A sisterly tribute in song to Emily Dickinson
Soprano Sylvia Stoner is not only passionate about the art song genre, she’s also unafraid to mess around with what a song recital can look and sound like. She’s sometimes divided up one song among multiple singers or spliced a song in half or even added new elements such as movement or spoken word. All this is in service of creating a larger narrative that casts fresh light on songs from diverse sources.
“Sister - Show Me Eternity,” Stoner’s imaginative tribute to poet Emily Dickinson, will be performed on Sunday afternoon March 24 as part of the de Blasiis Music Series at The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls. The 45-minute program features seven singers performing Dickinson settings from 16 different composers, including masters like Copland, Rorem, and Hoiby as well as Libby Larsen, Gwyneth Walker and Ricky Ian Gordon.
The show – it’s not exactly opera, but it’s much more than a standard recital – debuted in 2017 at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, where Stoner has been a faculty member since 2014. It was conceived by Stoner and staged by Elizabeth Margolius. Composer Evan Mack was commissioned to write songs that bookend the lineup, as well as some transitional materials. Joining Stoner in the performance are mezzo Sharon O’connell Campbell and soprano Anne Jennifer Nash, plus a quartet of singers drawn from the music departments of Skidmore and the College of St. Rose.
“Art song recitals are part of what we do and are part of developing a skill in language,” says Stoners. “But for opera singers it’s often just stuff you do to get through school and then move into your roles. So there’s a bit of a prejudice or stigma. But it’s a beautiful genre.”
About 10 years ago Stoner had her mind opened to new possibilities for the repertoire. During a conference of the National Associations of Teachers of Singing, the great Swedish baritone Hakan Hagegard presented Dominick Argento’s 1975 Pulitzer Prize-winning cycle “From the Diary of Virginia Woolf” with two singers (one more than normal) plus some simple staging. “It was a compelling and different approach that brought to some angular music a new level of communication,” recalls Stoner.
Stoner ran with the idea and created nearly eight different semi-staged thematic programs for herself that she performed
for a concert series in Kansas City. (She earned her doctorate at the University of Kansas in 2010 studying under Joyce Castle. After that she taught at Washburn University in Topeka for three years.)
For the Dickinson program, there was an oversupply of musical material to choose from, as the “Belle of Amherst” has been an enduring inspiration to composers. Dickinson wrote nearly 1,800 poems, and a catalog of song settings compiled 25 years ago has more than 1,200 entries. That’s a lot to plow through, but Stoner says she relied heavily on recommendations from friends and colleagues.
She also delved into research on Dickinson. After reading Lyndall Gordon’s vividly titled 2011 history “Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds,” Stoner decided to focus on the domestic life of the family. A spoken narrative draws from a eulogy written by Susan Gilbert, Emily’s sisterin-law. The show’s subtitle is “Musical scenes of sisterhood, seclusion, and strength.”
Also part of the original concept is that the production would provide opportunities for student singers. The de Blasiis revival of the work marks the 10th production in its two-year history. Each iteration has been at a different college or university with a new supporting cast of young singers. The current lineup of artists is also performing it this weekend in Rochester at a regional gathering of the National Associations of Teachers of Singing.
In order to make a fuller program, the matinee at the de Blasiis will open with a half hour of “parlor songs,” including material by Foster and Bellini plus folk songs. Stoner says the selections were drawn from a musical binder found at Dickinson’s home, the Evergreens.
As for adding staging and narrative to further explicate Dickinson’s life, Stone says, “We’ve done our best to not get in the way of the music, while also adding a heightened accessibility.”
“Our goal is to gain a new appreciation of the art song, and to get students excited and motivated,” continues Stoner. “The recital isn’t necessarily dying, but it’s an art form that needs to get beyond the university and we’re trying to find a way to get there. We have a job to do if the art song is to continue.”
“Sister - Show Me Eternity” takes place at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 24 at the Hyde Collection, 161 Warren St., Glens Falls. Tickets are $25 and available at the door or at deblasiismusicseries.org.
SPAC audiences visit Philadelphia
On Saturday, March 9, a group of 27 Capital Region music lovers and friends of SPAC headed to Philadelphia for “Saratoga Day at The Philadelphia Orchestra,” apparently the first such event in the 53-year history of collaboration between the two institutions. It was a full day that started with an 8 a.m. departure from the Hall of Springs. After a quick hotel check-in, there was an afternoon tour of the Barnes Foundation, followed by dinner in the Green Room at the Kimmel Center. Joining in the celebration were members of the orchestra’s board and staff. Serving as host was Matias Tarnopolsky, the orchestra’s new president and CEO.
At that evening’s concert, music director Yannick Nezetseguin gave a special welcome to the visiting New Yorkers.
The program featured a Haydn overture and Schubert’s “Great” Symphony in C Major, plus the 23-year old Canadian/polish pianist Jan Lisiecki in the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1. Lisiecki will be reuniting with Nezet-seguin and the Philly on Friday, Aug. 19, at SPAC to perform the Grieg Piano Concerto. Later, the maestro and some orchestra members joined the crowd for a champagne toast to cap the night. Elizabeth Sobol, SPAC’S president and CEO, hailed the event as more than just an opportunity hear the orchestra on its home turf, but also a chance for Philadelphians to learn what makes Saratoga a great destination, and one more sign of a healthy relationship between venue and orchestra. “This celebratory weekend,” said Sobol, “is emblematic of our approach to collaborate and strengthen our relationships with artistic partners in new and exciting ways that extend beyond the scope of our performance schedule.”