Music Academy of the West
presents Kelsey Lauritano and Andrew Sun performing new work by Ricky Ian Gordon
7pm doors • 8pm show
About
Hear two spectacular young musicians on the cusp of international fame perform the US premiere of a new work by Ricky Ian Gordon in this concert presented with the Music Academy of the West. Mezzo soprano Kelsey Lauritano and pianist Andrew Sun dazzled the judges of the 2018 Marilyn Horne Song Competition with their technical prowess and expressive power, winning a title that helped launch the careers of such figures as Isabel Leonard and Spencer Myer. Get in on the ground floor of their terrific artistry with this electrifying evening of powerful songs.
Program:
Franz Schubert: “Ganymed”, “Du Bist die Ruh’”, “Suleika I”
Maurice Ravel: Histoires naturelles
Ricky Ian Gordon: Without Music, poetry Marie Howe (US Premiere)
Manuel de Falla: Siete canciones populares españolas
Tickets
The Artists
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Japanese American mezzo soprano Kelsey Lauritano has been hailed by Opera News for her “wondrous power”, by the Boston Globe for her “rippling wine-dark voice with a low range of staggering strength, combined with a splendid stage presence”, and by Opera Wire for her “outstanding acting skills” and “unwavering vocal technique”.
Lauritano is currently a member of the Opernstudio at Oper Frankfurt. During the 2018–19 season, she sings the Third Dryad in Dvořák’s Rusalka, Enrichetta di Francia in a new production of Bellini’s I puritani, Eine Spanierin in a new production of Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang, and Olga in Lehár’s Die Lustige Witwe, all with Oper Frankfurt. She will also join the Boston Early Music Festival as Melissa in Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina. Throughout the season, Lauritano will tour in recital to London, New York City, Chicago, and Santa Barbara as the winner of the Music Academy of the West’s 2018 Marilyn Horne Song Competition. The London appearance is a partnership between the Music Academy of the West and the London Symphony Orchestra. The tour program will include a world premiere song cycle with music by Ricky Ian Gordon.
In the 2017–18 season, Lauritano was seen as Venus in Monteverdi’s balletic opera Il ballo delle Ingrate conducted by William Christie. She reprised the title role in a concert version of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges conducted by Emmanuel Villaume in Alice Tully Hall and Diane in Juilliard Opera’s production of Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie conducted by Stephen Stubbs. She also performed Luciano Berio’s song cycle Circles with the New World Symphony. Lauritano appeared as Cherubino in the Music Academy of the West’s production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by James Conlon.
In past seasons, Lauritano debuted as Cleofe in Handel’s La Resurrezione with BEMF in a concert production led by Stephen Stubbs and Paul O’Dette. She also appeared with the Juilliard Orchestra in Mozart’s requiem (alto soloist) at Alice Tully Hall, with the New York Festival of Song at Lincoln Center’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater, and with Juilliard415 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art conducted by Jordi Savall.
Lauritano recently completed her Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School in New York City, where she also received her Bachelor of Music degree and was granted the Peter Mennin Prize for outstanding achievement and leadership in music. She is a proud recipient of the Novick Career Advancement Grant from the Juilliard School.
Pianist Andrew Sun is currently a Resident Artist at the Minnesota Opera. A sought-after collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Sun has previously served on the coaching staff at the Manhattan School of Music, been an apprentice coach at the Merola Opera Program in 2017, and been a fellow at the Music Academy of the West for three summers. Sun was recently named winner of the 2018 Marilyn Horne Song Competition along with mezzo soprano Kelsey Lauritano. Their winning recital tour in the spring of 2019 features the world premiere of a song cycle with music by Ricky Ian Gordon, and includes performances in New York, Chicago, Santa Barbara, and London, in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 2016, Sun performed on Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concerts series and participated in The Song Continues, a week-long series of masterclasses and recitals in Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall. In 2012, he performed the radio broadcast premiere of the then newly discovered ”Albumblatt” by Johannes Brahms, for which he is cited in the Bärenreiter edition. Other performance highlights include vocal masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Stephanie Blythe, Thomas Hampson, and Jane Eaglen. Sun holds bachelor‘s and master’s degrees from New York University and a Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers include Warren Jones, Eduardus Halim, and Grant Wenaus.
