Journey to Lieder
– Discover Art Song: 19th Century Lieder –
Bridgette Johnson, soprano
Robin Leigh Massie, soprano
Cristina Orlando, soprano
Pamela Stein Lynde, soprano
Scott Johnson, baritone
Akiko Hosaki, piano
Sunday, October 12, 2025, at 3p.m.
Gill Memorial Chapel
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road Lawrenceville, NJ
Developed in the late 18th century, art song is an integration of poetr y and music, characterized as a duet between a singer and piano. Tracing its development and artistry in the 19th century, the program will express the depth of human emotions through works by Schubert, Robert and Clara Schumann, and Mendelssohn.
Program
• FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
from Gesänge aus "Wilhelm Meister," D. 877
2. Heiß mich nicht reden, heiß mich schweigen
3. So lasst mich scheinen, bis ich werde
4. Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Pamela Stein Lynde
Nacht und Träume, D. 827
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118
Bridgette Johnson
• ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
from Dichterliebe, op.48
9. Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen
10. Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen
13. Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet
16. Die alten, bösen Lieder
Scott Johnson
Mein schöner Stern from Minnespiel, op.101-4
Mondnacht from Liederkreis, op.39-5
Duets from Vier Duette, op.78
3. Ich denke dein
Robin Leigh Massie
4. Wiegenlied am Lager eines kranken Kindes.
Bridgette Johnson, Scott Johnson
• CLARA SCHUMANN (1819-1896)
Liebst du um Schönheit, op.12-2
* Liebst du um Schönheit from Rückert Lieder
Pamela Stein Lynde
An einem lichten Morgen from Sechs Lieder aus Jucunde, op.23-2
Cristina Orlando
• FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
from Sechs Lieder-Duette, op.63
1. Ich wollt' meine Lieb' ergösse sich
3. Gruß
4. Herbstlied
Robin Leigh Massie, Cristina Orlando
Bridgette Johnson, Cristina Orlando
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
About the Artists
Praised by The Washington Post for her “gorgeous singing,” soprano Bridgette Gan is a dynamic and versatile performer whose career spans opera, concert, and crossover repertoire. With over 20 years of professional experience, she has appeared as a principal artist with companies including Santa Fe Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Central City Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Pacific Symphony, and Charlottesville Opera. Recent highlights include her debut with the Las Vegas Philharmonic as soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, her role debut as the Female Soldier in The Falling and the Rising with Opera Idaho, and featured appearances with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, including Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and A Night at the Italian Opera. Locally, she has performed with The College of New Jersey in Carmina Burana and regularly returns to Rider University for concerts with The Vocalis Consort, an innovative art song ensemble.
In addition to her performance career, Bridgette is a devoted voice educator. She maintains a thriving private studio in Ewing, NJ, serves as the Resident Voice Instructor at Hopewell Valley High School, and is an international teaching artist with Broadway Arts Education, working with students across the U.S. and in Bangalore, India through the Shanti Bhavan Project. She has presented masterclasses at Harvard University, Boston Conservatory, Tufts University, The College of New Jersey, and Los Robles Children’s Choir, among others.
Bridgette holds degrees in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College (B.M.) and the University of Maryland (M.M.), with continued training at the Westminster Vocal Pedagogy Institute and the Somatic Voicework™ LoVetri Institute.
Praised for his “handsome baritone” and “the clarity and nobility of his sound,” Scott Johnson is a versatile performer on the operatic, concert, and sacred stages.
Recent highlights include performances of Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Schaunard in La bohème with Florentine Opera, and Happy in La Fanciulla del West with Nashville Opera. An international performer, he was awarded prestigious scholarships from The Opera Foundation for residencies with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Teatro Regio di Torino. He has also appeared as the baritone soloist in Peer Gynt with the Staatsballett Berlin and has performed with companies such as Opera Philadelphia, Central City Opera, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Johnson is a recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshanna Foundation and a prizewinner in the Jensen Foundation Competition. He was also a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
A passionate collaborator, he is a founding member of the Vocalis Consort, which champions overlooked works. With his wife, soprano Bridgette Gan, he co-curates the popular “Let’s Duet” recital series, featuring a mix of classical, musical theater, and holiday favorites.
He holds performance degrees from the University of Southern California (BM) and the University of Wisconsin–Madison (MM).
Praised for her “rich dramatics” (The Boston Globe) and called "Magnificent" by Fanfare Magazine, Pamela Stein Lynde is a versatile singer, composer, choral conductor and music educator. As a singer, Pamela has built a career working with contemporary composers of all levels, from students to internationally recognized artists. She has performed with Beth Morrison Projec ts, American Opera Projects, Rhymes With Opera, The Princeton Singers, Saratoga Fine Arts
Festival, Yamaha Concert Artists series, New Music New Haven, and Unruly Sounds Festival. As a core member of conductor Martin Sedek's chamber choir Vocala Ensemble, she has premiered new works throughout the tristate area. She appears as a vocalist on minimalist composer Alexander Turnquist’s album Flying Fantasy, released on Western Vinyl, and on multiple albums of Princeton-based group Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves, released on the new music label Carrier Records. Pamela is an alumna of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, The Bang on a Can Summer Institute at Mass MoCA, and OperaWorks. She was a 2017-2019 composer fellow with American Opera Projects Composers & the Voice Workshop. Her opera-in-progress, The Interaction Effect, has been workshopped and performed by Manhattan School of Music. Her music has been broadcast to audiences nation-wide on American Public Media’s Performance Today Pamela's projects in new music have been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Robin Leigh Massie has been Adjunct Assistant Professor of Voice at Rider for over 20 years. She received a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Westminster Choir College and a Master of Music Degree in Voice/Opera Performance from Yale University. A native of Austin, Texas, she has established herself as a versatile artist in opera, concert and musical theatre. She made her New York City Opera debut as Flora in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of The Screw She has also performed with the Tulsa, Kentucky, Glimmerglass and Princeton Opera companies. In musical theatre, she performed the role of Jellylorum in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s CATS in Hamburg, Germany. She has also sung with the Bucks County, Pocono and Gateway Playhouses and toured South America singing the role of Christine in Ivan Jacobs’ The Phantom of the Opera. In concert repertoire, Ms. Massie performed annually with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for 19 consecutive seasons in Yuletide Celebration. She has performed with the Utah Symphony Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass for the farewell concert of Maestro Keith Lockhart, the MasterWorks Festival Orchestra in Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, and with The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah. Other performances include the Susquehanna Valley Chorale, The Bucks County Choral Society and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with The New York City Ballet. She is also featured as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Laudate Dominum on the 1996 Chesky Records recording Like As a Hart with Joseph Flummerfelt and the Westminster Choir.
In addition to Rider, Ms. Massie serves as Adjunct Faculty in Voice and Director of Opera Theater at Cairn University in Langhorne, PA.
Cristina Orlando is a versatile soprano who has graced the stages of New Jersey and New York in a range of diverse productions. She has brought to life leading roles such as Magda in Menotti’s The Consul, Michal in Händel’s Saul, Hélène in Hindemith’s Hin und Zurück, and Zushiou in Makino’s Anju & Zushiou. She was featured in the performance of Songfest by Leonard Bernstein in 2019 at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. In addition to her solo work, Ms. Orlando has contributed her talents as a chorus member in numerous productions. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, Ms. Orlando’s artistry is enriched by her studies and collaborations with esteemed musicians from around the world, including Margaret Cusack, Sandra Darling, Jeffrey Gall, Dalton Baldwin, Licia Albanese, and Akiko Hosaki. Her dedication to her craft and her dynamic stage presence continue to distinguish her in the world of classical music.
Native of Osaka, Japan, pianist Dr. Akiko Hosaki is acclaimed for her sensitive playing, and one of the most sought-after collaborative pianists and vocal coaches in the New York – New Jersey area. She is currently on the faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University and The College of New Jersey.
Brought to the US by Dalton Baldwin, legendary collaborative pianist, Dr. Hosaki was his assistant at Académie internationale d'été de Nice, France, since 2013 until his passing in 2019, and was at Mozarteum Sommerakademie in 2017 and 2018. She was invited to give a master class in Hong Kong in 2016 and 2017. In 2024, she held a masterclass on Japanese Art Song and a concert in NYC as a part of “Summer of Art Song Festival 2024” hosted by Art Song Preservation Society of New York.
Dr. Hosaki has collaborated with regional opera companies such as the Princeton Festival Opera, the New Jersey State Opera, Opera North, and the Castleton Festival. In 2006 and 2007, she served as assistant conductor for Opera New Jersey and was the music director for Romeo and Juliet with the Delaware Valley Opera Company in 2009, for which a review said, “She conjured up out of the piano nearly all the colors of Gounod’s orchestral score yet never overwhelmed her singers.” In her busy schedule, she still frequently works with Boheme Opera NJ and Opera Magnifico.
As accomplished accompanist/basso continuo player, Dr. Hosaki also enjoys working with conductors and instrumentalists, and frequently performs in chamber music concerts and the keyboard/basso continuo in orchestras. She was seen on the tours with the American Boychoir in the mid-west and southern states in the United States and Taiwan. She currently works with Jubilee Singers at Westminster with the conductor Vinroy D. Brown, Jr.
In addition to Westminster, she currently works as collaborative pianist at Bard Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program. She is also the director of Westminster’s High School Vocal Solo Artist program.
Dr. Hosaki holds degrees from Musashino Academia Musicae in Japan, Westminster Choir College, and University of Minnesota.
About Rider University & Westminster Choir College
Located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Rider University is a private co-educational, studentcentered university that emphasizes purposeful connections between academic study and realworld learning experience. Rider prepares graduates to thrive professionally, to be lifelong independent learners, and to be responsible citizens who embrace diversity, support the common good, and contribute meaningfully to the changing world in which they live and work. The College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to educating students for engaged citizenship, career success, and personal growth in a diverse and complex world. The college cultivates intellectual reflection, artistic creativity, and academic maturity by promoting both broad academic inquiry and in-depth disciplinary study, while nurturing effective and ethical applications of transferable critical skills. The College consists of four schools: the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Communication, Media, and Performing Arts, the School of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, and Westminster Choir College.
Culturally vibrant and historically rich, Westminster Choir College has a legacy of preparing students for thriving careers as well-rounded performers and musical leaders on concert stages, in schools, universities, and churches, and in professional and community organizations worldwide. Renowned for its tradition of choral excellence, the college is home to internationally recognized ensembles, including the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with virtually all of the major orchestras and conductors of our time. In addition to its choral legacy, Westminster is known as a center for excellence in musical pedagogy and performance.
Upcoming Performances
KEMP CHURCH MUSIC SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, October 18, 9 a.m.
Gill Chapel
WORLD SINGING DAY COMMUNITY SING
Saturday, October 18, 12 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center Plaza
TWELFTH NIGHT
Friday, October 24, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 25, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 26, 2 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center Theater
WESTMINSTER CHAPEL CHOIR: WHAT GIVES PEACE
Saturday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.
Gill Chapel
GRADUATE CONDUCTING RECITAL SERIES
Westminster Choir Graduate Conductors: Claire Fritz and Lucas Heredia
Sunday, October 26, 4 p.m.
Gill Chapel
Westminster Symphonic Choir Graduate Conductors: Juliana Rappaport and James Moyer
Sunday, November 2, 4 p.m.
Gill Chapel
POP, ROCK, AND HIP-HOP ENSEMBLE CONCERT
Wednesday, November 5, 7 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center Theater
WESTMINSTER JUBILEE SINGERS: SOLID ROCK
Saturday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.
Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: SONGS OF FEMALE COMPOSERS
Friday, November 14, 7 p.m.
Gill Chapel
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UPCOMING PERFORMANCES, SUBSCRIPTION AND PATRON PROGRAM OPTIONS, VISIT RIDER.EDU/ARTS.
