Christine Brewer, soprano

with Peter Henderson, piano

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 • 7:30 p.m.

Maryville University Auditorium

Free admission • Donations gratefully accepted

Campus guests must:

• • Complete Maryville’s online health screening on the day of your campus visit.
  • Wear a mask at all times, while indoors on campus.
  • Sign in on paper when entering the Maryville University Auditorium, providing your name, phone number, and email address.

Click here to register for the realtime-only livestream of this concert

Grammy Award-winning American soprano Christine Brewer’s appearances in opera, concert, and recital are marked by her own unique timbre, at once warm and brilliant, combined with a vibrant personality and emotional honesty reminiscent of the great sopranos of the past. Named one of the top 20 sopranos of all time (BBC Music), her range, golden tone, boundless power, and control make her a favorite of the stage and a highly sought-after recording artist, one who is “in her prime and sounding glorious” (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times).

On the opera stage, Brewer is highly regarded for her striking portrayal of the title role in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, which she has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Lyon, Théatre du Châtelet, Santa Fe Opera, English National Opera, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Attracting glowing reviews with each role, she has performed Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at San Francisco Opera, Gluck’s Alceste with Santa Fe Opera, the Dyer’s Wife in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Paris Opera, and Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring at Santa Fe Opera and the Los Angeles Opera. She created the role of Sister Aloysius in the world premiere of Doug Cuomo’s opera Doubt with the Minnesota Opera in 2013 and reprised the role in 2016 with the Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis.

Ms. Brewer began the 2017/2018 season with Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 conducted by Michael Sanderling to open the Dresden Philharmonic’s season. She sang the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Kentucky Opera before returning to the St. Louis Symphony for Berg’s Seven Early Songs led by David Robertson. She sang Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Symphony NH, Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and scenes from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with the Jacksonville Symphony led by Courtney Lewis. During the summer of 2017 she sang Lady Billows in Albert Herring for Union Avenue Opera and Act II from Die Walküre with baritone Alan Held for the Miami Music Festival.

Ms. Brewer continues her work with the Marissa, Illinois 6th graders in a program called Opera-tunities, which is now in its 14th year. She also works with the voice students at Webster University. On April 29, 2015, Christine Brewer joined 140 other notable celebrities receiving a bronze star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Brewer’s discography includes over 25 recordings. Her most recent recording, Divine Redeemer on Naxos, contains selections performed with concert organist Paul Jacobs.

PROGRAM

English translations of the German texts

RICHARD STRAUSS (1864 – 1949)

• • • Ich liebe dich (I Love You) (text: Detlev von Liliencron)
    • Breit’ über mein Haupt dein schwarzes Haar (Unbind Your Black Hair), op. 19 no. 2 (text: Adolf Friedrich, Graf von Schack)
    • Wiegenlied (Lullaby), op. 41 no. 1 (text: Richard Dehmel)
    • Allerseelen (All Souls’ Day), op. 10 no. 8 (text: Hermann von Gilm)
    • Zueignung (Dedication), op. 10 no. 1 (text: Hermann von Gilm)

JOSEPH MARX (1882 – 1964)

• • • Selige Nacht (Blissful Night!) (text: Otto Erich Hartleben)
    • Marienlied (Song to Mary) (text: Novalis)
    • Hat dich die Liebe berührt (If Love Has Touched You) (text: Paul Heyse)

INTERMISSION (ca. 10 minutes)

HAROLD ARLEN (1905 – 1986)

• • • Come Rain or Come Shine (from the musical production St. Louis Woman; lyrics: Johnny Mercer)
    • I Had Myself a True Love (from St. Louis Woman; lyrics: Johnny Mercer)
    • Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe (from the motion picture Cabin in the Sky; lyrics: Yip Harburg)
    • Somewhere Over the Rainbow (from the motion picture The Wizard of Oz; lyrics: Yip Harburg; arr. Randy Kerber)

CELIUS DOUGHERTY (1902 – 1986)

• • • Review (The words of this song were excerpted, adapted, and paraphrased from published reviews of concert performances.)

FRANK BRIDGE (1879 – 1941)

• • • Love went A-Riding (text: Mary E. Coleridge)

ERNEST CHARLES (1895 – 1984)

• • • When I Have Sung My Songs (text: Ernest Charles)

Titus Underwood, oboe

Artina McCain, piano

and the IMI Chamber Players

Sunday, February 20, 2022 • 3:00 p.m.

Maryville University Auditorium

Free admission • Donations gratefully accepted

Campus guests must:

• Complete Maryville’s online health screening on the day of your campus visit.
• Wear a mask at all times, while indoors on campus.
• Sign in on paper when entering the Maryville University Auditorium, providing your name, phone number, and email address.

Click here to register for the realtime-only livestream of this concert

The Intercultural Music Initiative (IMI) is collaborating with Maryville University to present a Black History Month concert of music by BIPOC composers. The concert will take place Sunday, February 20 at 3:00 p.m. in the Maryville University Auditorium, with a pre-concert Q&A at 2:30 p.m. featuring a showing of the short film, “A Tale of Two Tails.”

Guest artists include oboist Titus Underwood, pianist Artina McCain along with members of the IMI Chamber Players woodwind quintet.

Musical selections will include:

• Passion Medley by Joseph Joubert
• Tumbao by Tania Leon
• I Wouldn’t Normally Say by Wallen
• Pan Con Timba by Aldo Lopez Gavilan
• Suite for Flute and Oboe by Ulysses Kay
• Aires Tropicales by Paquito D’Rivera
• Startin’ Sumthin’ by Jeff Scott
• Six Sketches for Oboes and Piano by Fred Onovwerosuoke
• Three Romances for Oboe and Piano by Clara Schumann

IMI has its roots in St. Louis since 1994, with a programming mission always rooted in promoting cultural diversity. The IMI Chamber Music Concert Series integrates new and unfamiliar musical works into the existing performance repertoire and partners with a growing community of interculturally minded artists and educators from around the globe. Our local ensemble, IMI Chamber Players has a mixed instrumentation for regular features on our St. Louis concert series and in performances across the U.S. and internationally. These artists are all top-notch musicians known for their passion for performing chamber music by lesser-known composers, particularly those of African descent and other racial minorities.

Titus Underwood, Principal Oboe of the Nashville Symphony, is the first Black tenured principal oboist with a major U.S. symphony, Nashville Symphony Orchestra. A renowned artist, Titus has been honored as one of three recipients of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence awards and most recently was awarded the 2021 Midsouth Regional Emmy® for ‘We Are Nashville’. The collective of his experiences enthuses him to create content that reimagines the aesthetics and presentations of classical music. A leader in the movement for inclusion in the field of classical music, Titus is often invited to perform, as well as teach, speak, and write about change and innovation in the field. Titus also produced the viral video, “Lift Every Voice” which reached over 1 million views in one week. His latest project was a short film he directed entitled “A Tale of Two Tails”. (The story of one man navigating his existence as both a Black man and classical musician. It is a call to action for all creatives, affirming there can be innovation from disruption.)

Described as a pianist with “power and finesse” (Dallas Arts Society), “beautiful and fiery” (KMFA Austin) and having a “sense of color, balance and texture” (Austin Chamber Music Center) pianist Artina McCain has a built a three-fold career as a performer, educator and speaker also dedicated to promoting the works of Black and other underrepresented composers. Recent performance highlights include guest appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Oregon East Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist, her credits include performances at the Mahidol University in Bangkok, Hatch Recital Hall in Rochester, Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, FL and the Desoto Arts Commission in Desoto, TX. In 2022 (February 5), she will have her debut at Wigmore Hall in London performing the works of Fred Onovwerosuoke.

The featured members of the IMI Chamber Players woodwind quintet are Wendy Hymes, flute; Carrie Smith, oboe; Mary Bryant, clarinet; Hank Skolnick, bassoon; and Tricia Jöstlein, french horn.

As Gary Scott of St. Louis Magazine remarked, “IMI [Intercultural Music Initiative] is a new series of concerts, which works to build bridges of true understanding and cooperation between cultures…” During the past two years when live concerts weren’t possible, IMI presented free virtual concerts including a 7-part concert series to celebrate the centennial of noted Ghanaian composer and musicologist J.H. Kwabena Nketia, reaching tens of thousands of audience members worldwide.

Web: www.imusici.net
Social media contacts:

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/interculturalmusicinitiative
• Twitter: @AMAInc1
• YouTube Channel: IMI Artists

Ich liebe dich (I Love You)

Text: Detlev von Liliencron (1844 – 1909)

Four noble horses
Draw our carriage,
We live in the castle
Proud and content.
The rays of dawn
And the lightning at night,
Everything that they shine on
Belongs to us.

And though you roam the land,
Abandoned and banished:
I shall walk through the streets with you
In poverty and shame!
Our hands will bleed,
Our feet be sore,
Four pitiless walls,
Not a dog will know us.

When your silver-edged coffin
Stands at the altar,
They must lay me
Beside you on the bier.
Whether you die on the heath
Or die in distress,
I’ll draw my dagger
And join you in death!

Breit’ über mein Haupt dein schwarzes Haar (Unbind Your Black Hair)

Text: Adolf Friedrich, Graf von Schack (1815 – 1894)

Unbind your black hair right over my head,
Incline to me your face!
Then clearly and brightly into my soul
The light of your eyes will stream.

I want neither the glory of the sun above
Nor the gleaming garland of stars,
All I want are your black tresses
And the radiance of your eyes.

Wiegenlied (Lullaby)

Text: Richard Dehmel (1863 – 1920)

Dream, dream, my dear one,
of the heaven that brings flowers.
Shimmering there are blossoms that are
the song that your mother is singing.

Dream, dream, bud of my worries,
of the day the flower bloomed;
of the bright morning of blossoming,
when your little soul opened up to the world.

Dream, dream, blossom of my love,
of the quiet, of the holy night
when the flower of his love
made this world a heaven for me.

Allerseelen (All Souls’ Day)

Text: Hermann von Gilm (1812 – 1864)

Set on the table the fragrant mignonettes,
Bring in the last of the red asters,
And let us talk of love again
As once in May.

Give me your hand to press in secret,
And if people see, I do not care,
Give me but one of your sweet glances
As once in May.

Each grave today has flowers and is fragrant,
One day each year is devoted to the dead;
Come to my heart and so be mine again,
As once in May.

Zueignung (Dedication)

Text: Hermann von Gilm

Ah, you know, sweet, all my anguish,
In your absence, how I languish
Love brings sorrow to the heart!
Thanks, sweet heart!

Once, when merry songs were ringing
I to liberty was drinking,
You a blessing did impart.
Thanks, sweet heart!

You did lay those wanton spirits;
Comfort, peace my soul inherits,
Joy and bliss shall your love impart.
Thanks, sweet heart!

Selige Nacht (Blissful Night!)

Text: Otto Erich Hartleben (1864 – 1905)

In love’s arms we fell blissfully asleep.
The summer wind listened at the open window,
and carried the peace of our breathing
out into the moon-bright night. —

And from the garden a scent of roses
came timidly to our bed of love
and gave us wonderful dreams,
ecstatic dreams — so rich in longing!

Marienlied (Song to Mary)

Text: Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg; 1772 – 1801)

In a thousand images I see you,
Mary, lovingly depicted.
But none of them can portray you
Quite like my soul beholds you.

I only know that, ever since that time,
The turmoils of this world have drifted away like a dream,
And that a sweet and unimaginable heaven
Remains forever in my thoughts.

Hat dich die Liebe berührt (If Love Has Touched You)

Text: Paul Heyse (1830 – 1914)

If love has touched you,
Then quietly among the noisy throng
You walk in a golden cloud,
Led safely by a god

As if lost, you let your gaze
Stray about,
You do not begrudge others their joys,
You only yearn for one thing.

Timidly withdrawn into yourself in rapture,
You vainly try to conceal
That now the crown of life
Glowingly adorns your brow. adorns your brow.

This link is to Maryville University’s official campus map. The University Auditorium is in Building #2 on that map.

Maryville’s official Campus Parking Map is available here.

In case you want to use a navigation app, the precise address of the Maryville University Auditorium is 630 Maryville University Drive; Saint Louis, MO 63141. When traveling to our West County Main Campus, the Conway Rd. entrance is the easiest one to negotiate. To reach the University Auditorium, travel on I-64/Hwy. 40 toward Hwy. 141, then take the exit for Hwy. 141 N. Travel ca. 1/4-mile north on Hwy. 141, then turn right on Conway Rd. After a few hundred yards, enter the campus to the right at the sign. Take the winding drive uphill. When you reach the stop sign at Campus Circle Drive, turn right.

We suggest you park in either Lot #7 or Lot #6 on the Campus Parking Map. There will likely be spaces available when you arrive; both lots are convenient to the Auditorium. We recommend avoiding a designated Visitor parking space.

Our music performance space, the University Auditorium, occupies the entire second (top) floor of the University Auditorium building. After entering the building on the ground floor, either take the elevator visible on your left to the second floor and then walk back toward the University Auditorium building entrance (now up one floor); or ascend the staircase to Pfaff Lobby, an open atrium in front of the University Auditorium’s entrance.

Here are two videos showing how to reach the University Auditorium from the building’s entrance at 630 Maryville University Drive:

• Using the elevator
• Using the stairs