Wayfair One Creative Presents:
Juventas New Music Ensemble

Monday, March 23, 2020, 12:00pm
PROGRAM

Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major by Johann Sebastian Bach
i. Prelude
ii. Allemande
iii. Courante 
iv. Sarabande
v. Minuets
v. Gigue
Thomas Barth, cello

Paduana for Solo Cello by Arthur Honegger
Thomas Barth, cello

Itasca by Robert Fleitz
Julia Scott Carey, piano

On the Mountain by Lee Hoiby
Kelley Hollis, soprano; Julia Scott Carey, piano

Canciónes de Desamor by Steven Serpa
Kelley Hollis, soprano; Julia Scott Carey, piano

Lullaby: I Will Protect You (from james, book of Ruth) by Steven Serpa
Kelley Hollis, soprano; Julia Scott Carey, piano

Laurie's Song (from the Tenderland) by Aaron Copland
Kelley Hollis, soprano; Julia Scott Carey, piano

The New Colossus by Oliver Caplan
Kelley Hollis, soprano; Julia Scott Carey, piano

Additional Selections to be Announced

PROGRAM NOTES FOR VOICE & PIANO SET

Itasca (2013)
Robert Fleitz (b. 1992)
About the Music
This piece began as a commission from my sister Claire for a dance piece she was choreographing. Shortly before writing it, we visited Amelia Earhart’s childhood home in Aitchison, Kansas, an experience that completely humanized and contextualized her legendary persona. Even more striking was the realization that her legendary status is inextricably linked to how quickly and quietly her humanity vanished. Named after the picket ship communicating with her on her final flight, Itasca, this piece seeks to capture the essence of this mystery, and the unbreakable link it holds with one enduringly fascinating woman from Kansas.

About the Composer
Pianist and composer Robert Fleitz performs, commissions, and writes music to curate evocative, occasionally multi-disciplinary experiences for audiences. To this end, he has personally commissioned 113 solo, chamber and performance art pieces, and has given the world premiere to hundreds more, notably including composers Tan Dun and Paola Prestini. Active in performing both classical and new music, his career includes appearances in 24 US states and 11 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. As composer, Robert’s oeuvre has been recently performed or commissioned by a diverse array of artists, including the Off-Broadway dance theatre piece Babel, the Druskomanija Festival in Lithuania, Hilary Easton Dance Company, and Dallas Symphony principal harpist Emily Levin. He is based in New York City, where he lives with his partner, the composer Krists Auznieks.

On the Mountain (1991)
Lee Hoiby (b. 1926-2011)
About the music
On the Mountain is an art song written by Hoiby late in his career. It sets a text drawn from Prometheus Unbound, a four-act lyrical drama by Percy Bysshe Shelley, first published in 1820. Shelley’s drama is concerned with the torments of the Greek mythological figure Prometheus. Hoiby wrote of his work in a “Composer’s Reflection,” “I have also enjoyed setting spiritual texts by un-churchly poets for church chorus. We have organized religion to thank for so much of our choral repertory, yet it's a pity that texts appropriate for church services are so limited by the rules of the liturgy. I am continually trying to foist non­-liturgical texts on churches that come to me for commissions; quite often I get away with it. I'll mention a few: for instance, my Shelley setting, ‘On the Mountain’—although maybe there's some problem about Shelley's being an atheist.” Hoiby dedicated the work to the memory of Richard Strauss, and Strauss’ influence can be heard throughout the writing.

About the Composer
Lee Hoiby's gift for musical fantasy was a constant throughout a long life of boundless creative output. His rich catalog of works encompasses operas, oratorios, choral works, concerti, chamber works, song cycles, and more than 100 songs, many of them championed by such singers as Leontyne Price, Federica von Stade, and Marilyn Horne, among many others.

Hoiby's commitment to tonality remained steadfast throughout his compositional life, even when such an allegiance was considered unfashionable. His music uniquely combines joyous melodic invention with structural rigor and it was in the seclusion of the Catskill mountain countryside where he made his home that he found the peaceful balance of art and life he so cherished.

Hoiby's contribution to the art song repertoire is recognized by singers worldwide. The great American soprano Leontyne Price introduced many of his best known songs and arias to the public. His musical idiom displayed a grateful acceptance of the rich legacy of melodic homophony, embracing references from Monteverdi to American blues without sounding eclectic or piecemeal. Hoiby’s choral music is widely performed throughout North America and in England including such works as the Christmas cantata A Hymn of the Nativity (text by Richard Crashaw), the oratorio Galileo Galilei (libretto by Barrie Stavis), and a substantial group of works for chorus and orchestra on texts of Walt Whitman.

Hoiby's music can be heard on virtually every major record label. Among the many distinguished artists and organizations that have commissioned him are New York City Opera, the Spoleto Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, American Opera Projects, The Washington Cathedral, Choral Arts Society of Washington, The Verdehr Trio, the Dorian Wind Quintet, the Ames Piano Quartet, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, the Richard Tucker Foundation, Yale University Institute of Sacred Music, American Guild of Organists, Mercersburg College and Cantus.  Lee Hoiby's works have been recognized by awards and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Ford Foundation, the Fullbright Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Laurie's Song (from The Tenderland)
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
The Tender Land is an opera with music by Aaron Copland and libretto by Horace Everett. The opera tells of a farm family in the Midwest of the United States. Copland was inspired to write this opera after viewing the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and reading James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

In Laurie’s Song, Laurie—on the eve of her high school graduation—wonders that her childhood has passed so fast; she feels like she has outgrown her hometown. She expresses anger because her mother and grandfather try to control her life.

Program note adapted from Wikipedia and Jason Sundram

Lullaby from james, book of Ruth (2019)
Canciónes de Desamor (2016)
Steven Serpa (b. 1976)
About the Music

Canciónes de Desamor
This set of songs came about one winter when tenor Daniel Castillo, a friend and colleague in Austin, TX, brought me three poems he wanted set for an upcoming recital. They were written by his mother decades ago, while living in her native Mexico, and are heart-broken snapshots from her young adulthood. I was immediately taken by them. They spoke very directly to a recent heart-break of my own. Cecilia’s lines, like the opening of the second song “Let the beautiful flowers remain without dew,/I’ve been left without your smile anyway” or “Sometimes I remember with great pain/That you are not mine” from the third song, felt like they were coming straight from my own life. Those winter holidays brought up old feelings and regrets and stirred new feelings of loss and loneliness. I found comfort however in working with Cecilia’s own expressions of loss. It might sound cliché, but these poems reminded me that the weight of loneliness and loss was not something I carry alone. It is shared and suffered by all people. As true as the phrase “Love is Love” so also is "Loss is Loss".

Lullaby: I Will Protect You from james (book of Ruth)
james (book of ruth) is a dramatic oratorio written by composer Steven Serpa and librettist Zac Kline. It presents the story of James, an HIV+ man, and the losses he suffers because of the disease. James loses the man he loves to the physical ravages of HIV/AIDS, while he is abandoned by his family from fear of the disease and because of the stigma attached. James’ mother sings her aria “I will protect you” in the prologue of the oratorio, a parent’s promise to her son, which relates their shared physical and emotional connection. That promise will be tried through the course of the oratorio.

About the Composer
Steven Serpa is a composer whose music has won recognition across the United States and Canada. His An Invocation was premiered by the Austin Symphony Orchestra and has been performed by the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra, TreeFalls New Music, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. Critics have praised his one-act opera Thyrsis & Amaranth as a "truly beautiful… magnificent little story jammed full of thought and feeling and meaning" with “gorgeous music and wrenching lyrics.” It has been produced by companies in Halifax, Cincinnati, Austin, St. Louis, and Syracuse. Steven recently collaborated on new vocal works for singers from Austin Opera: a cycle on Mexican poetry Canciónes de desamor, The Creatures: A Bestiary Retold on the poetry of Jeffery Beam, and a civil-rights cantata on the 1967 Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia. Recent collaborations with playwright Zac Kline are set to premiere in the 2020-2021 season including the choral oratorio james (book of ruth) tackling the subject of HIV stigma and these wings are meant to fly, a micro-opera responding to the Pulse nightclub shooting. Steven recently earned his doctorate in composition from the University of Texas at Austin, and has studied with composers Tom Cipullo, Dan Welcher, Donald Grantham, and Yevgeniy Sharlat.

The New Colossus (2018)
Oliver Caplan (b. 1982)
About the Music
America was founded in 1776, a nation of immigrants. Now, we talk about walls, about here versus there, about fear, about sharing, about keeping, and keeping out. But over a century ago, in 1883, author Emma Lazarus penned a sonnet so powerful it would come to symbolize our nation’s place in the world for generations. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp,” she wrote. “Give me your tired, your poor.” What could be more patriotic then this poem inscribed on one of our greatest national icons, the Statue of Liberty? I set Lazarus’s words to music in honor of those who’ve found a home in America and those who wait yet “beside the golden door.”

About the Composer
Award-winning American composer Oliver Caplan writes melodies that nourish our souls, offering a voice of hope in an uncertain world. Inspired by the resiliency of the human spirit and beauty of the natural world, his music celebrates stories of social justice, conservation and community.

Mr. Caplan’s works have been performed in over 175 performances nationwide. He has been commissioned by the Atlanta Chamber Players, Bella Piano Trio, Bronx Arts Ensemble, Brookline Symphony Orchestra, Columbia University Wind Ensemble and New Hampshire Master Chorale, among others. Winner of a Special Citation for the American Prize in Orchestral Composition, additional recognitions include two Veridian Symphony Competition Wins, the Fifth House Ensemble Competition Grand Prize, eight ASCAP Awards, and fellowships at Ragdale, VCCA and the Brush Creek Foundation. Recordings of Mr. Caplan’s music include his 2017 release You Are Not Alone, which has been featured on Apple Music’s Classical A-list and streamed over 200,000 times; 2012 debut album Illuminations; and tracks on Trio Siciliano’s Exploring Music (2018, U07 Records) and the Sinfonietta of Riverdale’s New World Serenade (2016, Albany Records).  A leader in the field of contemporary classical music, Mr. Caplan is the Artistic Director of Juventas New Music Ensemble, the only professional ensemble of its kind devoted specifically to the music of emerging composers. During the first two years of his tenure, the ensemble’s audience has grown six-fold. Mr. Caplan holds degrees from Dartmouth College and the Boston Conservatory, is a voting member of the Recording Academy, and resides in Medford, Massachusetts.



MUSICIAN BIOS

Juventas New Music Ensemble
Oliver Caplan, Artistic Director
Juventas New Music Ensemble is a contemporary chamber group with a special focus on emerging voices. Juventas shares classical music as a vibrant, living art form. We bring audiences music from a diverse array of composers that live in today’s world and respond to our time.

Since its founding in 2005, Juventas has performed the music of over 200 living composers. The ensemble has earned a reputation as a curator with a keen eye for new talent. It opens doors for composers with top-notch professional performances that present their work in the best possible light.

Recognition for the ensemble’s work includes the American Prize in Opera Performance and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Boston Foundation. Juventas is featured on albums by Innova Recordings, Parma Records and New Dynamic Records, and has held residencies at Boston Conservatory, Harvard University, Longy School of Music, Middlebury College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Juventas has a storied history of dynamic collaboration with artists in other media, including dancers, painters, scientists, poets, puppeteers and robotics engineers. A leader in the field, Juventas also facilitates the Boston New Music Festival, a weeklong showcase of Boston’s contemporary music scene.

Thomas Barth
Cello
Cellist Thomas Barth received his Master’s degree from The New England Conservatory of Music in 2019, where he was a recipient of the Gregor Piatagorsky Memorial Fund scholarship. In recent months, he has performed at Carnegie Hall as a member of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with the Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra A Far Cry, and at Boston’s Jordan Hall as principal cellist of the New England Conservatory Philharmonia. His primary teachers include Richard Aaron and Lluís Claret, and he has performed in masterclasses for leading concert cellists such as Truls Mørk, Anner Bylsma, and Johannes Moser. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in cello performance with highest honors from the University of Michigan with supplementary studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Netherlands. In addition to performing with ensembles throughout New England, he serves on the teaching faculty at the Suzuki School of Newton and the Kingsley Montessori School and teaches privately throughout metro-Boston. 

Julia Scott Carey
Piano
Julia Scott Carey began her music training at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where she received the Lanier Prize for Most Outstanding Graduating Senior. She was one of the first students admitted to the Harvard-New England Conservatory joint degree program, through which she received a master’s degree in composition. She received a second master’s degree in collaborative piano from Boston University.

Julia is the Minister of Music at the Central Square Congregational Church in Bridgewater, where she leads the adult and children’s choirs from the keyboard. She is one of the accompanists for the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir. She also serves as the accompanist for the Metropolitan Chorale of Brookline, the Dedham Choral Society, the Boston College University Chorale, and the Boston Saengerfest Men’s Chorus.  She previously served as the pianist for the Handel and Haydn Society’s Educational Vocal Quartet, the Wellesley College Chamber Singers, and the Boston Children’s Chorus. She is also a founder and core ensemble member of Juventas New Music Ensemble.

As a composer, her orchestral works have been performed by numerous orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops, and her works have been broadcast on national TV and radio in the United States and in Russia. She was the youngest composer ever published by the Theodore Presser Company. She was also chosen to arrange a folk song for Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Chang to play at Deval Patrick's inaugural ball.

Kelley Hollis
Soprano
Kelley Hollis is a soprano based in Boston, originally from Wellington, Florida. She recently returned from London where she recorded Arnold Rosner’s Requiem with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. In 2018, Kelley performed a concert at the Prague Castle in the Czech Republic, along with a series of recitals in cities around the country, as a featured artist with the Americké jaro festival.  

In 2019, Kelley performed the role of Rosalinda in MassOpera's critically acclaimed production of Die Fledermaus. Her other recent roles include Mimi in Puccini's La femme boheme, Beth in Adamo’s Little Women (Metrowest Opera), Eliza in Muhly’s Dark Sisters (Third Eye Theater Ensemble); Florencia Grimaldi in Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas, Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Micaela in Le Tragedie de Carmen, Harper in Eötvös’ Angels in America (BU Opera Institute) and Nina in Pasatieri's The Seagull (Opera del West).

Kelley has performed twice at Boston Symphony Hall: In 2016, she appeared as the First Orphan in The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s concert production of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier alongside Renee Fleming and Susan Graham, and in 2015 she was the soprano soloist for Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, with the BU Symphony Orchestra. Her most recent concert repertoire includes Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Handel’s Messiah, and Faure’s Requiem.

In 2014, Ms. Hollis was a finalist for Lyric Opera Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, and in 2011 Kelley received an encouragement award at the district level from the Metropolitan Opera National Council. Kelley Hollis received both her Master's and Bachelor's degrees from Northwestern University and is a graduate of the Boston University Opera Institute.
© 2023 JUVENTAS NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE