News Release
January 2001
(Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania) -- Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano, of the Metropolitan
Opera will perform at Moravian College on Wednesday, March 28, at 8
p.m. in Foy Concert Hall. Described by the New York Times as "one
of America's finest artists and singers," Frederica von Stade is
in the midst of the third decade on an extraordinary career and continues
to reign as one of the music world's most beloved figures.
Miss von Stade's career has taken her to the stages of
the world's great opera houses and concert halls. In January 2000, the
Metroplolitan Opera celebrated the 30th anniversary of her debut with
a new production of The Merry Widow specifically for her.
Well known through her numerous featured appearances on
"Live From Lincoln Center"telecasts, and her discography which
includes dozens of recordings ranging from the songs of Canteloube and
Debussy to the operas of Mozart and Rossini, and most recently to the
musical theater works of Rodgers and Hammerstein (The Sound of Music)
and Jerome Kern (Showboat), this renowned star is acclaimed by audiences
everywhere.
Funding for this performance is provided by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the
Arts, a state agency funded by an annual state appropriation and the
National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
General admission to the concert is $35. Foy Hall is located
at Moravian College’s Church Street Campus at Church and Main
streets in Historic Bethlehem. For more information, contact the Moravian
College Music Department at 610-861-1650.
Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective
liberal arts college located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its
founding to 1742, it is recognized as America's sixth-oldest college.
Visit the web site at www.moravian.edu.
Described by the New York Times as "one of America's
finest artists and singers, Frederica von Stade enters the third decade
of an extraordinary career and continues to reign as one of the music
world's most beloved figures...
Miss von Stade's career has taken her to the stages of
the world's great opera houses and concert halls. She began at the top,
when she received a contract from Sir Rudolph Bing during the Metropolitan
Opera Auditions, and since her debut in 1970 she has sung nearly all
of her great roles with that company. In 1995, as a celebration of her
25th anniversary with the Metropolitan Opera, the company mounted a
new production of Pelleas et Melisande specifically for her. In addition,
Miss von Stade has appeared with every leading American opera company,
including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Music Center Opera, San
Francisco Opera and Dallas Opera, among others. Her career in Europe
has been no less spectacular, with new productions mounted for her regularly
at La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, and the Paris Opera.
She is invited regularly by the world's top conductors, among them Claudio
Abbado, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Andre
Previn, Sir George Solti and Michael Tilson Thomas, to appear in concert
with the world's leading orchestras including Boston Symphony, Chicago
Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco
Symphony, London Symphony, Orchestra of La Scala, and many others.
With seemingly effortless versatility she traverses an
ever-broadening spectrum of musical styles and dramatic characterizations.
A noted bel canto specialist, she excels as the heroines of Rossini's
La cenerentola and of Bellini's La sonnambula. She is an unmatched stylist
in the French repertoire, a delectable Mignon or Perichole, a regal
Marguerite in Berlioz' La Damnation de Faust and, in one critic's words,
"the Melisande of one's dreams." Her elegant figure and keen
imagination have made her the world's favorite interpreter of the great
trouser roles, from Strauss' Octavian and Composer to Mozart's Sextus,
Idamante and - magically, indelibly - Cherubino. Miss von Stade's artistry
has inspired the revival of neglected works such as Massenet's Cherubin,
Thomas' Mignon, Rameau's Dardanus and Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse
in patria. Her repertoire is continually expanding with newer works
such as Dominick Argento's The Aspern Papers and Thomas Pasatieri's
The Seagull. It was in San Francisco that she recently performed the
role of Madame de Merteuil in the world premiere of Conrad Susa's Dangerous
Liasons which was broadcast on PBS.
Unparalleled in her artistry as a recitalist, Miss von
Stade combines her expressive vocalism and exceptional musicianship
with a rare gift for communication enriching audiences throughout the
world. Here too, her repertoire encompasses an expansive range, from
the Italian "Arie antiche" to the songs of contemporary composers
such as Dominick Argento, who compose specifically for her, from the
classical style of Mozart and Haydn to the popular music of Broadway's
greatest songs. In November 1995, Miss von Stade's return to New York's
Carnegie Hall for a sold-out recital was the culmination of an extensive,
critically acclaimed recital tour which took her prominent venues throughout
North and South America.
She has made over three dozen recordings with every major
label, including complete operas, aria albums, symphonic works, solo
recital programs, and popular crossover albums. Her recordings have
garnered six Grammy nominations, two Grand Prix du Disc awards, the
Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Italy's Premio della Critica Discografica,
and "Best of the Year" citations by Stereo Review, Opera News,
and other journals. Recently, she enjoyed the distinction of holding
simultaneously the first and second places on the national sales charts,
for Angel/EMI's Showboat and Telarc's The Sound of Music.
Miss von Stade also appears regularly on television, with
"Live from the Met" performances of Cherubino, Hansel and
Idamante as well as a Unitel film of the classic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
production of La cenerentola. She created the role of Tina in the world
premiere production of Argento's The Aspern Papers (a work written for
her) which was broadcast from Dallas Opera on PBS. In January 1996,
Miss von Stade celebrated the art of American song with Thomas Hampson,
Marilyn Horne, Dawn Upshaw and Jerry Hadley in a program at New York's
Town Hall titled, "I Hear America Singing," which was televised
by PBS. During the Fall of 1995 she recorded another television special
for PBS which included arias, art songs and popular crossover material.
A holiday special, "Christmas with Flicka," was shot on location
in Salzburg and appeared on PBS, and in the spring of 1990 she was the
focal point of another PBS special, "Flicka and Friends,"
in which she was joined by bass, Samuel Ramey, and tenor, Jerry Hadley,
for an evening of operatic and musical theater selections. In December
1991 she appeared with Kathleen Battle and Wynton Marsalis in a "Carnegie
Hall Christmas Concert", which was conducted by Andre Previn and
broadcast internationally on television; audio and home video recordings
were issued by Sony Classics. She was the guest soloist for the Berlin
Philharmonic's 1992 New Year's Eve gala, conducted by Claudio Abbado,
which was also telecast worldwide and recorded in audio and video formats
by Sony.
Miss von Stade's 1996-97 season begins with a gala concert
with the San Francisco Symphony to open their season and is followed
by performances with Washington's National Symphony, under the direction
of Leonard Slatkin. Further concert appearances include performances
with the Utah Symphony and the Symphony of Goteborg, Sweden. Operatic
highlights of the season include performances of Penelope in Il ritorno
d'Ulisse in patria with the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, the title
role in Handel's Xerxes with Seattle Opera, and performances of Offenbach
arias and ensembles with the Opera de Monte-Carlo. Miss von Stade's
numerous recital appearances take her from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Montreal
and from Princeton to Palm Beach. She also travels abroad to present
recitals in Bordeaux, Barcelona, Valencia, Ovieto, Stockholm and Jakarta.
Frederica von Stade is the holder of honorary doctorates
from Yale University, Boston University, the Georgetown University of
Medicine, and her alma mater, the Mannes School of Music. In 1983 she
was honored with an award given at the White House by former president
Ronald Reagan in recognition of her significant contribution to the
arts.
