I first heard the soprano Jamie Jordan on a New York New Music Ensemble concert a few years ago, and it was immediately apparent that this was an artist of exceptional gifts, so I am delighted that she will be performing at Penn next Wednesday, February 22, at 8 pm in Rose Recital Hall, found in Fisher-Bennett Hall, 34th and Walnut in Philadelphia. Her pianist will be Steven Beck. The concert will be an all-Penn affair, with music by Penn faculty past and present, plus a work by Penn alum Matthew Schreibeis. Here is the program:
George Crumb: The Sleeper
Richard Wernick: Ball of Sun
James Primosch: Holy the Firm (excerpts)
Jay Reise: Satori
Matthew Schreibeis: Sandburg songs (excerpts)
Anna Weesner: Early After, Ever Now
George Crumb: Apparition
The opening pieces by Crumb and Wernick were written for a recital given by Jan DeGaetani in Carnegie Hall, and Crumb’s big Whitman cycle, Apparition, was also written for and premiered by Jan, all of these with her long-time colleague Gilbert Kalish. Gil gave the first performance of my Holy the Firm, with Dawn Upshaw. In addition to these details of performance history, both Jay and I studied with George and Dick, and Matt studied with Jay and I, so there are many threads binding this repertoire together.
There’s lots of audio at Jamie’s website here, and here is the first movement of Apparition, in Jan DeGaetani’s performance with Gil Kalish, from a Bridge cd: