Thursday Musical Artist Series
Parking Information: Click here
Complimentary Coffee and Donuts at 10:00 am
Tickets $15, $10 (groups of 8+), $6 students, sold at the door, general seating
Composer Concert Notes with Moderators David Evan Thomas and Randall Davidson
Program
Dominick Argento (1927-2019)
Six Elizabethan Songs (1957-58)
1. Spring
2. Sleep
3. Winter
4. Dirge
5. Diaphenia
6. Hymn
Young Eun Lee, soprano
Thursday Musical Debut
Kristine Denton, piano
David Evan Thomas (b. 1958)
Soft Summer Airs
To the Summer House
Bright Wings!
Seated in the Rain
Now the Heart Sings
The Clear Water of Our Hearts
Thomas
Freddy’s Giant Leap
Thomas
Landscape of Shadow and Light
Mimi Tung, piano
Randall Davidson (b. 1953)
Stephen Foster's A Most Knowing Woman (An Exposition of the Seven Elements of Comedy) for Oboe and Bass (2019)
Special commission by OboeBass!
OboeBass!
Carrie Vecchione, oboe and Rolf Erdahl, bass
Performer Information
Moderator David Evan Thomas
David Evan Thomas, composer
David Evan Thomas has been honored with two McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowships, an Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and commissions from the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Born in Rochester, New York in 1958, Thomas studied at Northwestern University, Eastman School of Music, and with Dominick Argento at the University of Minnesota. His music is published by ALRY, ECS, MorningStar, Augsburg Fortress, Tritone-Tenuto and several other publishers. Thomas lives in Minneapolis. More: www.davidevanthomas.com.
Randall Davidson, composer
Music of humor and passion are the hallmarks of Randall Davidson's catalogue. His works have enjoyed hundreds of performances throughout the U.S. and Europe. Critics, performers and audiences have noted his dramatic and accessible musical language. His catalogue encompasses nearly every genre: dozens of choral works, an opera, four ballets, an oratorio, a guitar concerto, chamber works, orchestral works that have received over 200 performances, television commercials, incidental music for theater and puppets, a major sound installation to inaugurate the Minnesota Children's Museum, and music for jazz and wind ensembles.
Special recognition has come to Randall Davidson through awards (a Gold Lion from the Cannes Film Festival), residencies (Meet the Composer, American Composers Forum Church-Synagogue residency, Actor's Theatre Company, Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta), and dozens of commissions. In 1993, NIKE International commissioned four grand opera commercials which were shown in cinemas and on commercial television throughout Europe, South America, Asia, and North America. One of those operas, "Don Quincy," received a Gold Lion at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Music studies were with Dominick Argento, Eric Stokes, Susan McClary and Paul Fetler at the University of Minnesota School of Music and with Alf Houkom at Cornell College in Iowa.
Young Eun Lee, soprano (Thursday Musical Debut)
In 2019-2020, Korean lyric coloratura soprano Young Eun Lee performed as Queen of the Night from Die Zauberflöte with UMN opera and Manhattan Opera Studio. In 2018-2019, she performed as Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring, partial role of Sophie in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier with UMN opera, and she has covered the role of Olympia in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and partial role of Sophie in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier with Aspen Opera Center. In 2017-2018, she performed as Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers with UMN opera and as Adele in J. Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, as Queen of the Night from Die Zauberflöte, and partial role of Madame Herz in Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor with New York Lyric Opera Theatre. Other roles include Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff, Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and partial role of Gilda in Rigoletto with La Musica Lirica in Italy; Amore in Cavalli’s Egisto with Peabody Chamber Opera and Fairy Godmother (cover) in Massenet’s Cendrillon with Peabody Opera Theatre.
Currently, Ms. Lee is pursuing her Doctor of Music Arts degree with Dr. John De Haan at the University of Minnesota. She received both her Graduate Performance Degree and Masters in Voice at the Peabody Conservatory. In the spring of 2020, she will perform as Sister Constance in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites.
OboeBass!: Carrie Vecchione, oboe; Rolf Erdahl, bass
Carrie Vecchione, oboe, and Rolf Erdahl, bass, are OboeBass!, the world’s only oboe/bass duo. Called “pioneers” by MN Public Radio, they concertize widely around the US, and went international in a 2017 tour of Norway. They have commissioned over 40 new oboe/bass pieces and recorded six CDs, effectively creating the oboe/bass duo genre. They present over 100 of their Pages of Music education programs annually to elementary schools and senior residences around the region and are Artists in the Schools Roster Artists for the South Dakota Arts Council. Awards include grants from the American Composers Forum, and teaching, performing, and Artist Initiative grants from MRAC and the MN State Arts Board. They won a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant for a new piece by Valerie Coleman, American Vein, that they will premiere March 1 at the Coffee Concert series they founded at the Lakeville. Area Arts Center. In addition to active duo and freelance careers, Carrie teaches at the MacPhail Center for Music and Rolf teaches at Gustavus Adolphus College. Follow them at www.facebook.com/oboebass & www.oboebass.com.
Mimi Tung, piano
A native of Hong Kong, Mimi Tung began piano studies at age 4. She earned her degree in piano performance from Santa Clara University and was awarded the Performer's Certificate for outstanding musical performance. Mimi has performed on the Thursday Musical Artist Series and at the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert series.