WCO Cycle 2 with Denyce Graves Foundation

Welcome Performers

Message From the Artistic Director:

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the special concert cycle of the Washington Chamber Orchestra’s 2023-24 season.

This evening’s concert is a remarkable event that brings together talented young artists from the Denyce Graves Foundation Shared Voices program. The performance includes a wider range of repertoire of classical art songs, spiritual arrangements, sacred songs, and operatic arias, all accompanied by narration from Denyce Graves herself, with a focus on works by underrepresented composers. The WCO takes pride in showcasing works by underrepresented composers, making this a truly diverse and inclusive musical experience. We are delighted to collaborate with Denyce Graves and her foundation.

We would also like to express our gratitude to the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University and Bethel Presbyterian Church for their generous support in organizing this concert cycle.

We invite you to attend our upcoming concerts in May, which is the final concert cycle of the season, featuring Virtuoso Violinist, Judith Ingolfson, the gold medalist of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Please check our concert schedule on our website at www.thewco.org.

We believe that music is a unifying force that should be cherished and shared. I hope you will not only have an enjoyable experience but also be part of a movement that celebrates and promotes the power of music.

Thank you for being part of our continued support, and we look forward to seeing you at our concerts!

Sincerely,

Jun Kim, Artistic Director/Conductor Washington Chamber Orchestra

PROGRAM Program

L’Amant anonyme Overture

Washington Chamber Orchestra | Jun Kim, Conductor Denyce Graves, Narration

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George Allegro-Andante-Presto

Deep River arr.by Chris Hazell

Joseph Parrish, Baritone & “Night Song” from Night Songs Leslie Adams

Maurice Harrington, Baritone

There is a balm in Gilead arr.by Damien Sneed

Ethan Godfrey, Tenor

Nearer My God to Thee arr. by Chris Hazell

John Arlievsky, Baritone

Amazing Grace arr. by Chris Hazell

Sophia Baete, Mezzo-Soprano

Ride On King Jesus arr. by Bruce Henderson

Elizabeth Hanje, Soprano

-Intermission-

The Marriage of Figaro Overture W. A. Mozart

“Hai già vinta la causa” from The Marriage of Figaro W. A. Mozart

John Arlievsky, Baritone

“Bella siccome un Angelo” from Don Pasquale G. Donizetti

Maurice Harrington, Baritone

“Che gelida manina” from La bohème G.Puccini

Ethan Godfrey, Tenor

“Si, Mi chiamano Mimi” from La bohème G.Puccini

Elizabeth Hanje, Soprano

Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana P. Mascagni

“Habanera” from Carmen G. Bizet

Sophia Baete, Mezzo-Soprano

“Votre Toast” from Carmen G. Bizet

Joseph Parrish, Baritone

“Brindisi” from La Traviata G. Verdi

Performers

Jun KiM, AR tistic DiRectOR / cOnDuctOR

Commended as having snappy energy and a terrific ear for detail by Milwaukee Magazine, and as bestowing “stylish support” by the Baltimore Sun on Schumann Cello Concerto Recording, Korean-American Conductor, Jun Kim has extensively conducted orchestras in North America and Europe.

After winning a prize in the 2012 International Conducting Competition in Romania, Kim went on to win several more prestigious awards, including the first prize in the inaugural Malta Phiharmonic Orchestra Conducting Competition in Malta, the second prize in the Orquesta de Cordoba Conducting Competition in Spain.

As the winner of the L’Academie Lyrique Conductor’s Award, Kim was invited to guest conduct the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the oldest orchestras in Europe, at the Smetana Hall in the heart of Prague. Jun Kim was awarded the Beethoven Conducting Prize, given to the best conductor each year by the European Music Academy. After being selected as a Discovery Series Conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival under Maestro Helmuth Rilling, Kim was personally selected by Maestro Kurt Masur for the Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar in New York.

Over the span of his career, Kim has appeared with orchestras in the U.S, including the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Duluth Symphony Orchestra, and Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and orchestras in Canada, the U.K., Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Malta. Jun Kim was selected to participate at the St. Magnus Festival in the U.K. and conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He was also chosen as an emerging conductor to work with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Equally adept as an Opera Conductor, Kim was the first prize winner of the 2015 American Prize in Opera Conducting. He has conducted opera productions by Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Offenbach, Ravel, and Purcell, among others.

Jun Kim holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and an Artist Diploma from the University of CincinnatiCollege Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music degree from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University. Jun Kim has worked under the Maestros such as Dumitru Goia, Johannes Schlaefli, Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, Jorma Panula, Xian Zhang, and Markand Thakar, as a accalimed violinist, he has studied violin with Miriam Fried, Victor Danchenko, and WonBin Yim.

Jun Kim is the Director of Orchestral Activities, Music Director of UWM Symphony Orchestra & Opera Theater, and an Associate Professor of Conducting at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and he is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Washington Chamber Orchestra in D.C.

Performers

Denyce GRAves, nARRAtiOn

Recognized as “an operatic superstar of the 21st century” by USA Today, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves’ career has garnered unparalleled popular and critical acclaim. Ms. Graves’ acclaimed appearances as Carmen and Dalila in Samson et Dalila have resounded in the world’s greatest opera houses, and her success has been recognized in notable television appearances, interviews, masterclasses, and magazines. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution exclaims, “If the human voice has the power to move you, you will be touched by Denyce Graves. In the 2023-2024 season, Ms. Graves returns to the Metropolitan Opera

As Sally in The Hours and makes her Seattle Opera debut in Das Rheingold as Erda. In addition, Ms. Graves will be the director for the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia with Virginia Opera in a co-production with Richmond Symphony for their 2024-2025 season.

In the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Graves returned to Minnesota Opera and The Glimmerglass Festival for her directorial debut in two new productions of Carmen. Minneapolis’ Star Tribune wrote, “…in her first directing job, opera star Denyce Graves delivers a superlative staging.” Ms. Graves also returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Peter Grimes as Auntie and in the world premiere of The Hours as Sally, as well as the title role in Glimmerglass Festival’s production of The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson. In recital, Ms. Graves continues to collaborate with Laura Ward, notably presenting her recital program Cotton with Lyric Fest and Washington Performing Arts where she was presented with the Inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Fund Award.

Her full opera recordings include Gran Vestale in La vestale, recorded live from La Scala with Riccardo Muti for Sony Classical; Queen Gertrude in Thomas’s Hamlet for EMI Classics; Maddalena in Rigoletto with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under James Levine; and Emilia in Otello with Plácido Domingo and the Opéra de Paris, Bastille Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chung, both for Deutsche Grammophon.

Ms. Graves is a native of Washington, D.C., where she attended the Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts. She continued her education at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of The Denyce Graves Foundation which aims to promote equity and inclusion in American classical vocal arts through an unprecedented approach: championing the hidden musical figures of the past while uplifting young artists of world-class talent from all backgrounds. The foundation has been featured on Good Morning America and The New York Times Style Magazine for its successful programs. Ms. Graves’ dedication to the singers of the next generation continues to be an important part of her career; she is a member of the voice faculty at the Peabody Institute, and a distinguished visiting faculty member at The Juilliard School.

Performers

*Inorderofappearance

Winner of the 2022 Young Concert Artists (YCA) Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Joseph Parrish is a Baltimore native and holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School. Recent operatic credits include Spinelloccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Festival Napa Valley, and Le Baron de Pictordu in the City Lyric Opera’s production of Viardot’s Cendrillon. In addition to opera, Parrish enjoys a robust concert career performing with orchestra and in recitals at such prestigious venues as The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Alice Tully Hall, St. Boniface Church in Brooklyn, New York, and both Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.

As a current artist diploma candidate in opera studies at The Juilliard School, Parrish is passionate about giving back to the various communities that have nurtured him. He has served as a Music Advancement Program Chorus Teaching Fellow, Gluck Community Service Fellow, and Morse Teaching Artist. Parrish is also a member of the inaugural cohort of Shared Voices, an initiative designed to address diversity, equity, and inclusion through collaboration between Historically black Colleges and Universities, top conservatories, and schools of music in the United States with The Denyce Graves Foundation.

First Prize winner of the 2022 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions.

Bass-Baritone Maurice Harrington is admired for his beautifully placed and well-burnished sound and looks forward to sharing his vocal opulence with the world. A graduating senior at Morgan State University, Maurice studies voice with Dr. Lester Green. Recent operatic roles have included Il Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro and Horace Tabor in The Ballad of Baby Doe. He performed the role of Bob in the Morgan State Opera production of William Grant Still’s Highway 1, U.S.A., directed by Professor Marquita Lister, in 2023. While continuing his education, he looks forward to what the bright future holds for him.

Joseph parrish

Maurice harrington

Performers

ethan godfrey

Ethan Godfrey, Tenor, is a native of Atlanta, GA. He graduated from Morehouse College in 2019 with a BA in Music with an emphasis in Composition. While at Morehouse, he sang with the Morehouse College Glee Club and the Morehouse College Quartet. He graduated from the University of Arkansas (UofA) with a Master of Music in Vocal Performance in 2021. Post college, Godfrey has explored many musical avenues, including Music Assistant for the original show DARLIN’ CORY debuted at the Alliance Theatre, On-site Transcriptionist for Season 9 of BET’s Sunday Best, Opera Chorus member with the Atlanta Opera, as well as being a Voice Teacher with Atlanta Music Project’s Private Studio department.

In addition, he has been a Staff Singer at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church for the past 7 years and occasionally writes for the group as well. Currently, Mr. Godfrey is a 2nd year cohort-member of the Denyce Graves Foundation Shared Voices program.

John arlievsky

Baritone John Arlievsky is in his final year of undergraduate voice study in the studio of Randall Scarlata at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Upon graduating, John looks forward to a summer fellowship at Tanglewood Music Center, which in his childhood was a favorite vacation spot for him and his family. Recent highlights include a second residency at the Castleton Festival Vocal Immersion Program, productions with the Peabody Opera Theatre as Pa Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up and in the title role of Don Giovann, and recitals at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC and at the Cathedral of the Sign in Manhattan.

John is a member of the inaugural cohort of the Denyce Graves Foundation Shared Voices program, which has culminated in lecture-recitals, immersive learning from industry leaders, and guidance from Ms. Graves and the foundation’s staff. John began voice study with Sharon Sweet at Westminster Choir College while pursuing a triple-major in voice, piano, and composition for two years before enthusiastically honing focus on voice.

Performers

sophia Baete

Mezzo-soprano Sophia Baete, from Louisville, Kentucky, is a Fourth Year Undergraduate Vocal Arts Student at The Juilliard School, where she studies under Darrell Babidge. Ms. Baete has attended several intensive programs including Houston Grand Opera’s YAVA Program, the Chautauqua Institution, and Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She received First Place at the Schmidt Undergraduate Vocal Competition - both Lower and Upper divisions. Most recently, Sophia has been seen on stage as Signora Guidotti in Juilliard Opera’s I due timidi, as a Resident Artist with New York Festival of Song, and as La Suora Zelatrice in Juilliard Opera’s Suor Angelica.

Coming up, Sophia will be seen on stage at Caramoor as a Schwab Vocal Rising Star with New York Festival of Song. She is delighted to be a member of the Denyce Graves Foundation Shared Voices Program. Sophia is honored to have been selected as a 2024 Gerdine Young Artist at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Ms. Baete is immensely proud to be a Jerome L. Greene Fellow at The Juilliard School.

Soprano, Symone Harcum comes off of the 2022-2023 season with a successful string of role and house debuts including the Glimmerglass Festival in the role of Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Almirena in Handel’s Rinaldo and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Minnesota Opera, and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, she sang the role of Sandra in the world premiere of Will Liverman’s Factotum. Last season, Symone appeared with Minnesota Opera as Léontine in The Anonymous Lover and Micaëla in Carmen, Virginia Opera as La Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro. This season will see a role debut as Mimí in Puccini’s La Boheme at Minnesota Opera as well as recital and concert engagements across the country.

Other notable roles and achievements include first place in the 2021 Opera Ithaca Competition, a 2020 finalist in in both the Tri-Cities Opera Competition and the New York International Opera + Premiere Opera Vocal Competition and first place in both the National Society of Arts and Letters-DC Dorothy LincolnSmith Voice Competition and the Sylvia Green Voice Competition in 2018; Singing the role of Mascha and covering Lisa in Pique Dame (Des Moines Metro Opera), Clorinda in La Cenerentola, High Priestess and covering the title role in Aïda (Virginia Opera), Bea in Three Decembers (Opera Maine), Krystyna Zywulska in Out of Darkness: Two Remain, and Gertude in Hansel und Gretel (Peabody Opera).

After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Norfolk State University in 2012, she worked as a choral director in Norfolk Public Schools until 2016. Symone received her Masters of Music from Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University and continues to study in the studio of Denyce Graves and Margaret Baroody. This year, Symone joins the voice faculty at her alma mater, Norfolk State University.

syMone harcuM

Performers

Violin

yunhee ahn**

Jumi im

maKiKo taGuchi

Joohyun Julia yoon

yeoKyeonG Kim

Kay naKazaWa

eunJu KWaK*

olivia WeBB

Jian sonG

Kela sPiro

haerin Jee

Washington Chamber orChestra

Jun Kim, music Director/conDuctor

Viola

BecKy Johnson*

Gavon PecK

Joelle arnholD

marylin menlo Cello

Wonhee Kim PanG*

Gina choe

Doyeon Kim

Double bass

KimBerly Johnson*

Flute

rachel choe lee melinDa WaDe-enGlish

oboe

Jiyoon oh mary riDDell Clarinet

Jihoon chanG

Jennifer tscheulin

bassoon

caitlin olDham

christian Whitacre

horn

clinton soisson

sarah soisson

trumpet

Julia tsuchiya -mayheW

Dylan rye

timpani/perCussion

nonoKa mizuKami

nuPur thaKKar

harp

anna ellsWorth

KeyboarD

Bora lee

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

*The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins Univeristy

*Joel Conrad, LHT Audio

*Kun Sik Lee, Photographer

** Concertmaster

*Principal

Joseph Bologne, chevalier de saint- georges overture to l’aMant anonyMe

Composer, violinist, conductor, fencer, soldier, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, lived a unique and interesting life that was once forgotten (or worse, ignored) by the annals of history. His mother Nanon, a slave, and his father Georges de Bologne, a wealthy French plantation owner, Joseph was spared a potential life as a slave and was instead raised with all of the advantages provided by the wealth and connection of his father. He attended an aristocratic boarding school, The Royal Polytechnic Academy of Weapons and Riding, where he studied traditional academics, music, dancing, and notably fencing under the guidance of Nicolas Texier de La Böessière. It was his success as a swordsman that was Joseph’s gateway to prestige and connection. Upon graduation, he was made an officer in the court of King Louis XV and acquired the title Le Chevalier de SaintGeorges. Joseph’s musical break came when he debuted as soloist on two violin concerti, his own compositions, with François-Joseph Gossec’s Les Concerts des Amateurs (an ensemble of professionals and amateurs).

Joseph went on to become conductor of this ensemble in 1773 and led this orchestra to great repute in Paris. After his bid to become the music director of the Paris Opera failed, purportedly because several of the company’s leading singers were unwilling to work with a man “of mixed race,” Joseph turned to composing comic opera instead. Of the six he composed, only his third, premiered in 1780, L’amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover) has survived in its complete form. In 1789, he joined the military and quickly rose through the ranks leading troops in the French Revolution. His leadership was legendary, ultimately assembling a corps of 800 infantry and 200 cavalries, mostly men of color, his group became known as Légion Saint-Georges. L’amant Anonyme is speculated to be somewhat biographic about its composer. It tells the tale of a man (Valcour) who is afraid to reveal his true identity to the object of his affections (Léontine), which is perhaps analogous to Joseph’s reality as an eighteenth-century man of color in pre-revolution France: able to love, yet unable to love freely and openly. Composed for a cast of six and a small orchestra, the opera was given its modern United States premier by the Little Opera Theater of New York in 2016 and was recently performed on an internet-streaming platform by the Los Angeles Opera (November 2020).

The Ouverture was originally composed for two oboes, two horns, four violins, viola, and basso continuo and includes character traits typical to the baroque period such as contrapuntal imitation and dynamically tapered phrase endings. This transcription by James David is rescored for a traditional harmoniemusik wind octet: two oboes (or flutes), two clarinets, two horns, two bassoons, with optional contra bassoon or double bass. It contains three short movements, each with its own formal structure.

The Ouverture opens with a unique sonata in 3/4 time marked presto (very fast) in F major. It has most of the typical hallmarks of a sonata: an exposition with two themes, a development, retransition, and a recapitulation which interestingly omits a restatement of the first theme in favor of an immediate reprise of the second theme. This segues to the second movement, which is a fairly strict ternary form (ABA) in the parallel F minor. It takes place in a 2/4 meter marked andante (moderately slow). This movement originally utilized only a string quartet of two violins, viola, and bass. The final movement arrives without pause from the second and in the original scoring returned to the full forces of the ensemble. It is another ternary form, here marked presto in 6/8 time and in the original F major. The B section ventures into the parallel key of F minor and its relative Aflat major before landing back in F major for the return of the A section.

- James David

In 1782, the French playwright, Beaumarchais, offered private readings to King Louis XIV of his comedy of manners, The Marriage of Figaro. Instead of being pleased, the monarch decided the story was “detestable and must never be produced.” The irreverence was simply too much. As “forbidden fruit,” the play became the rage of the aristocracy, and it surfaced repeatedly in secret productions (one even including the King’s wife.) Like the King, Napoleon also sniffed danger in the plot, and he declared that the play was “the revolution already in action.” The Austrian government echoed the danger and banned the play from its borders. In 1784, the play was presented publicly in Paris to great acclaim, and within a year, Germany had twelve translations on hand. The Marriage of Figaro was unquenchable.

After searching through hundreds of plays for an opera buffa, Mozart decided this was just the ticket. With the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, the pair produced the opera Marriage of Figaro in only six weeks. The Overture was completed only two days before the opening on May 1, 1786.

The music opens with bustling notes, like whispers of gossip which gain momentum. Ultimately, these fragments gel into an energetic theme which romps happily throughout the Overture. Moods shift like quicksilver; a comedic helter-skelter atmosphere prevails; and there is no rest. At one point, Mozart had considered a contrasting slow tune for oboe but deleted the idea. Allowing the Overture to run with its madcap nature, uninterrupted by any structural corseting, provided the perfect introduction and preparation for the hilarious opera. It has always delighted audiences as a separate concert piece for hundreds of years.

-Marianne Williams Tobias

W.a.Mozart the Marriage of figaro overture

“J u D ith i

WCO COnCert CyCle 3

en D elss O hn ”

*Gold Medalist, 1998 International Violin Competitio of Indianapolis”

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor Haydn Symphony No. 104 “London”

Friday, May 10, 7:30PM @ Annunciation Catholic Church, Washington, DC

Saturday, May 11, 8:00PM @ Bethel Presbyterian Church, Ellicott City, MD

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