Christian Steiner |
Renate Rohlfing, piano
with Julia Bullock, soprano
Merkin Hall, New York
Program
John Cage - She is
asleep
Francis Poulenc - Métamorphoses
Pierre Revel - Six chansons de Pierre Revel
Maurice Ravel - Cinq mélodies populaires grecques
Maurice Ravel - Vocalise-étude en forme de Habanera
Gösta Nystroem - Ute i skären
Wilhelm Stenhammar - Flickan knyter
Edvard Grieg - Vandring i Skoven
Edvard Grieg - En svane
Samuel Barber - Nuvoletta
Henry Cowell - Where She Lies
Samuel Barber - The Daisies
Henry Cowell - Because the Cat
Kurt Weill - Denn wie man sich bettet,
Wie lange noch,
Lost in the stars,
The Princess of Pure Delight
Encore: Robert Mann - from Tales, The Princess on the Pea
View Complete Program (PDF)
View Song Lyric Translations (PDF)
Christian Steiner
"impressive, fast-rising soprano… poised for a significant career"
– The New York Times
Winner of the 2014 Naumburg International Vocal Competition, soprano Julia Bullock has been hailed as an “impressive, fast-rising soprano… poised for a significant career” (The New York Times). Her busy 2014-2015 season begins with a performance of Delage’s Quatres poèmes hindous with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and a recital at Napa’s Festival del Sole, as well as a return to the Marlboro Music Festival. She performs recitals and educational outreach programs at the University of Florida Performing Arts, Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, the Levine School of Music, and Music for Youth, as well as recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, San Francisco Performances, Rockefeller University, the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, and Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts. She will also be featured in the New York Festival of Song’s At Harlem’s Height program on tour and at Merkin Concert Hall, as well as in the Mondavi Center’s Rising Stars of Opera. She reprises the title role in Henry Purcell’s The Indian Queen, directed by Peter Sellars at the Perm Opera House and the Diaghilev Festival, and at English National Opera later this season. She was acclaimed for her performance of the role last season in Perm and at the Teatro Real in Madrid; a DVD of the Madrid production will be available this season.
Ms. Bullock has performed the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon with the Juilliard Opera, as well as Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, both to rave reviews. Opera News wrote of the latter, “Julia Bullock as the titular vixen led the way in terms of clarity of delivery and beauty of sound. Her broad range of expression allowed her to be impetuous and demonstrative… then opulent and glorious.” Ms. Bullock has toured South America as Pamina in Peter Brook’s award-winning A Magic Flute; and toured China, singing with the Bard Music Festival Orchestra. Other opera roles include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Monica in The Medium, and the title role in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges.
She made her San Francisco Symphony debut last season in West Side Story in Concert, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas; an album of the concert was released on the orchestra’s label in June 2014. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “The evening’s most remarkable showstopper, Julia Bullock, appeared out of nowhere to deliver a full-voiced stunningly paced account of ‘Somewhere’—for just a moment, it seemed as though nothing Bernstein ever wrote was quite as magical as that one song.”
Ms. Bullock has performed contemporary works at the Ojai Music Festival and the MUSIC ALIVE! series, curated by composer Joan Tower and pianist Blair McMillen; collaborated with early music ensembles, including the Clarion Music Society; and explored lesser-known repertoire with the American Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Delage’s Quartre poèmes hindous. She has also appeared with the New York Festival of Song at Caramoor, with the Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society at the Kimmel Center.
Christian Steiner
She enjoys the collaborative process with both established and up-and-coming composers. In 2011, she attended SongFest in California as a Stern Fellow, where she worked with pianist Roger Vignoles and composers John Musto and Libby Larsen. Ms. Bullock has sung in master classes with bass-baritone Eric Owens at Juilliard, soprano Jessye Norman at Zankel Hall, and José van Dam at Opera Bastille in Paris. She also performed in the Dawn Upshaw / Donnacha Dennehy Workshop at Carnegie Hall, premiering pieces written for her by young Chinese composer Shen Yiwen.
Winner of the 2012 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Ms. Bullock made her recital debuts at Merkin Concert Hall and the Kennedy Center to critical acclaim. At the Auditions, she was also the recipient of five special prizes: the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Prize, concerts at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany, the University of Florida Performing Arts, and with the Albany Symphony and the Sinfonia Gulf Coast. She holds the Lindemann Vocal Chair of Young Concert Artists. Her management is also supported by the Barbara Forester Austin Fund for Art Song.
From 2003 to 2005, Ms. Bullock participated in the Artists-in-Training program with the Opera Theater of St. Louis, and graduated with the prestigious Marielle Hubner Award. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, and her master’s degree at Bard College’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, where she was the first recipient of the Mimi Levitt Scholarship, and won Bard College’s 2010 Concerto Competition. She is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School, working with Edith Bers.
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Ms. Bullock integrates her musical life with community activism. She has organized benefit concerts for the Shropshire Music Foundation and International Playground, two non-profits that serve war-affected children and adolescents through music education and performance programs in Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Uganda, and St. Louis. She also participated in the Music and Medicine Benefit Concert for New York’s Weill Medical Center.
Represented by Young Concert Artists, Inc.
Renate Rohlfing has quickly established herself as a highly sought-after and versatile collaborative pianist. Active as a vocal accompanist, chamber musician, and orchestral pianist, Ms. Rohlfing has performed with some of the world's leading artists, including James Conlon, Anna Netrebko, Frederica von Stade, Alan Gilbert, and John Adams, among many others.
Ms. Rohlfing began her 2014/15 season at the Spoleto Festival USA, where she served on the music staff, performed in chamber music concerts and as orchestral pianist in John Adams' "El Nino." Subsequently she was pianist and coach for Jake Heggie's workshop of his new opera "Great Scott". In its second season, her critically acclaimed piano trio LONGLEASH performs live on WUOL radio in Kentucky followed by performances at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival in Norway, and performances around the Tri-State area. Upcoming engagements include Liederabende in Switzerland with baritone Samuel Hasselhorn, recitals and master classes with soprano Sarah Wolfson, an appearance at the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration in Carnegie Hall with mezzo-soprano Cecelia Hall, and concerts as an Artist-in-Residence at PianoSonoma with LONGLEASH. Last season she made her debut at the Cincinnati May Festival, performing in two recitals, as well as embarking on a recital tour with soprano Julia Bullock, with debut recitals at the Kennedy Center and Merkin Hall. She returned, in 2014, to the Ravinia Festival in Chicago to her fourth season as a resident pianist in the Steans Music Insitute, performing in concerts and recitals under the festival's auspices. In 2011, she was a pianist-in-residence for Marilyn Horne's "The Song Continues..." series at Carnegie Hall. Orchestral piano engagements include the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for Britten's War Requiem and Britten's "Phaedra" with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro James Conlon. Future projects include further performances around the country and a tour of Scandinavia with her piano trio, music director for the short film PoetLove, and performances at Bay Chamber Concerts music festival this summer. She has served on the vocal coaching staff of Bard College and Westminster Choir College. Ms. Rohlfing is a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, and a graduate of the Juilliard School.
For more information, visit www.renaterohlfing.com |
Renate Rohlfing
