The Schwabacher Recital Series Opens with February 21 Program and Continues in March and April
Mezzo-Soprano Simona Genga and Pianist Hyemin Jeong’s February 21 Program, Two Laurels, Opens 2024 Schwabacher Recital Series
Nicholas Phan Curates March 6 The Secret Garden Concert
Featuring San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows
Tickets available at sfopera.com/srs and (415) 864-3330
Schwabacher Recitals February, March.pdf Photos
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 14, 2024) — The 2024 Schwabacher Recital Series, presented by Merola Opera Program and San Francisco Opera Center, opens on Wednesday, February 21 at the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater with a program featuring two recent Merola graduates: mezzo-soprano Simona Genga and pianist Hyemin Jeong. The series’ second recital, curated by tenor Nicholas Phan and performed by a talented group of five second-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows, takes place two weeks later on Wednesday, March 6.
FEBRUARY 21
SIMONA GENGA AND HYEMIN JEONG
This year’s series begins on February 21 with 2023 Merola Opera Program participants Italian Canadian mezzo-soprano Simona Genga and Korean pianist Hyemin Jeong in a program called Two Laurels, featuring both traditional art songs and new compositions, bringing the audience on a journey through the intimate moments of a queer love story.
Simona Genga said: “The concept for this program grew out of my love for I canti della sera by Francesco Santoliquido. Composed in 1908, these songs are said to chronicle the composer’s summer evenings within concealed gay enclaves in Tunisia. The text, detailing a passionate yet melancholic love affair, exudes an unmatched sense of poignancy. The narrative of the recital is rooted in these four songs. This recital also draws inspiration from visual poetry, evoking the sentiment articulated in Pierre Louÿs’ Chansons de Bilitis, set to music by Claude Debussy: 'we were united thus forever by the same tresses, mouth on mouth, just as two laurels often share one root.' The sequencing of the songs on the program, initiated from opposing ends, symbolizes the convergence of two individuals, progressively intertwining as the narrative unfolds. In an intentional linguistic adaptation, certain grammatical aspects have been adjusted to imbue older texts with gendered flexibility, thereby serving the purpose of telling new stories.”
MARCH 6
ARIANNA RODRIGUEZ, OLIVIA SMITH, NIKOLA PRINTZ, JONGWON HAN, YANG LIN
Curated by Nicholas Phan
On March 6 the series continues with five second-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows: sopranos Arianna Rodriguez and Olivia Smith, mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz, bass-baritone Jongwon Han and pianist Yang Lin. The artists will perform in a program curated by American tenor Nicholas Phan called The Secret Garden, comprising of songs in English, German, Russian, Spanish, French and Korean.
Phan said of the program: “Throughout the ages, poets and composers have been inspired by nature, finding meaning and metaphor for the human experience through our relationship with the flora and the fauna that surround us. In this spirit, The Secret Garden is a bouquet of song, featuring songs by beloved composers such as Margaret Bonds, Lili Boulanger, Henry Thacker Burleigh, Ernest Chausson, Aaron Copland, Edvard Grieg, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss and Ralph Vaughan Williams.”
The final concert of the season on April 3 will highlight the artistic collaboration between mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey (Merola 2017) and San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program Artistic Director and pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson. Their program will feature songs by Claude Debussy, Manuel de Falla, Alexander Zemlinsky, Cole Porter and Kurt Weill.
*For the complete press release, including program details and calendar, open the PDF version above.