GARTH BAXTER
Composing art songs is always an emotional journey for me. It begins with the search for interesting poetry suitable to put to music. This can be a very lengthy process in itself, starting with many weeks looking over poetry books. I note the poems that most interest me, then read these poems many times over before narrowing down the list to selections I will set to music. I then spend many more long hours of “living” with these poems until I almost feel that they speak to me and dictate the music that will bring them to life. There is not a song I have written that has not truly dominated my life during the months I spent writing it. The opening song, “Nights Without Sleep,” describes with great accuracy the labor of love that goes into writing each song. The poet for this song, Sara Teasdale, called her poems songs; that characterization fits perfectly with my experience.
This album represents songs from over 20 years’ work. The topic of love is a natural in any album of art songs and it is certainly present here. There are a few humorous songs like “Love me not for comely grace” from Three Madrigals and “A Thunderstorm in Town” from Four Views of Love. However, I tend to be drawn to sad poems, so there are songs of loss as well, such as the heartbreaking “Lament” from Three Poems from Edna St. Vincent Millay and the immensely sad final aria from the opera Lily, “Is this the cost? with lyrics from Lisa VanAuken. This aria is sung by Lily upon learning of the death of her lover, Seldon. The performance in this album features the late Katherine Keem, who lost her battle to a rare form of breast cancer in 2016. She loved this song and sang it many times in concert.
Reflections on death is the topic of several of the pieces, including “The Silver Swan “ (Three Madrigals), “Let it be you” (Four Views of Love), and “1932” and “When I am dead, my dearest” (Two Last Songs). A number of songs express observations on life and remembrances of times past. “Travel” from Millay and “April Twilight” from Willa Cather are examples of these. Willa Cather wrote “April Twilight” as a dedication to two of her brothers with whom she played as a child. The album also includes “Grandmother, think not I forget,” which was freely adapted from a poem by Willa Cather to honor the memory of my wife’s grandmother.
The album ends with the cycle Skywriting, drawing on words by Linda Pastan. Her poems have so often touched me so deeply and in such a very personal way that it feels as if she has been listening to my thoughts. The title of the CD, Ask the Moon, comes from the closing line of the final song, “Why are your poems so dark?”
This album represents such personal work that I can’t even begin to describe what it has meant to me to have these talented musicians perform these songs into which I poured so much of myself. I am so thankful to them for bringing these songs to life.
Jessica Satava
“Soprano Jessica Satava lent great beauty and intensity of feeling to her performance.” (The Baltimore Sun, 2015) Ms. Satava has appeared as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro, Musetta in La bohème, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Inez in Il Trovatore, Voce dal Cielo in Don Carlo, Julie in Carousel, Laurey in Oklahoma!, and as Mimí and Micaëla in concert performances of La bohème and Carmen. While at Peabody Conservatory, she performed the roles of Nella in Gianni Schicchi, and Polly in The Threepenny Opera. Satava has appeared as the soprano soloist with orchestra in Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, Rutter’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Handel’s Messiah, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s St. John Passion, Mass in B minor and Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, and Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10. As an interpreter of new music, she has been fortunate to premier many new song cycles and operas, including works by Garth Baxter, Keith Kramer, Joshua Bornfield, and Christopher Bassett, and through her long-running participation in the experimental opera troupe The Figaro Project.
Highly regarded for the sensitivity and virtuosity of his playing, pianist Andrew Stewart has long been associated with the Lyric Opera of Baltimore and has collaborated with the Atlantic Guitar Quartet, Baltimore Composers Forum, OperaBelle, and a great many singers, instrumentalists and composers. He has also served as an accompanist for the Bach Society of Baltimore, the choirs of Loyola University and Goucher College, the Annapolis Chorale, and the Assisi Performing Arts Festival in Italy. Originally from California, Stewart holds degrees in piano from UC Santa Barbara and the Peabody Conservatory. He lives in Baltimore with his wife, guitarist Zoë Johnstone Stewart.
Peter Scott Drackley has been lauded by Opera News as having “showed vocal confidence [...] his luminous head voice blooming with expansive and penetrating phrases,” and by Opera Today as bringing “the performance to an awestruck standstill with his exquisite (singing).” Drackley has performed such operatic roles as Rodolfo in La bohème, Gerald in Lakmé, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, and Alfredo in La Traviata, to name but a few. A student of Diana Soviero, Mr. Drackley has performed with the Utah Festival Opera, the National Cathedral, Teatro Grattacielo, Lyric Opera Baltimore, Venture Opera, and Carnegie Hall. He has sung lead roles with the Santa Fe Opera, Anchorage Opera, LoftOpera in New York City, and Sarasota Opera. He performed as the tenor solo in Mozart’s Requiem with the Lancaster Symphony and the tenor solo in Verdi’s Requiem with the Helena Symphony in Montana.
Soprano Annie Gill continues to gain recognition as an exceptional emerging artist. Most recently, Ms. Gill sang the roles of Serpina in La Serva Padrona with The In Series and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Camerata of Washington. Past opera roles include the title roles in Suor Angelica, Madama Butterfly, and Massenet’s Manon, Nedda (I Pagliacci), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Micaëla (Carmen), Mimì and Musetta (La Bohème), The Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), La Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Pamina (The Magic Flute) with Opera NOVA, Opera AACC, and Opera in the Ozarks.
Gill has received awards from the National Federation of Music Clubs, Russell C. Wonderlic Voice Competition, and the Orpheus Vocal Competition.
In addition to her classical singing career, Gill is a voice over artist and acts in commercials and television, notably appearing as the “Opera Singer” in the Season 2 Finale of House of Cards.
The late Katherine Unha Keem was a coloratura soprano who was praised for her beautiful timbre, her musical intelligence, and artistry. Equally at home with concert and oratorio repertoire, Keem performed a broad spectrum of operatic, concert, and oratorio music. She was enthusiastic about contemporary works, premiering and performing numerous works by living composers. Her CD, Katherine Keem sings Songs and Arias by Garth Baxter is an example of her support for contemporary works and composers. Keem performed around the world in operas and solo concerts. One highlight was having the opportunity to sing with José Carreras and Placido Domingo. She was a frequent performer and member of the Washington National Opera and a founding member of OperaBelle. She took part in the New York City’s Time Square Millennium Celebration and was featured in some of the music. Keem lost her battle to cancer in 2016.
Melissa Wertheimer is a diverse performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral music; a piccolo and new music specialist; and a dedicated scholar of music history and women composers. Wertheimer melds her skills in music, history, teaching, and research into a career as an archivist who shares historic, musical documents with all lovers of music. Wertheimer is Archivist of the Music Library Association and currently studies for her M.L.I.S. in Archives and Digital Curation at the University of Maryland. Wertheimer holds a M.M. in Piccolo from the Peabody Institute and a B.M. in Flute from Ithaca College. Her primary flute and piccolo teachers include Marcia Kamper, Laurie Sokoloff, Marina Piccinini, Wendy Herbener Mehne, and Carron Moroney.
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