Canadian baritone Gerald Finley has become one of the leading singers and dramatic interpreters of his generation, with award-winning recordings on CD and DVD released by major labels and performances at the world’s major opera and concert venues in a wide variety of repertoire. His recent awards include Classic FM Gramophone Awards for Best Solo Vocal Recording in 2008 for his Hyperion CD of songs by Samuel Barber, and again in 2009, for Schumann's Heine Lieder. He was also recently honored at the 2009 Opera News Awards for distinguished achievement. In opera, Mr. Finley has sung all the major baritone roles of Mozart and his interpretation of Don Giovanni has been seen in New York, London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Prague, Tel Aviv, and Budapest, with future appearances scheduled in Glyndebourne and Munich. As the Count in Le nozze di Figaro he has appeared at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, and at the Metropolitan Opera and in Paris and Amsterdam. Mr. Finley’s expanding repertoire includes critical successes as Eugene Onegin and Yeletsky at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, and as Onegin at English National Opera. His portrayal of Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande at Covent Garden, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, won him a nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera at the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards. In contemporary opera, he has excelled in creating leading roles, most notably J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’s Doctor Atomic. In 2009–2010, Mr. Finley will return to the Metropolitan Opera as Marcello in La bohème and as Don Giovanni in a new production at Glyndebourne. As a recitalist, he works regularly with pianist Julius Drake, appearing throughout Europe and North America, and is a frequent guest at the Wigmore Hall, as well as prestigious venues in Europe including Vienna, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Amsterdam, and at London’s Wigmore Hall. Mr. Finley began singing as a chorister in Ottawa, Canada, and completed his musical studies in the United Kingdom at the Royal College of Music, King’s College, Cambridge, and the National Opera Studio. He was a winner of Glyndebourne’s John Christie Award and is a Visiting Professor and Fellow of the Royal College of Music.
Pianist Julius Drake lives in London and specializes in the field of chamber music, working with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and recordings. In recent seasons, concerts have taken him to the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich, Schubertiade, and Salzburg music festivals; to New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw; Cologne’s Philharmonie; Paris’s Châtelet and Musée de Louvre; Milan’s La Scala; Barcelona’s Liceu; Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus; and London’s Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms. Director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000–2003, Mr. Drake was also musical director in Deborah Warner’s staging of Janáček’s Diary of One Who Vanished, touring to Munich, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, and New York. He has been appointed artistic director of Leeds Lieder 2009 and the Machynlleth Festival in Wales from 2009–2011. Mr. Drake’s passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for, among others, the Wigmore Hall, London, the BBC, and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. A series of song recitals, Julius Drake and Friends, in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London, has featured recitals with many outstanding vocal artists including Thomas Allen, Olaf Bär, Ian Bostridge, Angelika Kirchschlager, Sergei Leiferkus, Felicity Lott, Katarina Karneus, Christopher Maltman, Mark Padmore, Christoph Pregardien, Amanda Roocroft, and Willard White. Mr. Drake’s many recordings include Sibelius Songs and Grieg Songs with Katarina Karneus (Hyperion), Oboe Sonatas with Nicholas Daniel (Virgin), ¡Pasión! with Joyce DiDonato (Eloquentia), Urlicht: Songs of Gustav Mahler and Tchaikovsky Romances with Christianne Stotijn (Onyx), and Mahler and Schumann songs with Alice Coote (EMI). Live recordings from recitals at Wigmore Hall for the ‘Wigmore Live’ label have included concerts with the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Joyce DiDonato, Christopher Maltman, and Gerald Finley. He has made an award-winning series of recordings with Ian Bostridge for EMI and his recent series of recordings with Gerald Finley for Hyperion of Ives, Barber, Schumann, Ravel and Britten, has been widely acclaimed. “Barber Songs” and “Schumann Heine Lieder” won both the 2008 and 2009 Gramophone Awards.Program Information
Saturday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
GERALD FINLEY, Baritone
JULIUS DRAKE, Piano
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Entflieh mit mir und sei mein Weib" from Tragödie, Op. 64, No. 3
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Es fiel ein Reif in der Frühlingsnacht" from Tragödie, Op. 64, No. 3
ROBERT SCHUMANN Der arme Peter, Op. 53, No. 3
Der Hans und die Grete tanzen herum
In meiner Brust
Der arme Peter wankt vorbei
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Lehn deine Wang," Op. 142, No. 2
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Es leuchtet meine Liebe," Op. 127, No. 3
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Dein Angesicht," Op. 127, No. 2
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Mein Wagen rollet langsam," Op. 142, No. 4
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Belsatzar," Op. 57
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Die feindlichen Brüder," Op. 49, No. 2
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Abends am Strand," Op. 45, No. 3
ROBERT SCHUMANN "Die beiden Grenadiere," Op. 49, No. 1
MAURICE RAVEL Histoires naturelles
Le Paon
Le Grillon
Le Cygne
Le Martin-pêcheur
Le Pintade
SAMUEL BARBER "The Daisies," Op. 2, No. 1
SAMUEL BARBER "Solitary Hotel," Op. 41, No. 4
SAMUEL BARBER "Bessie Bobtail," Op. 2, No. 3
SAMUEL BARBER "Nocturne," Op. 13, No. 4
CHARLES IVES "West London"
CHARLES IVES "In the Alley"
CHARLES IVES "Charlie Rutlage"
CHARLES IVES "Slugging a Vampire"
This concert and the Pure Voice series are sponsored by the Jean & Jula Goldwurm Memorial Foundation in memory of Jula Goldwurm.
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.