PROGRAM INFORMATION

 

Gerald Finley, bass-baritone 
and Julius Drake, piano

 

Friday, February 4, 2022
7:30 PM
Bing Concert Hall


Artists


Gerald Finley, bass-baritone
Julius Drake, piano


Program


FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Five Songs

An Sylvia, D. 891 (von Bauernfeld/Shakespeare)
Liebesbotschaft, D. 957 No. 1 (Rellstab)
Wanderers Nachtlied II, D. 768 (Goethe)
Der Winterabend, D. 938 (Leitner)
Bei dir allein, D. 866 (Seidl)

 

HUGO WOLF (1860–1903)
Mörike Songs

     Gesang Weyla’s (Weyla’s song)
     Fussreise (A journey on foot)
     Heimweh (Longing for home)
     Begegnung (Encounter)
     Verborgenheit (Seclusion)
     Der Feuerreiter (Fire-rider)
     Um Mitternacht (At midnight)
     Abschied (Goodbye)

 

INTERMISSION

 

MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE (b. 1960)
Without Ceremony (Thomas Hardy)
           The Voice
           The Walk
           I found her out there
           The Going
           Without Ceremony
           Your Last Drive
           Epilogue

 

Shakespeare in Love
O mistresse mine (Twelfth Night)                                        Thomas Morley (1557/58–1602)
Under the Greenwood Tree (As You Like It)                       Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957)
     from 4 Lieder from Shakespeare Op. 31
Hey Robin! (Twelfth Night)                                                 Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957)
    from Songs of the Clown Op. 29
Full fathom five (The Tempest)                                             Michael Tippett (1905–1998)
     from Songs for Ariel
Take, O Take Those Lips Away (Measure for Measure)   Madeleine Dring (1923–1977)
Shall I compare thee (Sonnet 18)                                       Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016)
Kiss Me, Kate Where is the life that late I led?                   Cole Porter (1891–1964)
     (Taming of the Shrew)      

 

Text to Mark-Anthony Turnage's Without Ceremony can be viewed here

 

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PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Please be considerate of others and turn off all phones, pagers, and watch alarms. Photography and recording of any kind are not permitted. Thank you.

HEALTH AND SAFETY: All patrons are required to wear a mask at this performance. 


About the Artists


Gerald Finley, bass-baritone
Grammy-award winning Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley is a leading singer and dramatic interpreter of his generation, with acclaimed performances at the world’s major opera and concert venues and award-winning recordings on CD and DVD with major labels in a wide variety of repertoire. Mr. Finley’s career is devoted to the wide range of vocal art, encompassing opera, orchestral and song, collaborating with the greatest orchestras and conductors of our time.

He began with the baritone roles of Mozart; his Don Giovanni and Count in Le nozze di Figaro have been heard live throughout the world and on DVD. Recent signature roles include Guillaume Tell (Met, ROH), Scarpia (ROH, Berlin Staatsoper), Iago (ROH, Bayerishe Staatsoper, COC), and Bartok’s Bluebeard (Met, LSO). He has created Harry Heegan in Mark Anthony Turnage's The Silver Tassie, Howard K. Stern in Turnage’s Anna Nicole, J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, Jaufré Rudel in Saariaho's L’amour de loin and Mr. Fox in Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox.

In recent years, critical successes have been in the Wagner repertoire: as Hans Sachs at the Glyndebourne Festival and Opéra de Paris, as Amfortas in Parsifal at Royal Opera Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, and Baden Baden, and as Wolfram at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. His expanding repertoire includes a triumph as Verdi’s Falstaff at the Canadian Opera (for which he won a DORA Award), as a “peerless” Iago in Otello with Sir Colin Davis and the LSO (LSO Live) as well as at the COC (for which he won another DORA), and in the title role in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell with Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Sir Antonio Pappano (EMI) and at the Royal Opera Covent Garden. His other important roles include Golaud, Eugene Onegin and Nick Shadow. Concert appearances include the title role in Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero (New York Phil with Alan Gilbert and the BR SO) and Chou en Lai in Adams’ Nixon in China with the BBC Symphony at the BBC Proms conducted by the composer. On the LSO Live label he has recently released an acclaimed recording of Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. His Arias in English CD on the Chandos label received the Canadian Juno Award for Best Album in Vocal Performance. In 2012, the DVD release of Doctor Atomic in which Gerald Finley appeared as J. Robert Oppenheimer was awarded the Grammy for ‘Best Opera Recording’.

Mr. Finley’s concert work is a vital part of his extensive career with recent appearances with the Berlin Philharmonc, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He has recorded Shostakovich’s “English Poets” and Michelangelo Sonnets with the Helsinki Philharmonic on the Ondine label. Modern day composers have written extensively for Mr. Finley and include Peter Lieberson (“Songs of Love and Sorrow” with the Boston Symphony, and recorded with the Helsinki Radio Orchestra and Hannu Lintuu), Mark Anthony Turnage (“When I woke” with the LPO and Vladimir Jurowski), Huw Watkins, Julian Philips, Kaija Saariaho (“True Fire” with the L.A Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel), and Einojuhani Rautavaara (“Rubáiyát” with the Helsinki Philharmonic and John Storgårds). He appeared as the star soloist for the 2018 BBC Last Night of the Proms.

As a celebrated song recitalist, he works regularly with pianist Julius Drake. Recent engagements include the Schubertiade, recitals throughout Europe, a residency at the Wigmore Hall, at New York’s Carnegie-Zankel Hall and appearances at the festivals of Tanglewood and Ravinia. He presents Schubert’s Schwanengesang at the 2021 Salzburg Festival, and Schumann’s Dichterliebe at the Edinburgh Festival.

Mr. Finley’s many critically acclaimed solo recital CD releases on the Hyperion label have been devoted to complete discs of songs of Barber, Britten, Ives, Liszt, Ravel, Schumann’s song cycles “Dichterliebe” and “Liederkreis Op. 24 & 39”, Schubert’s Schwanengesang, Winterreise and soon to be released Die schöne Müllerin. He has been awarded an unprecedented three Gramophone Magazine Awards in the Solo Vocal category. The release of Schubert’s Winterreise won a Canadian Juno Award in 2015, His recent “Orchestral songs by Sibelius” with the Bergen Philharmonic and Ed Gardner on the Chandos label, was nominated “Best Vocal Album” by Gramophone Magazine.

As part of his dedication to preserving and enhancing the singing tradition, he gives masterclasses throughout the world most recently at the Juilliard School of Music, the Canadian Opera Ensemble and continues to work with the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Program at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and the Lindemann Program at the Met, the National Opera Studio, the Royal College of Music and the Young Artists program at the Salzburg Festival.

Mr. Finley’s 2019/20 season began with performances as Iago in Otello in Japan on tour with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He then returned to the Royal Opera House for the multi-roles in Britten’s Death in Venice. His most recent engagements have included Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera, performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 under Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Festival, Sibelius Songs with the LPO and Ed Gardner, the King of Scotland in Handel’s Ariodante and in recital at Wigmore Hall.

Gerald Finley, born in Montreal, began singing as a chorister in Ottawa, Canada, and completed his musical studies in the UK at the Royal College of Music, King’s College, Cambridge, and the National Opera Studio. He is a Fellow and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music. In 2014 he climbed Kilimanjaro for the charity Help Musicians UK. He has been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire and an Officer of the Order of Canada. Mr. Finley also features on a Canadian stamp celebrating Canadians in opera.


Julius Drake, piano
The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. The New Yorker has described him as the “collaborative pianist nonpareil.”

He appears regularly at all the major music centres and festivals: the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich, Schubertiade, and Salzburg Music Festivals; Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center New York; The Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and Philharmonie, Berlin; the Châtelet and Musée du Louvre Paris; La Scala, Milan and Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid; Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Vienna; and Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms London.

Director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000-2003, Julius Drake was also musical director of Deborah Warner’s staging of Janáček’s Diary of One Who Vanished, touring to Munich, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, and New York. Since 2009 he has been Artistic Director of the Machynlleth Festival in Wales.

Julius Drake’s passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for Wigmore Hall, London, the BBC, and The Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. His annual series of song recitals—Julius Drake and Friends—in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London, has featured recitals with many outstanding vocal artists including Sir Thomas Allen, Olaf Bär, Ian Bostridge, Angelika Kirchschlager, Iestyn Davies, Veronique Gens, Sergei Leiferkus, Dame Felicity Lott, Simon Keenlyside, Christopher Maltman, Mark Padmore, Christoph Prégardien, Amanda Roocroft, and Sir Willard White.

Julius Drake is frequently invited to perform at international chamber music festivals—most recently, Lockenhaus in  Austria; West Cork in Ireland; Oxford in England; Boswil in Switzerland; and Delft in the Netherlands.

Julius Drake holds a professorship at Graz University for Music and the Performing Arts in Austria, where he has a class for song pianists, and is professor of collaborative piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He is regularly invited to give master classes worldwide; recently in Aldeburgh, Brussels, Utrecht, Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Vienna, and at the Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien.

Julius Drake’s many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion, from which the Barber Songs, Schumann Heine Lieder, and Britten Songs and Proverbs won the 2007, 2009, and 2011 Gramophone Awards; award winning recordings with Ian Bostridge for EMI; several recitals for the Wigmore Live label, with among others Alice Coote, Ian Bostridge, Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Christopher Maltman, and Matthew Polenzani; recordings French Sonatas for Virgin Classics with Nicholas Daniel; of Kodaly and Schoeck sonatas with the cellists Natalie Clein and Christian Poltéra for the Hyperion and Bis labels; Tchaikovsky and Mahler with Christianne Stotijn for Onyx; English song with Bejun Mehta for Harmonia Mundi; and Schubert’s ‘Poetisches Tagebuch’ with Christoph Prégardien, which won the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2016.

Julius Drake’s most recent CDs have been widely critically acclaimed and include Janacek’s Diary of One who Disappeared with the Scottish tenor Nicky Spence (Hyperion), winner of a 2020 Gramophone Award and a 2020 BBC Music Magazine Award; Paradise Lost (Alpha) with the Austrian soprano Anna Prohaska; and Vol. 6 of the Liszt Complete Songs (Hyperion) with the German soprano Julia Kleiter. The second CD in this Liszt series with Angelika Kirchschlager won the BBC Music Magazine Award in 2012.

Concerts in the current and coming seasons include a series to celebrate the Beethoven anniversary at the 92nd St Y in New York, a Mahler series at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and a two-season series at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. Other highlights include recitals at La Scala, Milan with Aleksandra Kurzak, at Wigmore Hall with Alice Coote, in Barcelona with Sarah Connolly, at the Schubertiade, Austria with Christoph Prégardien and Ian Bostridge, tours in Europe with Anna Prohaska and Eva-Maria Westbroek, and a recital at the 2021 Salzburg Festival with Gerald Finley. 

 

 

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