Three concerts on campus this week will highlight the most 'natural' of all musical instruments: the human voice.
On Wednesday, Oct. 22, singers from the Yale Camerata and the Yale Glee Club will join forces with the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale for a performance of Mahler's "Symphony No. 2 in c minor," otherwise known as "Resurrection." Soprano Lori Trustman, a voice student at the School of Music, and mezzo soprano and music school alumna Jane Dutton are the soloists for the performance, which will begin at 8 p.m. in Woolsey Hall, corner of Grove and Prospect streets. Admission is free.
Lawrence Leighton Smith, conductor in residence at the School of Music and conductor laureate of The Louisville Orchestra, will direct the performance. He will also hold a pre-concert conversation at 7 p.m. in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St. This event is also free and open to the public.
Mahler's "Resurrection" is considered an "apocalyptic" work, containing both song and symphony in two of its five movements. In a conversation with another famed composer, Jean Sibelius, Mahler is reported to have said that the classical symphony, with some alterations and innovations, could express an entire world. He completed "Resurrection" in 1894.
"An Opera Sampler at Yale"
Yale Opera will present scenes from famous operas in a two-part series of concerts titled "An Opera Sampler at Yale" on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 24 and 25. The performances by opera students, which will take place at 8 p.m. each night in Morse Recital in Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., will each feature scenes from four operas. The Friday night program includes the first act of Puccini's "La boheme," the third and fourth acts of Verdi's "Don Carlo," act one of Moore's "The Ballad of Baby Doe" and the second act of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro." On Saturday, the students will perform the second act of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and the first act of the composer's "Cosi fan tutte," as well as "Antonia" from Offenbach's opera "Les contes d'Hoffmann" and Act III of Britten's "Peter Grimes." Admission to the performances is free, and the public is invited.
Lesley Koenig, who recently produced at the Metropolitan Opera all four of the operas being featured in "An Opera Sampler at Yale," is the stage director for the performance. She was a staff stage director for the Metropolitan Opera for 13 consecutive seasons in over 30 productions and has directed operas at other venues, such as as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Stadttheater St. Gallen, the Salzburg Festival, Vereingte Bühnen-Graz and Stadttheater Aachen. She won two Emmy Awards for her contributions to the Metropolitan Opera broadcast productions of "La Boheme" and "Tosca." Ms. Koenig is coauthor of the book "Renaissance And Baroque Drawings."
For further information on the Yale Philharmonia Orchestra concert or "An Opera Sampler at Yale," call 432-4157.