Home of Joni MacDonald
Arrival 10:00 am, Concert 10:30 am
Reservations are required and can only be made by members. Please email info@thursdaymusical.org for the link to RSVP to this home. Address will be provided in the RSVP.
Anna Ward, soprano and Mary Hunt, piano
Will Richardson, cello
Will Richardson has performed with a wide variety of classical and non-classical organizations from the Mill City Summer Opera to Weird Al Yankovic. He has been a member of the Duluth-Superior Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, Owensboro Symphony, Marion Philharmonic, and the Richmond Symphony.
Past solo performances include Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, and Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Cellos with the Century College Orchestra, as well as the complete cello sonatas of Bohuslav Martinů for Thursday Musical’s Artist Series Concerts. He completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where his primary teachers were Helga Winold and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. He studied baroque cello with Christine Kyprianides.
A dedicated teacher, Mr. Richardson is co-founder of North Star Cello Academy located in Roseville, MN. His previous teaching experience includes Century College, Inver Hills Community College, Hamline University, Bethel University, The College of Saint Benedict, and St. Joseph's School of Music. He has completed Suzuki Cello Teacher training through the Suzuki Association of the Americas. He plays a cello made by David Folland of Northfield, MN.
Mary Hunt is a freelance piano soloist and collaborative pianist. With graduate degrees from Boston University (M.M.) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (D.M.A.), she has been featured on both Wisconsin and Minnesota Public Radio and on Wisconsin Public Television. Her teaching experience includes private studios in Madison and Houston, TX, and as a member of the faculty at Luther College and St. Joseph School of Music in St. Paul. She is a long-time performing member of Thursday Musical and a volunteer at The Raptor Center.
Anna Ward, soprano has performed with the Mark Morris Dance Company, Lorelei Ensemble, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Bach Roots Festival, Raylynmor Opera, and the Boston Chamber Symphony. Ward has sung at Carnegie Hall with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (2010) and the Yale Choral Artists (2012). In 2018, she was a cast member in the Ireland tour of Gare St. Lazare’s Samuel Beckett pastiche, Here All Night. Ward is the soprano soloist on MIT Women’s Chorale’s recording of the second mass of Charles-René and recorded music for the video game Code Vein, released by BANDAI NAMCO in 2019. As the soprano cantor for the Archdiocese of Boston, Ward was featured regularly on CatholicTV and collaborated with composer Richard J. Clark in premieres of his sacred music. Her performance of Clark’s Woman of No Distinction in 2018 was hailed in Musical America as “brimming with effortless lyricism,” and she was featured in 2022 as the soprano soloist in the Parisian première of his Te Deum.
Program
Frühlingsglaube, D. 686 Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Die Forelle, D. 550
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 188
Das Mädchen Spricht, Op. 105, No. 3 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Wie Melodien Zieht es mir, Op. 105
No. 1 Vergebliches Ständchen, Op. 84, No. 4
Night, Op. 35, No. 1 Amy Beach (1867-1944)
With Thee, Op. 35, No. 3
“Heart” from Heart on the Wall Robert Owens (1925-2017)
Now the String Is Tuned, Lad, Op. 55, No. 5 Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Flowing Sleeves and Trousers, Op. 55, No. 6
Give the Hawk a Cage, Op. 55, No. 7
Anna Ward, soprano
Mary Hunt, piano
Cello Suite No.3 in C major, BWV 1009 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Bourrée I, II
Gigue
Julie-O (1988) Mark Summer (b. 1958)
Will Richardson, cello