Free Sing - PostClassical Ensemble
Free Sing - PostClassical Ensemble
Free Sing - PostClassical Ensemble
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<strong>Free</strong> to<strong>Sing</strong>:<br />
The Story of the First<br />
African-American Opera Company<br />
AN ORIGINAL STRATHMORE WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION<br />
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2008<br />
8 P.M.<br />
5301 Tuckerman Lane<br />
North Bethesda, Maryland<br />
(301) 581-5200 www.strathmore.org
With <strong>Free</strong> to <strong>Sing</strong>, Artistic Director Shelley Brown has<br />
elevated Strathmore from presenter into the new role of<br />
producer. Nurturing the barest seed of discovery into a historical<br />
and cultural work, <strong>Free</strong> To <strong>Sing</strong> is a proud journey not only into<br />
our region’s rich artistic heritage, but also into the dreams and<br />
aspirations of the Colored American Opera Company, whose<br />
talents and triumphs were overlooked by history. Over the past<br />
year and a half, this production has become a passion-driven<br />
mission for the artistic, production and management teams at<br />
Strathmore. Tonight, it appears on this stage thanks to hundreds<br />
of community benefactors, especially Dr. Carlotta Miles and the<br />
Benefit Committee who acted upon their fervent belief that this is a<br />
story worth telling. We are grateful in this day and age that we are<br />
all “<strong>Free</strong> To <strong>Sing</strong>.”<br />
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO<br />
Jim Saah<br />
Eliot Pfanstiehl<br />
President and CEO<br />
Strathmore<br />
Strathmore would especially like to thank the following individuals for their generous contribution to<br />
Strathmore’s first original production, <strong>Free</strong> to <strong>Sing</strong>: The Story of the First African-American Opera Company:<br />
SPONSOR<br />
DONORS<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Carter<br />
Dr. and Mrs. William W. Funderburk<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Jefferi Lee<br />
Leon Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Wurtzel<br />
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Macklin<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Theodore A. Miles<br />
Miller & Long, Mr. John M. McMahon<br />
Union Trust Bank, Mr. Robert L. Johnson<br />
Cover photos L to R: Opera Company Member William T. Benjamin from The Washington Post, February 7, 1902; Saint Augustine Catholic Church;<br />
John Esputa (seated with mustache), Paul Bierley Papers, 1892–2002, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, University Library, University of Illinois
STRATHMORE PRESENTS<br />
<strong>Free</strong>to<strong>Sing</strong>:<br />
The Story of the First<br />
African-American Opera Company<br />
AN ORIGINAL STRATHMORE WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION<br />
Music Center at Strathmore, Marriott Concert Stage<br />
Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 8 p.m.<br />
STARRING<br />
Narrator/Don Pomposo<br />
Isabella<br />
Carlos<br />
Donna Lucrezia<br />
Inez<br />
Doctor Paracelsus (The Doctor of Alcantara)<br />
Music Director/Conductor<br />
Orchestra<br />
Chorus<br />
Piano/Organ<br />
David Emerson Toney<br />
Awet Andemicael<br />
Kenneth Gayle<br />
Carmen Balthrop<br />
Millicent Scarlett<br />
Gylchris Sprauve<br />
Angel Gil-Ordóñez<br />
Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong><br />
Joseph Horowitz, Artistic Director<br />
Morgan State University Choir<br />
Eric Conway, Director<br />
Andrew Luse<br />
Narrative<br />
Director<br />
Musical Staging<br />
Set Design<br />
Lighting Design<br />
Sound Design<br />
Production Stage Manager<br />
Production Manager<br />
Stage Manager<br />
Producer<br />
CREATIVE TEAM<br />
PRODUCTION TEAM<br />
Shelley Brown and Michael Rosenberg<br />
Scot Reese<br />
Alvin Mayes<br />
Dan Conway<br />
Lyle Jaeger<br />
Caldwell Gray<br />
Jon Foster<br />
Laura Lee Everett<br />
Miriam Teitel<br />
Strathmore<br />
Doctor Paracelsus & Carlos<br />
Narrator/Pomposo<br />
Carlos & Doctor Paracelsus<br />
Isabella, Inez, Lucrezia<br />
Inez, Lucrezia, Isabella<br />
UNDERSTUDIES<br />
Patrick Barrett<br />
Alvin Mayes<br />
Jordan Mills<br />
Lindsay Roberts<br />
Alicia Waller<br />
<br />
STRATHMORE PRESENTS<br />
American Opera: D.C. and Beyond<br />
Auxiliary Education Event<br />
Mansion at Strathmore, The Dorothy M. and Maurice C. Shapiro Music Room<br />
Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 4 p.m.<br />
PRESENTATIONS BY PROFESSORS<br />
Raymond Jackson (Howard University)<br />
Karen Ahlquist (The George Washington University)<br />
Patrick Warfield (Georgetown University)<br />
Katherine Preston (College of William and Mary)<br />
Hosted by Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong> Artistic Director Joseph Horowitz<br />
3
POST-CLASSICAL<br />
ENSEMBLE<br />
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, Music Director<br />
Joseph Horowitz, Artistic Director<br />
VIOLIN<br />
David Salness, Concertmaster<br />
Sally McLain<br />
Lily Kramer<br />
Jennifer Rickard<br />
Cindy Lin<br />
Doug Dube, Principal Second<br />
Bruno Nasta<br />
Sarah Sherry<br />
Sonya Hayes<br />
Lisa Cridge<br />
VIOLA<br />
Lisa Ponton, Principal<br />
Paul Swantek<br />
David Basch<br />
Kyung Le Blanc<br />
CELLO<br />
Evelyn Elsing, Principal<br />
Marion Baker<br />
David Cho<br />
BASS<br />
Tony Manzo, Principal<br />
Ed Malaga<br />
FLUTE<br />
David Lonkevich<br />
OBOE<br />
Mark Hill<br />
MORGAN STATE<br />
UNIVERSITY CHOIR<br />
Dr. Eric Conway, Director<br />
SOPRANOS<br />
Portia Bonds<br />
Ashia Borders<br />
Tiara Dixon<br />
Maryanne Fields<br />
Leah Finklea<br />
Joanna Ford<br />
Shakyla Johnson<br />
Kristal King<br />
Reyna Martin<br />
Jessica Nelson<br />
Simone Paulwell<br />
Ashley Perry<br />
Shana Powell<br />
Brittney Quashie<br />
Dayna Quincy<br />
ALTOS<br />
Thomas Allen<br />
Jehreva Brown<br />
Ericka Carter<br />
Patrick Dailey<br />
Naim Howard<br />
Courtney Jones-Moody<br />
Jocelyn Lay<br />
Essence Morgan<br />
Tabitha Pearson<br />
Jacqueline Pressey<br />
Shannon Ramsey<br />
Ashli Rice<br />
Ayanna Whtie<br />
Brittany Williams<br />
TENORS<br />
Anthony Avery<br />
Marvin Carr<br />
Antonio Chase<br />
Brandon Harris<br />
Terrone Hill<br />
Tarrence Hughes<br />
Aaron Lawrence<br />
Joshua Lay<br />
Imhotep McClean<br />
Dwayne Pinkney<br />
Jimothy Rogers<br />
Raphael Scott<br />
Andre Simmons<br />
Fred Taylor<br />
BASSES<br />
Chester Burke<br />
Albert Hardy<br />
Soloman Howard<br />
Colin Lett<br />
Adrian Lewis<br />
Kevin Lewis<br />
Ronald McFadden<br />
Tristan Morris<br />
Jonathan Nelson<br />
Joseph Nelson<br />
Sean Robert<br />
Dominique Spriggs<br />
Benjamin Taylor<br />
Danton Whitely<br />
CLARINET<br />
Marguerite Levin<br />
HORN<br />
Mark Hughes, Principal<br />
Ted Peters<br />
TRUMPET<br />
Chris Gekker<br />
TROMBONE<br />
Chuck Casey<br />
TIMPANI<br />
Chris de Chiaro<br />
HARP<br />
Caroline Gregg<br />
ORCHESTRA CONTRACTOR<br />
Sue Kelly<br />
4
PROGRAM<br />
ACT I<br />
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot<br />
Steal Away<br />
Rock-A-My-Soul<br />
Traditional<br />
Arr. Hall Johnson<br />
Traditional<br />
Arr. Hall Johnson<br />
Traditional<br />
Arr. H. Roberts<br />
Mass in C<br />
John Esputa<br />
Et incarnatus (1832–1882)<br />
Sanctus<br />
Te Deum<br />
John Philip Sousa<br />
(1854 –1932)<br />
Mass No. 3, Cäcilienmesse<br />
Franz Joseph Haydn<br />
Gloria (1732–1809)<br />
~ INTERMISSION ~<br />
ACT II<br />
The Doctor of Alcantara in Concert Julius Eichberg (1824–1893)<br />
Libretto Benjamin E. Woolf<br />
Arr. Angel Gil-Ordóñez<br />
Part 1<br />
Overture<br />
Wake! Lady, Wake! (Carlos, Chorus)/You Saucy Jade! (Lucrezia, Inez, Isabella)<br />
He Still Was There (Isabella)<br />
When a Lover Is Poor (Inez)/Away Despair (Isabella and Inez)<br />
Buenas Noches (Chorus)<br />
Love’s Cruel Dart (Carlos)<br />
The Knight of Alcantara (Lucrezia)<br />
I Love, I Love! (Carlos and Lucrezia)<br />
Finale to First Act (Doctor, Inez, Isabella, Lucrezia, Pomposo and Chorus)<br />
Part 2<br />
Prelude<br />
Ah, Woe Is Me! (Isabella)<br />
Senor! Senor! (Carlos, Doctor, Inez)<br />
Good Night, Senor Balthazar (Doctor, Lucrezia, Isabella and Inez)<br />
Finale (Doctor, Inez, Carlos, Lucrezia, Isabella and Chorus)<br />
Please Note:<br />
The congregation changed names from St. Martin de Porres, founded in 1858, to Saint Augustine in 1876. For the sake of clarity it will be<br />
called Saint Augustine’s throughout this performance and in these notes.<br />
All music performed in a Catholic Church service before Vatican II was performed in Latin. The first three pieces of music in Act 1 are intended<br />
to show the music of the time that were part of the African-American experience, not music performed as part of the church service.<br />
5
AN INTRODUCTION TO<br />
FROM THE ARTISTIC<br />
<br />
DIRECTOR<br />
While producing the Strathmore/WAMA Timeline Concert<br />
Series, a 64-part concert series on the history of<br />
Washington area music, I read of the existence of The Colored<br />
American Opera Company. My interest piqued, and I researched<br />
the company at Library of Congress, Howard University, Martin<br />
Luther King, Jr. Library, the Washington Historical Society, and the<br />
Little Falls Library. A breakthrough in my research occurred at the<br />
Marine Band Archive when librarian Michael Ressler referred me to<br />
the important research Professor Patrick Warfield of Georgetown<br />
University had done on John Philip Sousa, John Esputa’s most<br />
Saint Augustine<br />
Catholic Church<br />
famous student. Warfield’s research on Esputa, the music director of<br />
The Colored American Opera Company, provided the link between<br />
the forgotten opera company and Saint Augustine’s Catholic<br />
Church. Once that connection had been made, Morris MacGregor’s<br />
book Emergence of a Black Catholic Community illustrated the<br />
context for the company and provided important details, especially<br />
about the supportive role of Father Barrotti, who originally hired<br />
Esputa as the music director at Saint Augustine.<br />
In addition to Eliot Pfanstiehl and the entire Strathmore staff,<br />
special thanks to the many advisors and scholars whose work<br />
contributed to this project. They include Michael Schreibman of<br />
the Washington Area Music Association, Prof. Patrick Warfield of<br />
Georgetown University, Joseph Horowitz of the Post-Classical<br />
<strong>Ensemble</strong>, Walter Zvonchenko of Library of Congress, Michael<br />
Ressler of the Marine Band Library, Prof. Raymond T. Jackson and<br />
Prof. Vada Butcher of Howard University, Dena Grant of Saint<br />
Augustine Church, Tiki Davies of The Kennedy Center, Jo Manley<br />
of Stevens Advertising, and my husband, Michael Rosenberg.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Shelley Brown<br />
VP, Artistic Director<br />
Strathmore<br />
Jim Saah<br />
6
SYNOPSES<br />
<strong>Free</strong> to <strong>Sing</strong><br />
Commissioned by Strathmore, <strong>Free</strong> to <strong>Sing</strong> charts the advancement<br />
of the Colored American Opera Company, both the first opera<br />
company in the District of Columbia and the first African-American<br />
company in the United States, as they use their musical talent to<br />
raise money for their church community and build schools for<br />
their children in the 1870s. <strong>Free</strong> to <strong>Sing</strong> focuses on the musical<br />
accomplishments of the Opera Company with an introductory<br />
narrative by Strathmore’s artistic director Shelley Brown and<br />
Michael Rosenberg. The evening will conclude with a presentation<br />
of the rarely performed landmark operetta, Julius Eichberg’s The<br />
Doctor of Alcantara.<br />
Almost 150 years ago, in 1858, St. Martin’s Parish, now known as<br />
Saint Augustine’s Church, was founded as a place of worship for<br />
Washington, D.C.’s African-American Catholic population. With a<br />
heavy emphasis on music and education, the church employed the<br />
expertise of a former Marine Band member, Professor John Esputa,<br />
to lead their chorus. Recognizing the great musical talent found in<br />
the church, choir member William T. Benjamin and Professor<br />
Esputa went on to form the Colored American Opera Company.<br />
In 1873, the Opera Company presented performances of Julius<br />
Eichberg’s The Doctor of Alcantara to mixed race audiences—two<br />
at Lincoln Hall and two at Wall’s Opera House in Washington,<br />
D.C., and three at Horticultural Hall in Philadelphia before<br />
embarking on a tour of east coast cities.<br />
The all-black cast for the performances featured soprano Agnes<br />
(Jane) Gray Smallwood, contraltos Lena Miller and Mary A.C.<br />
Coakley (a former slave who sewed for first lady Mary Todd<br />
Lincoln), tenors Henry Fleetwood Grant and Richard Tompkins,<br />
baritones William T. Benjamin and George Jackson, and bass<br />
Thomas H. Williams. Some of the opera members were local<br />
businessmen, some were laborers and some were domestic workers,<br />
and some were former slaves, newly freed in the years preceding and<br />
immediately following the Civil War.<br />
With the help of the Opera Company’s performances and other<br />
fund-raising activities, St. Martin’s Parish was able to build a new<br />
church and school, Saint Augustine’s, at 15th and M Streets, NW<br />
in 1876. The church was torn down in 1948 to make way for<br />
The Washington Post building, but soon, the diocese brought<br />
together that parish and that of St. Paul’s in 1961 and then<br />
went on to create a new Saint Augustine’s Church at 15th and<br />
V Streets, NW in 1982.<br />
<strong>Free</strong> to <strong>Sing</strong> is a true American success story and an example of the<br />
historic impact that occurs when groups of people come together<br />
and use hard work, skill, education, and perseverance to meet a<br />
common goal.<br />
The Doctor of Alcantara<br />
Carlos, the son of Senor Balthazar, has come to serenade Isabella,<br />
the daughter of the Doctor of Alcantara and Lucrezia. Although<br />
they have never met, Carlos has fallen in love with the beautiful<br />
visage of Isabella and she has fallen in love with the singer of<br />
the beautiful serenades directed to her while she was lonely in a<br />
convent. Having arrived home from the convent, Isabella is<br />
overjoyed to realize that the soothing and beautiful voice of her<br />
mysterious lover has followed her. Unbeknownst to the two young<br />
lovers, their parents have arranged their marriage to one another.<br />
While Carlos sings, his music attracts attention from Isabella, her<br />
mother, Lucrezia, and Isabella’s maid, Inez. All three women believe<br />
Carlos’s song is intended for them. When Inez mocks Lucrezia for<br />
believing the song is directed to her, Donna Lucrezia scolds Inez as<br />
a promiscuous tart. Isabella confides in her mother that she cannot<br />
go forward with the marriage her parents have arranged for her<br />
because she loves someone else, the perfect voice that sang to her<br />
in the convent.<br />
Carlos concocts a scheme to finally meet Isabella face to face. He<br />
climbs into a basket and has himself delivered to Isabella’s home<br />
under the pretense that the basket is a gift for her maid, Inez. Carlos<br />
climbs out of the basket and hides in the house only to be found by<br />
Isabella’s mother, Lucrezia. Carlos professes his love for Isabella<br />
with a love song, which again is misconstrued by the self-centered<br />
Lucrezia to be a song for her. Lucrezia sends Carlos back into<br />
hiding. She believes Carlos has returned to the basket to hide, but<br />
in fact, he has chosen to hide in the house.<br />
Worried that cranky Lucrezia will disapprove of Inez’s receipt of a<br />
gift from a suitor, The Doctor of Alcantara and Inez throw the gift<br />
basket into the river. Lucrezia then informs them that a man was<br />
hiding in the basket. The Doctor and Inez fall into despair thinking<br />
they have killed the mysterious man in the basket.<br />
Isabella finds Carlos’ note accompanying the gift and desperately<br />
looks for her beloved. Her grieving family tells her of the unfortunate<br />
death of the man in the basket. Police arrive to investigate the<br />
mysterious goings-on, but are unable to pinpoint the crime that has<br />
been committed.<br />
Carlos, finally unable to contain his love for Isabella, leaves his<br />
hiding place and, searching for his love, unfortunately encounters<br />
the paranoid Doctor and Inez. Carlos convinces them that he is both<br />
the son of Senor Balthazar and Isabella’s love. Relieved to realize<br />
that Carlos was the man in the basket and that he is still alive, the<br />
Doctor and Inez offer Carlos a glass of wine. Their calm quickly<br />
dissipates when Inez mistakenly gives Carlos a glass of the Doctor’s<br />
poisonous potions. When Carlos passes out, Inez and the Doctor<br />
again believe they have killed him. In a panic, they hide Carlos’<br />
body under the couch in the living room.<br />
Senor Balthazar, Carlos’ father, enters, wishing to discuss Carlos and<br />
Isabella’s wedding arrangements. Inez and the Doctor, believing<br />
Carlos dead, try to get Senor Balthazar to leave. When he insists on<br />
staying, they make up a bed for him on the couch, over which the<br />
still unconscious Carlos lies. When Carlos arises from his poisoninduced<br />
blackout, his true identity becomes known. Once everyone<br />
sees that Carlos and Isabella are the intended parties of the arranged<br />
marriage and deeply in love with one another, great joy ensues.<br />
7
HISTORICAL TIMELINE<br />
1858 1861<br />
(april 12)<br />
1862 1863<br />
(January 1)<br />
1865<br />
(April 18)<br />
1865<br />
Saint Augustine<br />
Catholic Church<br />
(originally Blessed<br />
Martin de Porres<br />
Chapel), an African-<br />
American congregation,<br />
is founded and<br />
starts its choir.<br />
The Civil War<br />
begins.<br />
President Lincoln<br />
photo courtesy of the<br />
Library of Congress<br />
President Lincoln<br />
signs a bill ending<br />
slavery in<br />
Washington, D.C.<br />
Under this law,<br />
the federal<br />
government<br />
freed approximately<br />
3,100<br />
slaves.<br />
With the Emancipation<br />
Proclamation, President<br />
Lincoln uses his wartime<br />
powers to free all slaves<br />
in enemy territory—<br />
the 11 southern states<br />
(the Confederacy) that<br />
separated from the<br />
United States. The<br />
limits of his power<br />
prevent him from freeing<br />
slaves in Union states<br />
(those that remained in<br />
the United States).<br />
The Civil War<br />
ends with the<br />
Confederacy’s<br />
surrender. More<br />
than 600,000<br />
Americans died<br />
in the war.<br />
The 13th<br />
Amendment to<br />
the Constitution is<br />
ratified, abolishing<br />
slavery in the entire<br />
United States.<br />
PROGRAM NOTES<br />
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Traditional<br />
Arr. Hall Johnson<br />
Steal Away, Traditional<br />
Arr. Hall Johnson<br />
Rock-A-My-Soul, Traditional<br />
Arr. H. Roberts<br />
African-American spirituals are Christian songs that echo teachings<br />
in the Bible. Many are songs of hope, referencing a Promised Land<br />
far away from the slave’s world of bondage.<br />
Many spirituals were “coded songs” whose hidden messages could<br />
be passed from family to family and from generation to generation.<br />
Such spirituals served a dual function. They were first and foremost<br />
religious songs (which helped to fool slave owners), but they also<br />
often contained hidden instructions. For example, the “sweet chariot”<br />
in the well-known spiritual "Swing low, sweet chariot" could have<br />
been the Underground Railroad itself that would “swing low” into<br />
the southern states. When the singer “looked over Jordan” she may<br />
have been seeing Ripley, a station across the Ohio River. Such songs<br />
could thus contain detailed instructions without alerting slave owners.<br />
Originally sung by slaves working in the fields, spirituals were<br />
also performed in front of churches and in other meeting places.<br />
They thus acted as unifying songs and helped to build a sense of<br />
community among slaves. Over time spirituals came to be seen by<br />
slaves as their own music, and instilled a sense of pride and identity.<br />
Now cherished as a uniquely American genre, spirituals are sung<br />
proudly. The messages in the songs are still embraced and used as<br />
motivation for audiences today.<br />
Mass in C<br />
John Esputa (1832–1882)<br />
One of Washington, D.C.’s most important music teachers, John<br />
Esputa was also a musician, composer and music publisher. A<br />
member of the United States Marine Band, John Esputa augmented<br />
his income as a teacher in the Washington Colored Schools and by<br />
serving as musical director in several churches. He achieved great<br />
success with the talented singers of Saint Augustine:<br />
“under the leadership of Professor John Esputa, whose name and<br />
fame as a musician is of the first order, and stands No. 1 in<br />
Washington City; add to this a chorus of forty-two well-trained<br />
voices; imagine a grand organ of 34 stops under the master hand<br />
of Professor Zierback [Thierbach], who in his beautiful combinations<br />
of flute and violincello, blended with the bourdon, followed<br />
by the reed stop, sixteenth, and this with the swell organ coupled<br />
with the choir organ, all concluding with the metallic clash of the<br />
double gamba, overpowered by the immense choral wave, and<br />
you will have some idea of Saint Augustine’s choir. The attraction<br />
to this church is increasing, Foreign ministers, members of<br />
Congress and the aristocracy generally, are frequently seen in this<br />
church; the elite and upper tens generally consider it their special<br />
privilege to be present.” (The Catholic Mirror February 2, 1878)<br />
Esputa self-published his Mass in C in 1875. Most of the 250-bar<br />
setting is written for unison chorus, broken by a few moments of<br />
two and three-voice writing. Much of the work is in parallel<br />
motion, but it does contain a fair amount of light chromaticism.<br />
Given the date of the Mass it was almost certainly written for<br />
Saint Augustine’s choir.<br />
Te Deum<br />
John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)<br />
John Philip Sousa is today best known as a composer of marches (The<br />
Washington Post and The Stars and Stripes Forever), but between<br />
1890 and 1920 he was one of the most popular musical figures in<br />
America. Sousa was born in southeast Washington, just blocks from<br />
8
1868 1868 1869 1870 1873 1876<br />
John Esputa<br />
becomes the music<br />
teacher and choir<br />
director at Saint<br />
Augustine’s Church.<br />
The 14th<br />
Amendment is<br />
ratified, granting<br />
citizenship to all<br />
people born or<br />
naturalized in the<br />
United States.<br />
The Colored<br />
American Opera<br />
Company is formed<br />
in Washington, D.C.<br />
The 15th<br />
Amendment<br />
is ratified,<br />
guaranteeing<br />
that no American<br />
can be denied the<br />
right to vote on the<br />
basis of race or<br />
color.<br />
The Colored<br />
American Opera<br />
Company tours and<br />
performs the comic<br />
opera, The Doctor<br />
of Alcantara, to<br />
great acclaim.<br />
A new building is<br />
constructed and<br />
dedicated as Saint<br />
Augustine’s Catholic<br />
Church. Much of<br />
the money used<br />
to complete this<br />
construction is<br />
raised by The<br />
Colored American<br />
Opera Company.<br />
John Esputa<br />
(seated with mustache)<br />
the Marine barracks where his father served as a trombonist. As a<br />
boy, Sousa enrolled at John Esputa’s neighborhood conservatory<br />
where he studied voice, piano, cornet, trombone, and violin.<br />
After young Philip attempted to run away and join a circus band, his<br />
father enlisted him as an apprentice musician in the United States<br />
Marine Band (he was just thirteen). This apprentice program trained<br />
many of Washington’s young musicians. John Esputa, for example,<br />
had enlisted as a fifer in 1844 when he was just twelve. Sousa served<br />
in the Marine Band, first as an apprentice and then as a regular<br />
musician until he was twenty (he would become leader of the Marine<br />
Band in 1880). But Sousa was hardly just a bandsman, and he also<br />
performed as a violinist at Ford’s Opera House and the Washington<br />
Theatre Comique. While still a teenager Sousa published his first<br />
composition, “Moonlight on the Potomac Waltzes.” It was around<br />
this time that Sousa began composing and orchestrating for his first<br />
teacher, Professor John Esputa.<br />
Sousa’s contribution to music in Saint Augustine’s Catholic Church<br />
was reported in the Catholic Mirror of April 1 and 7, 1888. In<br />
addition to several orchestrations, he composed this Te Deum. This<br />
work, Sousa’s only liturgical piece, was never published, but the<br />
manuscript survives at the Library of Congress. It was almost<br />
certainly intended for Saint Augustine’s choir.<br />
Mass No. 3, Cäcilienmesse<br />
Gloria<br />
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)<br />
Though he did not invent the symphony and string quartet, Haydn<br />
did more than any other composer to turn them into the great<br />
achievements of 18th century music. By the time he wrote his last<br />
great works, his symphonies had become a tightly organized<br />
sequence of four contrasted movements in which the sonata form is<br />
carried out logically and with great dramatic effect. Optimistic and<br />
good-natured, his music has been beloved by audiences ever since.<br />
When Washington audiences had the opportunity to hear such fine<br />
musical offerings during the 19th century, they responded with great<br />
enthusiasm. It was by performing such works that the singers of<br />
Saint Augustine first attracted the attention of critics and patrons,<br />
and became known as one of the most interesting musical organizations<br />
in the capital city:<br />
“While none of the singers were professionally trained, the group<br />
possessed singers with impressive natural talent ready for molding<br />
into a first-rate professional ensemble. Soon the rare opportunity<br />
to hear the masses and motets of Haydn, Mozart and other<br />
European Masters was attracting overflow congregation to the<br />
tiny chapel.” (Morris MacGregor, The Emergence of the Black<br />
Community: Saint Augustine’s in Washington)<br />
The Doctor of Alcantara<br />
Julius Eichberg (1824–1893)<br />
Libretto Benjamin E. Woolf (1836–1901)<br />
Arr. Angel Gil-Ordóñez<br />
Julius Eichberg was the music director of the resident orchestra of the<br />
Boston Museum before founding and becoming director of the Boston<br />
Conservatory of Music in 1867. He also became the Supervisor of<br />
Music in the Boston Public Schools (a position created for him).<br />
Written in 1862, The Doctor of Alcantara is generally acknowledged<br />
to be the first successful attempt at the French style of Opéra bouffe<br />
in America by an American-based composer. Eichberg, a native of<br />
Germany who came to the United States in the 1850s, was clearly<br />
influenced by the “light opera” popular in Europe at the time. The<br />
style is reminiscent of later American works by the popular Gilbert<br />
and Sullivan team while incorporating elements of current American<br />
music styles at the time: parlor songs, sentimental ballads, dance-hall<br />
and melodrama. The Doctor of Alcantara was widely produced for<br />
four decades after its creation, but then, mysteriously disappeared<br />
from the American stage and was almost completely unknown<br />
except to musical scholars.<br />
Known as the “Music Man of Boston” for a generation, Eichberg<br />
composed orchestral works, string quartets and other operettas,<br />
including The Two Cadis, Sir Marmaduke: or Too Attentive by<br />
Half, The Rose of Tyrol, and A Night in Rome.<br />
9
ABOUT THE ARTISTS<br />
David Emerson Toney (Narrator)<br />
Mr. Toney’s acting credits include Julie Taymor’s<br />
Broadway production of Juan Darién. Off-<br />
Broadway he performed as Clarence in Richard III<br />
at the Pearl Theatre Company and Once on this<br />
Island at Playwrights Horizons. Regionally he was<br />
seen as Alonzo in The Tempest and Lucio in<br />
Measure for Measure at the Folger, Army in the Persians and as<br />
Othello in Othello at The Shakespeare Theatre and thirty-five<br />
other stage productions at Arena Stage (Washington, D.C). Other<br />
productions include Jacques in As You Like It at the Utah<br />
Shakespearean Festival, Splash Hatch On The “E” Going Down<br />
at Yale Rep, The Fool in King Lear and West in Two Trains<br />
Running at the Kansas City Rep. He was also the recipient of the<br />
2004 Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Actor in a Resident<br />
Play for the role of Holloway in African Continuum Theatre<br />
Company’s production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running.<br />
Awet Andemicael (Isabella)<br />
Following recent performances of Handel’s Messiah<br />
with Handel & Haydn Society, The Boston Herald<br />
praised soprano Awet Andemicael’s ethereal artistry,<br />
noting that “her voice is light, airy, lyric and full of<br />
musical energy,” and further exclaimed that<br />
“Andemicael is a singer to watch.” In the 2007–08<br />
season, she reprises her sought-after interpretation of Trujaman in<br />
de Falla’s El Retablo de Maese Pedro with the San Francisco<br />
Symphony and joins the Nashville Symphony for performances of<br />
Messiah. In the 2006–07 season, she made her debut with the Los<br />
Angeles Philharmonic repeating her sought-after interpretation of<br />
Trujaman in de Falla’s El Retablo de Maese Pedro, sang the de<br />
Falla work with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, starred as<br />
Clara in Porgy and Bess with Tulsa Opera, and performed the<br />
Messiah at Carnegie Hall. Recently named a San Diego District<br />
winner and a Western Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera<br />
National Council auditions, Ms. Andemicael is also the Second<br />
Prize Winner of the 2003 Oratorio Society of New York Solo<br />
Competition at Carnegie Hall. She has won the Lee Schaenen<br />
Foundation Scholarship Award (2003), the Friedrich Schorr<br />
Memorial Performance Prize (2002), the Pasadena Opera Guild<br />
Awards (2002) and the Bel Canto Scholarship Foundation First<br />
Place Scholarship (2001). She holds degrees from Harvard<br />
University and the University of California at Irvine.<br />
Kenneth Gayle (Carlos)<br />
“Neither scenery nor intricate lighting is required<br />
when a singing actor of his caliber takes the<br />
stage…” declared the Chicago Sun Times. Hailed as<br />
one of the “Faces to Watch” and “…one of a new<br />
breed of opera singers…” Kenneth Gayle is accumulating<br />
accolades in a growing career in opera, oratorio,<br />
concert and stage. Equally at home in a variety of musical<br />
styles and genres, national credits include performances with Lyric<br />
Opera of Chicago, Ravinia Music Festival, Seattle Opera, Seattle<br />
Symphony, Grant Park Music Festival, Opera Omaha, Omaha<br />
Symphony and Opera Idaho, among many others. Now a resident<br />
of Houston, TX local credits include performances with the<br />
Houston Ebony Opera Guild, the Mukuru: Arts for AIDS Series,<br />
Three Mo’ Tenors, and the premieres of his one-man musical<br />
journeys, One Voice and One Voice, One Heart…Revealed<br />
including selections from his new CD, Revealed, featuring the<br />
original music of Gary Norian. Mr. Gayle is an alumnus of the<br />
Lyric Opera Center for American Artists and a cum laude graduate<br />
of the College of Creative Arts at West Virginia University. The<br />
Seattle native is also a past recipient of the Seattle Opera Guild<br />
scholarship for voice and opera and a former member of the<br />
Seattle Opera Young Artist Program.<br />
Carmen Balthrop (Lucrezia)<br />
Carmen Balthrop, soprano, is a professor of voice at<br />
the School of Music at the University of Maryland.<br />
She is an inductee of the University’s Alumni Hall of<br />
Fame. Ms. Balthrop performed with numerous wellknown<br />
opera companies and orchestras all over the<br />
world, including The Metropilitan Opera, San<br />
Francisco, Houston, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and Teatro des<br />
Westens in Berlin. She performed with the New York<br />
Philharmonic, National Symphony, Boston Symphony, and symphonies<br />
in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis,<br />
Houston, and Detroit. Ms. Balthrop’s discography, found on the<br />
Deutsche Grammophon, Elan, New World, and Fonit Cetra labels,<br />
includes the title roles of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha and Claudio<br />
Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea. Her solo CD entitled<br />
The Art Of Christmas, Volume I was released in the fall of 2004.<br />
She sang for President Nelson Mandela during a recent visit to the<br />
United States and was the soprano lead in the world premiere of<br />
composer/double bassist, Frank Proto’s The Tuner at the<br />
International String Bass Convention in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In<br />
December she sang the east coast premiere of the one-woman<br />
opera, At The Statue of Venus by Jake Heggie and Terence<br />
McNally at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at University<br />
of Maryland. In March 2007, Ms. Balthrop performed in concert<br />
with Dr. Diane White in This is Her Story…This is Her Song, a<br />
three-day symposium on black women and song, at the Clarice<br />
Smith Center.<br />
Millicent Scarlett (Inez)<br />
Canadian soprano Millicent Scarlett hails from<br />
Winnipeg, Manitoba. She received her Bachelor of<br />
Music in Voice Performance from Brandon<br />
University in Canada. While at Brandon she<br />
received the silver medal, rarely awarded for the<br />
highest GPA in the Applied Music Performance<br />
degree. From there she attended University of Maryland College<br />
Park, where she received her Master of Music in Opera. She also<br />
holds a certificate of study from the Mozarteum in Salzburg,<br />
Austria. Ms. Scarlett made her professional debut in the role of<br />
Clara in Porgy and Bess with Opera Illinois under the baton of<br />
Feora Contina. She also has performed the roles of Melide in<br />
L’Ormindo by Cavalli, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Godelieva in the<br />
North American premiere of Dounaudy’s La Fiamminga, and several<br />
roles in an opera created for the University of Maryland<br />
Opera Studio. As a Winner of the Luciano Pavarotti International<br />
Voice Competition, she performed the role of Mrs. Ford in Falstaff<br />
along with Mo. Pavarotti and Mo. Leone Maggira. Ms. Scarlett<br />
has performed with the National Symphony, The Orchestra<br />
Internazionale d’Italia Philharmonic Choir in Kitchener-Waterloo,<br />
Fairfax Choral Society, The Washington Chorus, York Symphony,<br />
and the Winnipeg Youth Orchestra. She has won numerous<br />
awards and scholarships. Some of note are: Winner of the<br />
Mid-Atlantic Region Metropolitan Opera Competition, National<br />
Semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Competition, 2nd place<br />
10
Mid-Atlantic region winner, and numerous study and encouragement<br />
awards. Ms. Scarlett currently resides in Maryland and is a<br />
professor at The George Washington University in Washington D.C.<br />
Gylchris Sprauve (The Doctor of Alcantara)<br />
Gylchris Sprauve, tenor, was born in Santurce,<br />
Puerto Rico but grew up in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin<br />
Islands. At the age of 7, he started playing organ in<br />
church. By 14, he met many seasoned musicians<br />
while working as a pianist/organist in the Virgin<br />
Islands. After two summers at the Interlochen Arts<br />
Camp in Michigan, he left the Virgin Islands to study voice. He<br />
earned degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of<br />
Maryland. He has sung in such countries as the United Kingdom,<br />
Italy, Austria, The Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, and the<br />
Caribbean. In addition to opera, Mr. Sprauve also performs oratorio,<br />
gospel, Christian contemporary and world music. In addition<br />
to English, he also speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and has<br />
since been learning French.<br />
Angel Gil-Ordóñez,<br />
Music Director/Conductor<br />
A native of Madrid, Spain, Angel Gil-Ordóñez has<br />
attained an outstanding reputation among Spain’s<br />
new generation of conductors as he carries on the<br />
tradition of his teacher and mentor, Sergiu<br />
Celibidache. The Washington Post has praised his<br />
conducting as “mesmerizing” and “as colorfully textured as a fauvist<br />
painting.”<br />
The former Associate Conductor of the National Symphony<br />
Orchestra of Spain, Mr. Gil-Ordóñez has conducted the American<br />
Composers Orchestra, Opera Colorado, the Pacific Symphony, the<br />
Hartford Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the Brooklyn<br />
Academy of Music, and the National Gallery Orchestra. Abroad,<br />
he has been heard with the Munich Philharmonic, the Solistes de<br />
Berne, at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and at the Bellas<br />
Artes National Theatre in Mexico City.<br />
Currently the Music Director of Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong> in<br />
Washington, D.C., Mr. Gil-Ordóñez also holds the positions<br />
of Director of Orchestral Studies at Wesleyan University in<br />
Connecticut and Music Director of the Wesleyan <strong>Ensemble</strong> of<br />
the Americas.<br />
In 2006, the King of Spain awarded Mr. Gil-Ordóñez the<br />
country’s highest civilian decoration, the Royal Order of<br />
Queen Isabella, which is equivalent to a knighthood, for his<br />
work in advancing Spanish culture in the world, in particular for<br />
performing and teaching Spanish music in its cultural context.<br />
Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong><br />
Called by The Washington Post “a welcome, edgy addition to the<br />
musical life of Washington,” Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong> was created<br />
by Angel Gil-Ordóñez and Joseph Horowitz in 2001, and made its<br />
official debut in May 2003. “More than an orchestra,” it breaks<br />
out of classical music, with its implied notion of a high-culture<br />
remote from popular art. Its concerts regularly incorporate folk<br />
song, dance, film, poetry, and commentary in order to serve audiences<br />
hunger for deeper engagement, and to cultivate adventurous<br />
new listeners. The <strong>Ensemble</strong> made its sold-out Kennedy Center<br />
debut in Fall 2005 in “Celebrating Don Quixote,” featuring a<br />
commissioned production of Manuel de Falla’s sublime puppet<br />
opera Master Peter’s Puppet Show. By the end of the 2007–2008<br />
season, the Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong> will have performed more<br />
than two-dozen concerts and recorded two DVDs and a CD in its<br />
five-year history. In June 2005, in association with the American<br />
Film Institute and Naxos Records, Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong> accompanied<br />
two classic American documentaries with scores by Virgil<br />
Thomson. These presentations generated a Naxos DVD (released<br />
Jan. 2007 and called “revelatory” by Philip Kennicott in the<br />
Washington Post), and a CD (released last October). The performance<br />
of Aaron Copland’s The City last October at the Clarice<br />
Smith Center will generate a similar Naxos DVD. Post-Classical<br />
<strong>Ensemble</strong> returns to the Clarice Smith on April 6 for “Artists in<br />
Exile,” a program exploring the New World fates of the composers<br />
Kurt Weill and Arnold Schoenberg, and the film-maker<br />
Fritz Lang, where Weill’s Walt Whitman Songs will be performed<br />
for the first time in the United States with orchestral accompaniment.<br />
They will also perform “Revueltas in Context” at the<br />
Library of Congress on March 14.<br />
Joseph Horowitz, Artistic Director,<br />
Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong><br />
Joseph Horowitz is one of today’s most prolific writers on topics<br />
in American music. As an orchestral administrator and advisor,<br />
he has been a pioneering force in the development of thematic<br />
programming and new concert formats. His seven books offer a<br />
detailed history and analysis of American symphonic culture, its<br />
achievements, challenges, and prospects for the future. His<br />
Classical Music in America: A History, was named one of the best<br />
books of 2005 by The Economist. An eighth book, Artists in<br />
Exile: How Refugees from War and Revolution Transformed the<br />
American Performing Arts, will be published by HarperCollins<br />
this month (February 2008). In 2001, Mr. Horowitz co-created<br />
Post-Classical <strong>Ensemble</strong>, a chamber orchestra in Washington,<br />
D.C., pursuing a programming template Mr. Horowitz developed<br />
in the 1990s as Executive Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic,<br />
the orchestra’s concerts regularly incorporate popular/vernacular<br />
music, dance, and film.<br />
Mr. Horowitz was a music critic for The New York Times from<br />
1976 to 1980. Mr. Horowitz is the author of the articles on<br />
“classical music” for both The Oxford Encyclopedia of American<br />
History and The Encyclopedia of New York State. His honors<br />
and awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, two NEH<br />
Fellowships, and a commendation from the Czech Parliament for<br />
his numerous celebrations of Dvofiák in America.<br />
Morgan State University Choir<br />
The Morgan State University Choir, led for more than three decades<br />
by the late Dr. Nathan Carter, the celebrated conductor, composer,<br />
and arranger, is one of the nation’s most prestigious university<br />
choral ensembles. The choral forces of the critically acclaimed choir<br />
include the University Choir, which is over 140 voices strong, and<br />
The Morgan <strong>Sing</strong>ers—approximately 40 voices. While classical,<br />
gospel, and contemporary popular music comprise the choir’s repertoire;<br />
the choir is noted for its emphasis on preserving the heritage<br />
of the spiritual, especially in the historic practices of performance.<br />
The Morgan State University Choir has performed for audiences<br />
throughout the United States and all over the world.<br />
The Choir has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center<br />
and Carnegie Hall on numerous occasions.One of the Choir’s<br />
most historic moments came with the opportunity to sing under<br />
11
ABOUT THE ARTISTS CONT.<br />
the baton of Robert Shaw, conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s<br />
and joined by Jessye Norman and others in Carnegie Hall’s “One<br />
Hundredth Birthday Tribute to Marian Anderson.” In the<br />
1996–1997 season, the Choir appeared in the “Silver Anniversary”<br />
concert on Public Television, which won three Emmy Awards for<br />
Maryland Public Television (MPT).<br />
In the May 2004 issue of Reader’s Digest, the magazine named the<br />
Morgan State University Choir “the Best College Choir in the<br />
U.S.’ in its list of “America’s 100 Best.”<br />
In January 2005, under the leadership of Dr. Eric Conway, the<br />
choir performed Mendelssohn’s Symphony #2, “Lobgesang,” with<br />
the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, as well as sang for the State<br />
Department at the invitation of Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice.<br />
The Morgan State University Choir is a cultural ambassador for<br />
Morgan State University, the City of Baltimore, the State of<br />
Maryland and the United States.<br />
Eric Conway, Director, Morgan State<br />
University Choir<br />
Eric Conway is currently the Music Director of<br />
the Morgan State University Choir as well as<br />
Chairperson of the Fine Arts Department. He served<br />
as Associate Conductor and principal accompanist<br />
for the Morgan State University Choir for twenty<br />
years under the leadership of the late Nathan Carter.<br />
He received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Peabody<br />
Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he majored<br />
in Piano Performance and minored in Conducting. While at the<br />
Peabody, Conway was a recipient of the prestigious Liberace<br />
Scholarship, as well as a winner in the Yale Gordon Concerto<br />
Competition where he earned the honor of playing Rachmaninoff’s<br />
2nd Piano Concerto with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.<br />
Eric Conway has performed as solo pianist with several orchestras<br />
including, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber<br />
Orchestra, Baltimore Concert Artists, Johns Hopkins Symphony<br />
Orchestra, Georgetown University Orchestra, and the Millbrook<br />
Orchestra in Shepardstown, West Virginia.<br />
Dr. Conway is also sought after as a collaborative artist. He has<br />
worked with several leading artists including Trevor Wye, Hillary<br />
Hahn, Daniel Heifetz, William Brown, and Janice Chandler Eteme.<br />
He is also an orchestral pianist for the Baltimore Symphony.<br />
Dr. Conway’s choral accomplishments include working closely<br />
with some of the greatest conductors of the 20th Century including<br />
Robert Shaw, Sir Nevelle Mariner, and Donald Neuen.<br />
Dr. Conway is married to Bessie Elizabeth Conway, and they are<br />
blessed to have three sons: Eric, Jr. (13); Christopher (11); and<br />
Ryan (4).<br />
Andrew Luse, Piano/Organ<br />
Andy Luse began studying piano at the age of eight.<br />
At 10 he performed his first concerto, the Piano<br />
Concerto in D Major by Haydn, with the New<br />
England Youth <strong>Ensemble</strong> under the baton of<br />
Francisco de Araujo. He went on to solo with this<br />
orchestra several times over the next few years.<br />
Mr. Luse attended Princeton University where he earned a B.A. in<br />
History and a Certificate in Music Performance. As a freshman, he<br />
won the University Concerto Competition. He received his Masters<br />
Degree in Piano Performance from the Peabody Institute of Johns<br />
Hopkins University.<br />
Mr. Luse was a participant in the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival,<br />
the Aspen Music Festival, and the New Millennium Piano Festival<br />
in Spain. He founded “Classics on the Rocks,” a quarterly series<br />
bringing classical music into non-traditional venues. Mr. Luse is<br />
a former Artist in Residence at Strathmore and is currently coteaching<br />
Strathmore’s Crescendo Club.<br />
Scot Reese, Director<br />
Scot Reese is a professor in directing, black theatre, and musical<br />
theatre at the University of Maryland, College Park. Professional<br />
theatre credits include productions from Los Angeles to New<br />
York. Television credits include daytime dramas, situation comedies,<br />
variety specials, commercials, and an Emmy Award for individual<br />
achievement in performance. Reese’s most recent credits<br />
include, Blues Journey at the Kennedy Center, Once On This<br />
Island at the Round House Theatre, Pretty Fire and From the<br />
Mississippi Delta for the African Continuum Theatre Company,<br />
The Heidi Chronicles and Barefoot in the Park (with Laura<br />
Linney and Eric Stoltz) at LA Theatre Works, Jane Eyre and<br />
Zooman and the Sign at the University of Maryland, A Raisin in<br />
the Sun at Olney Theatre, and Bells are Ringing and Purlie at the<br />
Kennedy Center. B.A. – UCLA; M.F.A. - Northwestern University.<br />
Shelley Brown, Writer<br />
Shelley Brown is the Vice President for Programming and Artistic<br />
Director for Strathmore, where her programs are known for their<br />
artistic quality, diversity, and collaborative partnerships. Recently,<br />
she produced the cELLAbration tribute concert to Ella Jenkins at<br />
Strathmore with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, and The<br />
Washington Area Music Timeline concert series with Michael<br />
Schreibman. This series, lauded as “admirable and ambitious”<br />
(The Washington Post), culminated with the opening of the Music<br />
Center at Strathmore in February, 2005. She was awarded the<br />
Executive of the Year by the Washington Area Music Association<br />
(WAMA) that same year.<br />
She came to Strathmore in 1998 from the John F. Kennedy Center<br />
for the Performing Arts, after having launched and booked the<br />
initial concerts for the nightly free Millennium Stage Series. She<br />
was responsible for the programming and management of the<br />
Open House Arts Festival, Holiday Celebration and other<br />
international festivals. She is a graduate of Connecticut College<br />
and holds a M.B.A. from The George Washington University.<br />
Michael Rosenberg, Writer<br />
Michael Rosenberg is a civil trial attorney and partner in the<br />
Washington, D.C. law firm of Stein and Rosenberg. He has been<br />
practicing law in the D.C. area since he graduated from American<br />
University’s Washington College of Law in 1991. In law school,<br />
Rosenberg served as editor of the Administrative Law Review. Mr.<br />
Rosenberg graduated in 1986 from Connecticut College in New<br />
London, Connecticut where he majored in English. A Chevy<br />
Chase, Maryland native, his affinity for writing and writing skills<br />
were developed in his childhood home where he was raised by a<br />
playwright and a labor law attorney. Michael Rosenberg and his<br />
wife, Shelley Brown are residents of Bethesda, Maryland where<br />
they live with their sons, ages 10 and 12.<br />
12
Alvin Mayes, musical staging<br />
Alvin Mayes is an Instructor of Dance at the University of<br />
Maryland, College Park. He had two successful partnerships with<br />
director Scot Reese with “Sophisticated Ladies” and “The Colored<br />
Museum” both at the University of Maryland. His concert dances<br />
have been performed at The Copland Festival, the Orpheus<br />
Festival and the Langston Hughes Tribute, the Kennedy Center,<br />
Dance Place, American College Dance Festival; and have been performed<br />
in Cuba, Great Britain, Russia and Japan. Mayes has choreographed<br />
such theatre productions as The Wiz!, Little Mary<br />
Sunshine, Dames at Sea, Carousel, Cinderella and five Gilbert and<br />
Sullivan productions. He won the Metro/DC Dance Award for<br />
education in 2007 as a culmination of teaching, choreographing<br />
and performing in the area since 1978.<br />
Daniel Conway, Scenic Design<br />
Daniel Conway has worked extensively Off-Broadway and in<br />
regional theater. Productions of note include: the premieres of Lily<br />
Dale by Horton Foote at The Samuel Beckett Theatre on Theatre<br />
Row; The Trilogy, New Music by Reynolds Price at The Cleveland<br />
Playhouse, directed by David Esbjornson; and the American premiere<br />
of Brecht’s Conversations in Exile at The New Theatre of<br />
Brooklyn. Regional work includes projects for The Cleveland<br />
Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, The Arden Theatre, The Berkshire<br />
Theatre Festival, and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.<br />
Regional theater work includes: Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed<br />
by Aaron Posner for The Folger Shakespeare Theatre; The<br />
World Goes Round for The Roundhouse Theatre; Jitney and A<br />
New Brain for The Studio Theatre; Our Lady of 121st Street for<br />
Woolly Mammoth Theatre; scenery and lighting for Born Guilty<br />
and Peter and The Wolf and scenery for Passing The Love Of<br />
Women for Theatre J and The Glass Menagerie, and Uncle Vanya<br />
for The Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, where he serves as resident<br />
designer. Other projects include Take Me Out for The Studio<br />
Theatre; Once on This Island for Roundhouse Theatre and the<br />
premiere of Joyce Carol Oates’ The Tattooed Girl for Theatre J.<br />
Nominated for the award seven times, Mr. Conway is the recipient<br />
of the 2000 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Set Design, and<br />
is the head of the M.F.A. in Design program at The University of<br />
Maryland, College Park. He is a member of The United Scenic<br />
Artists, local 829.<br />
Caldwell Gray, Sound Design<br />
Strathmore Lead Audio Technician Caldwell Gray honed his<br />
sound engineering skills in the studios and clubs of the mid-<br />
Atlantic with his original rock band of twenty-two years, Cravin’<br />
Dogs. After more than a decade of wearing grooves in the Jersey<br />
Turnpike and over 1,500 shows, The Dogs embarked on a more<br />
modest touring schedule in 1998. Concurrently, Dogs’ producer<br />
Doug Derryberry joined the Bruce Hornsby Band and asked Gray<br />
to be part of Hornsby’s touring production team. Ten years later,<br />
Gray continues to tour with Hornsby as a sound engineer. Gray<br />
also stays busy in the studio, producing his bands and other artists<br />
on the Preash Records label. Cravin’ Dogs performs regularly<br />
throughout the D.C. area and has just released its 12th album.<br />
Gray was born and raised in the piedmont of North Carolina,<br />
where he attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel<br />
Hill and graduated with a BA in Creative Communications.<br />
Jon Foster, Production Stage Manager<br />
Jon Foster, a stage and production manager, as well as stage technician,<br />
lighting designer and director, video engineer and carpenter<br />
has toured the world on five continents working with artists such<br />
as Nils Lofgren of Grin, Neil Young, Roger Daltry of The Who,<br />
Pearl Jam, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Lynyrd Skynyrd and<br />
others. Foster is in demand in the production of special events and<br />
festivals—he is the Main Stage Manager for the New Orleans Jazz<br />
and Heritage Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Newport Folk<br />
Festival, and the Essence Music Festival; he was the Stage<br />
Manager for the re-opening of the Superdome in New Orleans in<br />
2006 featuring U2 and Green Day; and he was worked at the<br />
Winter Olympics, Live Aid, Farm Aid and at Disneyworld. Foster<br />
has also worked extensively in TV and radio, including for MTV,<br />
VH1, NBC, CBS, BBC, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show<br />
with Jay Leno, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Foster<br />
lives in Garrett Park, MD with his wife, Lynn, and son, Luke.<br />
Laura Lee Everett, Production Manager<br />
Laura Lee Everett has spent the last two decades “wearing black<br />
clothing and being hidden from audience view” in opera houses<br />
across the United States. As an Opera Production Stage Manager,<br />
she ensured that singers sang and orchestras played at all the<br />
appropriate moments in Anchorage, Aspen, Columbus, Costa<br />
Mesa, Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City, Baltimore, and all points inbetween.<br />
She has had the pleasure of working with some of the<br />
most renowned conductors, directors, designers and singers in<br />
contemporary opera. Born and raised in Florida, and educated in<br />
North Carolina, Ms. Everett was “schooled early in the art of the<br />
Southern Comic Monologue.” As such, she has always been on<br />
the lookout for a good story to relate to a captive audience; and<br />
during her years on the road, she amassed an impressive collection<br />
of backstage opera tales that rival the very best onstage storylines.<br />
In addition to overseeing productions at the nation’s leading opera<br />
companies, Ms. Everett has long been passionate about mentoring<br />
young artists. After eight summer seasons as the Opera<br />
Administrator at the Aspen Music Festival and School, she joined<br />
the staff of the University of Maryland School of Music, where, as<br />
Studio Manager for the Maryland Opera Studio, her duties<br />
include serving as de facto “Den Mother to the Graduate<br />
Program” – and she couldn’t be happier about it. During the<br />
summers, Ms. Everett works with up-and-coming young artists at<br />
the Wolf Trap Opera Company as well. Ms. Everett is also a<br />
singer and pianist, can say “Will the Maestro report to the pit,<br />
please” in a variety of languages, makes excellent coffee, and is a<br />
proud resident of Baltimore City.<br />
Miriam Teitel, Stage Manager<br />
Miriam is currently the Director of Operations at the Music<br />
Center at Strathmore. Previously, she was the Managing<br />
Coordinator for Yale Opera, where she coordinated the productions<br />
and administrative needs of the academic program. Miriam<br />
completed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts<br />
Management Fellowship Program, previously known as the Vilar<br />
Institute. She came to the Fellowship Program from Glimmerglass<br />
Opera, where she served as Music Administrator and worked with<br />
their Young American Artist Program. Previous positions include<br />
coordinating summer programs at Strathmore, shows with<br />
Montgomery College’s Summer Dinner Theatre, and being the<br />
Instrumental Music Fellow at Amherst College, where she<br />
13
ABOUT THE ARTISTS CONT.<br />
managed the orchestra and taught sections. Growing up in Chevy<br />
Chase, Maryland, she studied bassoon with Truman Harris of the<br />
National Symphony Orchestra. She holds a dual degree in Music<br />
History/Analysis and Comparative Religion from Amherst College.<br />
Strathmore (Producer)<br />
Strathmore, Peter Vance Treibley, chairman, Eliot Pfanstiehl,<br />
president & CEO, is Montgomery County, Maryland’s home for<br />
the arts. A 24-year-old presenter of concerts, art exhibitions, and<br />
community festivals, Strathmore offers world-class performances<br />
by major national artists of folk, blues, pop, jazz, show tunes, and<br />
classical music in the Music Center, a state-of-the-art 1,976-seat<br />
concert hall and education complex, and in the Mansion, a<br />
turn-of-the-century historic home. Strathmore has welcomed more<br />
than 5,000 artists and 2 million guests at its signature exhibitions,<br />
concerts, teas, educational events and outdoor festivals since 1983.<br />
Strathmore recently produced the Washington Area Music<br />
Timeline Concert Series, an “ambitious” (The Washington Post)<br />
series of 64 concerts tracing Washington, D.C.’s music history, and<br />
the world premiere concert of cELLAbration: A Tribute to Ella<br />
Jenkins, released nationally on DVD by Smithsonian Folkways.<br />
Strathmore commissions new works of art and music, including<br />
the world premiere musical compositions Emergence: A Cicada<br />
Serenade by David Kane, Strathmore Sonata by Garrison Hull and<br />
Bling Bling by Scott McAllister; works by Artist in Residence<br />
musicians; and the commissioning of the sculptures Music of Light<br />
by Meryl Taradash, Tetra con Brio by Roger Stoller and Little<br />
Temple by Stefan Saal.<br />
Strathmore performances can be heard all over the country on<br />
NPR and XM Radio. Public Television recently aired The United<br />
States Air Force 60th Anniversary: A Musical Celebration, a<br />
performance taped at the Music Center.<br />
Education plays a key role in Strathmore’s art and music<br />
programming. From Children’s Talk and Tours of art exhibitions,<br />
to Strathmore’s new Artist in Residence program, a curriculum<br />
designed to help young musicians, the development of arts<br />
appreciation has always been an important component of<br />
Strathmore’s mission.<br />
Saint Augustine Parish<br />
Saint Augustine Parish traces its heritage to 1858 and the efforts of<br />
a group of dedicated emancipated Black Catholics. Faced with a<br />
society that was not yet willing to put off the last vestiges of slavery<br />
and a Church that, at best, tolerated the presence of Black people in<br />
its congregation, these men and women founded a Catholic school<br />
and chapel on 15th Street under the patronage of Blessed Martin de<br />
Porres. In what is perhaps a touch of historical irony, this school<br />
was operating four years before mandatory free public education of<br />
Black children became law in the Nation’s Capital.<br />
From its earliest years the school was staffed by the Oblate Sisters<br />
of Providence, the oldest religious order of Black women in the<br />
United States. The Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary was<br />
established in May of 1892 and continues to this day as an<br />
active organization of women and men in the parish.<br />
The parish continued to grow and flourish with a strong commitment<br />
to education and good liturgy. In February 1928, under the<br />
pastorship of Father Alonzo Olds, the parish purchased the site of<br />
the Washington Home for Children at 1715 15th Street, NW,<br />
intending it to be the new home of Saint Augustine Parochial<br />
School. The school, a rectory and a convent were soon built and<br />
the construction of a new church begun. Most of the parish<br />
activities and operations were moved to this 15th and S Streets<br />
location, while the original church building at 15th and M Streets<br />
was maintained and used until 1946, when it was sold by the<br />
Archdiocese of Washington. The church was torn down in 1948<br />
to make way for The Washington Post building.<br />
One of Saint Augustine’s neighbors was a large Catholic parish,<br />
Saint Paul, whose original membership was primarily of Irish and<br />
German descent. With the rise of integration and shifting urban<br />
demographics, membership at Saint Paul dwindled steadily until<br />
1961, when Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle decreed that the parishes<br />
of Saint Paul and Saint Augustine would be united.<br />
In 1979, the Saints Paul and Augustine parish, through the parish<br />
pastoral council, staff and the Archbishop of Washington, made a<br />
decision to sell the Saint Augustine property at 15th and S Streets.<br />
The old Saint Paul buildings at 15th and V Streets would be<br />
renovated to house the consolidated schools and other ministries<br />
of the parish.<br />
On November 12, 1982, Archbishop James Hickey decreed that<br />
the parish of Saints Paul and Augustine, served by the Church at<br />
15th and V Streets NW, would again be called the parish of Saint<br />
Augustine. With two thousand registered members and three<br />
thousand who call it their home church, Saint Augustine is now<br />
one of the largest parishes in Washington, D.C.<br />
Saint Augustine’s proud history continues. In November 1989<br />
Father John F. Payne, OSA, was ordained and named as the first<br />
African-American associate pastor assigned to the Saint Augustine<br />
Parish. In January 1991 Father Russell L. Dillard was installed as<br />
the first African-American pastor in Saint Augustine’s history.<br />
Father Dillard was elevated to Reverend Monsignor in May 1991.<br />
Father Lowell Case, SSJ, was appointed Pastoral Administrator in<br />
February 2003. On February 5, 2005, Father Patrick Smith was<br />
installed as Pastor of Saint Augustine Parish.<br />
Now in its 150th year, Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church<br />
and its parish continue to grow, learn and rejoice.<br />
After operations were briefly interrupted by the Civil War, a new<br />
church was built and dedicated to Saint Augustine in 1876. The<br />
new church and school were funded in large part by the proceeds<br />
of the Colored American Opera Company. From its beginning,<br />
Saint Augustine’s was the parish of Black Catholics in Washington,<br />
D.C. A tradition of lay efforts and of determination flourished.<br />
14
STRATHMORE HALL<br />
FOUNDATION, INC.<br />
BOARD MEMBERS<br />
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE<br />
Peter Vance Treibley<br />
Chair<br />
Carol A. Trawick<br />
Vice Chair<br />
Jerome W. Breslow, Esq.<br />
Secretary and Parliamentarian<br />
Steven C. Mayer<br />
Treasurer<br />
Caroline Huang McLaughlin<br />
At-Large<br />
Wendy J. Susswein, ex officio<br />
At-Large<br />
BOARD OF DIRECTORS<br />
Paul J. Allen<br />
Joseph F. Beach, ex officio<br />
Richard S. Carter<br />
Meagan T. Campion<br />
Starr G. Ezra<br />
Hon. Nancy Floreen, ex officio<br />
Sol Graham<br />
Nancy Hardwick<br />
Deborah Marriott Harrison<br />
Paul L. Hatchett<br />
Cynthia W. Hu, Esq.<br />
Alexine C. Jackson<br />
Dianne Kay<br />
James F. Mannarino<br />
Alan E. Mowbray<br />
Kenneth O’Brien<br />
Carrie F. Passmore<br />
Lori Riordan<br />
Harold K. Roach, Jr.<br />
William G. Robertson<br />
Gabriel Romero<br />
Mary Kay Shartle-Galotto<br />
Craig A. Snedeker<br />
Annie S. Totah<br />
As of August 2007<br />
<br />
FIRE NOTICE: The exit sign nearest to<br />
your seat is the shortest route to the<br />
street. In the event of fire or other<br />
emergency, please WALK to that exit.<br />
Do not run. In the case of fire, use the<br />
stairs, not the elevators.”<br />
STRATHMORE STAFF<br />
Eliot Pfanstiehl<br />
President and Chief Executive Officer<br />
Mary Kay Almy<br />
Executive Assistant to the President<br />
Monica Jeffries<br />
Executive VP of Administration<br />
Mark Grabowski<br />
Executive VP of Operations<br />
DEVELOPMENT<br />
Mary Kopper<br />
VP of Development<br />
Bianca Beckham<br />
Director of Foundation & Corporate<br />
Relations<br />
Bill Carey<br />
Director of Membership and<br />
Community Relations<br />
Joanne Maitland<br />
Manager of Donor Relations & Research<br />
Julie Hamre<br />
Development Associate<br />
PROGRAMMING<br />
Shelley Brown<br />
VP/Artistic Director<br />
Millie S. Shott<br />
Director of Fine Arts<br />
Marie Suzuki<br />
Manager of Artist Relations<br />
Betty Scott<br />
Education Coordinator<br />
Joy-Leilani Garbutt<br />
Education Coordinator<br />
OPERATIONS<br />
Miriam Teitel<br />
Director of Operations<br />
Allen V. McCallum, Jr.<br />
Director of Patron Services<br />
Jasper Cox<br />
Director of Finance<br />
Mac Campbell<br />
Operations Manager<br />
George Karos<br />
Operations Program Assistant<br />
Veronica Wolf<br />
Operations Assistant<br />
Chadwick Sands<br />
Ticket Office Manager<br />
Hilary White<br />
Assistant Ticket Office Manager<br />
Wil Johnson<br />
Ticket Services Coordinator<br />
Allen C. Clark<br />
Manager of Information Systems<br />
Maryland Lehmann<br />
Mansion Rental Events Manager<br />
Carol Maryman<br />
Mansion Manager<br />
Johnathon Fuentes<br />
Assistant Mansion Manager<br />
Christopher S. Inman<br />
Manager of Security<br />
Tatyana Bychkova<br />
Staff Accountant<br />
Jon Foster<br />
Production Stage Manager<br />
Lyle Jaeger<br />
Lead Lighting Technician<br />
Caldwell Gray<br />
Lead Audio Technician<br />
William Kassman<br />
Lead Stage Technician<br />
Patsy Hobbs<br />
Customer Service Representative<br />
THE SHOPS AT STRATHMORE<br />
Charlene McLelland<br />
Director of Retail<br />
Lorie Wickert<br />
Retail and Systems Manager<br />
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS<br />
Jennifer A. Buzzell<br />
VP of Marketing and Communications<br />
Ana Marisa Schattner<br />
Marketing Manager<br />
Georgina Javor<br />
Manager of Media Relations<br />
Jerry Hasard<br />
Group Sales Manager<br />
LEGAL COUNSEL<br />
Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy<br />
& Ecker, P.A.<br />
STRATHMORE TEA ROOM<br />
Mary Mendoza<br />
Tea Room Manager<br />
SUPPORT STAFF<br />
Gladys Arias<br />
Facility and Program Assistant<br />
As of December 2007<br />
15
SUPPORTERS<br />
Strathmore would like to thank the following individuals for their generous contribution to Strathmore’s first original production,<br />
<strong>Free</strong> to <strong>Sing</strong>: The Story of the First African-American Opera Company:<br />
SPONSOR<br />
Marilyn Funderburk<br />
Fredrika Hill<br />
BENEFIT COMMITTEE<br />
Dr. Carlotta G. Miles, Chairperson<br />
Helen Hopson<br />
Alexine Jackson<br />
Tina Mance-Lee<br />
Effie Macklin<br />
Laura W. Murphy<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Carter<br />
Dr. and Mrs. William W. Funderburk<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Jefferi Lee<br />
DONORS<br />
Leon Foundation,<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Alan Wurtzel<br />
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Macklin<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Theodore A. Miles<br />
Miller & Long, Mr. John M. McMahon<br />
Union Trust Bank,<br />
Mr. Robert L. Johnson<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Danny Bell<br />
The Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation<br />
Ms. Nancy Folger and<br />
Dr. Sidney Werkman<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Goldberg<br />
Drs. David and Lynn McKinley Grant<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Christopher Hopson, Jr.<br />
PATRONS<br />
GBL Sales, Inc.,<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Leftridge<br />
Maryland State Arts Council<br />
Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Roscoe M. Moore<br />
Ms. Laura W. Murphy and<br />
Mr. William G. Psillas<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Peabody<br />
Drs. Edward A. and Frances E. Rankin<br />
Mr. and Mrs. James Scott, Jr.<br />
Mrs. Diana D. Spencer<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Stewart<br />
Mr. Peter Vance Treibley<br />
The Washington Post<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Verl B. Zanders<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene A. Adams<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Asmar<br />
Ms. Candice Bryant<br />
Ms. Elsie Bryant<br />
Carderock Capital Management, Inc.<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Aldus Chapin<br />
Ms. Marilyn G. Charity<br />
Ms. Karen V. Conlan<br />
Cox, Matthews & Associates<br />
Mr. Daba Dabic and<br />
Dr. Daca Marinac-Dabic<br />
Ms. Jane H. Davenport<br />
Ms. Lorethea Davis<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Jeff D. Donohoe<br />
Mr. and Mrs. William Luke England<br />
Mr. and Mrs. James Fitzpatrick<br />
The Gannett Foundation<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Shelford Gilliam<br />
Robert & Mary Haft Foundation<br />
The Harbor Bank of Maryland<br />
Ms. Vera W. Harris<br />
Mr. and Mrs. George W. Haywood<br />
Mr. and Mrs. David Hill<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Dulany Hill<br />
GENERAL COMMITTEE<br />
The Honorable Rodney E. Hood<br />
Christopher Hopson III, Esq.<br />
Dr. Leslie Hopson<br />
Mr. and Mrs. James L. Hudson<br />
Dr. Marion Hull<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Aaron G. Jackson<br />
Drs. Jonathan and Marcia Javitt<br />
Mr. and Mrs. G. <strong>Free</strong>born Jewett<br />
Mr. and Mrs. George Joiner<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel A. Kane<br />
Rev. and Mrs. Donald Kelly<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Jasper S. Lawhon<br />
Mr. Bertram M. Lee, Jr.<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Scott A. Logan<br />
Mr. Jamil Macklin<br />
Ms. Jillian Macklin<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Wendell Miles<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Navies<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Walton D. Pearson<br />
Mrs. Harry C. Press<br />
Drs. Joseph and Eleanor Quash<br />
Dr. Raymond Ransom<br />
Ms. Madeline M. Rabb<br />
Mrs. Verna C. Robinson<br />
Ms. Deborah Royster<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Everett Santos<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Donald Sewell<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Robert Simmons<br />
Bruce Sklarew and Margot Meyers<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Skehan<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Ramael Slater<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Clifton Slay<br />
Mr. and Mrs. J. Clay Smith<br />
Ms. Kathryn Smith<br />
Ms. Gloria Sorrell<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Stillman<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Walter L. Threadgill<br />
Mr. Spiros Voyadzis<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Ronald W. Walters<br />
Dr. and Mrs. Horace Ward, Jr.<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Donald T. Washington<br />
Ms. Lenda Penn Washington<br />
Dr. Hattie N. Washington<br />
Ms. Angela Robinson Weatherspoon,<br />
Artpeace Gallery<br />
The Honorable and Mrs. Paul R. Webber<br />
The Honorable and Mrs. Togo D. West<br />
*As of January 28, 2008