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Maryville Music at Maryville

Christine Brewer, soprano (Feb. 9 @ 7:30 p.m.)

Christine Brewer, soprano

with Peter Henderson, piano

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 • 7:30 p.m.
Maryville University Auditorium
Free admission • Donations gratefully accepted
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Christine Brewer, soprano

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)