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presents
HANDEL SOCIETY
OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Robert Duff artistic director and conductor
with
Elissa Alvarez soprano
Erma Mellinger mezzo-soprano
These performances are made possible in part by generous support from the Choral Arts Foundation of the
Upper Valley (choralartsuv.org), the Gordon Russell 1955 Fund, the Glick Family Student Ensemble Fund
and Friends of the Handel Society.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 • 7 pm
Spaulding Auditorium • Dartmouth College
program
Schicksalslied, Op. 54
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Rhapsodie, Op. 53
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Gesang der Parzen, Op. 89
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Ave Maria, Op. 12
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• intermission •
Annelies
James Whitbourn (b. 1963)
1. Introit-prelude
2. The capture foretold
3. The plan to go into hiding
4. The last night at home and arrival at the Annexe
5. Life in hiding
6. Courage
7. Fear of capture and the second break-in
8. Sinfonia (Kyrie)
9. The Dream
10. Devastation of the outside world
11. Passing of time
12. The hope of liberation and a spring awakening
13. The capture and the concentration camp
14. Anne’s meditation
program notes
Schicksalslied, Opus 54
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany
on May 7, 1833, and died in Vienna on April 3,
1897. He composed Schicksalslied (Song of
Destiny) around the same time as Alto Rhapsodie,
completing it in May 1871; it was premiered in
Karlsruhe on October 18 the same year. In
addition to the mixed chorus, the score calls for
pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns
and trumpets, three trombones, timpani and
strings.
Late in the summer of 1868, after taking his father
to Switzerland for a mountain holiday, Brahms
visited his friends the Dietrichs in Oldenburg.
While there, he specifically asked if they
could visit the great shipbuilding works at
Wilhelmshaven. Curiously, Brahms was fascinated
by ships though he could rarely be induced to
board one. On the morning scheduled for the
visit, Brahms found himself awake before the rest
of the family. Among the Dietrich family’s books,
he found a volume of poems by Friedrich
Hölderlin (1770-1825), which he began reading.
He told his hosts that he had been deeply moved
by a poem entitled Hyperion’s Song of Destiny.
Years later, in a memoir recalling his friendship
with Brahms, Albert Dietrich wrote:
“When, later in the day, after having wandered
about and seen everything of interest, we sat
down by the sea to rest, we discovered Brahms
at a great distance, sitting alone on the beach
and writing. These were the first sketches for
Schicksalslied.”
The text, reenacting the Classical fatalism of the
Greeks, spoke to some central element in the
composer’s own soul. Yet, despite the immediate
reaction to the poem and the instant musical
sketch, Brahms was unable to bring the work to
completion until May 1871, nearly three years
later. The problem may have lain in the structure
of Hölderlin’s grim text: the poem is written in two
parts—the first depicting the tranquil, eternal
bliss of the gods in their abode of light, and
the second contrasting it with the torments of
humanity, driven by a blind destiny. However,
Brahms did not want to end the music in such a
negative mood. He considered simply repeating
the opening words at the end, but was dissuaded
from that course by the conductor Hermann Levi.
Instead, Brahms concluded the piece with a
tranquil orchestral statement of the opening
music, thus rounding it off musically with a hint of
consolation, while retaining the text’s original
form. The music of the gods is luminous, sharply
contrasted with the hard driven torments of
mankind, especially the dramatic depiction of
“water thrown from crag to crag,” followed by a
sudden silence. The chorus ends on a note of
resignation, but a shift from C minor to C major
brings reconciliation.
Rhapsodie, Opus 53
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Brahms composed Rhapsodie (Alto Rhapsody) in
the autumn of 1869; the first performance took
place in Jena on March 3, 1870. The score calls
for a solo alto voice, four-part men’s chorus, and
orchestra consisting of pairs of flutes, oboes,
clarinets, bassoons, and horns, plus strings.
On May 11, 1869, Clara Schumann had happy
news to share with her good friend Brahms when
he visited her in Baden-Baden: her 24-year-old
daughter Julie had just become engaged. Brahms
choked out a few words and, to Clara’s surprise,
promptly disappeared. Perhaps only now did she
understand some of the composer’s behavior
during the previous half-dozen years.
Described as an ethereal beauty, Julie evidently
captivated Brahms as early as 1861, when he
dedicated to her his Variations on a Theme
by Robert Schumann, Op. 23. At the time Clara
evidently regarded it simply as homage to her
program notes CONTINUED
family, because Robert, before his death, had
been the young Brahms’ best friend and strongest
proponent. Julie was a beautiful but frail angel,
who often suffered from illness. Brahms felt a
deep and growing affection for her, but his
reaction was complicated by his role in helping to
care for the family after Robert’s death. He
became a kind of surrogate father to Julie, and his
warm friendship with Clara—twenty years older
than he—made her a cross between a mother
figure and a fantasy lover. Combined with these
emotional complexities was the fact that Brahms’
early experiences playing the piano in the brothels
of Hamburg led him to view the sexual side of
human relations as something essentially sordid.
Julie herself occasionally felt some discomfort
from the evident fervor of Brahms’ interest in her
well-being, though he never let her know his
feelings explicitly.
have on his Psalter “a single tone perceptible to
his ear,” which might “revive his heart.” Surely
Brahms offered that prayer for himself. Goethe’s
poem spoke to him with unusual directness, and
he responded to it with shattering, personal
music.
Out of his sadness at realizing he had lost her,
Brahms found words that perfectly expressed his
emotional condition and set them to music in
one of his most moving scores. He presented the
work as an expression of his own struggle
with loneliness. A week after Julie’s wedding on
September 22, 1869, Brahms visited Clara and
played for her the work he called his “bridal song.”
Clara’s response (in her journal): “It is long since I
remember being so moved by a depth of pain in
words and music.”
Gesang der Parzen, Opus 89
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Brahms composed the Gesang der Parzen (Song
of the Fates) in 1882. In addition to the sixpart chorus (SAATBB), the score calls for two flutes
(the second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two
clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets,
three trombones, tuba, timpani and strings.
The text that Brahms chose for what became
one of his most personal expressions comprises
the central part of a difficult poem of Goethe’s,
Harzreise im Winter (Winter Journey Through the
Harz Mountains). Of the poem’s 88 lines, Brahms
set only about one quarter of the whole. Goethe’s
poem was written after a 1777 visit to the Harz
Mountains, where he met a correspondent of his,
a misanthropic young fellow named Plessing, who
had withdrawn from the world into the solitude of
nature. Goethe’s poem describes one who goes
“off apart,” praying that the Father of Love may
The orchestral introduction shivers in its chilly Cminor depiction of the winter scene, interrupted
by the alto soloist, who notices the solitary
wanderer; she enters suddenly, as if overheard in
the middle of a thought. A central section,
actually an aria, describes the one who, having
been scorned, now scorns all in return. The
harmonic and rhythmic agitation of this section
yields magically at the entrance of the men’s
voices and a turn to a consoling C major
and a warmly ardent melody praying for the
reconciliation of the wanderer.
Brahms completed Gesang der Parzen in 1882, at
the age of 50, and never again returned to the
medium of chorus and orchestra. He chose a
strongly classicizing poem by the greatest master
of German lyric, Goethe (it is, in fact, drawn from
his poetic drama Iphigenia auf Tauris). Like his
earlier setting of Hölderlin’s Schicksalslied, this
text treats the gulf between the gods in the
heights and mankind below, hapless victims of the
Fates.
As befits the darkness of the poem’s mood,
Brahms creates a dark-colored choral sound in six
parts, dividing the altos and basses into two parts
each. The six-part chorus naturally falls into semi-
program notes CONTINUED
choruses of women’s or men’s voices, and Brahms
exploits the possibilities of echoing one group
against the other. The work is ascetic in its musical
approach, avoiding showy florid passages and an
easy consolation. Indeed, at the beginning of the
final stanza of the text we expect, for a moment,
the kind of turn to the major key that brings
reconciliation in the Schicksalslied or the Alto
Rhapsody—but here it does not happen. Brahms
ends the final stanza resolutely in a dark and
despairing close.
Ave Maria, Op. 12
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Brahms composed Ave Maria in Detmold during
the summer of 1858, for four-part women's
voices with an accompaniment for either organ
or orchestra. It premiered in a concert by Karl
Grädener's ”Akademie" in Hamburg in December
1859. The orchestral alternative called for pairs of
flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns, plus
strings.
As a young man, Brahms composed works for
women's voices—whether chorus or solo voices
often sung by choruses—for ensembles in towns
where he lived and visited. These works were
performed with delight by the female groups, and
he eventually became the conductor of one such
ensemble, greatly enriching the repertory for
women's voices.
Of all composers of the 19th-century, Brahms
undertook the most detailed and extensive study
of earlier music, studying in detail composers
from at least the 16th-century onward, comparing
editions, reading books on music theory and
history, and comparing points in which they
disagreed. He may fairly be regarded as the
first significant composer who also showed
great ability as a musicologist, a field that was
just beginning to take its place in the world of
music, though there were as yet no formal
academic requirements for it.
The lovely Ave Maria offers an homage to the
flowing lines of Renaissance choral music, though
no one would confuse it for actual 16th-century
music. Its harmonies are entirely tonal, with
modulations scarcely guessed at 300 years earlier,
and the lightly contrapuntal lines are by no means
as thorough-going as in the counterpoint of
the earlier period. Its cool and gentle cantabile
character shows that Brahms was already entirely
at home laying out music for groups of voices,
suggesting his future as one of the half dozen
greatest composers for chorus of the entire
romantic era.
Steven Ledbetter
Annelies
James Whitbourn (b. 1963)
Libretto by Menaie Challenger based on Anne
Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Whitbourn
composed Annelies during 2004 and 2005; the
first performance occurred at the National UK
Holocaust Memorial Day in Westminster Hall,
London, on January 27, 2005. The full orchestration
calls for solo soprano voice, mixed chorus,
flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, two horns, three
trombones, timpani, percussion, piano and strings.
The following notes are provided by the composer:
“If Anne could be with us tonight, I know she
would shed tears of joy and pride, and she would
be so happy—happy the way I remember when
I saw her last.” These words were spoken by
Bernd Elias, Anne Frank’s first cousin, before the
first performance of Annelies. His is a remark that
stops you in your tracks, because it is easy to
forget that Annelies (Anne’s full name) was a real
person, with friends and family, and not just a
historical figure. She was a happy person, and a
hugely talented girl. Today, she would be in her
80s had she lived. In her room in hiding, she had a
photograph on her wall of Princess Elizabeth, now
Queen Elizabeth II, one of the famous people she
loved to admire. It is sobering to remember that
the British monarch is several years her senior and
program notes CONTINUED
at the time of tonight’s concert still carries out her
royal duties. Anne Frank should have been a
younger contemporary of hers.
Yet Anne Frank did not grow up. Her death has
kept her an eternal child, and her diary continues
to speak directly to children and adults today. She
was a highly intelligent human being, full of
perception and maturity, and her diary is a brilliant
piece of writing in its own right. The fact that it sits
within a story of such horror as the Holocaust
makes its brilliance so painful.
But at the time of writing the diary, Anne had not
experienced the Holocaust first hand, though
she was much more aware of it than her
companions-in-hiding realized. By all accounts,
she was always full of questions. One of the
helpers, Miep Gies, who kept the supply of food
to the Annexe flowing, recalls that Anne (whom
she adored) used to follow her down the stairs at
the end of each day’s visit and ask about what was
really happening in the outside world. For
example, she wanted to know the fate of the
Jews she saw rounded up and arrested on the
streets below. “I told her the truth,” Miep said.
Anne knew what was happening. Yet none of the
housemates, not even her own parents, realized
the depth of her understanding. The side of her
character she called her “better side” was hidden
from sight and reserved only for the pages of her
diary.
It is these penetrating observations that form
the basis of Melanie Challenger’s libretto. In
Melanie, I saw qualities that reflect Anne
Frank’s character, especially her penetrating
understanding of other people. The idea for a
choral work came from Melanie at a time when
she had been working on a music project with
children from war-torn Bosnia. She approached
me with the idea, and we worked intensely
together for almost three years. From the outset,
we were clear that it was those remarkable
observations that were to form the basis of this
work. Squabbles within the Annexe, teenage
romantic encounters and the like were all put
aside, and the diary distilled into this sequence
of beautiful, spiritually-charged texts. Melanie
skillfully made a translation suitable for me, as a
composer, to set to music.
Rarely have I found a text so compelling and the
inspiration for so much, simply as a document in
its own right. But as time went on, and as I worked
on the score, I also became more aware of
Anne Frank as a contemporary person. Eventually,
I came to meet her cousin Bernd, and later one
of her school friends, of whom she speaks so
often in the diary. These personal family links
influenced the kind of piece it was destined to be,
and at times it felt as though I were putting
together the music for the family’s memorial
event. It was to be a commemorative work, not
only for Anne Frank, but for those by whose side
she lived, those she watched with penetrating
eyes, and those voiceless millions who shared
her fate.
Annelies Marie Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen
camp, along with her sister Margot, having
previously been held at Auschwitz. By that time,
she assumed her mother was dead, and she
believed her father was dead too. In fact, he
survived, and Anne’s friend Hannah Goslar—the
last person we know to have seen her alive—
always wondered whether Anne would have
found the strength to live had she known her
beloved father was not dead.
The legacy of her death has been remarkable.
Anne always intended to publish her diary, and
that wish has been fulfilled in a way she cannot
have imagined. It has been a privilege to work
on these texts.
The world premiere in London—in the original
orchestral version—was beautifully conducted by
program notes CONTINUED
the American conductor Leonard Slatkin. Three
movements of the work were performed at the
UK’s National Holocaust Day event for the sixtieth
anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. It was
given in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, whose
face Anne Frank had gazed at on the wall of her
little attic room all those years ago, and of five
hundred survivors of the Holocaust, their families,
and several hundred others. The setting was
Westminster Hall, an enormous eleventh century
hall within the Houses of Parliament in London. It
was a cold January day, and the hall was
appropriately cold for the occasion. The work was
introduced by Anne’s school friend, Hannah
Gosler.
It is my hope that, in the end, it is the text itself
that finds a way to leave the indelible mark of that
young girl whose wisdom and perception can
teach us all.
James Whitbourn
text and translations
Schicksalslied
Friedrich Hölderlin
Ihr wandelt droben im Licht,
Auf weichem Boden, selige Genien!
Glänzende Götterlüfte
Rühren euch leicht,
Wie die Finger der Künstlerin
Heilige Saiten.
You walk above in the light
on soft ground, blessed spirits!
Glistening divine breezes
Touch you lightly,
just as the fingers of the fair artist
play the sacred harpstrings.
Schicksallos, wie der schlafende
Säugling, atmen die Himmlischen;
Keusch bewahrt
In bescheidener Knospe
Blühet ewig
Ihnen der Geist,
Und die seligen Augen
Blicken in stiller,
Ewiger Klarheit.
Free from fate, like the sleeping
infant, celestial spirits breathe;
chastely protected
in modest buds,
their spirit
blooms forever,
and their blessed eyes
gaze in calm,
eternal clarity.
Doch uns ist gegeben
Auf keiner Stätte zu ruhn;
Es schwinden, es fallen
Die leidenden Menschen
Blindlings von einer
Stunde zur andern,
Wie Wasser von Klippe
Zu Klippe geworfen,
Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab.
Yet we are given
no place to rest;
we suffering humans
vanish and fall
blindly one hour
to the next,
like water flung
from cliff to cliff
endlessly down into the unknown.
text and translations CONTINUED
Gesang der Parzen
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Es fürchte die Götter
Das Menschengeschlecht!
Sie halten die Herrschaft
In ewigen Händen,
Und können sie brauchen,
Wie’s ihnen gefällt.
Mankind should fear
the gods!
They hold dominion
in their eternal hands,
and can use it
as they please.
Der fürchte sie doppelt
Den je sie erheben!
Auf Klippen und Wolken
Sind Stühle bereitet
Um goldene Tische.
Any whom they exalt
should fear them doubly!
On cliffs and clouds
thrones stand ready
around golden tables.
Erhebet ein Zwist sich,
So stürzen die Gäste,
Geschmäht und geschändet
In nächtliche Tiefen,
Und harren vergebens,
Im Finstern gebunden,
Gerechten Gerichtes.
If dissension arises,
the guests are hurled down,
despised and disgraced,
into the nocturnal depths,
waiting there in vain,
bound in darkness,
for just judgment.
Sie aber, sie bleiben
In ewigen Festen
An goldenen Tischen.
The gods, however, continue
the eternal feasts
at the golden tables.
Sie schreiten vom Berge
Zu Bergen hinüber:
Aus Schlünden der Tiefe
Dampft ihnen der Atem
Erstickter Titanen,
Gleich Opfergerüchen,
Ein leichtes Gewölke.
They stride over mountains
from peak to peak:
from the abysses of the deep
the breath of suffocated Titans
steams up to them
like scents of sacrifices,
a light cloud.
Es wenden die Herrscher
Ihr segnendes Auge
Von ganzen Geschlechtern
Und meiden, im Enkel
Die ehmals geliebten,
Still redenden Züge
Des Ahnherrn zu sehn.
The rulers avert
their blessing-bestowing eyes
from entire generations,
and avoid seeing, in the grandchild,
the once-loved,
silently still speaking features
of the ancestor.
So sangen die Parzen;
Thus sang the Fates.
text and translations CONTINUED
Es horcht der Verbannte,
In nächtlichen Höhlen
Der Alte die Lieder,
Denkt Kinder und Enkel
Und schüttelt das Haupt.
The old, banished one
listens to the songs
in his nocturnal caverns,
thinks of his children and grandchildren,
and shakes his head.
Rhapsodie
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Aber abseits wer ist’s?
Im Gebüsch verliert sich der Pfad.
Hinter ihm schlagen
Die Sträuche zusammen,
Das Gras steht wieder auf,
Die Öde verschlingt ihn.
But there, apart, who is it?
His path is lost in the thicket;
behind him the bushes
close together;
the grass rises again;
the wasteland devours him.
Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen
Des, dem Balsam zu Gift ward?
Der sich Menschenhaß
Aus der Fülle der Liebe trank?
Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter,
Zehrt er heimlich auf
Seinen eigenen Wert
In ungenugender Selbstsucht.
Alas, who will heal the pains of him
whose balm turned to poison?
Who drank his hatred of humankind
from the fullness of love?
First despised, now a despiser,
he secretly consumes
his own worth
in insatiable vanity.
Ist auf deinem Psalter,
Vater der Liebe, ein Ton
Seinem Ohre vernehmlich,
So erquicke sein Herz!
Öffne den umwölkten Blick
Über die tausend Quellen
Neben dem Durstenden
In der Wüste!
If there be on your psaltery,
Father of love, a tone
that his ear can hear,
then restore his heart!
Open the clouded view
of the thousand springs
around him, who thirsts
in the desert!
Ave Maria
Ave Maria, gratia plena:
Dominus tecum,
benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei
ora pro nobis.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us.
Annelies
Due to the length of the libretto, supertitles will be provided.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Elissa Alvarez soprano is an avid interpreter of
recital, concert and operatic repertoire. Noted
by the Boston Globe for her “intensely lyrical”
singing, Ms. Alvarez is a great advocate of living
composers and has been involved in numerous
premieres in recent seasons. She appeared in
concert and on recording as Mary Magdalene
in the world premiere of Emmy-nominated
composer Kareem Roustom’s acclaimed mystical
oratorio, The Son of Man with Boston’s Coro
Allegro, a performance for which they received
Chorus America’s 2012 ASCAP/Alice Parker
Award. Ms. Alvarez holds a doctorate of musical
arts from Boston University.
Erma Mellinger mezzo-soprano, vocal coach
has been a principal artist with many opera
companies across the United States, including
the Cleveland Opera, the Florida Grand Opera,
the Dallas Opera, the Sarasota Opera, the
Chautauqua Opera, the Fresno International
Grand Opera, Opera North, the Pittsburgh
Opera Theater, and the Shreveport Opera. Her
roles, in over thirty operas, include: Cherubino in
Le Nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan tutte,
Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Idamante in
Idomeneo, Empress Ottavia in L’incoronazione
di Poppea, Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann,
Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino, Prince
Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Prince Charming in
Cendrillon, Martha in Faust, Tisbe in La
Cenerentola and Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Hailed for her “rich, vibrant, creamy voice,” Ms.
Mellinger is also at home on the concert and
recital stage. She has appeared as soloist with
many major orchestras, including the Fort Wayne
Philharmonic, the Monterey Symphony, the
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Florida
Symphony Orchestra, the Westfield Symphony,
the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra and
the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. She has given
solo recitals sponsored by the Buffalo Opera,
the Adirondack Ensemble, Chamber Works at
Dartmouth College, and Classicopia.
Ms. Mellinger graduated first in her class from
Northwestern University, where she received her
Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance.
She earned her Master of Music Degree
from Eastman School of Music, where she also
received honors in performance and teaching.
She is a frequent guest artist on the Dartmouth
campus performing regularly with the Handel
Society, the Wind Symphony and the Dartmouth
Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Mellinger began
teaching voice at Dartmouth in 1996.
Robert Duff conductor is the artistic director
of the Handel Society of Dartmouth College,
and teaches courses in music theory and
musicianship in the Music Department. Before
coming to Dartmouth in 2004, Dr. Duff served on
the faculties of Pomona College, Claremont
Graduate University, and Mount St. Mary’s
College, and as the Director of Music for the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles,
where he directed the music programs for nearly
300 parishes. He holds degrees in conducting,
piano and voice from the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, Temple University,
and the University of Southern California, where
he earned a doctorate of musical arts in 2000.
An active commissioner of new music, Dr. Duff
has given several world premieres of works for
both orchestral and choral forces. He has
served as Councilor to the New Hampshire
Council on the Arts, and is the past President of
the Eastern Division of the American Choral
Directors Association.
Handel Society of Dartmouth College is the
oldest student, faculty, staff and community
organization in the United States devoted to the
performance of choral-orchestral major works.
The Society was founded in 1807 by Dartmouth
faculty and students to “promote the cause of
true and genuine sacred music.” Led by John
Hubbard, Dartmouth Professor of Mathematics
and Philosophy, the Society sought to advance
ABOUT THE ARTISTs
CONTINUED
the works of Baroque masters through
performance. Members of the Society believed
the grand choruses of George Frideric Handel
exemplified their goals and thus adopted his
name for their group. Since its inception, the
Handel Society has grown considerably in
size and in its scope of programming. Today
comprising 100 members drawn from the
Dartmouth student body, faculty and staff, and
the Upper Valley community, the Society
performs two concerts a year of major works
both old and new. For more information about
the Handel Society, call 603/646-3414 or visit our
website at www.handelsociety.org.
Annemieke Spoelstra collaborative pianist was
born in Kampen, The Netherlands, and started
piano lessons with Joke Venhuizen at age seven.
She studied classical piano at the Conservatory
in Zwolle, The Netherlands, with Rudy de Heus,
earning her degrees Docerend and Uitvoerend
Musicus (Bachelor and Masters as Performing
Artist) for soloist, chamber music and art song
accompaniment. She later studied Art Song
Accompaniment at the Sweelinck Conservatory
in Amsterdam as a duo with German tenor Immo
Schröder. She has often been invited to serve
as collaborative artist at conservatories and
national and international competitions. At age
twenty-one, Spoelstra was First Prize winner at
the Dutch National competition Young Music
Talent Nederland for best accompanist. She was
praised for her touch and coloring. In 1997 she
was First Prize winner for Music Student of the
Year for her final recital. The jury report wrote,
“She shows great intellect in music pedagogy
and is a sensible, great performer, with wellbalanced programs.” In 2001 she was a finalist in
Paris at the international Nadia and Lili Boulanger
competition. Since January 2004, she has been a
US resident living in Vermont. She performs
solo, teaches piano at St. Michael’s College and
at her studio, and coaches vocalists and
instrumentalists for auditions, competitions and
performance. Spoelstra serves as accompanist
for the chorale at St. Michael’s College, and
has accompanied the Vermont Youth Orchestra
Choruses and the Thetford Chamber Singers.
She has performed concerts in the Netherlands,
Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Austria,
Switzerland, Poland and the USA.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks are extended to the Board of Directors of the Handel Society and the numerous members-at-large of the
organization, community and student, for their fine work on behalf of the Handel Society.
We thank the Choral Arts Foundation of the Upper Valley and the Friends of the Handel Society (Dartmouth College
alumni, past and present community Handel Society members, and regional audience supporters of the Handel
Society) for the financial support of the Handel Society’s concert season.
Additional thanks to Hilary Pridgen of The Trumbull House for providing accommodations for guest soloists. The Trumbull
Bed & Breakfast, 40 Etna Road, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-2370 or toll-free (800) 651-5141; www.trumbullhouse.com
For information on the Choral Arts Foundation of the Upper Valley, please contact:
Choral Arts Foundation of the Upper Valley
P.O. Box 716, Hanover, NH 03755
[email protected]
handel society of dartmouth college
Robert Duff conductor
Erma Mellinger vocal coach
Annemieke Spoelstra collaborative pianist
Soprano
Megan Becker
Alice Bennett
Eugenia Braasch*
Susan Cancio-Bello
Daniela Childers ‘16
Meg Darrow Williams
Else Drooff ‘18
Karen Endicott
Emily Golitzin ‘18
Mardy High
Kendall Hoyt*
Ling Jing ‘15
Alana Juric ‘18
Ashley Kolste
Bronwyn Lloyd ‘17
Sharon McMonagle
Jaclyn Pageau ‘18
Katie Price GR
Mary Quinton-Barry*
Rebekah Schweitzer
Jo Shelnutt
Gretchen Twork*
Kaitlin Whitehorn ‘16
Alto
Elizabeth Adams
Anna Alden
Carissa Aoki GR*
Carol Barr
Andrea N. Brown
Kathy Christie
Helen Clark*
Joanne Coburn*
Johanna Evans ‘11
Anne Felde
Lindsey Fera
Linda L. Fowler
Anna Gado
Ridie Wilson Ghezzi
Ellen Irwin ‘14
Nicole Johnson
Emily Jones
Kristi Medill
Cathleen E. Morrow
Rosemary Orgren*
Bonnie Robinson*
Margaret Robinson
Zoe Sands ‘18
Jacqueline Smith
Elisebeth Sullivan*
Averill Tinker
Kristin Winkle ‘18
Tenor
Gary E. Barton*
Brian Clancy
Michael Cukan
ˇ
Scot Drysdale
Jon Felde
Henry Higgs
Rob Howe
James King
Mark Nelson
David Thron
Richard Waddell*
Adam Weinstein ‘98*
Pat Yealy
Bass
John Archer
Kenneth Bauer*
William Braasch
Stephen Campbell
David C. Clark
John Cofer '15
Trevor Davis '18
Raul Del Cid '17
Charles Faulkner
Robert Fogg
Paul Wilder Frazel ‘15
Tom Gray
Evan J. Griffith ‘15
Ethan Klein ‘16
Myung Chang Lee ‘18
Daniel Meerson
Andrew Nalani ‘16
Jimmy Ragan ‘16
David T. Robinson
Cameron Stevens
Sam Stratton ‘15
Jarrett Taylor ‘18
GR=Graduate Student
*Member, Handel Society Board of Directors
orchestra
Violin 1
Elizabeth Young concertmaster
Zoya Tsvetkova
Letitia Quante
Leah Zelnick
Jane Kittredge
Jesse Irons
Sarah Washburn
Violin 2
Bozena O’Brien principal
Rachel Handman
Asuka Usui
Kay Rooney Matthews
Melanie Dexter
Laura Markowitz
Viola
Marcia Cassidy principal
Russell Wilson
Jason Fisher
Consuelo Sherba
Leslie Sonder
Cello
Emily Taubl principal
Perri Morris
Rachel Gawell
Cherry Kim
Bass
Phil Helm principal
Paul Horak
Trumpet
Geoffrey Shamu principal
Samantha Glazier
Flute
Melissa Mielens principal
Anne Janson
Trombone
Brittany Lasch principal
Robert Hoveland
Gabriel Langfur
Oboe
Margaret Herlehy principal
Ann Greenawalt
Clarinet
Matthew Marsit principal
Marguerite Levin
Bassoon
Janet Polk principal
Rebecca Eldredge
Horn
Michael Lombardi principal
Patrick Kennelly
Chris Mortensen
Joy Worland
Tuba
Takatsugu Hariwara principal
Timpani
Jeremy Levine principal
Percussion
Nicola Cannizzaro principal
Charles Kiger
Mike Singer
Piano
Annemieke Spoelstra
DARTMOUTH SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
ANTHONY PRINCIOTTI conductor
sat FEB 28 8 pm
SpaulDing auDitOriuM
The Hop’s resident orchestra performs works by
Borodin and Dvorˇák as well as Gershwin’s
Rhapsody in Blue with soloist Lulu Chang ‘15.
HANDEL SOCIETY OF
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
ROBERT DUFF conductor
sat may 16 8 pm
SpaulDing auDitOriuM
The nation’s oldest town-gown choral society performs
Verdi’s Requiem with soloists Othalie Graham soprano,
Margaret Lattimore mezzo soprano, Brian Cheney tenor
and Kyle Albertson bass.
For tickets or more info call the Box Office at 603.646.2422 or visit hop.dartmouth.edu. Sign up for
weekly HopMail bulletins online or become a fan of “Hopkins Center, Dartmouth” on Facebook
Hopkins Center Management Staff
Jeffrey H. James ‘75a Howard Gilman Director
Marga Rahmann Associate Director/General Manager Joseph Clifford Director of Audience Engagement
Jay Cary Business and Administrative Officer Bill Pence Director of Hopkins Center Film
Margaret Lawrence Director of Programming Joshua Price Kol Director of Student Performance Programs
HOPKINS CENTER BOARD OF OVERSEERS
Austin M. Beutner ’82
Kenneth L. Burns H’93
Barbara J. Couch
Allan H. Glick ’60, T’61, P’88
Barry Grove ’73
Caroline Diamond Harrison ’86, P’16
Kelly Fowler Hunter ’83, T’88, P’13, P’15
Richard P. Kiphart ’63
Please turn off your cell
phone inside the theater.
R
Robert H. Manegold ’75, P’02, P’06
Nini Meyer
Hans C. Morris ’80, P’11, P’14 Chair of the Board
Robert S. Weil ’40, P’73 Honorary
Frederick B. Whittemore ’53, T’54, P’88, P’90, H’03
Jennifer A. Williams ’85
Diana L. Taylor ’77 Trustee Representative
Assistive Listening Devices
available in the lobby.
D A RT M O UTH
RECYCLES
If you do not wish to keep your playbill,
please discard it in the recycling bin
provided in the lobby. Thank you.