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ANDRE SOLOMON-GLOVER, baritone
American baritone Andre Solomon-Glover has developed an international career performing repertoire ranging from the roots of American opera and song to ground- breaking contemporary works. His diverse operatic roles have included Porgy in a 35-city Porgy and Bess tour, Escamillo in Carmen, the title role in Rigoletto, and numerous leading roles written specifically for him.
Mr. Solomon-Glover, whom the critics have called “a remarkably communicative performer,” has appeared as a soloist at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall, and has performed with such ensembles as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In the summer of 1997, he appeared as guest soloist with the Boston Pops for their nationally televised Fourth of July celebration, “Pops Goes the Fourth”. He has also been a guest artist at the Marlboro Chamber Music Festival for two years, the Munich Biennale, the Savonlinna Festival in Finland, and the Chicago Jazz Festival.
Mr. Solomon-Glover is presently touring as Joe in Hal Prince’s Tony Award-winning production of Showboat. His stirring rendition of Ol’ Man River caused a sensation for two years on Broadway and on tour. As a student of art-song, Mr. Solomon-Glover has studied with such luminaries as Virgil Thomson, Adele Addison, Betty Allen, Jorma Hynninen, and Robert McFerrin. His commitment to this literature won him the “Joy In Singing” prize in 1990. Since then he has given concerts and recitals to elated audiences throughout the world.
EMILY GOLDEN, mezzo-soprano
Renowned for her wide-ranging dramatic and vocal interpretations, mezzo-soprano Emily Golden has recently been acclaimed in The New York Times for her “handsome mezzo-soprano voice, lustrously dark in the mezzo range” and her “positively virtuosic” performances.
Miss Golden’s recent successes have included her Opera National de Paris debut in the title role of Salammbô, her Royal Opera Covent Garden debut as Carmen (a role she has performed more than 200 times, including the popular Peter Brook adaptation of the work which she performed at venues throughout the world), Clairon in Capriccio at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Prince in Cendrillon at the Teatro Regio di Torino. In the 1997-98 season she joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for Capriccio.
Emily Golden is frequently sought by leading composers to create roles in their operas. Her interpretation of the Secretary in The Consul was first acclaimed at the Washington Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and in a Monte Carlo production directed by Gian Carlo Menotti himself. At the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Miss Golden also premiered Maria Macapa in the world premiere of William Bolcom’s McTeague directed by Robert Altman, and she appeared in the American premiere of Berio’s Un Re In Ascolto. At the Santa Fe Opera, Ms. Golden performed Berthe in the American premiere of Judith Weir’s Blonde Eckbert, and Jokasta in Wolfgang Rihm’s Oedipus, a role she previously created for the world premiere in Berlin. She has also performed leading roles in other important twentieth century works such as Lulu, and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera and Spoleto. Ms. Golden gave her first performances of Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress at the Indianapolis Opera this past season. In fall of 1998, she performed the leading role of Anna I in Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins.
Miss Golden made her professional opera debut at the age of twenty at the Metropolitan Opera. Equally successful in interpreting concert repertoire, Ms. Golden has performed with the Baltimore Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, New Jersey and Seattle Symphonies, Minnesota and Philadelphia Orchestras as well as the Chicago Symphony with Sir Georg Solti, St. Louis Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, and Boston Symphony Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa. In recital she has appeared on the Great Performer’s Series at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
A native of New York, Emily Golden received her bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, following earlier studies in piano, horn and voice at The Juilliard School. She has won several prestigious vocal competitions including Dallas’s G.B. Dealy Award.
MILAGRO VARGAS, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Milagro Vargas has stirred audiences throughout the United State and Europe with her distinctive voice and stage presence. Widely praised for the power of her interpretations, Ms. Vargas can be heard in opera, orchestral, concert, chamber music, and recital settings.
Ms. Vargas was a soloist with the Stuttgart Opera from 1983 to 1992. Among her roles were Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring. She sang Charlotte in Zimmerman’s Die Soldaten, which was recorded by Teldec and won the 1992 Internationalen Schallplattenpreis Frankfurt. In 1995, she again sang Charlotte at the Opera de Paris Bastille. Other roles include Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Berlin’s Komische Oper and Ramiro in La Finta Giardiniera at the Heidelberg Schlossfest. Her portrayal of Nefertiti in the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten was recorded by CBS, with Dennis Russell Davies as conductor. She sang Fortunata in Bruno Maderna’s Satyricon, which was recorded by Harmonia Mundi. In 1996, she sang the role of Carmen with the Eugene Opera.
Ms. Vargas has appeared with the American Composers Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Beethoven Halle Orchestra, Residentie Orkest (the Hague), Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Saint Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, and the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra. An avid proponent of vocal chamber music, her appearances include Da Camera (Houston), Chicago Chamber Players, the Amsterdam Chamber Festival, the Saarbrücken Festival for New Music, and festivals in Aspen, Marlboro, Bard, and Cabrillo.
Recent highlights include a tour through Spain with conductor Helmuth Rilling and the Real Filharmonía performing Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, appearances with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra singing the orchestral version of Copland’s Emily Dickinson Songs, and appearances with the Houston Symphony Orchestra and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series.
A native of New York, Ms. Vargas completed her undergraduate degree at the Oberlin School of Music with Helen Hodam and her Master’s degree at the Eastman School of Music with Jan DeGaetani. Ms Vargas joined the University of Oregon School of Music faculty in 1992.
JUDITH CLURMAN CHORALE
Judith Clurman, Music Director
Now celebrating its inaugural season, The Judith Clurman Chorale is a symphonic chorus comprised of 100 volunteer singers from New York and New Jersey who have dedicated themselves to achieving the highest level of choral performance. In addition to intensive study of a broad spectrum of choral literature, the singers work on vocal technique and sight reading skills. Many of them have previously performed with Judith Clurman in various choral projects in New York, including the New York Chamber Symphony, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Juilliard Evening Division Chorale, and Lincoln Center Salutes the New York Philharmonic.
The Judith Clurman Chorale began the 1998-99 season with a concert performance of Bizet’s Carmen with Denyce Graves and the Berkshire Opera at Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood. At Thanksgiving the chorus performed in an ecumenical celebration at the Church of the Holy Trinity on Manhattan’s Upper Eastside. In spring 1999, the group performed Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem at Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, and on the Trinity Church Noonday series in New York City. The women of the chorus made their debut with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, performing in Hoist’s The Planets with Charles Dutoit conducting.
Judith Clurman is the founder and music director of the Judith Clurman Chorale, and of the acclaimed professional ensemble, the New York Concert Singers. Ms. Clurman has appeared as guest conductor in a number of Lincoln Center series including Mostly Mozart, Great Performers and the Live from Lincoln Center television broadcasts. She has collaborated with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the Boston Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and has performed at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. She is director of the annual tree lighting at Lincoln Center, featuring Project Youth Chorus, Jim Henson’s Muppets, and cast members from Sesame Street. This season she prepares choruses for the New York Philharmonic, the American Composer’s Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Ms. Clurman is also artistic director of “Music of the Jewish Spirit,” a new series at the 92nd Street Y. She has been a tireless proponent of American music and has conducted premieres of such prominent award-winning composers as Beaser, Bernstein, Bolcom, Corigliano, Glass, Kernis, Paulus, Rorem, Rouse and Zwilich, among others. Ms. Clurman’s recordings with the New York Concert Singers include “Divine Grandeur” and “The Mask” (both on New World Records), the latter with the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. Ms. Clurman serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School.