Duets,

Opera Excerpts

and

the complete Cantata,
“The Swan and the Skylark”

Performers
Where and When
Program
About the Composer

with Jubal’s Lyre, chamber choir
Laura Christian, soprano
Cynthia Reynolds, soprano
Alexandra Montano, mezzo-soprano
Elliot Z. Levine, baritone
Nathan Bahny, bass-baritone
Elizabeth Hastings, piano

Produced by Sara Ruderman

Tickets: $20 ($15 for seniors and members of Symphony Space)

Monday, March 14 at 8:00 p.m.
At the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space
95th Street and Broadway, New York City

For Tickets call 212-864-5400 or visit www.symphonyspace.org

About the Composer

Arthur Goring Thomas was born in 1850, in Sussex. He was educated for the civil service, but due to "delicate health" (he appears to have had mental health issues throughout his life) did not pursue that career. Instead he began to compose and to study music. His first song dates from 1871. He went to Paris and studied with Emile Durand from 1873-1875, and then returned to England, where he entered the Royal Conservatory and studied with Ebenezer Prout and Arthur Sullivan (1877-1880). He was commissioned to write "Esmeralda", based on Victor Hugo's "Notre Dame de Paris", for the Carl Rosa Opera Company, which premiered it in 1883. It was successful enough to be translated and presented across Europe during the 1880s, and arrived home at Covent Garden -- in French! -- starring Melba and de Reszke in 1890. Goring Thomas followed up on his success with another opera, "Nadesha", in 1885. He produced a wealth of songs, in English and French, and the dedications are often to the most prominent singers of the time. He had finished the piano score of the cantata "The Swan and the Skylark" at the time of his death: he freed himself from his mental health attendant and threw himself in front of a train at the West Hampstead station on March 20, 1892.   (Top)

The Program

The Hour of Soft Enchantment
The Music of Arthur Goring Thomas

Laura Christian, soprano
Cynthia Reynolds, soprano
Alexandra Montano, mezzo-soprano
Richard Slade, tenor
Elliot Levine, baritone
Nathan Bahny, bass-baritone
Elizabeth Hastings, pianist
Jubal's Lyre, directed by Richard Slade

Four Mélodies (Mr Slade and Ms Hastings)
Chanson d'avril
Sérénade
Les papillons
Je ne veux pas autre chose

Mignon (Ms Reynolds and Ms Hastings)

Excerpts from Esmeralda
Act II: O Vision Entrancing (Phoebus) (Mr Slade)
Act IV: Prison Scene (Esmeralda and Frollo) (Ms Reynolds and Mr Bahny, with offstage chorus and Ms Hastings)

The Hour of Soft Enchantment (Nadesha) (Mr Slade and Ms Hastings)

Three Duets (Ms Reynolds, Mr Slade and Ms Hastings)
Sunset
Night Hymn at Sea
Contentment

INTERMISSION

Cantata: The Swan and the Skylark
Ms Christian
Ms Montano
Mr Slade
Mr Levine
Jubal's Lyre, directed by Mr Slade
Ms Hastings