‘On Love and Lost Contentment’ performance on October 13
calendar icon30 Sep 2019
LINCOLN, Neb.— Some of the richest art songs come from the early 20th century. Many of these composers' songs are well known, but others, like Lili Boulanger, Othmar Schoeck, Peter Warlock, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco are not as well known to American audiences. This recital, "On Love and Lost Contentment," will showcase their art songs as well as others on Sunday, October 13 at 3 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall.
It features vocal coach and accompanist Ellen Rissinger and UNL Glenn Korff School of Music faculty member, tenor Kevin Hanrahan.
Ellen Rissinger is an American Vocal Coach/Accompanist on the music staff of the Sächsische Staatsoper (Semperoper) in Dresden, Germany. She came to European attention in December of 2008, when she accompanied a performance of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf on one hour's notice.
She started her career in the United States working with companies such as the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Kentucky Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Baltimore Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh. She was music director of Glimmerglass Opera's 25th Anniversary tour and of Opera Iowa and was on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University for several years.
In 2003, Ellen moved to Germany, where she has since worked at the Semperoper, Oper Frankfurt, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Stadttheater Pforzheim, Mainfranken Theater Würzburg. In 2013 she worked with Bregenz Opera Festival on the World Premiere of Andre Tschaikovsky's The Merchant of Venice. Since 2005 she has been a much-sought-after master teacher with many of the summer music programs in Europe, including: The International Performing Arts Institute (IPAI) in Kiefersfelden, Germany; The International Music Festival of the Adriatic (IMFA) in Duino, Italy; University of Miami's summer program in Salzburg, Austria; AIMS in Graz, Austria; as well as at many universities throughout the US, including: Boston Conservatory; Oklahoma City University; Murray State University; The Hartt School; Western Connecticut University and the Boston NATS Chapter, among others.
Ellen holds a B.F.A. in Piano-Performance from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, as well as an M.M. in Accompanying from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. She continued her training in the young artist programs of Aspen Opera Theater Center, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florida Grand Opera and Glimmerglass Opera.
As the producer and host of The Diction Police podcast since April 2010, she has led the way for classical singers and coaches from all over the world to hone their foreign language skills. Its companion site, The Diction Police: Special Diction Unit, offers phonetic transcriptions, poetic and word-for-word translations and interviews on song and opera texts for a more complete experience. Ellen is fluent in German and English, is conversant in Italian, French, Spanish and Modern Greek, and continues to work on her conversational ability in Russian.
Tenor Kevin Hanrahan has performed nationally and internationally in opera, oratorio, and recital performances. Some favorite roles have been Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Sam Polk in Susannah, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Harold Hill in The Music Man, and Harlequin and the Soldier in Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis. Dr. Hanrahan has performed the Mozart Requiem, Bach's Magnificat, both sets of Mozart Vespers, Mozart's Coronation Mass, the Messiah, Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Dvorak's Stabat Mater. A frequent recitalist, Dr. Hanrahan has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and India. Highlights include Weill und Brech, Liederabend in Graz, Austria, Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with fortepiano in Phoenix, AZ and Lincoln, NE, and Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte in Pune and Mumbai, India. In January of 2007 Dr. Hanrahan along with pianist Roberta Swedien performed Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin in Pune and Mumbai, India, and were the first perform Schubert's masterpiece in over 50 years with the last performance given by Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten. As a founding member of the Vocal Chamber Ensemble, Lyrika, Dr. Hanrahan has performed Brahm's Liebeslieder Walzer, Barber's A Hand of Bridge, and John Greer's Liebesleid-Lieder Waltzes. Dr. Hanrahan has performed as a soloist with the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, the Lyric Opera Theater at Arizona State University, the Catalina Chamber Orchestra, the Arizona State University Chamber Orchestra, the Phoenix Bach Choir, the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, The Poona Music Society in India, Abendmusik in Lincoln, the McKeesport Symphony, the Lincoln Symphony, City of Prague Orchestra, the Chattanooga Symphony, the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra.
Dr. Hanrahan has worked with numerous influential conductors including Robert Page, Charles Bruffy, David Stocker, Bruce Chamberlain and Gunther Schuller, as well several esteemed directors such as Elizabeth Bachman, Rhoda Levine, Gregory Lehane and Graham Whitehead.Through his collaboration with composer Diana Blom, Dr. Hanrahan has performed and recorded her songs on the album Songs of Diana Blom for Wirripang, and is available for streaming on the Naxos Music Library. Dr. Hanrahan's second CD entitled Art Songs of the Pacific Rim is due to be released early 2018. It features songs by Diana Blom, Anthony Ritchie, Gwenyth Walker, and other composers from around the Pacific Rim
Dr. Hanrahan has held teaching positions at Arizona State University, Scottsdale Community College, and Grand Canyon University. As a researcher and teacher, Dr. Hanrahan has presented at national and international conferences including the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conventions in 2006 and 2010. At the 2010 conference his paper on the use of the voice range profile and tessituragram received the Best Poster Paper Award. He has also presented at the International Congress of Voice Teachers (2009) in Paris, France, (2013) in Brisbane, Australia, and (2017) in Stockholm, Sweden. The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium (2009) in Newfoundland, Canada, and the International Society of Music Education World Conference (2006) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, (2008) in Bologna, Italy, (2010) in Beijing, China, (2012) in Thessaloniki, Greece, (2014) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, (2016) in Glasglow, Scotland, and in 2018 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Dr. Hanrahan is also published in the Journal of Singing published by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and is a frequent reviewer for the Metropolitan Opera's Opera News. He has given masterclasses/workshop sessions in India, New Zealand, and Australia. In addition to his research and concert presentations, Dr. Hanrahan is the founder of the Glenn Korff School of Music Voice Lab. Future research activities include continuing investigating the relationship between the second vowel formant and adduction, the effect of hearing in the training of singing, and the use of technology to assess vocal potential in young singers.
Dr. Hanrahan currently holds the position of Associate Professor of Voice and Voice Pedagogy, serves as the Head of Voice for the Glenn Korff School of Music, and the Program Advisor for the PhD in Vocal Pedagogy degree. His students go on to continue their studies with assistantships at prestigious institutions such as the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University, with apprenticeships with Central City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington Opera. They can be heard on the stages of opera companies such as Arizona Opera, Kentucky Opera, West Australia Opera, and Virginia Opera, among others.
This performance is free and open to the public.