'Yale in New York' Series to Present Songs from the Koch Collection with Yale Opera Singers, 12/7

The Yale School of Music continues its acclaimed Yale in New York series when singers of Yale Opera bring manuscripts to life in a concert on Sunday, December 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

The young singers will perform treasures from the Frederick R. Koch Collection housed at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The program will show off the collection's vocal holdings with art songs by Debussy, Duparc, Mahler, Schumann, Sibelius, and Wolf.

Frederick R. Koch - dubbed the "other" Koch brother by Vanity Fair - is a lifelong supporter of the arts and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. The Koch Collection at the Beinecke contains 19th and 20th-century musical and literary manuscripts, correspondence, and other materials. Richard C. Levin, past president of Yale University, described it as "one of the greatest collections to come to Yale since the year of its founding."

"The Debussy Songs are unusual because of the influence of Wagner after Debussy's visit to Bayreuth," explains Yale in New York artistic director David Shifrin. "Songs of Mahler and Sibelius are rarely heard and this is a wonderful opportunity to remedy that."

Three singers in the Yale Opera program will perform selections of European art songs. Soprano Nicole Percifield will sing Claude Debussy's Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, written while the composer was captivated by Wagner's chromatic harmonies. Percifield is "blessed with a beautiful lyric soprano that reached high notes without apparent effort as well as possessing a full, rich low register" (Berkshire Fine Arts).

Mezzo-soprano Evanna Chiew, hailed by Scena musicale for her "beautiful and rich lyric mezzo," will sing three songs each by Jean Sibelius and Gustav Mahler. The Sibelius songs are drawn from his Op. 37 and 38 collections, written around the turn of the twentieth century. "The magic and colour of Romanticism reach their peak in the Opus 37 song collection," writes Sibelius song scholar Jukka Tiilikainen. The Mahler songs are taken from his Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit (Songs from the early days), written in the 1880s, when the composer was in his twenties.

Baritone Brian Vu has been noted for his "energy and personality" by Voce di meche and praised as "debonair" by The Washington Post. He will sing two sets of songs, one of German-language Lieder by Hugo Wolf and Robert Schumann. The other, in French, will feature three songs by Marcel Duparc, the Parisian who stopped composing at the age of 37 and destroyed most of his works.

The trio of singers will be joined by pianists Miki Sawada and Yevgeny Yontov. ""The early 20th century is the most fascinating cultural period for me," says Sawada. "The restless energy of that time, an almost aggressive seeking of the new can really be felt in its music - a conglomerate of some of the most innovative, disjunctive, and exciting music."

Yale in New York has garnered a reputation for its creative and diverse offerings, with frequent collaborations between Yale's distinguished faculty and its exceptional network of current students and alumni.

The Beinecke Library is co-presenting the event. Doris Yarick Cross is the artistic director of Yale Opera.

Tickets are $25 general admission, $15 for students with current ID, and are available through the Carnegie Hall box office (57th Street & 7th Ave.), online at www.carnegiehall.org, or CarnegieCharge: 212 247-7800.

THE PROGRAM:

Henri Duparc (1848-1933)
"Sérénade florentine," Op. 2, No. 2
"Le Manoir de Rosemonde" (1879)
"La vague et la cloche" (1871)
Brian Vu, baritone
Miki Sawada, piano

Debussy (1862-1918)
Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire
Nicole Percifield, soprano
Miki Sawada, piano

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
"Jag ville jag vore i Indialand," Op. 38, No. 5
"Harpolekaren och hans son," Op. 38, No. 4
"Soluppgang," Op. 37, No. 3
Evanna Chiew, mezzo-soprano
Yevgeny Yontov, piano

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
"Erinnerung" from Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 1
"Ich ging mit lust durch einen grünen Wald" from Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 2
"Nicht wiedersehen" from Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 3
Evanna Chiew, mezzo-soprano
Yevgeny Yontov, piano

Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)
"Beherzigung" from Goethe Lieder (1888)
"Wie des Mondes Abbild zittert," No. 79, written 1880
Brian Vu, baritone
Yevgeny Yontov, piano

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
"Herbstlied" (Autumn Song), Op. 89, No. 3
Brian Vu, baritone
Yevgeny Yontov, piano

Nicole Percifield - soprano - Opera con Brio Originally from Alberta, Canada, Nicole Percifield '15AD is a second year Artist Diploma student in the Yale Opera program, where she studies with Doris Yarick-Cross. With Yale Opera she has performed Mimi in La Bohème and will sing the role of the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro in February. Most recently she performed the title role in Suor Angelica with the New Haven Symphony Orchesetra, Marenka in The Bartered Bride with Bostom Midsummer Opera, and Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito in Sulmona, Italy.

Ms. Percifield has been featured in concert performances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, performing D. Scarlatti's Salve Regina and Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and with the Minnesota Orchestra. In December she will appear as the soprano soloist in Handel's Messiah with the New Haven Sympony Orchestra. Percifield was also the recipient of an Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera Upper Midwest Auditions.

As a Young Artist, she has been a Resident Artist with the Minnesota Opera, and worked with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, Banff Opera Theatre, and the International Institute of Vocal Arts. Percifield received her B.Mus from the New England Conservatory and M.Mus from the Manhattan School of Music.

Evanna Chiew - mezzo-soprano - La Scena musicale Canadian mezzo-soprano Evanna Chiew '15MM is a second-year student in the Yale Opera program, where she studies with Doris Yarick-Cross. With Yale Opera her roles include Angelina in La Cenerentola this past spring and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro in February 2015.

Ms. Chiew completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of British Columbia. Straight out of high school, she made her operatic debut as the Abbess in the UBC Opera Ensemble's production of Suor Angelica. Since then, she has played other major roles such as Prince Charming (Cendrillon), Nancy (Albert Herring), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Elizabeth Proctor (The Crucible), and Dorabella (Così fan tutte). She has made concert appearances in Dvo?ák's Stabat Mater with the UBC Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Bach Choir's Sing-along Messiah, and Vancouver Opera's Voices of the Pacific Rim concert. Most recently, she sang in Bach's Magnificat with the Vancouver Oratorio Society, Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor and Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music with the UBC Symphony Orchestra.

Evanna has received a number of awards for both her musical and academic abilities. She was the recipient of the 2009 Governor General's Bronze Academic Medal, the UBC President's Entrance Scholarship, the UBC Major Entrance Scholarship, and the Trek Scholarship for Continuing Studies. She is a two-time recipient of the Harry and Marjorie Anne Slim Memorial Scholarship in Music, the Vancouver Women's Musical Society bursary, and the Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship for study in Austria.

Brian Vu - baritone - Described as "debonair" by the Washington Post, baritone Brian Vu '14MM, an Orange County native, is currently a student in the opera program at the Yale School of Music where he studies with Richard Cross. With Yale Opera, Mr. Vu has performed Marcello in La bohème, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Duke Robert in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, and Dapertutto in Les contes d'Hoffmann. He will sing the role of the Count in Yale Opera's February 2015 production of Le nozze di Figaro. Under the auspices of Yale in New York, Mr. Vu made his Carnegie Hall debut with the works of Hindemith and his students, including Mitch Leigh's "Impossible Dream" with the composer in attendance.

This past summer, he was a vocal fellow at Marilyn Horne's Music Academy of the West and performed Moralès in the Academy's production of Carmen. A former studio artist with the Wolf Trap Opera Company, Mr. Vu sang the role of Marquis d'Obigny in Wolf Trap Opera's production of La traviata in collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington Chorus.

Mr. Vu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. With OperaUCLA, he has performed Ottone in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Mercury in Orpheus in the Underworld, Chaplain in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Narciso in Agrippina, Minskman in Jonathon Dove's Flight, and Jigger in Carousel.

A 2014 Eastern Region Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, he has also received awards from the George London Foundation, Gerda Lissner Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, Kurt Weill Foundation, and the Opera Buffs of Los Angeles.

Miki Sawada - piano - Japanese pianist Miki Sawada maintains an active and diverse career as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and educator. She received her Artist Diploma from Yale School of Music in 2014 under the guidance of Wei-Yi Yang, and also holds degrees from Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University. Miki's musical interests vary from performing Beethoven's music on historical instruments, to exploring the colorfully innovative music of the early twentieth century, to championing music by contemporary composers. Miki's solo and chamber music performances have been featured at venues and occasions such as the Oneppo Chamber Music Series at Yale, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Aurora Music Festival (Sweden), Music on Main (Vancouver), Chicago Symphony Center's Macy's Day of Music, the Banff Centre, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Atlantic Music Festival. She has collaborated with such notable artists as bassist Edgar Meyer, Toronto Symphony concertmaster Jonathan Crow, and violinist Axel Strauss. A passionate educator, Miki is a resident musician and founder of the piano program at Music Haven, an organization that seeks to empower youth by providing mentoring and tuition-free music education to students from underserved communities in New Haven. She is also the director of NewMusic4us, an international commissioning project with a focus on community, through which young and emerging composers will write beginner-level chamber music pieces for Music Haven students.

Yevgeny Yontov - piano - Yevgeny Yontov began his piano studies at the age of six with Adela Umansky, and later received his B.Mus. degree summa cum laude from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, where he studied with Arie Vardi. In 2014 he received his M.M. degree from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Boris Berman. Born in 1989 in Odessa, Ukraine, Yontov immigrated to Israel with his family in 1990. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as an Outstanding Musician and has been supported by the AICF scholarships since 1998, as well as by the organization Zfunot Tarbut. In 2013, Yevgeny won first prize and the gold medal at the Wideman International Piano Competition in the United States. Previously, he received first prize in the Tel-Hai International Concerto Competition in Israel, and in the International Piano Competition in Pinerolo, he received fourth prize and a special prize for an outstanding performance of a Beethoven sonata in the finals. He has also received first prizes in most of the major national Israeli piano competitions. An active chamber musician, Yevgeny has played chamber concerts in Israel, Europe, the United States, Canada, and South America, with artists such as the clarinetist David Shifrin. As a solo artist, he has performed on stages in Israel, the U.S., and many countries in Europe. He also performed on Israeli national TV and recorded for Israeli and Portuguese radio.

Yale Opera (music.yale.edu/opera) - The Yale Opera program at the Yale School of Music, led by artistic director Doris Yarick Cross, has been extraordinarily successful in preparing singers for active professional careers. Graduates of the program appear on the rosters of all of the world's major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, and the Vienna Staatsoper, among many others. This success is a result of the extraordinary depth and breadth of the Yale Opera program. Yale Opera not only features a fine studio voice faculty, but also provides expert instruction in diction, languages, style, acting, and body movement. All students have the opportunity to perform major roles in productions ranging from opera excerpts with piano to full productions of major works in New Haven's historic Shubert Theater. Yale Opera singers have worked with such distinguished artists as stage directors Colin Graham, Marc Verzatt, Francesca Zambello, Christopher Alden, Sam Helfrich, Thor Steingraber, and Vera Calabria; and conductors Giuseppe Grazioli, Speranza Scappucci, Federico Cortese, Dominique Trottein, and Jeremy Silver. Guest master class clinicians have included Alan Held, Matthew Polenzani, Ann Murray, Renata Scotto, Elly Ameling, Regine Crespin, Sherrill Milnes, and Marilyn Horne.