"Josephine:" A Mono-opera about Josephine Baker

What: Josephine: A Mono-opera about Josephine Baker
When: Sunday 1 October 2017 at 5pm
Where: TV Hill in Baltimore Maryland.
Who: Melissa Wimbish & Hui-Chuan Chen
Dress: For comfort
RSVP: 23 September 2017
Cost: $20
Performer Bios: Melissa Wimbish & Hui-Chuan Chen
Future dates to hold: 29 September: Group attendance at Iron Crow Theater’s production of “The Cradle will Rock”

Dear Friends,

I hope that you will join me in an evening of opera. Yup, that’s right. Opera. Not at all our usual art song fare…. But this very exciting opportunity was too good to pass up!

Many of you will already be familiar with the wonderful Melissa Wimbish from other venues in town as well as recitals at my house; most recently she sang a beautiful program of French songs back in July for our Bastille Day celebration. I am very excited to announce that on October 1st, she will reprise her role as Josephine Baker in Tom Cipullo’s one-woman mini-opera “Josephine.” Although it IS a complete opera, it is also quite short and will certainly fit our usual format.

Melissa sang this role in the world premiere with the very wonderful UrbanArias opera company in Washington, DC, earlier this year under the always fabulous direction of Bob Wood and Alan Paul. Although the UrbanArias production was a full one (with a five piece instrument ensemble), we will be experiencing it as concert opera, with piano accompaniment by the wonderful Hui-Chuan Chen.

For your reference, I am attaching a link below to the review of the UrbanArias production.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/urbanarias-visits-baker-stein-and-picasso-in-paris-and-beyond/2016/04/04/4b028394-fa0e-11e5-813a-90ab563f0dde_story.html?utm_term=.a89529c821bf

As the article points out, “Urban¬Arias {is} one of the region’s more exciting and reliably entertaining music groups producing new work.” I strongly urge those of you who love opera to investigate this extraordinary company. They have a very exciting season lined up for next year. Here is a link to their web site.
http://www.urbanarias.org/

“Josephine” was written by one of the most talented composers of our generation, Tom Cipullo. As the article also points out, “Cipullo’s musical language, rooted in tonality with generous helpings of dissonance, is direct, succinct and original. His thorough understanding of the human voice allows him to create fully dimensional characters that are sympathetic and eminently believable.” I saw this back in the spring and it was a delight.

I know, I know…. I SWORE we were going to stay focused on art song. But I also hope to at least make a gesture toward introducing my regular guests to some of what this wonderful opera company, UrbanArias, does on a regular basis. Not to mention it’s just, simply, wonderful fun. We are certain to experience a wonderful evening of fabulous music. ;)

Timing: disciplined
As usual, we will gather at 5pm, and will make a point of starting the recital at about 5:20pm. The goal is to end the evening, both the recital and the dinner, in plenty of time for the DC folk to travel home and be snug in bed by about 9:30pm on a "school night."

Menu: Fresh from the Baltimore Farmer’s Market
Although it will well into fall, we will still be in the midst of our autumn harvest plenty at the Baltimore Farmer’s Market. Our menu is still TBD at this point, but I hope to have an interesting mixture of French-themed treats in store for us to share for our dinner.

Dress: informal
As many of you know, my place is 'teeny tiny' and our seating space is limited. Sometimes we may even get a little crowded. So your dress should be informal and comfortable

RSVPs: by 23 September
Please let me know if you can join me for this wonderful evening of dinner and music by 23 September; that is when I will begin making final preparations for our menu and seating; If you need directions and parking suggestions, please let me know in your response. Significant others (or just others you think might be interested) are always warmly welcome. Just let me know if you are bringing someone with you so that I can keep track of our numbers.

This program is likely to be very popular, so I really must be disciplined about our numbers. An early response assures you a seat. When my guest limit is reached, I will begin keeping a waiting list for those who respond after the cut-off number; If the seats are all full, I will ask you if you want a place on the waiting list.

If, on the other hand, you RSVP and then find that you are not able to attend after all, it is courteous to those on the waiting list (and me!) to let me know as soon as possible. I would hate for seats to go empty when there are people who want to join us for this wonderful opportunity.

Performer Bios

In the world-premiere of Josephine with Urban Arias, The Washington Post gushed, “... the afternoon belonged to Melissa Wimbish, who was creating the role of Josephine Baker in this world-premiere of ‘Josephine.’ Beautifully prepared, vocally stunning, and theatrically riveting, Wimbish effortlessly held the audience in her hand throughout this one-woman show.” She earned the following remarks from The New York Times in On Site Opera’s North American premiere of The Marriage of Figaro by Marcos Portugal: “The wonderful cast includes ... the soprano Melissa Wimbish in a show-stealing turn as the hormonal pageboy Cherubino”. The young soprano could not even go unnoticed as Barbarina in Lyric Opera Baltimore’s Le nozze di Figaro with Opera News noting her “promising soprano” and The Baltimore Sun praising her “bright voice” and “knack for animating phrases”. The Boulder Daily Camera described her Cunegonde as “simply incredible…the highlight of the entire evening.”
In October, Melissa made her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut with a program of works by Jake Heggie, Tom Cipullo, André Previn, and the world-premiere of Space in Chains by Jessica Meyer set to poetry of Jessica Kasischke. She made her Baltimore Symphony solo debut as a featured soloist, performing Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre on the BSO Pulse Series with Lower Dens. At the Kennedy Center Opera House she was the soprano soloist for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Washington Ballet. Past season highlights include the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana at the Kennedy Center with Washington Ballet, Mysteries of the Macabre with Baltimore’s The Occasional Symphony and Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Sheep in Candide with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony, and soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Richmond Symphony.

Melissa Wimbish was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2014 NATSAA Competition along with the Franco-American Award for best interpretation of French repertoire. She was a 2012 winner of the Vocal Arts Society Discovery Series and made her Kennedy Center recital debut as a result. Melissa has also received awards from the Dante Alighieri Music Scholarship Competition, Denver Lyric Opera Guild Scholarship Competition, Denver Philharmonic Concerto Competition, and Kennett Square Symphony Competition.

Melissa fronts the indie pop, female-fronted duo Outcalls who were recently awarded a Baker Artist Award for Best Overall Set by 89.7 WTMD. She lives in Baltimore with her mute cat, Billy. Learn more at www.melissawimbish.com.

Pianist Hui-Chuan Chen was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and began piano lessons at the age six. While in school, she was the winner of the Wonderlic piano competition in Baltimore, placed second place in the Kaohsiung City Competition, third prize in the University Piano Competition and fourth in the Kawai Competition. She was also the rehearsal pianist for Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra for two years. Upon graduation from the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, she moved to Baltimore to pursue graduate studies at The Peabody Institute.

Hui-Chuan has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. An active chamber musician, in 2003 she accompanied soprano Shou-Hua Su in concert at the National Recital Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. In 2004, she collaborated with mezzo-soprano Chi-Chun Chan in the same hall. Hui-Chuan has also participated in many festivals, including the Chigiana Accademia in Siena, Italy, and Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. In the summer of 2009, Hui-Chuan was awarded the instrumental collaborative artist fellowship to attend the Aspen Festival of Music, and was invited back in 2011 as a staff accompanist. During the summer of 2012, Hui-Chuan participated in Songfest, where she performed Schumann's Spanish Lieder for vocal ensemble under the direction of Graham Johnson. The same year, she made her first appearance in the Kennedy Center. Her first debut concert at the Bargemusic Festival was in 2009.

Hui-Chuan has worked with many great musicians, including pianists Leon Fleisher and Sergei Dorensky. She has coached chamber music with Christian Tezlaff, Pamela Frank, Victor Danchenko, Roberto Diaz, Laurence Lesser, Richard Aaron, Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, Margo Garrett, Herbert Greeberg, Stephen Wyrczynski, Amit Peled, and Marina Piccinini. Hui-Chuan also regularly accompanies singers. She was been the class accompanist for many outstanding performers or teachers, including Thomas Grub, John Shirley-Quirk, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, and William Sharp.

She received her Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees from the Peabody Institute.

Hold these Future Dates:

As many of you know, our little play-reading sub-group had planned to read a wonderful musical (an Opera, really) called “The Cradle will Rock” by a wonderful composer of the 1930s named Mark Blitzstein. We decided to head in a different direction when we learned that a local theater company was considering a production this play.

Well, that company, Iron Crow Theater, has, indeed, decided to produce this wonderful opera! Opening night is 29 September 2017 at 8pm. That’s a Friday and, unfortunately, Yom Kippur, but a group of us are planning to attend that opening night. A separate invitation will be forthcoming on just this subject, but please put it on your calendar!

In the meantime, tickets can be obtained on the company’s web site here:
http://www.ironcrowtheatre.org/cradle/

(I might add that this is one of the most wonderful and innovative companies in Baltimore’s rapidly evolving theater scene; I highly recommend that you have a look at the rest of what promises to be a MOST fabulous season of theater!)

If you are not able to make it to join us on Friday the 29th of September, there are plenty of other performances available (including TWO on Sat the 30th of September).
Then, on 1 October 2017, at 5pm, after Melissa’s performance of “Josephine” and our dinner, some of us hope to continue our evening by gathering around my little piano to sing some of the songs from “The Cradle will Rock,” and discuss (AKA “Dish”) the production.

If you are interested, because we were planning to “read” this musical at my house, I have a limited number of copies. If you would like me to send you a copy, please just let me know and I will send it right away

I do hope that you can join us on both of these dates!

Paul Cassedy

What's the music?

Melissa Wimbish Soprano

Attendees

+1

Elias M.

Laurie S.

Philip W.