Carnegie Hall

About the Artists

Shawn Chang and Erin Wagner first met during their studies at The Juilliard School and developed an artistic partnership and friendship. They both value the same artistic ideals and hope to represent diverse and modern perspectives through their music making. They have collaborated on a wide range of repertoire together including Shawn’s own music, which explores the relationship between colors and memories. They will perform a selection of Shawn’s songs in combination with several of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs as one of the winners of Juilliard’s 2021 Vocal Arts Honors Recital. This recital focuses on the correlation between the colors that appear in the poetry and are associated with specific people, including Erin’s mother, Dana, and Erin’s dear friend Valeria Velarde, who passed away in 2020.

In the Artist’s Own Words

“Just as this love never had a birth it has no death.” Words couldn’t be truer about how I feel about one of my closest friends, Valeria Velarde, who passed away suddenly in April of 2020. She was unapologetically brave, remarkably resilient, hilarious, selfless, and a true friend in every sense of the word. At the age of 14 when we met, neither of us would’ve imagined that our lifelong friendship would be cut so short, but Neruda’s words and Lieberson’s music reminds me that she exists in everything that is around us, even though she is gone. Shawn and I would like to dedicate this video to her memory and to her family, Rosalia, Arturo, and Vanessa. Thank you to David Paul for helping us bring Valeria to this music and to Lilly Sanchez and Andrea Labrado for being my best friends through it all.

About the Artists

Helen Zhibing Huang is a Chinese-born soprano with a wide range of musical interests. She has performed on the operatic, concert, and recital stages with organizations such as Portland Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Nashville Opera, Central City Opera, Naples Philharmonic, Ravinia Festival, and White Snake Projects. Ms. Huang holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, Bard Vocal Arts Program, Eastman School of Music, and the University of Rochester (where she studied economics). She is a co-founder of Wear Yellow Proudly. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and eating traditional Chinese dishes.

Esme Wong is a Malaysian pianist who made her solo debut at the age of 12 at the Trinity College of London Awards. She recently joined Nashville Opera as a 2020 Mary Ragland Emerging Artist and presented a recital on The Dallas Opera’s TDO Network. Ms. Wong’s past appearances include as assistant conductor at Red River Lyric Opera, coaching faculty at Druid City Opera Workshop at University of Alabama. Future performances include Das Blümelein Project recital for The Elevator Project at Hamon Hall, Winspear Opera House. She holds degrees from Luther College and the University of North Texas.

In the Artist’s Own Words

“Song of the Red Bean” (红豆词) is a setting of a famous text from Cao Xueqin’s novel Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦) composed by Liu Xue’an. The song describes the torment of longing and how it is endless. In Chinese culture, the red bean is a symbol of romantic longing. During these uncertain times, as many of us are away from our families, it felt appropriate to take a slightly different interpretation with this piece. To us, this piece represents a longing for home and our family members, and is depicted in the video’s many clips from our homes in China and Malaysia.

About the Artists

Baritone Bryan Murray has performed in prominent theaters including Deutsche Oper Berlin and Carnegie Hall; has won international competitions such as the Premiere Opera, Talents of the World, and Mirjam Helin international competitions; and is a graduate of the Yale School of Music. He will fly to Japan to perform Kaija Saariaho’s Only the Sound Remains at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, with additional performances in Spain, Italy, and Finland.

A highly sought-after collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Anna Smigelskaya has performed solo and chamber music throughout the US and Russia, including Music Academy of the West, Pianofest in the Hamptons, Collaborative Piano Institute, The Juilliard School, and Carnegie Hall. Currently Ms. Smigelskaya serves as staff pianist and coach at the Manhattan School of Music and Yale School of Music, and will return this summer to the Merola Opera Program as an apprentice coach.

In the Artist’s Own Words

“Phidylé” by Henri Duparc is a masterful stand-alone piece. Its intimate nature led this performance to be just that. We would like the listener to join us in the timeless moment of bliss that Duparc beautifully portrays with the words of poet Leconte de Lisle.

About the Artists

Laureates of the 2019 Joy in Singing Competition, Gregory Feldmann and Nathaniel LaNasa explore contemporary themes through songs old and new. Their sold-out Weill Recital Hall debut in 2020, Degenerate Music, surveyed composers censored by the Third Reich. Their program New Liturgies adopted a ritual format to grapple with issues of privilege, responsibility, and vision. The duo’s project Monuments interrogates the evolving relationship to commemorative art in the US, and features world premieres by Melinda Bargreen, Iván Enrique Rodríguez, and Curtis J. Stewart.

In the Artist’s Own Words

In Eichendorff’s poem “Vesper,” the speaker struggles to make sense of a special place in the absence of the beloved. Without her, shared solitude collapses into loneliness. He wishes to join her on the other side of the ground, so that they might once again look at the world from a shared vantage. In grief, life becomes unrecognizable: Korngold’s cacophony of bells shifts from bliss to agony, as the speaker wrestles with his inverted reality—meanwhile, the world continues about its business.

About the Artists

Australian soprano Yvette Keong strives to unite the intimate emotions of classical music with its ability to be a modern force of change. She is the 2020 recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship and the Rohatyn Great Promise Award from the Eastern Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. This season, she will perform as Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at The Juilliard School.

Originally from Cambridge, New Zealand, Gracie Francis has a background in choral conducting and youth mentorship along with her work as a collaborative pianist. At The Juilliard School, she is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship and a Fulbright Graduate Award. Ms. Kong and Ms. Francis regularly perform together in their all-female ensemble, FEMINA, as part of Juilliard’s Gluck Community Service Fellowship. They are thrilled to collaborate as a duo for the first time with SongStudio.

In the Artist’s Own Words

Golijov’s “Lúa descolorida” is a song of tender and tragic despair. In their video performance, the pair wanted to capture the total loneliness of being submerged in complete darkness, save for the moon’s light on an upturned face. The long, aching melismas of the vocal line capture the intimate isolation of Galician poet Rosalía de Castro’s words, while the starry constellations of the piano part are what the composer calls a “slow-motion ride on a cosmic horse,” taking performers and listeners on a suspended journey through the galaxy.

About the Artists

Mezzo-soprano Megan Moore and pianist Francesco Barfoed are pursuing higher degrees at The Juilliard School. Together they have won Young Concert Artists Auditions, performed at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and participated in master classes for artists like Renée Fleming and Malcolm Martineau. Ms. Moore has won the Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder/Song Competition, and on the operatic stage she has been particularly hailed for her Rossini and Handel interpretations. An active arts advocate, she co-founded LYNX in 2015, an art song initiative that commissions songs with texts by youth with nonverbal autism. Hailing from Denmark, Mr. Barfoed enjoys a diverse career as a solo pianist and chamber musician, collaborating with singers and instrumentalists alike. A passionate promoter of cultural exchange between Denmark and the US, his work has been supported by several prizes and scholarships.

In the Artist’s Own Words

Through Hauptmann’s mood poem, we reflect upon an artist’s inner life during isolating times.