Resonance Ensemble - The Bard Sings

Join Resonance as we celebrate the rich bounty of music inspired by Shakespeare’s texts. We’ll intersperse dramatic readings with expressive musical settings by Ralph Vaughan Williams (his lush Serenade to Music), operatic composers Benjamin Britten and Giuseppe Verdi, Americans Steven Sametz and Ned Rorem, and even international composers such as Jaakko Mantyjarvi and Richard Strauss – for composers around the world, Shakespeare’s music is indeed the food of love.

Tickets are now available at the door only.

Resonance Ensemble is grateful to First Presbyterian Church for inviting us back this year to be a part of their Celebration Works concert series on Sunday, October 28th at 2 p.m.

SOPRANO	ALTO	TENOR	BASS
Natalie Gunn	Kristen Buhler	Bennett Bailey	Austin Daniel
Maria Karlin	Renee Favand-See	David Foley	Paul Elison
Solveig Nyberg	Tim Galloway	Jon Garrow	Dan Harmic
Vakare Petroliunaite			Ben Kinkley

Prologue

Lorenzo’s speech, Merchant of Venice Act V, scene 1

Music on Shakespeare

Four Shakespeare Songs - Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (b. 1963)
1. Come Away, Death (Twelfth Night Act II, scene 4)
2. Lullaby (A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act II, scene 2)
3. Double, Double Toil and Trouble (Macbeth Act IV, scene 1)
4. Full Fathom Five (The Tempest Act I, scene 2)

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

Scene between Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet Act I, scene 5

“When He Shall Die”(Romeo and Juliet Act III, scene 2) - Steven Sametz (b. 1954)

Scene between Audrey and Touchstone, As You Like It Act III, scene 3

“It Was a Lover and his Lass”(As You Like It Act V, scene 3) - Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
The men of Resonance Ensemble

“Live with Me and Be My Love” - Ned Rorem (b. 1923)
(Merry Wives of Windsor Act III, scene 3, after a Christopher Marlowe poem)

Tragic Ophelia

Gertrude’s speech, Hamlet Act IV, scene 7

“La mort d’Ophelie” (Hamlet Act IV, scene 7) Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
The women of Resonance Ensemble

Ophelia-Lieder, Op. 67 - Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
1. Wie erkenn’ ich mein Treulieb von andern nun? (Hamlet Act IV, scene 5)
Natalie Gunn, soprano

Ariel and The Tempest

Songs of Ariel - Frank Martin (1890-1974)
4. You are three men of sin (The Tempest Act III, scene 3)
5. Where the bee sucks, there suck I (The Tempest Act V, scene 1)

- Intermission -

Shakespearean “Madrigals” Reinvented

Three Madrigals - Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927)
1. O Mistress mine, where are you roaming? (Twelfth Night Act II, scene 2)
2. Take, O take those lips away (Measure for Measure Act IV, scene 1)
3. Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more (Much Ado about Nothing Act II, scene 3)

The Bard Goes to the Opera

Puck’s speech, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act V, scene 1

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows” - Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

(Oberon’s aria, originally from A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act II, scene 1)
Tim Galloway, countertenor

Scene with the Three Witches, Macbeth Act IV, scene 1

“S’allontanarono” - Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
(Witches’ Chorus, from Macbeth; paraphrase of Act I, scene 3)

Shakespeare on Music

Prospero’s speech, The Tempest Act V, scene 1

Serenade to Music - Vaughan Williams