American Soundscapes at the HRM: River to Canyon
Enjoy a concert celebrating nature and a diverse group of female American composers, including Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and Amy Beach, that transports us through the landscape. Presented by the HRM and the Yonkers Chaminade Club, and featuring Metropolitan Opera Soprano Korliss Uecker, with Metropolitan Opera Principal Players Jerry Grossman, cello, and Anton Rist, clarinet, along with Christopher Oldfather, piano. The concert will take place in the HRM Courtyard, overlooking the majestic Hudson River and the Palisades. This concert is outdoors, so please dress appropriately—bundle up! Masks are required for entry.
Program
River and Canyon
- Le Colibri by Ernest Chausson
- Die Forelle by Franz Schubert
- Lotosblume by Clara Schumann
- Schwalbe by Johannes Brahms
- The Swan by Camille Saint-Saens
A Nod to Hockney
- Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé
- Piano Arrangement by D. Savino
- Painted Desert
- On the Trail
Women on the Landscape
- Hold Fast by Florence Price
- Minstrel Man by Margaret Bonds
- Chanson d’Amour by Amy Beach
- Eight Pieces, Op. 83, by Anton Bruch (selected movements)
- Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D. 965, by Franz Schubert
Korliss Uecker, Soprano
The Financial Times (London) acclaimed Korliss Uecker as “a bright and pretty American soprano, was charming, crystalline of voice and sparkling as an actress.” Uecker has sung over 150 performances at the Metropolitan Opera including Susanna in the Marriage of Figaro (international broadcast), Marzelline in Fidelio, Oscar in A Masked Ball, and Valencienne in The Merry Widow. She sang Giannetta in The Elixir of Love with Lucianno Pavarotti and Frasquita in Carmen with Placido Domingo. Other credits include Strasbourg Opera (France), Opera de Monte Carlo, Wexford Festival (Ireland), Santa Fe Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater, Washington Opera Kennedy Center, the Spoleto Festival, Tanglewood Festival and Ravinia Festival, United States Naval Academy and the Library of Congress. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, London Decca, Arabesque Records New World Records and has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning and Live from Lincoln Center. Korliss has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard and a Bachelor of Science from the University of North Dakota.
Jerry Grossman, Cello
Jerry Grossman has been principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1986. Previously he was a member of both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1984–86) and the New York Philharmonic (1974–76). A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he began his music studies at the Longy School, he attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and since his New York debut in 1979 has been one of the most active and versatile cellists on the New York scene. An experienced chamber musician, he has appeared as a guest artist with the Guarneri, Vermeer, and Emerson string quartets, and teaches at the Kneisel Hall Summer Chamber Music School in Blue Hill, Maine.
Anton Rist, Clarinet
Anton Rist was appointed principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2016. He previously held principal positions with the Princeton and New Haven Symphony Orchestras. In addition, Mr. Rist has performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Louisiana Philharmonic, and the American Ballet Theater. Mr. Rist has toured Japan with the New York Symphonic Ensemble, and has performed as a chamber musician throughout Europe and Asia. A dedicated teacher, Mr. Rist has taught at the Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music Precollege divisions, and has presented masterclasses across the country. He has performed and taught at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, the Interlochen Arts Camp, Festival Mozaic, the St. Barts Music Festival, Bravo!Vail, and is a founding member of the Montserrat Music Festival in the West Indies. Born and raised in New York City, Mr. Rist received two degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Jon Manasse. His other major teachers included Larry Guy and Jo-Ann Sternberg. While a student, Mr. Rist attended the Verbier, Pacific, and Aspen Music Festival.
Christopher Oldfather, Piano
One of New York’s most gifted, trusted, respected, often-requested, and well-liked pianists, Christopher Oldfather has devoted himself to the performance of twentieth-century music for more than thirty years. He has participated in innumerable world-premiere performances, in every possible combination of instruments, in cities all over America. He has been a member of Boston’s Collage New Music since 1979, New York City’s Parnassus since 1997, New York Philomusica since 2007, and as a collaborator has joined singers and instrumentalists of all kinds in recitals throughout the United States. In 1986 he presented his recital debut in Carnegie Recital Hall, which immediately was closed for renovations. Since then he has pursued a career as a free-lance musician. This work has taken him as far afield as Moscow and Tokyo, and he has worked on every sort of keyboard ever made, including, of all things, the Chromelodeon. He is widely known for his expertise on the harpsichord, and is one of the leading interpreters of twentieth century works for that instrument. As soloist he has appeared with the MET Chamber Players, the San Francisco Symphony, and Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany. His recording of Elliott Carter’s violin-piano Duo with Robert Mann was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1990. He collaborated with the late Robert Craft, and can be heard on several of his recordings.
Image: David Hockney (British, b. 1937). 15 Canvas Study of the Grand Canyon, 1998. Oil on canvas. On loan from Art Bridges (AB.2017.17). © David Hockney. Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt.
Support provided by Art Bridges. Sponsored by the Yonkers Chaminade Club.