Danielle L. Herrington- Contemporary Song Cycles and Commissions UCO’s Faculty Artist Concert Series Sponsored by Larry and Leah Westmoreland and Margaret Brisch (Ph.D) 7:30 P.M. September 10, 2023 UCO Jazz Lab Featuring Guest Artists: Molly Johnson, soprano, Megan Clewell, piano, Hwaju Lee, piano Program “Summer Was Killed Softly” World Premiere Commission Christ Prather (b. 1995) Lyricist Cassie Tree (b. 2006) Megan Clewell, pianist Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia Jake Heggie (b. 1961) Lyricist Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) I. Ophelia’s Song II. Woman Have Loved Before III. Not in a Silver Casket IV. Spring Megan Clewell, pianist “Would That I Were Edna St. Vincent Millay” Jake Heggie (b. 1961) Lyricist Lucy Miller Murray* Megan Clewell, pianist “Facing Forward” From Facing Forward/ Looking Back Jake Heggie (b. 1961) Molly Johnson, soprano Megan Clewell, pianist ———-10 Minute Intermission———- “Afternoon on a Hill” World Premiere Commission Hannah Helbig (b. 1995) Lyricist Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) Megan Clewell, pianist The Ivory Box is Broken Jodi Goble (b. 1974) Lyricist Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) I. Prologue: Epigram II. Epitaph III. Prayer to Persephone IV. Chorus V. Elgy VI. Dirge Hwaju Lee, pianist “Thanks a Latte” Lori Laitman (b. 1955) Lyricist Caitlin Vincent** (b. 1985) Megan Clewell, pianist Then, Here & Now Rosephayne Powell (b. 1962) Lyricist African American Spirituals I. Healing II. Dying III. Oppression IV. Protest Hwaju Lee, pianist ** “Thanks a Latte” © 2020, Caitlin Vincent. Used by permission. The use of flash cameras during the performance is prohibited. Please turn cell phones off. Program Notes “This concert centers on new music of the twenty-first century through commissions, song cycles, and works by women. As a researcher, new opera commissions are at the heart of my dissertation, currently being re-shaped into a book. As a producer and performer, I have been fortunate to run a non-profit that values commissioning and collaborating with budding composers/ lyricists. For this program, I am proud and ecstatic to have commissioned two new art songs for my voice by local composers Chris Prather and Hannah Helbig, both of whom I met through their stunning new operas with my non-profit Opera on Tap – OKC.” “Beyond the world premiere art songs, this concert features my favorite living composer Jake Heggie. Not only have I had the privilege of interviewing Jake on multiple occasions, but I have given scholarly presentations on his music nationally. The rest of the program promotes the work of women composers and lyricists as an integral part of the contemporary classical idiom. Each of the songs or cycles selected for this program spoke to me through strong storytelling, thus inspiring full character embodiment. This is what I find so rewarding about contemporary music: motivated dramaturgy allows me to interpret it like I would a full operatic role. May this new music enthrall, intrigue, and charm you as it has me.” (Danielle L. Herrington) Biographies Danielle L. HerringtonPortrait of Danielle Herrington Danielle L. Herrington is an artist-scholar, actively performing, producing, teaching, and researching in Oklahoma City. She is Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Central Oklahoma. Her scholarship in opera studies and performance studies approaches music as lived experience, with specific investigations in eighteenth-century French opera, culture, and philosophy, as well as contemporary American opera. As a performative musicologist, she has actively presented on these topics at both international and national conferences with the following organizations: National Opera Association, American Musicological Society Southwest Regional, Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini, and International Rousseau Association. Recent and forthcoming publications include a book review for Cambridge’s Nineteenth-Century Music Review, “Musical Moral Sense in Rousseau’s Essai” (peer-review book chapter), “Cultivating Connections in Twenty-First Century American Opera” (dissertation), and a chapter in Singing Speech and Speaking Melodies published by Brepols, entitled “Sensibilité, Self-Sacrifice, and the Sentimental.” As a lyric coloratura soprano, Danielle has interpreted a range of roles, including Handel’s Rodelinda, Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Serpina (La serva padrona), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and Adele (Die Fledermaus). She is also an avid concert soloist, from Bach and Vivaldi to Beethoven and Verdi. Moreover, as the Academic Coordinator of the Brisch Center for Historical Performance, Danielle specializes in historically informed performance and style embodiment. Deeply dedicated to classical music education for the community, Danielle helped found the Oklahoma City chapter of Opera on Tap, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, to provide performing opportunities to local professional singers in the metropolitan area. She regularly programs, performs, and emcees monthly events. Additionally, she is an eager advocate of new music and commissions. In 2021-22, she produced the timely and poignant world premiere of Chris Prather’s opera No Justice, No Peace. As a pedagogue, Danielle has taught hundreds of students over the past decade in her voice and piano studios. Teaching through a holistic approach, Danielle works with vocalists to develop functional technique as well as cultivate communication skills to clearly express motivated emotion. Successes of her students include dozens of music educators as well as many professional performers. Danielle holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Oklahoma as well as two Masters of Music (Opera Performance; Music History/Literature) both from Wichita State University. Molly Johnson Molly Johnson, soprano, is an active and versatile performer, stage director, and educator. Over the years she has performed roles in operas, musicals, and plays in over 35 states and Canada. Outlandish, over-the-top, and/or maternal characters hold a special place in her heart. Among her recent roster of ‘fave femmes’ are the roles of Florence Foster Jenkins, the ‘world’s worst opera singer’ in Souvenir with Painted Sky Opera and Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn in The Music Man in Concert with Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre. In addition to stage works, she enjoys preparation and presentation of classical, operatic, musical theatre, and sacred repertoire for recital and concert. Her current project is an upcoming FACS called Stage Mothers, which she will present October 17. Stage directing credits include operas, musicals, and plays at the regional and university level. At UCO she has been a frequent director for the children’s opera productions, which feature UCO students in performances for young audiences. She was winner of two 2021 BroadwayWorld Oklahoma Awards for her direction of Amahl and the Night Visitors for Painted Sky Opera. Proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association. Chris Prather Oklahoma based composer and percussionist Chris Prather (b. 1995) graduated with his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Central Oklahoma and his Master of Music degree from Oklahoma City University. In 2018 and 2019, he had two one act operas, both written with librettist Olivia Wells, titled Nicer When You Smile (2018), inspired by the “#metoo movement”, and No Justice, No Peace (2019), an addressal of police brutality, premiered by the Oklahoma chapter of Opera on Tap for their 10Minute Opera Festival. Prather served as the Composer-in-Residence for the Oklahoma Youth Orchestras’ 2019 season where they premiered his orchestral work, Unsung Hero (2019). He had his percussion ensemble piece Emerging Victoriously (2020) selected as runner-up in the 2020 OU Percussion Press Composition Competition as well as his marimba solo Embracing Uncertainty (2019) selected as the winner of the 2020 Great Plains International Marimba Composition Competition. In 2022, he had his 90-minute one act opera No Justice, No Peace (2022) premiered at the Yale Theater with the help of Opera on Tap-OKC. This timely work, written alongside librettists Megan Prather and Kenneth R. Woods, engages with the effects of police brutality in America through the lens of a fictional family and seeks to sensitively widen the scope to encompass more than the tragic event itself. Megan Clewell Megan Clewell is a collaborative pianist based in Oklahoma City and is a voice coach and full-time staff pianist at the University of Central Oklahoma. Clewell has served as coach and pianist for numerous UCO shows and projects, including UCO Opera’s productions of Die Fledermaus, The Consul, Viardot’s Cendrillon, Così fan tutte, Martha, The Tender Land, Serse, and Adamo’s Little Women. She has been a pianist with the Saarburg and Vianden International Music Festivals, Tulsa Opera Young Artists, Painted Sky Opera, Enid Symphony, Knox Galesburg Symphony, Nova Singers, Clear Creek Music Festival, Oklahoma Haydn Festival, Oklahoma Flute Society, International Horn Symposium 50, International Women’s Brass Conference, the Akouo Ensemble, and Opera on Tap OKC. Clewell earned a BM (Piano Performance) and MM (Collaborative Piano) from Arizona State University, as well as an Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Hwaju Lee Pianist Hwaju Lee is an Adjunct Instructor of Piano and a Collaborative Pianist at the University of Central Oklahoma, performing for Cantilena Women’s Chorus, Concert Chorale, Chamber Singers, University Choir, and Department of Dance ballet classes. In addition to her responsibilities at UCO, she also teaches piano lessons for students at UCO’s Central Community Music School. Prior to teaching at UCO, Ms. Lee has taught piano courses at Indiana Wesleyan University, Oklahoma State University, and Ball State University and was a piano instructor at In-Home Music Teacher, LLC in Dallas, Tx. She also maintained a private studio for over 15 years. Ms. Lee has also given masterclasses at Arkansas State University and Mongolia International University. She has served as a collaborative pianist and class piano instructor at Oklahoma State University, an instructor at Arkansas Governor’s School, and a pianist for the Stillwater Chamber Singers. Ms. Lee performs regularly as a soloist and collaborative artist around the United States and South Korea. She has performed in a variety of ensemble settings including choirs, wind ensembles, and orchestras, and has been invited to perform as a guest collaborator for recitals. Recently, Ms. Lee was invited to judge the Pohang Arts High School and CBS National Competition in S. Korea. She also has earned various awards and scholarships including the University of North Texas Organ/Harpsichord Scholarships, Dean’s Camerata, Texas Public Education Grant. Ms. Lee completed her doctoral coursework at Ball State University in Piano Performance. There, she was awarded a full scholarship and a graduate assistantship working as a teacher and collaborative pianist. She received her M.M. from the University of North Texas where she studied harpsichord and forte piano with Prof. Christopher Hammer, piano with Prof. Joseph Banowetz, and collaborative piano with Dr. Steven Harlos. Ms. Lee earned a B.M. from Gangneung-Wonju National University with academic scholarships and has also studied at Pohang Arts High School as a Piano Performance Major in S. Korea. Hannah Helbig Hannah Helbig, known as Oklahannah, is a harpist of 17 years and a performer of 24. She also composes quick-witted and catchy tunes with a modern slant. During her college career, she was awarded the Great Britain/Great Plains Composer’s Competition and a weeklong trip to Liverpool for her six-piano ensemble snake skins. As a performer, she connects with audiences of all ages with her unique stylings of popular tunes. No genre is off-limits: from Norah Jones to Neil Young, from Radiohead to Britney Spears. Composition and songwriting have always been a natural extension of Hannah’s musicianship. Hannah loves composing for harp, as it is one of the most challenging but gratifying instruments to accommodate effectively. Her time studying for her degree in music composition under Edward Knight at Oklahoma City University pushed her to write for all kinds of instruments, not just harp. Opera on Tap – OKC has championed her work Yildiz, in their 2019 10 Minute Opera Festival. In 2023, Hannah added another 10 minutes on to her work for 4 voices. Currently she is the main songwriter, singer, and harpist for Poor Sap, her pop band. She is also the president of the Oklahoma City Harp Society, her local chapter of the American Harp Society. She maintains a growing studio of both piano and harp students. When she’s not composing, performing, teaching, or harping away, Hannah can be found cooking at home in Oklahoma City and watching classic murder mysteries with her beloved chihuahua and calico cat. Cassie Tree Cassie Tree is a high school senior who has always had an affinity for words. She fell in love with writing in elementary school and currently has over fifty works in progress, including a collection of poetry. Born and raised in Kansas, she was proud to be accepted into the Geoscience Twenty-first Century Academy at Olathe North High School, where she cares for a variety of fish and marine creatures, while learning about God’s creation. In addition, she’s maintained rigorous course loads and received highest marks on her Advanced Placement Language and Composition exam. Though college consideration is still in progress, Cassie is set on becoming an author/poet in her adult years and getting her American Sign Language interpreter’s license.