The song that I’ll never sing.
About the honeysuckle there was a firefly.
And a moonbeam stung the water with light.
Then I dreamt the song
That I will never sing.
Song full of lips and from distant channels.
Song full of hours lost in the shadows.
Living star song about a perpetual day.
Alba
Bells of Cordoba in the early morning. Dawn bells in Granada. You are felt by the girls as they cry in their mourning solitude. The girls of Andalucia, the high and the low. The girls of Spain standing, little and trembling skirts, that they have filled with lights, the crossroads. Oh! Bells of Cordoba in the early morning Sunrise bells in Granada.
Two Songs by Rodolfo Halffter setting poetry of Rafael Alberti
Self-taught composer, music critic, and journalist Rodolfo Hallfter (1900 – 1987), was born in Madrid, Spain, and took his musical cues from the avant-garde composers of his time: Debussy, Schoenberg, Ravel and Bartók. Because of his journalistic activities in the propaganda ministry of the Republican government in Spain, he was forced to flee to Mexico as an exile at the end of the Spanish Civil War. He made his life there, teaching at the National Conservatory, and was said to have introduced serial music to the country. Some 30 years later, when Franco’s government became more relaxed and somewhat more liberal (Franco’s health was also declining), Halffter began returning to Spain for various musical festivals. Finally, in 1986 he was recognized with Spain’s highest award for musical composition.
Spanish poet and painter Rafael Alberti Merello (1902 – 1999) is one of the great literary figures of “the Silver Age of Spanish Literature”. He was born to a poor family of vintners in Andalusia, in Puerto de Santa María on the Bay of Cádiz. Alberti was entered into school as a charity student in a Jesuit institution. There he keenly felt the cruel disparities between the treatment of the rich and poor; he began to rebel and was eventually expelled from school. These experiences opened him up to Marxist philosophy and forever entwined his artistic life with a political one.
Though Alberti was intensely interested and accomplished in painting, he turned to poetry after the deaths of several persons important to him, including his father. His efforts met with success. He soon became published and won the National Poetry Award with his first book at age 23. Shortly after, Alberti met and eloped with writer and political activist María Teresa León. By 1930 he was a committed communist and during the Spanish Civil War, his poetry was a beacon for the political left. When Franco came into power, he and María Teresa went into exile in Paris, where they shared an apartment with Pablo Neruda. When the German occupation came, they fled to Argentina. For the next 20 years he lived there as a painter and a writer. Only upon the death of Franco, did Alberti returned to Spain, where he was subsequently elected to the Spanish parliament on the Communist Party Ticket. He lived out his days to the ripe old age of 96.
Siempre que sueño las playas
Whenever I dream of the beaches, I dream of them alone, my life. Perhaps some sailor, Perhaps some candle from some remote sailboat. Whenever I dream of the beaches, I dream of them alone, my life.
Gimiendo por ver el mar
Yearning to see the sea A little sailor on the ground to the air holds this regret: Oh, my sailor’s blouse, how the wind inflates it like a sail when I see the seawall.
Mexican composer Manuel M. Ponce (1882 – 1948), born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, was a musical prodigy who would claim a title of honor – the Creator of the Modern Mexican Song. When he entered the National Conservatory of Music, he was already an accomplished pianist and composer.
Though Ponce traveled to Italy to further his studies, and traveled throughout Europe and Cuba, he returned to Mexico where he immersed himself in the study of the native music of his country. Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, occupied with similar pursuits in his own country, hailed Ponce, saying, he was “arming himself with the resources of the folklore of his people, in the struggle for the future musical independence of his country.”
Notturno de las Rosas by Manuel M. Ponce to poetry of Enrique Gonzalez Martinez
Three roses in this amphora, of varied hues, alike in beauty
Oh, sorrow
Oh, remembrance, Oh, hope!
The perfume of yesterday, it poisons; does death never come with sorrow?
The tree amidst those autumn leaves is sobbing life, doomed to despair if thy waiting is hopeless, why linger through the night beside the window? Hark who may be rapping?
The hammer on my latch I hear it knocking in the sinister night
Yesterday’s voice and the increasing sorrow the weary, sleepless watching here and waiting. Three roses in this amphora of varied hues, alike in beauty.
Spanish composer, Maria Teresa Prieto (1895-1982) was born into a middle-class artistic family who supported their daughter in her artistic pursuits. She received training at the National Conservatory in Madrid. Prieto became a music teacher, but unfulfilled, she left her post to focus on the serious study of musical composition. She was 40 years old when the Spanish Civil War broke out. At the invitation of her brother, she moved to Mexico and there she began a second life as an artist and intellectual. She partook of weekly gatherings hosted by her brother, that brought together ex-pats and native-born Mexican scientists, painters, philosophers, writers, and musicians. Her brother supported her financially, providing her “a room of one’s own” with a piano and a balcony, and there she composed for the next 40 years. Maria Teresa Prieto wrote a small book which she gifted to friends, about being visited daily by a bird, with whom she improvised trills in c-minor. The bird, she wrote, “lead me to write this narrative, to highlight a phase of my life that, punctuated by a new and unique emotion, makes my inward life more luminous and more adept towards the beings all around us. I wish to never leave this spiritual environment full of poetry and softness, bestowed by divine grace.”
Mirando las altas cumbres - Text and Music by Maria Teresa Prieto I walk along a path and sink my foot into the green grass of the fields in silence. A bird spreads its wings, had black plumage and rose into clear space Who could make his flight? Looking at the high peaks…..
From Cinco Canciones de Niños by Silvestre Revueltas, poetry by Garcia Lorca
Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) was born in Santiago Papasquiaro, Mexico, into a family of accomplished artists: painters, actors, writers, musicians and dancers. He was a prodigy who excelled at violin and piano, and who trained at both the National Conservatory in Mexico City and at St. Edwards, in Austin, Texas. Revueltas become a conductor, working closely with Carlos Chávez, and the two sought to promote Mexican contemporary music. Revueltas came to composing later in his life, and used Mexican folk-inspired rhythms and melodies in his compositions. Like so many Mexican artists of his era, he got swept up into this highly charged political time, both as a musician and an individual. Toward what would be the end of his short life, he composed film scores that promoted nationalistic and social interests. Revueltas suffered from alcoholism for most of his life, to which he succumbed at age 40.
El Caballito
Little horse who runs so sprightly, drawing the cart, Tell me why your coat shines brightly, Come, tell me how you do it, pray tell. From sweating.
Las cinco horas
One is striking Moon is arising Clock strikes two Sun comes through Clock strikes three Ox comes out, Four is striking, cat is waking. Five is striking, Then I jump up!
Canción tonto
Mama, can’t I be make of silver?
My child, how cold you’d be feeling!
Mama, can’t I be made of water?
My child, how cold you’d be feeling!
Mama, sew me in your pillow.
That I can, right at this moment.
El Lagarto
Mister Lizard, he is weeping, Missus Lizard, she is weeping.
Oh, the lizards, the poor lizards, With their tiny, spotless aprons
They have lost their wedding rings, The rings that they gave in marriage. Ah, they were leaden rings only, Heaven is empty and cloudless, Birds are approaching the firmament; The sun is a rotund captain, Wearing a glistening waistcoat. The lizards look very old, How old these poor lizards can be!
Ah, they are weeping and weeping, Ah, see them weeping, weeping.
Mexican composer Blas Galindo (1910 – 1993) was born in San Gabriel, Jalisco. He was a Huichol Indian, a tribe that was said to be the last in North America where pre-Columbian traditions were still practiced. Galindo would come to honor these roots in his career as a classical composer. While his music was varied with regard to genre and style, it was always rich with Mexican folk and indigenous characteristics. Thus, his musical endeavors were right in line with the strong currents of nationalism that defined his era. Galindo came to Mexico City to study composition with Carlos Chávez at the National Conservatory, where he helped found “Los cuatro,” a group “committed to the creation and performance of a genuine Mexican music.” In 1940 he premiered “Sones de mariachi”, at a Mexican exhibit in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and became a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, studying with Aaron Copland and Serge Koussevitzky at the Berkshire Music Center in Massachusetts, USA. Following these experiences in the United States, he returned to Mexico where he served as Professor of Music and Director of the National Conservatory of Mexico. In 1955 he became Conductor of the Mexican Institute of Social Security in México City.
Arullo al la nina del retrato by Blas Galindo to poetry of Alfonso del Rio
Go to sleep my girl
That the moon is no longer late
And it will bring you a blue star
A rattle, a rattle
May it shine in your hands and may music sing
And for your dreams
all the desires of this world of chimeras
From which we never want to return
Go to sleep my girl
That the moon is no longer late
And in its clarity it will shelter you
Sleep now pretty button
Go to sleep my girl
That watching you in your crib my love will remain
Ignacio Fernández Esperón (1894 - 1968), aka Tata Nacho, was born in Oaxaca into a musical family who often entertained musicians and intellectual guests in their home. As a youth of only 8 years old, Ignacio began to imitate these artists, improvising on his violin from an open window to the passersby below. In his late teens, he shared songs he composed, music and lyrics, including La Borrachita, with a circle of poets who were moved by his music and encouraged him. When he was 25, he moved to New York City where he lived for almost a decade, studying periodically with Edgard Varèse, and working as a clerk for the Mexican Consul. He returned to Mexico in 1927 and became a folk music researcher for the Ministry of Public Education and was given the opportunity to travel to the Ibero-American Exhibition in Seville, Spain, and also to France. There he observed the unionization of artists intent on protecting their intellectual property. Upon his return to Mexico he helped to organize a group of 75 authors, composers and editors into would become the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico, (the SACM).
La Borrachita Fernández Esperón
Drunk, I'm leaving to forget you I love you very much, you love me too
Drunk, I'm going to the capital
To serve the boss who sent for me the day before yesterday I wanted to bring her, she said no If I had to cry, why go back?
Drunk, I'm going to the capital
To serve the boss who sent for me the day before yesterday
Two Songs of Maria Grever
Maria Grever, (1885 – 1951) is an acclaimed composer who wrote more than 800 songs. She was the first Mexican composer to achieve international fame, and fluently mixed popular song with the Latina rhythms of her birth country. Her most famous song, “What a Difference a Day Makes” is only one of the many she penned while writing songs, musicals, and operas for Paramount, MGM, and Fox. Born Maria Joaquina de la Portilla Torres, of half Spanish, half Mexican parentage, she spent her childhood between the two countries. In her youth, her parents afforded her every opportunity, including lessons with Claude Debussy and Franz Lehar. She married in Mexico, bore 4 children, of which two survived, but during the Mexican Revolution, Maria Grever fled without her husband to New York City. In short order, she began supporting herself by writing songs for Tin Pan Alley, and would soon find remarkable commercial success. As a side-line, she translated songs for Cole Porter and developed a method to teach singers Spanish through song. The lullaby, “Te Quiero Dijiste”, written in 1944, was featured in “Bathing Beauty: starring Red Skelton and Ester Williams. Two years later, she wrote “Despedida”.
Te quiero Dijiste
You said: I love you. Taking my hands in your little hands, ivory white and I felt in my chest, a strong heartbeat, after a sigh and then the snap of a feverish kiss.
Cute doll, of golden hair, of pearl teeth, ruby lips, Tell me if you love me, how I adore you, Yes, you remember me, as I remember you. And sometimes I hear a divine echo, that wrapped in the breeze, it seems to say. “If I love you very, very, very much,” As much as then, always until death.
Despedida
A sad smile
Your lip drew, An indiscreet tear Fell from my eyes; Your hand [in] mine, The two of them interlaced, They hoped to stop Our separation, And without saying anything to each other, We said Goodbye!
[Now] in my loneliness, cruel and fatal, Your image comes to me, Sensual; I am delirious to see you, I am afraid to lose you; Come once again to my side, Do not go away from me, Say that you have not forgotten The love that I gave you.
Jorge del Moral Ugarte (1900 – 1941), born in Mexico City was a concert pianist and songwriter, whose songs were performed by prominent singers of his day.
Besos Robados by Jorge del Moral
A sigh a look two hands that are linked
A question in love lips will only say love
And in a fever of mad passion
A burning kiss my mouth felt
Stolen kiss kiss of love.
Kiss me with a stolen kiss because they are the ones who know the best Kiss me because by kissing me you have left a perfume of roses and a love romance
Kiss me when the afternoon dies
Kiss me if you swear love to me kiss me, what your kisses have done to me let it shake in my chest madly love.
RANCHERAS
Los laureles (The Laurels)
Oh, what green laurels! What bright roses!
If you plan to abandon me, it is best if you take my life, Raise your gaze to me if you aren’t committed to someone. You are a tuft of cotton that lives in the bud.
Oh, what sadness it gives me to see you fill yourself with pride,
To see my heart intertwined with yours.
You are a Castillian rose that is only seen in May.
I would like to make you an invitation, but the truth is I don’t know how. If you have someone that would keep you from receiving it, I will remove myself.
Here comes the farewell, moved by your desires. The downfall of men are blessed women. And here I finish singing the verses of the laurels.
Mi Ranchito (My Little Ranch)
There behind the mountain where the Sun sets early
My ranch is sad and my work has already been abandoned I spent my years there and there I found my first love and it was the disappointments that have already killed my illusion
Oh, heart, you’re leaving to never return
Do not say goodbye, don’t ever say goodbye
If you don’t want to know the pain of absence
Oh, heart, you’re leaving to never return,
Do not say goodbye.
Rejoice again with your love to the ranch that was my life, my illusion, Damn the black eyes that bewitched me with their gaze
If they had never seen me
They were not a cause of my sorrow
Hermoso Cariño (Beautiful Love)
Beautiful love, that god has sent me
To be destined only for me.
Precious gift, precious gift
Has arrived from heaven
And has filled me with happiness and love.
Beautiful love, I’m like a child with a new toy
Content and happy, I can’t avoid it and I want to yell it out, Beautiful love that god has sent, for no one else but me.
Si nos dejan (If they let us)
If they let us we are going to love each other all our lives, If they let us
We are going to live in a new world
I believe we can see
The new dawn of a new day I think that you and I We can still be happy
El Gustito (The Pleasure)
If they let us
We look for a corner close to heaven
If they let us we will make velvet clouds
And there, the two of them together, close to God
It will be what we dream
If they let us
I take you by the hand, heart, and there we go
If they let us we forget everything else
I was singing in pleasure when I fell asleep. Ay, la la la....
My mother would wake me but I would rebel to see if I could stay with you a bit longer. They say that the married man doesn’t go to parties to have fun. Ay la la la...
But what they say is wrong because the married man knows how to love, he is just more reserved.
Solamente Una Vez (Only one time)
Only one time I loved in life
Only one time
And nothing more
Once only in my garden hope shone
The hope that lights the way of my loneliness
Once only the soul is given
Cielo Rojo (Red Sky)
Alone without your love
I am walking, I am walking and I don´t know what to do. Not even the sky answers me when I ask about you, my dear I could not be able to forget you since the night, since the night that I lost you shadows of doubt and jealously envelop me thinking in you
Let me search for you
With the sweet and total renunciation
And when that miracle performs
The wonder of loving each other
There are party bells that sing in the heart
And when that miracle performs
The wonder of loving each other
There are party bells that sing in the heart.
And if I find you come back again, forget the past
Don’t remember that yesterday. While I am sleeping I dream that we go very close to each other to a blue sky.
But when I wake the sky is red, I don´t have you. Even though I am guilty of that sad separation return to me your glance, do it for God love again, come back my love.
El Rey (The king)
I know well that I’m out
But the day I die
I know you will have to cry
(Cry and cry, cry and cry)
You will say that you did not love me
But you’re going to be very sad
And that’s how you’re going to stay
With money and without money
I always do what I want
And my word is the law
I have no throne or queen
Nor anyone who understands me
But I’m still the king
A stone on the road
He taught me that my destiny
It was roll and roll (roll and roll, roll and roll)
A mule driver also told me
You don’t have to arrive first
But you have to know how to get there
With money and without money
I always do what I want
And my word is the law
I have no throne or queen
Nor anyone who understands me
But I’m still the king
Amor de los dos (Our Love)
Living in the world with an illusion
It’s crazy hope that the heart suffers
My life is your life, our love.
You make me suffer, you will pay
You have no forgiveness
Forgive me if I have offended you.
Forgive me, have compassion.
My life is your life, love of the two.
BIOGRAPHIES
Mexican American baritone, LEVI HERNANDEZ, praised in Opera News for his “warm, inviting baritone,” hails from El Paso, Texas. He has joined the rosters of leading opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Houston Grand Opera, to name but a few. His illustrious, varied operatic and concert career has seen debuts throughout the United States for some two decades. In promoting the works of Mexican composers, he has continued his longstanding relationship with the work of Mexican composer Daniel Catan, appearing as Rappaccini La hija de Rappaccini with Chicago Opera Theater and Alvaro in Florencia en el Amazonas with Arizona Opera. Last season, Mr. Hernandez was featured at Opera Idaho in their Celebrando a México concert. Mr. Hernandez received his undergraduate
degree from Westminster Choir College and his master’s degree from the University of North Texas, Mr. Hernandez also attended the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and was a member of the prestigious Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Celebrated soprano, CECILIA VIOLETTA LÓPEZ, has been named one of “Idaho’s Top 10 Most Influential Women of the Century” by USA Today and has been named one of opera’s “25 Rising Stars” by Opera News. She has received accolades for her signature role of Violetta in La traviata, which she has performed countless times throughout North America. Ms. López has made several role débuts with Opera Idaho, Virginia Opera and Opera Las Vegas, Opera Colorado, and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in The Merry Widow. In January 2021, Opera Idaho appointed Ms. López as the company’s first Artistic Advisor. “Known to Opera Idaho audiences primarily through her appearances in operas over the last six-plus years, Cecilia takes on added responsibilities to advise and advocate for expanded repertoire, provide insights on diversity in artistic practices and community initiatives, and collaborate with senior management in identifying and securing financial support for the company. Cecilia will work closely with General Director Mark Junkert in helping shape the future of Opera Idaho.” Ms. López is the recipient of an Idaho State Concurrent Resolution honoring her life as an Idahoan and her work in the world of opera. Ms. López, “The Daughter of Idaho,” a Mexican-American native of Rupert, Idaho, is featured in two Idaho state museums and got her musical start at a young age singing mariachi music that she learned from her mother.
LAURA WARD is pianist and Artistic Director of Lyric Fest, www.lyricfest.org, a unique vocal recital series in Philadelphia. As a distinguished collaborative pianist she is known for both her technical ability and vast knowledge of repertoire and styles. Concert engagements have taken her to Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Spoleto Festival (Italy) and the Colmar International Music Festival and Saint Denis Festival in France. She has served on the faculty of The CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College, The Academy of Vocal Arts, Temple University, Ravinia Festival Stean’s Institute, Washington Opera, University of Maryland and The Music Academy of the West. Laura’s discography includes Lineage with Grammy Nominated Baritone, Randall Scarlata, In This Blue Room, Lyric Fest performs Songs of Kile Smith, Daron Hagen 21 st Century Song Cycles, Hat er mir Rosen Gebracht, Songs of Joseph Marx, with Kendra Colton, Soprano, Songs of Innocence and The Raven with The Raven Consort, Spirits in Bondage, Songs of Benjamin C.S. Boyle, and most recently The Art of Song, Daron Hagen, released in January 2024 on Naxos.. Laura is also a recording artist and editor of song accompaniments for publisher Hal Leonard having co-edited: Richard Strauss: 40 Songs, Gabriel Fauré: 50 Songs, and Johannes Brahms: 75 Songs and recorded over 2000 song accompaniments for Hal Leonard Publishing. These volumes help countless singers and pianists experience, learn and enjoy the art song repertoire and also help introduce a world of art song to many who have had little exposure to classical song. A native of Texas, Laura received her Bachelor in Music degree from
Baylor University, holds a Masters in Collaborative Piano at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and a Doctorate In Collaborative Piano from the University of Michigan where she was a student of Martin Katz.
LYRIC FEST has been hailed in the press as “An irresistible mix of high art and humane feeling… As entertaining as a well-managed party” (Broad Street Review). Founded in 2003 with the goal of celebrating and revitalizing the art song tradition, it is the only performing arts organization in the Mid-Atlantic region with a primary focus on song in all its varied expression. Lyric Fest has produced and presented over 100 distinctly crafted and curated concert programs. Each has featured multiple artists of national and international stature sharing song through theme and story, together with the spoken word. The organization has defined commissioning new works as an integral part of its mission and programming philosophy. To date, Lyric Fest has commissioned an impressive body of more than 200 new American songs from many of the nation’s preeminent composers. Lyric Fest is run by two of its founders, artistic directors Suzanne DuPlantis and Laura Ward. Known for their excellence and innovation in creating rich, thematic, accessible concerts, Lyric Fest performs throughout the Philadelphia region, and has brought programs to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC; Moorestown, NJ; Wilmington, DE; New Orleans, LA; Pittsburgh, PA; Brooklyn and New York City, NY; and San Jose, CA. Learn more about Lyric Fest at lyricfest.org.
Lyric Fest has been happy to partner with Esperanza Art Center, made possible by The Independence Foundation and Susan Shermann.
ESPERANZA ART CENTER
EAC is a center for Latino arts and culture in the Philadelphia region – presenting music, dance, theater, cinema, and visual art from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as a broad spectrum of traditions from around the world. Guided by our core values of faith, excellence, and integrity, Esperanza Arts Center (EAC) will touch the lives of, and foster positive social change in, the Hunting Park neighborhood and the Latino community through the arts.