Journey of Seasons
PROGRAM NOTES
Project Leader: Rose Hegele
Music by: Andrew List
Texts by: May Sarton
Performers:
Rose Hegele, soprano
Emerald Barbour, alto
Kartik Ayysola, tenor
Nick Fahrenkrug, bass
Walter Yee, clarinet
Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano
A pre-concert talk will be given by Dr. Ivy Schweitzer.
"Journey of Seasons is a thirty-minute song cycle for vocal quartet, clarinet and piano on the poetry of May Sarton. A very creative fertile writer, May Sarton wrote numerous novels and book of poetry. She began writing in her teenage years and worked well into her 80’s. Journey of Seasons explores many facets of the human experience. These songs address relationships with her mother, her lovers, ageing and most importantly with herself through the metaphor of nature and the garden." —Andrew List (composer of Journey of Seasons)
TEXTS
1. Now I Become Myself
Now I become myself. It's taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
"Hurry, you will be dead before--"
(What? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!
The black shadow on the paper
Is my hand; the shadow of a word
As thought shapes the shaper
Falls heavy on the page, is heard.
All fuses now, falls into place
From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face
Gathered into one intense
Gesture of growing like a plant.
As slowly as the ripening fruit
Fertile, detached, and always spent,
Falls but does not exhaust the root,
So all the poem is, can give,
Grows in me to become the song,
Made so and rooted by love.
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move.
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun!
Music by: Andrew List
Texts by: May Sarton
Performers:
Rose Hegele, soprano
Emerald Barbour, alto
Kartik Ayysola, tenor
Nick Fahrenkrug, bass
Walter Yee, clarinet
Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano
A pre-concert talk will be given by Dr. Ivy Schweitzer.
"Journey of Seasons is a thirty-minute song cycle for vocal quartet, clarinet and piano on the poetry of May Sarton. A very creative fertile writer, May Sarton wrote numerous novels and book of poetry. She began writing in her teenage years and worked well into her 80’s. Journey of Seasons explores many facets of the human experience. These songs address relationships with her mother, her lovers, ageing and most importantly with herself through the metaphor of nature and the garden." —Andrew List (composer of Journey of Seasons)
TEXTS
1. Now I Become Myself
Now I become myself. It's taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
"Hurry, you will be dead before--"
(What? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!
The black shadow on the paper
Is my hand; the shadow of a word
As thought shapes the shaper
Falls heavy on the page, is heard.
All fuses now, falls into place
From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face
Gathered into one intense
Gesture of growing like a plant.
As slowly as the ripening fruit
Fertile, detached, and always spent,
Falls but does not exhaust the root,
So all the poem is, can give,
Grows in me to become the song,
Made so and rooted by love.
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move.
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun!
2. After A Winters Silence
Along the terrace wall
Snowdrops have pushed through
hard ice, making a pool.
Delicate stems now show
White bells as though
The force, the thrust to flower
Were nothing at all.
Who gives them the power?
After a winter’s silence
I feel the shock of spring.
My breath warms like the sun,
Melts ice, bursts into song,
So when that inner one
Gives life back the power
To rise up and push through,
There’s nothing to it.
We simply have to do it,
As snowdrops know
When snowdrops flower.
3. After A Train Journey
My eyes are full of rivers and trees tonight,
The clear water’s sprung in the green,
The swan’s neck flashing in sunlight,
The trees laced dark, the tiny unknown flowers,
Skies never still, shining and darkening the hours.
How can I tell you all that I have been?
My thoughts are rooted with the trees,
My thoughts flow with the stream.
They flow and are arrested as a frieze,
How can I answer now or tell my dreams?
How can I tell you what is far and what is
near? Only the river, tree and swan are here.
Even at the slow rising of the full moon,
That delicate disturber of the soul,
I am so drenched in rivers and in trees,
I cannot speak. I have nothing to tell,
Except that I must learn of this pure solitude
All that I am and might be, root and bone,
Flowing and still and beautiful and good,
Now I am almost earth and almost whole.
4. Metamorphosis
"If one looks long enough at almost anything, looks with absolute attention at a flower, a stone, the bark of a tree, grass, snow, a cloud, something like revelation takes place. Something is "given," and perhaps that something is always a reality outside the self. We are aware of God only when we cease to be aware of ourselves, not in the negative sense of denying the self, but in the sense of losing self in admiration and joy.” —May Sarton (Journal of a Solitude)
. . .
Always it happens when we are not there--
The tree leaps up alive into the air,
Small open parasols of Chartreuse green
Wave on each twig. But who has ever seen
The latch sprung, the bud as it burst?
Spring always manages to get there first.
Lovers of wind, who will have been aware
Of a faint stirring in the empty air,
Look up one day through a dissolving screen
To find no star, but this multiplied green,
Shadow on shadow, singing sweet and clear.
Listen, lovers of wind, the leaves are here!
5. Eine Kleine Snailmusik
"The snail watchers are interested in snails from all angles...At the moment they are investigating the snail's reaction to music. 'We have played to them on the harp in the garden, in the country on the pipe,' said Mr. Heaton, 'and we have taken them into the house and played to them on the piano.'" —The London Star
. . .
What soothes the angry snail?
What's music to his horn?
For the "Sonata Appassionata,"
He shows scorn,
And Handel
Makes the frail snail
quail,
While Prokofieff
Gets no laugh,
And Tchaikovsky, I fear,
No tear.
Piano, pipe, and harp,
Dulcet or shrill,
Flat or sharp,
Indoors or in the garden,
Are willy-nilly
Silly
To the reserved, slow,
Sensitive Snail,
who prefers to live
Glissandissimo, Pianissimo.
END OF FIRST SET
6. The Shirley Poppies
“Every flower holds the whole mystery in its short cycle, and in the garden we are never far away from death, the fertilizing, good, creative death.” —May Sarton (Journal of a Solitude)
. . .
No magician pulling a silk kerchief
Out of a thimble could do so well.
The Shirley poppies cast off their hair caps
And hang, still pleated
Like Fortuny dresses,
Then suddenly open.
Such an explosion
And so silent!
Moth might envy the texture,
Between paper and silk,
And butterflies applaud
The pristine tissue:
Bees are entranced
By trembling gold, that crown
Of stamens like antennae.
Round the hard striped seed
Was there ever a flower so alive?
I go out early
To pick all that have opened
Then burn each stem-end with a match
To make it last at least one summer day.
But always the petals plop down
And lie like fallen wings
Before I have had my fill
Of red and frilled pink and white.
It has been a summer of staying poppies...
And now their magic is over,
And my obsession.
7. An Observation
True gardeners cannot bear a glove
Between the sure touch and the tender root,
Must let their hands grow knotted as they
move, With a rough sensitivity about
Under the earth, between the rock and shoot,
Never to bruise or wound the hidden fruit.
And so I watched my mother's hands grow
scarred, She who could heal the wounded
plant or friend With the same vulnerable yet
rigorous love; I minded once to see her
beauty gnarled, But now her truth is given
me to live, As I learn for myself we must be
hard To move among the tender with an
open hand, And to stay sensitive up to the
end Pay with some toughness for a gentle
world.
8. The Image is a Garden
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” —May Sarton
. . .
My image is a garden in the autumn,
A tangle of late asters, unpruned roses,
Some to be frost-killed, others still to open.
Some failures visible, some wild successes.
The rich disorder sprang from a design
But who can hold full summer to a line?
We have what was planned, and
something more, We have what was planned
and something less.
Salvage, invent, re-think and re-explore
The garden-child and the child-wilderness-
Each day I recognize their fealty
To that self whom I slowly learn to free.
This self has lately come to solitude
Who long demanded love as source and
prime. Now the wild garden and the ragged
wood, And the uncharted winter’s fallow time
Become the source and true reservoir:
Look for my love in the autumnal flower.
9. All Day I Was With Trees
Across wild country on solitary roads
Within a fugue of parting, I was consoled
By birches sovereign whiteness in sad
woods, Dark glow of pines, a single elm's
distinction -
I was consoled by trees.
In February we see the structure change
Or the light change, and so the way we see it.
Tensile and delicate, the trees stand now
Against the early skies, the frail fresh blue,
In an attentive stillness.
Naked, the trees are singularly present,
Although their secret force is locked in
Who could believe that the new sap is rising
And soon we shall draw up amazing
sweetness From stark maples??
All day I was with trees, a fugue of parting,
All day I lived in long cycles, not brief hours.
A tenderness of light before new falls of
snow Lay on the barren landscape like a new
promise. Love nourished every vein.
10. A Farewell
“I loved them in the way one loves at any age — if it’s real at all — obsessively, painfully, with wild exaltation, with guilt, with conflict; I wrote poems to and about them; I put them into novels (disguised of course); I brooded upon why they were as they were, so often maddening, don't you know? I wrote them ridiculous letters. I lived with their faces. I knew their every gesture by heart. I stalked them like wild animals. I studied them as if they were maps of the world — and in a way, I suppose they were."
. . .
For a while I shall still be leaving,
Looking back at you as you slip away
Into the magic islands of the mind.
But for a while now all alive, believing
That in a single poignant hour
We did say all that we could ever say
In a great flowing out of radiant power.
It was like seeing and then going blind.
After a while we shall be cut in two
Between real islands where you live
And a far shore where I'll no longer keep
The haunting image of your eyes, and you,
As pupils widen, widen to deep black
And I am able neither to love or grieve
Between fulfillment and heartbreak.
The time will come when I can go to sleep.
But for a while still, centered at last,
Contemplate a brief amazing union,
Then watch you leave and then let you go.
I must not go back to the murderous past
Nor force a passage through to some safe
landing,
But float upon this moment of communion
Entranced, astonished by pure
understanding--
Passionate love dissolved like summer snow.
11. The Phoenix Again
On the ashes of this nest
Love wove with deathly fire
The phoenix takes its rest
Forgetting all desire.
After the flame, a pause,
After the pain, rebirth.
Obeying nature's laws
The phoenix goes to earth.
You cannot call it old
You cannot call it young.
No phoenix can be told,
This is the end of the song.
It struggles now alone
Against death and self-doubt,
But underneath the bone
The wings are pushing out.
And one cold starry night
Whatever your belief
The phoenix will take flight
Over the seas of grief
To sing her thrilling song
To stars and waves and sky
For neither old nor young
The phoenix does not die.
END OF CONCERT
Along the terrace wall
Snowdrops have pushed through
hard ice, making a pool.
Delicate stems now show
White bells as though
The force, the thrust to flower
Were nothing at all.
Who gives them the power?
After a winter’s silence
I feel the shock of spring.
My breath warms like the sun,
Melts ice, bursts into song,
So when that inner one
Gives life back the power
To rise up and push through,
There’s nothing to it.
We simply have to do it,
As snowdrops know
When snowdrops flower.
3. After A Train Journey
My eyes are full of rivers and trees tonight,
The clear water’s sprung in the green,
The swan’s neck flashing in sunlight,
The trees laced dark, the tiny unknown flowers,
Skies never still, shining and darkening the hours.
How can I tell you all that I have been?
My thoughts are rooted with the trees,
My thoughts flow with the stream.
They flow and are arrested as a frieze,
How can I answer now or tell my dreams?
How can I tell you what is far and what is
near? Only the river, tree and swan are here.
Even at the slow rising of the full moon,
That delicate disturber of the soul,
I am so drenched in rivers and in trees,
I cannot speak. I have nothing to tell,
Except that I must learn of this pure solitude
All that I am and might be, root and bone,
Flowing and still and beautiful and good,
Now I am almost earth and almost whole.
4. Metamorphosis
"If one looks long enough at almost anything, looks with absolute attention at a flower, a stone, the bark of a tree, grass, snow, a cloud, something like revelation takes place. Something is "given," and perhaps that something is always a reality outside the self. We are aware of God only when we cease to be aware of ourselves, not in the negative sense of denying the self, but in the sense of losing self in admiration and joy.” —May Sarton (Journal of a Solitude)
. . .
Always it happens when we are not there--
The tree leaps up alive into the air,
Small open parasols of Chartreuse green
Wave on each twig. But who has ever seen
The latch sprung, the bud as it burst?
Spring always manages to get there first.
Lovers of wind, who will have been aware
Of a faint stirring in the empty air,
Look up one day through a dissolving screen
To find no star, but this multiplied green,
Shadow on shadow, singing sweet and clear.
Listen, lovers of wind, the leaves are here!
5. Eine Kleine Snailmusik
"The snail watchers are interested in snails from all angles...At the moment they are investigating the snail's reaction to music. 'We have played to them on the harp in the garden, in the country on the pipe,' said Mr. Heaton, 'and we have taken them into the house and played to them on the piano.'" —The London Star
. . .
What soothes the angry snail?
What's music to his horn?
For the "Sonata Appassionata,"
He shows scorn,
And Handel
Makes the frail snail
quail,
While Prokofieff
Gets no laugh,
And Tchaikovsky, I fear,
No tear.
Piano, pipe, and harp,
Dulcet or shrill,
Flat or sharp,
Indoors or in the garden,
Are willy-nilly
Silly
To the reserved, slow,
Sensitive Snail,
who prefers to live
Glissandissimo, Pianissimo.
END OF FIRST SET
6. The Shirley Poppies
“Every flower holds the whole mystery in its short cycle, and in the garden we are never far away from death, the fertilizing, good, creative death.” —May Sarton (Journal of a Solitude)
. . .
No magician pulling a silk kerchief
Out of a thimble could do so well.
The Shirley poppies cast off their hair caps
And hang, still pleated
Like Fortuny dresses,
Then suddenly open.
Such an explosion
And so silent!
Moth might envy the texture,
Between paper and silk,
And butterflies applaud
The pristine tissue:
Bees are entranced
By trembling gold, that crown
Of stamens like antennae.
Round the hard striped seed
Was there ever a flower so alive?
I go out early
To pick all that have opened
Then burn each stem-end with a match
To make it last at least one summer day.
But always the petals plop down
And lie like fallen wings
Before I have had my fill
Of red and frilled pink and white.
It has been a summer of staying poppies...
And now their magic is over,
And my obsession.
7. An Observation
True gardeners cannot bear a glove
Between the sure touch and the tender root,
Must let their hands grow knotted as they
move, With a rough sensitivity about
Under the earth, between the rock and shoot,
Never to bruise or wound the hidden fruit.
And so I watched my mother's hands grow
scarred, She who could heal the wounded
plant or friend With the same vulnerable yet
rigorous love; I minded once to see her
beauty gnarled, But now her truth is given
me to live, As I learn for myself we must be
hard To move among the tender with an
open hand, And to stay sensitive up to the
end Pay with some toughness for a gentle
world.
8. The Image is a Garden
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” —May Sarton
. . .
My image is a garden in the autumn,
A tangle of late asters, unpruned roses,
Some to be frost-killed, others still to open.
Some failures visible, some wild successes.
The rich disorder sprang from a design
But who can hold full summer to a line?
We have what was planned, and
something more, We have what was planned
and something less.
Salvage, invent, re-think and re-explore
The garden-child and the child-wilderness-
Each day I recognize their fealty
To that self whom I slowly learn to free.
This self has lately come to solitude
Who long demanded love as source and
prime. Now the wild garden and the ragged
wood, And the uncharted winter’s fallow time
Become the source and true reservoir:
Look for my love in the autumnal flower.
9. All Day I Was With Trees
Across wild country on solitary roads
Within a fugue of parting, I was consoled
By birches sovereign whiteness in sad
woods, Dark glow of pines, a single elm's
distinction -
I was consoled by trees.
In February we see the structure change
Or the light change, and so the way we see it.
Tensile and delicate, the trees stand now
Against the early skies, the frail fresh blue,
In an attentive stillness.
Naked, the trees are singularly present,
Although their secret force is locked in
Who could believe that the new sap is rising
And soon we shall draw up amazing
sweetness From stark maples??
All day I was with trees, a fugue of parting,
All day I lived in long cycles, not brief hours.
A tenderness of light before new falls of
snow Lay on the barren landscape like a new
promise. Love nourished every vein.
10. A Farewell
“I loved them in the way one loves at any age — if it’s real at all — obsessively, painfully, with wild exaltation, with guilt, with conflict; I wrote poems to and about them; I put them into novels (disguised of course); I brooded upon why they were as they were, so often maddening, don't you know? I wrote them ridiculous letters. I lived with their faces. I knew their every gesture by heart. I stalked them like wild animals. I studied them as if they were maps of the world — and in a way, I suppose they were."
. . .
For a while I shall still be leaving,
Looking back at you as you slip away
Into the magic islands of the mind.
But for a while now all alive, believing
That in a single poignant hour
We did say all that we could ever say
In a great flowing out of radiant power.
It was like seeing and then going blind.
After a while we shall be cut in two
Between real islands where you live
And a far shore where I'll no longer keep
The haunting image of your eyes, and you,
As pupils widen, widen to deep black
And I am able neither to love or grieve
Between fulfillment and heartbreak.
The time will come when I can go to sleep.
But for a while still, centered at last,
Contemplate a brief amazing union,
Then watch you leave and then let you go.
I must not go back to the murderous past
Nor force a passage through to some safe
landing,
But float upon this moment of communion
Entranced, astonished by pure
understanding--
Passionate love dissolved like summer snow.
11. The Phoenix Again
On the ashes of this nest
Love wove with deathly fire
The phoenix takes its rest
Forgetting all desire.
After the flame, a pause,
After the pain, rebirth.
Obeying nature's laws
The phoenix goes to earth.
You cannot call it old
You cannot call it young.
No phoenix can be told,
This is the end of the song.
It struggles now alone
Against death and self-doubt,
But underneath the bone
The wings are pushing out.
And one cold starry night
Whatever your belief
The phoenix will take flight
Over the seas of grief
To sing her thrilling song
To stars and waves and sky
For neither old nor young
The phoenix does not die.
END OF CONCERT
BIOGRAPHIES
Rose Hegele, project leader & soprano
Soprano Rose Hegele (she/her) explores the extremes of human vocal and artistic expression in 20th and 21st century music. Active across genres including avant garde music, contemporary opera and chamber music, Rose creates healing spaces for audiences to embrace their complexity and humanity. Recent highlights include performing as “Helen” in Amber Vistein’s opera Dark Exhalation in October 2023, “Gloria (Double)” in Tod Machover’s opera VALIS at MIT in September 2023, premiering William Thomas McKinley's "The Recycler '' with the Lugano Percussion Ensemble on their 2023 US tour, and performing Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire" with Lowell Chamber Orchestra in October 2022. Dedicated to education through artistry, Rose has presented masterclasses at Brown University, Roger Williams University, Frost School of Music at University of Miami, Berklee College of Music, Clark University, Wildflower Composers Festival, and Boston Singers Resource. A collaborative tour de force, Ms. Hegele is committed to working with others in diverse musical environments. She is a founding member of Peridot Duo, Der Gestanke Pierrot Ensemble, and Into the Light Ensemble, and she sings with Nightingale Vocal Ensemble and Vox Futura.
Emerald Barbour, alto
Mezzo-soprano Emerald Barbour is a versatile Boston-based artist with a flexible and sensitive voice. She has been on the Nightingale Vocal Ensemble roster since January 2021, and looks forward to joining the second project of the 2023-2024 season, Journey of Seasons. Emerald performs a variety of chamber and concert repertoire, and was recently featured as a soloist in J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, Mass in A Major, cantatas BWV 12 and 116, Handel’s Messiah, Brigitta Muntendorf’s “abschminken,” and Nightingale member Nicholas Ford’s “Ritual to Learn Tongues.” Also no stranger to opera, Emerald’s role highlights include Deborah in Promenade Opera Project’s premiere of Non Motus by Marc Hoffeditz, Dorabella (Così fan tutte) with Lowell House Opera, and Barcarolle (The Bremen Town Musicians) with Boston
Conservatory Opera. This year, she joined the chorus for the East Coast premiere and world recording premiere of John Corigliano and Mark Adamo’s The Lord of Cries, performed by BMOP and Odyssey Opera.
Emerald is a winner of the 2019-20 Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra Vocal Competition, a 2019 vocalist of The Bach Institute, and a 2017-18 Young Artist of the Bach Society of St. Louis. She holds degrees in Voice Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (M.M.) and Webster University (B.M.).
Kartik Ayysola, tenor
Indian-American tenor Kartik Ayysola is a frequent performer in the Greater Boston area as well as throughout New England. This season, he will be singing Monostatos in The Magic Flute with MassOpera as well as Spoletta in Tosca with Opera51. In the past, he has sung Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, King Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Pong in Turandot, the title role of Orpheus in the Underworld, Borsa in Rigoletto, and Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro. He is also a seasoned concert soloist as well, singing works ranging from Mozart’s Spatzenmesse, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noel, and Vanoni’s Island of Peoples.
Originally a native of Dover, PA, Kartik earned the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, studying under Dr. Joseph Baunoch, and then went on to earn the Master of Music degree, studying under Dr. Jerrold Pope. He is currently the student of Bradley Williams.
Nick Fahrenkrug, bass
Baritone and interdisciplinary artist Nick Fahrenkrug has been lauded for his supple sound in concert and expressive story-telling on stage. In 2021 he was awarded the American Prize for his guerilla-style art film “Dichterliebe: Within and Without”. Earlier this season, he premiered ADRIFT, a new choral opera commissioned and created by Nightingale Vocal Ensemble and recently performed its first reprise performance at the Emily Dickinson International Society Conference in Amherst, MA. Since moving to Boston, he has appeared with Nightingale Vocal Ensemble, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Boston Opera Collaborative, and will be making his debut with the Boston Pops this December. Learn more about his recent and future engagements at nickfahrenkrug.com
Walter Yee, clarinet
Boston based clarinetist Walter Yee is dedicated to exploring the musical landscapes of contemporary music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Quickly establishing himself as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and administrator, Walter has had the greatest pleasure to collaborate with amazing groups in New England.
Walter has had the great pleasure of joining the Boston-based bass clarinet ensemble, “Improbable Beasts,” as well as collaborating with the Boston Cohort of the New Music Collage, an organization dedicated to supporting the creation and performance of new music as well as promoting underrepresented, emerging artists, and being one of the inaugural members of Boston’s newly formed Pierrot Ensemble, “Die Gestanke.”
He has earned a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Louisville studying with Dallas Tidwell and Dr. Matthew Nelson, as well as a Master of Contemporary Classical Music Performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music studying with Rane Moore.
Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano
Boston-based pianist Sakurako Kanemitsu is a colorful and creative interpreter of music ranging from the established classical repertoire to the music of our time. She began her studies at the age of 5 in Tokyo, Japan, and has since performed as soloist and chamber pianist in Italy, Germany, and the United States. Recently, Ms. Kanemitsu received an Artist-in-Residence award from University of California, Davis in support of a collaborative project involving the university’s graduate composers, award-winning choreographer Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya, and cellist Michael Dahlberg. Sakurako earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Piano Performance from Sacramento State School of Music, where she also worked as a teaching assistant and administrative assistant for the School of Music’s Piano Series. Her previous teachers include Steinway Artists Richard Cionco, Kirsten Smith, Natsuki Fukasawa, and Tanya Gabrielian. In 2013, Ms. Kanemitsu became the youngest student to receive the exclusive Saturday Club Scholarship in Piano. During her graduate studies, she received the Music Research Symposium Award for her research on the connection between Friedrich Chopin’s composed works and his improvisations. Sakurako is currently pursuing a Graduate Performance Diploma at Longy School of Music of Bard College as the Barbara Roth Donaldson Scholar. She is currently studying with Grammy-nominated pianist, Andrius Žlabys. Please visit www.sakurakopiano.com for upcoming concerts or if you are interested in taking private lessons!
Andrew List
Award winning composer Andrew List composes music in many different genres, including orchestral works, string quartet, vocal, choral music, opera, music for children, solo works, and a variety of chamber ensembles.
Selected recent performances include: The Emerald Necklace commissioned by The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Beyond The Celestial Horizon commissioned by Concordia String Trio in celebration of their 20th anniversary season, The Dignified Heart for Piano Trio commissioned by the Rivers School Conservatory, The Devil’s Final Challenge commissioned by Zodiac Trio as a companion piece to Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat, Three Hymns to Ra for Solo Viola commissioned and recorded by Brett Deubner, The Signs of Our Time a musical satire on political corruption in our world premiered by loadbang, From The Heart of Ra for viola and piano commissioned by violist Leslie Perna, Night Wanderings for Clarinet and Percussion Quartet commissioned by clarinetist Kliment Krylovskiy and String Quartet no 6 “Song of The Angel “commissioned by Esterhazy Quartet in celebration of their 50th anniversary season.
Mr. List is the composer-in-residence at the Zodiac Music Academy and Festival, in the south of France where he presents a composition class each summer. He was the first prizewinner of numerous competitions including: the MA-ASTA Composition Competition, Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition, Macro Composition Competition, Charlotte New Music Festival Composition Competition, Portland Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition, Hong Kong Children’s Choir Competition, Renegade Ensemble’s Composition Competition and second prize winner of The American Prize Chamber Music Division for String Quartet no. 5 “Time Cycles,” third prize winner of New Vision Composition Competition. His music is recorded on Naxos, MSR Classics, Blue Griffin Phasma Music and Centaur labels. www.andrewlist.com
Ivy Schweitzer
Ivy Schweitzer is Professor emerita of English and Creative Writing, and past chair of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Dartmouth College. Her fields are early American literature, American poetry, women’s literature, gender and cultural studies, and digital humanities. She is the editor or contributor on three public humanities websites and co-producer of the full-length documentary film It’s Criminal: A Tale of Prison and Privilege. In 2018, she blogged weekly at White Heat, a year 1862 in the creative life of Emily Dickinson, and co-edited a collection of essays in honor of her website, The Occom Circle, titled Afterlives of Indigenous Archives. Currently, she is working on two collections of original poetry.
Carly Glovinski
Carly Glovinski received her BFA from Boston University in 2003 and is represented by Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York. She has been awarded residencies at the Studios at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, Teton ArtLab, Jackson, Wyoming, and the Vermont Studio Center, and has received grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and the Blanche Colman Trust. She has had solo exhibitions at Colby Museum of Art, Maine; Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York; Indianapolis Contemporary; and Carroll and Sons, Boston. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including at the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Boston Center for the Arts, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Her work has been published or reviewed in major publications such as New American Paintings, ArtMaze Magazine, Hyperallergic, Vice, and Maake Magazine. Carly currently lives and works in New Hampshire.
https://www.surfpointfoundation.org/newsposts/carly-glovinski
Rose Hegele, project leader & soprano
Soprano Rose Hegele (she/her) explores the extremes of human vocal and artistic expression in 20th and 21st century music. Active across genres including avant garde music, contemporary opera and chamber music, Rose creates healing spaces for audiences to embrace their complexity and humanity. Recent highlights include performing as “Helen” in Amber Vistein’s opera Dark Exhalation in October 2023, “Gloria (Double)” in Tod Machover’s opera VALIS at MIT in September 2023, premiering William Thomas McKinley's "The Recycler '' with the Lugano Percussion Ensemble on their 2023 US tour, and performing Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire" with Lowell Chamber Orchestra in October 2022. Dedicated to education through artistry, Rose has presented masterclasses at Brown University, Roger Williams University, Frost School of Music at University of Miami, Berklee College of Music, Clark University, Wildflower Composers Festival, and Boston Singers Resource. A collaborative tour de force, Ms. Hegele is committed to working with others in diverse musical environments. She is a founding member of Peridot Duo, Der Gestanke Pierrot Ensemble, and Into the Light Ensemble, and she sings with Nightingale Vocal Ensemble and Vox Futura.
Emerald Barbour, alto
Mezzo-soprano Emerald Barbour is a versatile Boston-based artist with a flexible and sensitive voice. She has been on the Nightingale Vocal Ensemble roster since January 2021, and looks forward to joining the second project of the 2023-2024 season, Journey of Seasons. Emerald performs a variety of chamber and concert repertoire, and was recently featured as a soloist in J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, Mass in A Major, cantatas BWV 12 and 116, Handel’s Messiah, Brigitta Muntendorf’s “abschminken,” and Nightingale member Nicholas Ford’s “Ritual to Learn Tongues.” Also no stranger to opera, Emerald’s role highlights include Deborah in Promenade Opera Project’s premiere of Non Motus by Marc Hoffeditz, Dorabella (Così fan tutte) with Lowell House Opera, and Barcarolle (The Bremen Town Musicians) with Boston
Conservatory Opera. This year, she joined the chorus for the East Coast premiere and world recording premiere of John Corigliano and Mark Adamo’s The Lord of Cries, performed by BMOP and Odyssey Opera.
Emerald is a winner of the 2019-20 Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra Vocal Competition, a 2019 vocalist of The Bach Institute, and a 2017-18 Young Artist of the Bach Society of St. Louis. She holds degrees in Voice Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (M.M.) and Webster University (B.M.).
Kartik Ayysola, tenor
Indian-American tenor Kartik Ayysola is a frequent performer in the Greater Boston area as well as throughout New England. This season, he will be singing Monostatos in The Magic Flute with MassOpera as well as Spoletta in Tosca with Opera51. In the past, he has sung Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, King Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Pong in Turandot, the title role of Orpheus in the Underworld, Borsa in Rigoletto, and Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro. He is also a seasoned concert soloist as well, singing works ranging from Mozart’s Spatzenmesse, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noel, and Vanoni’s Island of Peoples.
Originally a native of Dover, PA, Kartik earned the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, studying under Dr. Joseph Baunoch, and then went on to earn the Master of Music degree, studying under Dr. Jerrold Pope. He is currently the student of Bradley Williams.
Nick Fahrenkrug, bass
Baritone and interdisciplinary artist Nick Fahrenkrug has been lauded for his supple sound in concert and expressive story-telling on stage. In 2021 he was awarded the American Prize for his guerilla-style art film “Dichterliebe: Within and Without”. Earlier this season, he premiered ADRIFT, a new choral opera commissioned and created by Nightingale Vocal Ensemble and recently performed its first reprise performance at the Emily Dickinson International Society Conference in Amherst, MA. Since moving to Boston, he has appeared with Nightingale Vocal Ensemble, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Boston Opera Collaborative, and will be making his debut with the Boston Pops this December. Learn more about his recent and future engagements at nickfahrenkrug.com
Walter Yee, clarinet
Boston based clarinetist Walter Yee is dedicated to exploring the musical landscapes of contemporary music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Quickly establishing himself as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and administrator, Walter has had the greatest pleasure to collaborate with amazing groups in New England.
Walter has had the great pleasure of joining the Boston-based bass clarinet ensemble, “Improbable Beasts,” as well as collaborating with the Boston Cohort of the New Music Collage, an organization dedicated to supporting the creation and performance of new music as well as promoting underrepresented, emerging artists, and being one of the inaugural members of Boston’s newly formed Pierrot Ensemble, “Die Gestanke.”
He has earned a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Louisville studying with Dallas Tidwell and Dr. Matthew Nelson, as well as a Master of Contemporary Classical Music Performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music studying with Rane Moore.
Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano
Boston-based pianist Sakurako Kanemitsu is a colorful and creative interpreter of music ranging from the established classical repertoire to the music of our time. She began her studies at the age of 5 in Tokyo, Japan, and has since performed as soloist and chamber pianist in Italy, Germany, and the United States. Recently, Ms. Kanemitsu received an Artist-in-Residence award from University of California, Davis in support of a collaborative project involving the university’s graduate composers, award-winning choreographer Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya, and cellist Michael Dahlberg. Sakurako earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Piano Performance from Sacramento State School of Music, where she also worked as a teaching assistant and administrative assistant for the School of Music’s Piano Series. Her previous teachers include Steinway Artists Richard Cionco, Kirsten Smith, Natsuki Fukasawa, and Tanya Gabrielian. In 2013, Ms. Kanemitsu became the youngest student to receive the exclusive Saturday Club Scholarship in Piano. During her graduate studies, she received the Music Research Symposium Award for her research on the connection between Friedrich Chopin’s composed works and his improvisations. Sakurako is currently pursuing a Graduate Performance Diploma at Longy School of Music of Bard College as the Barbara Roth Donaldson Scholar. She is currently studying with Grammy-nominated pianist, Andrius Žlabys. Please visit www.sakurakopiano.com for upcoming concerts or if you are interested in taking private lessons!
Andrew List
Award winning composer Andrew List composes music in many different genres, including orchestral works, string quartet, vocal, choral music, opera, music for children, solo works, and a variety of chamber ensembles.
Selected recent performances include: The Emerald Necklace commissioned by The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Beyond The Celestial Horizon commissioned by Concordia String Trio in celebration of their 20th anniversary season, The Dignified Heart for Piano Trio commissioned by the Rivers School Conservatory, The Devil’s Final Challenge commissioned by Zodiac Trio as a companion piece to Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat, Three Hymns to Ra for Solo Viola commissioned and recorded by Brett Deubner, The Signs of Our Time a musical satire on political corruption in our world premiered by loadbang, From The Heart of Ra for viola and piano commissioned by violist Leslie Perna, Night Wanderings for Clarinet and Percussion Quartet commissioned by clarinetist Kliment Krylovskiy and String Quartet no 6 “Song of The Angel “commissioned by Esterhazy Quartet in celebration of their 50th anniversary season.
Mr. List is the composer-in-residence at the Zodiac Music Academy and Festival, in the south of France where he presents a composition class each summer. He was the first prizewinner of numerous competitions including: the MA-ASTA Composition Competition, Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition, Macro Composition Competition, Charlotte New Music Festival Composition Competition, Portland Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition, Hong Kong Children’s Choir Competition, Renegade Ensemble’s Composition Competition and second prize winner of The American Prize Chamber Music Division for String Quartet no. 5 “Time Cycles,” third prize winner of New Vision Composition Competition. His music is recorded on Naxos, MSR Classics, Blue Griffin Phasma Music and Centaur labels. www.andrewlist.com
Ivy Schweitzer
Ivy Schweitzer is Professor emerita of English and Creative Writing, and past chair of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Dartmouth College. Her fields are early American literature, American poetry, women’s literature, gender and cultural studies, and digital humanities. She is the editor or contributor on three public humanities websites and co-producer of the full-length documentary film It’s Criminal: A Tale of Prison and Privilege. In 2018, she blogged weekly at White Heat, a year 1862 in the creative life of Emily Dickinson, and co-edited a collection of essays in honor of her website, The Occom Circle, titled Afterlives of Indigenous Archives. Currently, she is working on two collections of original poetry.
Carly Glovinski
Carly Glovinski received her BFA from Boston University in 2003 and is represented by Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York. She has been awarded residencies at the Studios at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, Teton ArtLab, Jackson, Wyoming, and the Vermont Studio Center, and has received grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and the Blanche Colman Trust. She has had solo exhibitions at Colby Museum of Art, Maine; Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York; Indianapolis Contemporary; and Carroll and Sons, Boston. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including at the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Boston Center for the Arts, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Her work has been published or reviewed in major publications such as New American Paintings, ArtMaze Magazine, Hyperallergic, Vice, and Maake Magazine. Carly currently lives and works in New Hampshire.
https://www.surfpointfoundation.org/newsposts/carly-glovinski
