October 19, 2006 / 8pm
Angel Orensanz Center / 172 Norfolk Street NYC
All About Love
Metropolis Ensemble presents its second season opening concert
Thomas Glenn, Tenor
Hai-Ting Chinn, Mezzo
Melissa Fogarty, Soprano
Daniel Neer, Baritone
Andrew Cyr, Artistic Director / Conductor
Ryan Gallagher, Composer
David Schiff, Composer
On the Program
Ryan Gallagher: Conspiracy of Curtains**
For chamber orchestra
Claudio Monteverdi (arr. Bryan Page): Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda*
For soprano (Melissa Fogarty), tenor (Thomas Glenn) and baritone (Daniel Neer) and chamber orchestra
David Schiff: All About Love***
For mezzo (Hai-Ting Chinn), soprano (Melissa Fogarty), tenor (Thomas Glenn) and baritone (Daniel Neer) and chamber orchestra
*World Premiere Metropolis Ensemble Commission
**World Premiere Metropolis co-comission with NYSCA
***New York Premiere
Performers
Sharon Roffman, violin
Yonah Zur, violin
Entela Barci, viola
Amir Eldan, cello
Tanya Witek, flute
Tibi Cziger, clarinet
Cristina Pato, keyboards
William Schimmel, accordion
Dan Lippel, guitar
Annie Stevens, percussion
About the Concert
Metropolis Ensemble second season opens with the New York premiere of David Schiff's song cycle All About Love, featuring rising vocal stars Thomas Glenn and mezzo Hai-Ting Chinn and a semi-staged performance of the Rite of Spring of the Baroque Era: Monteverdi's musical drama Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda.
Metropolis Ensemble is a new chamber orchestra bringing together the talents of an emerging generation of performers who have already begun to reshape the sound and feel of music making in New York. For this concert event, Metropolis Ensemble has assembled four emerging singers poised to take the world stage and who exemplify new directions in music making: tenor Thomas Glenn, "gorgeously clear-toned" ( San Francisco Chronicle); mezzo Hai-Ting Chinn, "...a lovely rich, creamy sound” (New York Times); soprano Melissa Fogarty, recent winner of the 2006 Outmusic Award of Best Debut Recording; and baritone and stage director Daniel Neer.
Commissioned by the New York State Council on the Arts, Conspiracy of Curtains will receive its World Premiere by the Metropolis Ensemble. Ryan Gallagher is the first participant in the Ensemble's young composer's mentorship program, Wet Ink. This modern chamber madrigal is set in three movements, each with a text by the late American poet Donald Justice. All About Love is a panoramic meditation on love as expressed in different times and languages and from different points of view: male and female, gay and straight, from youthful ardor to mature resignation. The cycle sets texts by Petrarch, Labé, Melville, Tsvetaeva, Keats, Proust and Bishop.
