Cantabile invites you to join us for Schubert & Freunde, a performance in honor of the 200th anniversary of Franz Schubert’s Mass in G Major, along with select pieces from other German masters.
Don’t miss Cantabile on CPR’s Colorado Spotlight on Thursday, April 30th, at 7:00 pm. Charley Samson will play a recording of Cantabile performing music by Ralph Vaughan Williams with violist Geraldine Walther of the Takacs Quartet.
Exquisitely composed for strings, organ, and choir, the Mass in G is an exploration of Schubert’s own religion and philosophy at the age of 18. The Mass will be paired with pieces from Schubert’s fellow German composers:
- Alleluja from Lobet den Herrn by J.S. Bach
- Elegischer Gesang by Beethoven
- Two sacred partsongs by Mendelssohn
- Himmel Strahlt from Vier Zigeunerlieder by Brahms
Three outstanding soloists will join Cantabile for this performance.
Soprano Emily Murdock is a versatile performer whose performances “resonate well with the audience” (Opera News). She has sung with PORTopera, Opera in the Ozarks, the Boulder Fringe Festival, Pine Mountain Music Festival, Opera Colorado, and regularly performs with the Central City Opera Ensemble.
Emily is one half of the ensemble Liria Duo with pianist Sara Parkinson. Liria Duo released an album of songs by Libby Larsen in 2013 called Songs of Her Self. The duo spent three years working closely with the composer on this premiere recording.
Emily has appeared as a soloist with several regional orchestral and choral organizations in the Rocky Mountains. She has also been successful in many multi-round competitions, singing in the National Semi-Finals of the NATS Artist Award recital competition, the National Finals of the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition, the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition Finals, and the Regional Round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Emily received her Master of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice and Flute Performance from the University of Montana. She is a native of Whitefish, Montana, and currently resides with her husband, pianist/coach/conductor Steven Aguiló-Arbues near Denver, Colorado.
Tenor Paul Thompson is pursuing his DMA in Choral Conducting and Repertoire at CU-Boulder, where his TA duties include directing two vocal jazz ensembles, working with several choirs, and assisting in the teaching of undergraduate conducting.
As a singer, Paul has received honors, including the 2008 UW-Milwaukee Concerto and Aria competition and taking first place at the Wisconsin NATS competition as a college senior in 2005. He has appeared as a soloist with the Green Lake Festival, the Fond du Lac Summer Music Festival, the South Shore Chorale, and the Fond du Lac Chamber Singers. Paul also performs regularly with the East Side Chamber Players, a group of young professional musicians from the Milwaukee area who perform concerts of chamber works throughout the Midwest. In addition, Paul has appeared as a guest artist with Vocal Tapestry, the UW-Milwaukee Universtiy Community Orchestra, Present Music in Milwaukee, and as a performer on the Yolanda Marculescu Vocal Arts Series.
Paul comes to Colorado from Wisconsin, where he was a member of the choral faculty at UW-Milwaukee, directing the University Choir, the Men’s Chorus, and teaching voice classes. Prior to this, Paul was on faculty at UW-Manitowoc. Paul holds a masters of music in choral conducting from UW-Milwaukee, and a bachelors of music in voice from Marian University in Fond du Lac. He has been director of vocal music and jazz studies at St. Mary’s Springs High School in Fond du Lac, WI, where he directed the Concert Choir, Vocal Jazz ensembles, Madrigal Singers, Music Liturgy Ensemble, and the Jazz Band. He has also directed church music for a number of years and was most recently the director of choirs at Mt. Zion Lutheran church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Paul was also the music director at Maximillians in Mt. Calvary, WI, where he is instrumental in the production of two professional music reviews each year, and has prepared singers for performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Bob McGrath of Sesame Street.
Baritone Adam Ewing, a native of Hiawatha, KS, has gratefully settled along Colorado’s Front Range. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance at CU-Boulder, where he studies with Patrick Mason. In addition to accompanying and teaching voice, Ewing has appeared as Sondheim (Side by Side by Sondheim), John Brooke (Little Women), Gianni Schicchi, the Count (cover, Le nozze di Figaro), Man 2 (Songs for a New World), Miles Gloriosus (A Funny Thing…Forum), and Schroeder (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown), among others. He also performs with Central City Opera’s Education and Community Engagement ensemble. Perhaps his most fitting role, both vocally and dramatically, was the Celebrant in the CU Opera Theater production of Bernstein’s Mass.
In addition to dramatic works, Ewing is an avid performer of art song. Last summer he was one of six singers chosen for the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar where he studied with Stephanie Blythe and Alan Smith. He also spent a month in Canada as a student at the Vancouver International Song Institute, an intensive summer program for singers and pianists focusing on art song, particularly French repertoire and the songs of Schubert. While there, he discovered his love for the beaches of the Pacific Northwest and affirmed his fondness for sushi and fish and chips. Ewing enjoys singing contemporary American art song as well, working with both student composers and celebrated masters. He has sung in masterclasses and recitals for Roger Vignoles, William Bolcom, Lori Laitman, Jake Heggie, Bob Spillman, and Libby Larsen.
Ewing is a founding member of the choral groups An die Musik and Vox Reflexa, and a past member of the Missouri Music Educators National Conference, the Indiana University student chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national men’s music fraternity.
Performances
Friday May 1st 2015 7:30 pm
Mount Calvary Lutheran Church
3485 Stanford Ct Boulder
Sunday May 3rd 2015 2:00 pm
Mountain View United Methodist Church
355 Ponca Place Boulder