The Ohio Northern University Department of Music presents a guest vocal recital featuring music from composers of the romantic era on Tuesday, March 10, at 8 p.m. in the Presser Building. The performance is free and open to the public.
The recital will feature Linda McAllister, soprano; Liza Forrester Kelly, mezzo-soprano; and Jonathan Ware, piano. The trio will perform “Liebst du um Schönheit,” songs and letters of Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
This program will take an intimate look at the communication and interconnecting lives of these three celebrated composers of the romantic era. The first half will concentrate on the love and marriage of Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck and end with their eventual parting due to death. Brahms was a constant companion of the Schumann family, and the relationship between Clara and Brahms continued for many years after Robert’s death. The second half of the program will focus on their affinity for each other. Brahms even set the songs of Felix Schumann, the son of Robert and Clara.
A recent national finalist in the National Association for Teachers of Singing Artist Awards (NATSAA), soprano McAlister is equally at home singing opera, oratorio and art song. Lauded for her stage presence and ability to connect with her audiences, she has impressed German audiences and critics in roles such as Rosalinde in “Die Fledermaus,” Venus in “Dardanus” (Rameau), and Belinda in “Dido and Aeneas” (Purcell) as well as in concert engagements of works by Mendelssohn, Haydn, Fauré, and Mozart, among others. She is currently on faculty at Miami University of Ohio and the Musical Arts Center and is the artistic coordinator of the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie and Schmidt Youth Vocal Competition.
Forrester Kelly, mezzo-soprano, performs opera, concert works, and musical theatre on national and international stages. Notable engagements include roles with Glimmerglass Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and New York City Opera. As an avid recitalist and advocate of art song, she has performed with the New York Festival of Song, The Ravinia Festival, The Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and the Carnegie Hall Weill Institute. She also gives recitals and master classes at universities across the United States. Forrester Kelly currently is a member of the voice faculty and director of the opera theatre at Western Kentucky University. She also serves as assistant artistic director for the Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti in Lucca, Italy.
Texas-born pianist Ware has recently appeared in recitals at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, the Phillips Collection Washington DC with tenor Barry Banks, the Rheingau Musik Festival with baritone Benjamin Appl, and a North-American tour with mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught. Winner of the Pianist’s Prize at Das Lied Song Competition in 2013, the 2011 Wigmore Hall Song Competition, as well as First Prize with baritone Ludwig Mittelhammer at the International Hugo Wolf Competition, Ware’s performances have been broadcast around the world as well as on U.S. public television in the documentary “Speaking with Music.” In New York, he worked as assistant conductor/coach with Juilliard Opera and New York City Opera, and served as artistic director of Schubert & Co., an organization devoted to the performance of the complete Schubert Lieder in New York City during 2012-13. A Samling Scholar, Ware received degrees from the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School and is currently working under Wolfram Rieger at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.
https://www.onu.edu/node/64441
Ohio Northern University’s quality, student-centered education distinctively combines nationally ranked sciences, arts and professional programs for more than 3,600 students in its five colleges: Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, Pharmacy and Law.
