Our Italian Art Song Festival culminated in a joint voice faculty recital Friday evening which featured myself, Amy Haines, Corinne Ness and Sarah Gorke – our colleague Nancy Henninger was otherwise occupied – and of course our special guest for the week, Dan Ihasz. It was a recital comprised entirely of Italian art songs ranging from Giacomo Carissimi from the 17th century to Stefano Donaudy from the early 20th century, sung roughly in chronological order – with a group number at the end which featured all five of us together.
We’ve done joint voice faculty recitals twice before at Carthage, but it had been at least a year since the last one, so this felt like a noteworthy event. And for our students it was a chance for them to see us up on the stage, doing what we ask them to do on the regular basis. As one of them said afterwards, “it was fun to see you guys in the frying pan for a change !” The best comment, however, came from a music theater major named Brianna Voss, who said afterwards “I just feel like going into a practice room and singing for an hour! “ Now that’s what we like to hear !
I got the evening rolling with three songs by Carissimi, including a familiar barn burner called “Vittoria, mio core.” The singer of the song is expressing his joyous relief at being released from love, which he calls at one point “that terrible slavery.” If the song turned out well on the recording (there were some technical glitches) I’ll put it on the Listen page. I was in good form and it was fun for the students in the audience to hear a song that is so well-known to them. Everybody sang well thereafter, and it was especially neat to have the recital end with Dan – – – and I had the pleasure of accompanying him on the piano. (Our faculty colleague Aaron Nee played for the rest of us – and beautifully.) I offered to play for Dan because he was staying with Kathy and me and it would be so easy for the two of us to rehearse. As it turns out, we practiced once on Wednesday night and left it at that, so perfectly in sync did we feel. . . and so busy were we talking whenever we were home together. Shhh. Don’t tell. We want people to think that we practiced for hours on end.
Anyway, it was a nice recital and also somewhat short- so it left people at the end wanting more. And although I was sad that there weren’t more people there (it was poorly advertised) I think it was Amy who said that it was actually kind of nice that it was such an intimate, comfortable gathering, and I think she had a point. Our previous joint voice faculty recitals have drawn capacity crowds, but that’s rather scary. This was just fun.
Afterwards the five of us plus pianist Aaron Nee gathered at The Yard Arm with our respective partners- plus five or six friends from the good old days at Horlick High School . . . and we had an absolutely delightful time. And I especially enjoyed a few moments when Amy and Corinne and I could chat together in the corner and reflect on the glorious events of the day. The students really seemed to be excited to have an event like this which was created with them in mind- and we are already thinking about what the next special event should be. We were also celebrating the fact that we as a voice faculty enjoy such an exceptionally nice chemistry. Voice teachers as a rule tend to be thin-skinned and territorial and temperamental and fairly high-maintenance kind of people. But not at Carthage. We are a nicely balanced faculty with various gifts that really blend together nicely – and we respect and like each other so much (and with good reason, frankly) that we can really work together in an exceptional way. And one of the nice things about having Dan here is that he saw that and noted it and talked about it because he knows how rare and precious it is to have a voice faculty in that sort of concord with itself.
I’m just sad now that Dan has departed for Fredonia, NY (he seems to be under the impression that his wife Helen wants him home) because having him here was a joy in every way. And it was especially fun to have Dan in the frying pan with us Friday night. Never before was a frying pan such a fun place to be !
pictured: the finale of Friday night’s joint voice faculty recital. From left to right: pianist Aaron Nee, Corinne Ness, Dan Ihasz, Amy Haines, Greg Berg, Sarah Gorke. The piece we sang for the finale is actually a wonderful duet by Donaudy which is sung in canon (sort of like a round.) We adapted it so all five of us could sing it together and it turned out beautifully.