Master Class: Stephen Powell, Baritone

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: An die ferne Geliebte, op. 98
"Nimm sie hin den, diese Lieder"

Joel Clemens, baritone
Brian Moll, pianist

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Gedichte der Königen Maria Stuart, op. 135
“Abschied von Frankreich”

Darya Narymanava, mezzo-soprano
Jean Anderson, pianist

HUGO WOLF: Mörike-Lieder, No. 36
"Lebe wohl”

Karla Próspero, soprano
Jean Anderson, pianist

REYNALDO HAHN: "À Chloris"

Paulina Rodriguez, soprano
Scott Nicholas, pianist

CLAUDE DEBUSSY: "Apparition"

Jordyn Younger, soprano
Jean Anderson, pianist

FRANCIS POULENC: "Bleuet"

Joshua Vavases, tenor (alternate)
Jean Anderson, pianist

Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Voice Department accomplishes the extraordinary, meeting the needs of its community and the evolving industry through its relevant curriculum, and through a myriad of exciting opportunities that surface on our campus every day. The scope and variety of annual Voice Department performances and curated offerings illustrate the many ways Boston Conservatory mentors its students to thrive as artist-citizens in an ever-changing world and marketplace. We continue building on the rich history of our Voice Department, which houses the oldest opera training program in America, and has served young artists, the field of singing, and the city of Boston for more than 100 years. Indeed, our students, faculty, and staff are heirs to a harvest of memory, spirit, dream, and music that long precedes us and that now nourishes and sustains us.

Just this past September, the Conservatory announced a new educational and artist development partnership with our neighbor, Boston Lyric Opera (BLO). The partnership unlocks incredible opportunities for Boston Conservatory students and members of BLO’s Jane and Steven Akin Emerging Artists, and includes the Opera Innovators Series—a curated collection of talks and master classes that will now engage some of the most innovative and sought-after figures in the opera world. Additionally, Voice Department classes in art song, vocal pedagogy, and the choral arts, will welcome an exceptional lineup of visiting clinicians, each of whom brings their own powerful and distinct voice to bear on our season’s productions and curricula. This academic year also welcomes several new faculty members and my arrival as chair and artistic director of the Voice Department.

I am so grateful to our generous donors, whose giving provides access to the tools and resources our students and faculty need to succeed, here and beyond. Providing a transformative, high level of training is the Conservatory’s reason for being. Inherent in this charge is our faculty and administration’s commitment to foster a genuine sense of goodness, breathing familial inspiration through our Conservatory’s hallways and learning spaces. There is an ethic of care here that is distinct, and that champions people’s goals and aspirations in ways where they feel creative, safe, powerful, and courageous, in and throughout the learning. We’re helping students build a life for themselves through music that has purpose and that could actually change the world. With a faculty of international renown, a stealthy annual lineup of important visiting artists, and a strong commitment to a meaningful list of civic and global initiatives, Boston Conservatory’s Voice Department is an exciting place to be!

I hope you enjoy your experience with us this evening and welcome you to join us again often.

Isaí Jess Muñoz
Chair of Voice and Artistic Director of Opera

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: An die ferne Geliebte, op. 98 "Nimm sie hin den, diese Lieder"
German text by Alois Jeitteles
Translation by Richard Stokes 

Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder,
Accept, then, these songs 

Die ich dir, Geliebte, sang;
I sang for you, beloved; 

Singe sie dann abends wieder
Sing them again at evening

Zu der Laute süßem Klang!
To the lute’s sweet sound!

Wenn das Dämmrungsrot dann ziehet
As the red light of evening draws 

Nach dem stillen blauen See,
Towards the calm blue lake, 

Und sein letzter Strahl verglühet
And its last rays fade

Hinter jener Bergeshöh;
Behind those mountain heights; 

Und du singst, was ich gesungen,
And you sing what I sang

Was mir aus der vollen Brust
From a full heart 

Ohne Kunstgepräng erklungen,
With no display of art, 

Nur der Sehnsucht sich bewußt:
Aware only of longing:

Dann vor diesen Liedern weichet,
Then, at these songs,

Was geschieden uns so weit,
The distance that parted us shall recede,

Und ein liebend Herz erreichet
And a loving heart be reached

Was ein liebend Herz geweiht!
By what a loving heart has hallowed!

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Gedichte der Königen Maria Stuart, op. 135 “Abschied von Frankreich”
English text by Mary Stuart
German translation by Gisbert Freiherr von Vincke

Ich zieh dahin!
I am going away! 

Ade, mein fröhlich Frankenland,
Farewell, my happy France,

Wo ich die liebste Heimat fand,
Where I found the loveliest homeland,

Du meiner Kindheit Pflegerin!
You the guardian of my childhood!

Ade, du Land, du schöne Zeit.
Farewell, O land, O happy time. 

Mich trennt das Boot vom Glück so weit!
The ship bears me far away from joy!

Doch trägt’s die Hälfte nur von mir:
Yet it takes but half of me: 

Ein Teil für immer bleibet dein,
One part will be forever yours,

Mein fröhlich Land, der sage dir,
My happy land, recalling to you,

Des andern eingedenk zu sein!
The memory of that other self!

Ade!
Farewell!

HUGO WOLF: Mörike-Lieder, No. 36, “Lebe wohl”
German text by Eduard Mörike
Translation by Emily Ezust

Lebe wohl! Du fühlest nicht,
Farewell! You feel not,

Was es heißt, dies Wort der Schmerzen;
what this means—this word of pain; 

Mit getrostem Angesicht
with a confident face

Sagtest du's und leichtem Herzen.
You said it, and with a light heart.

Lebe wohl! Ach, tausendmal
Farewell! Alas! A thousand times

Hab' ich mir es vorgesprochen,
I have pronounced it to myself,

Und in nimmersatter Qual
and with insatiable torment,

Mir das Herz damit gebrochen.
broken my own heart with it!

REYNALDO HAHN: "À Chloris"
French text by Théophile de Viau
Translation by Emily Ezust 

S’il est vrai, Chloris, que tu m’aimes,
If it is true, Chloris, that you love me,

Mais j’entends, que tu m’aimes bien,
(But I do hear that you love me well), 

Je ne crois point que les rois mêmes
I don't believe that even kings themselves

Aient un bonheur pareil au mien.
Ever had a happiness equal to mine.

Que la mort serait importune,
How unwelcome Death would be, 

À venir changer ma fortune
Even if it replaced my fortune 

Pour la félicité des cieux!
With the bliss of heaven!

Tout ce qu’on dit de l’ambroisie
For everything they say about ambrosia

Ne touche point ma fantaisie,
Fails utterly to spark my imagination, 

Au prix des grâces de tes yeux,
Especially if I had to give up the charms of your gaze. 

CLAUDE DEBUSSY: "Apparition"
French text by Stéphane Mallarmé
Translation by Charles Hopkins

La lune s'attristait. Des séraphins en pleurs,
The moon was saddened. Dreaming of weeping seraphs, 

Rêvant, l'archet aux doigts, dans le calme des fleurs,
Bow in hand, amid the stillness of gossamer flowers,

Vaporeuses, tiraient de mourantes violes,
The faint tones they drew from their viols,

De blancs sanglots glissant sur l'azur des corolles.
White sobs gliding over the blossom’s azure heart—

C'était le jour béni de ton premier baiser.
It was the blessed day of your first kiss.

Ma songerie aimant à me martyriser,
My reverie, taking pleasure in my pain,

S'enivrait savamment du parfum de tristesse
Knowingly intoxicated me with the fragrance of sadness

Que même sans regret et sans déboire laisse,
That itself, with neither sorrow nor bitterness, 

La cueillaison d'un Rêve au cœur qui l'a cueilli.
Abandons the Dream’s harvesting to the heart that gleaned it. 

J'errais donc, l'œil rivé sur le pavé vieilli
I was wandering, then, my eye fixed on the ancient cobbles

Quand avec du soleil aux cheveux, dans la rue,
When, with sun in your hair, in the evening light of the street,

Et dans le soir, tu m'es en riant apparue,
You appeared to me, laughing, 

Et j'ai cru voir la fée au chapeau de clarté,
And I thought I had seen the fairy, its head garlanded with light, 

Qui jadis sur mes beaux sommeils d'enfant gâté
Who all that time ago passed over the enchanted array

Passait, laissant toujours de ses mains mal fermées,
Of nameless desires and unheard-of delights, 

Neiger de blancs bouquets d'étoiles parfumées.
Letting white bouquets of perfumed stars fall from his hands.

FRANCIS POULENC: "Bleuet"

French text by Guillaume Apollinaire
Translation by Winifred Radford

Jeune homme de vingt ans
Young man of twenty years

Qui a vu des choses si affreuses
You who have seen such terrible things

Que penses-tu des hommes de ton enfance
What do you think of the men of your childhood 

Tu connais la bravoure et la ruse
You have seen bravery and cunning 

Tu as vu la mort en face plus de cent fois
You have seen death face to face over a hundred times 

Tu ne sais pas ce que c’est que la vie
You do not know what life is 

Transmets ton intrépidité
Hand on your fearlessness

A ceux qui viendront
To those who will come 

Après toi
After you 

Jeune homme
Young man 

Tu es joyeux ta mémoire est ensanglantée
You are full of joy, your memory is steeped in blood 

Ton âme est rouge aussi
Your soul, too, is red 

De joie
With joy

Tu as absorbé la vie de ceux qui sont morts près de toi
You have absorbed the life of those who fell beside you

Tu as de la decision
You have resolution

Il est dix sept heures et tu saurais
It is five o’clock and you would know how 

Mourir
To die

Sinon mieux que tes aînés
If not better than your elders

Du moins plus pieusement
At least with more piety

Car tu connais mieux la mort que la vie
For you know death better than life

O douceur d’autrefois
O sweetness of former days

​​​​​​​Lenteur immémoriale
Slow moving beyond all memory 

Stephen Powell, baritone, is a two-time Grammy-nominated baritone whose career spans four decades and includes performances around the world with the great orchestras and opera houses of our time. Equally comfortable in operatic, concert, and song repertoire, his versatility and artistry are unparalleled. Powell teaches at the Mannes School of Music at the New School in Manhattan, and is in great demand for master classes at young artist programs and universities across the U.S. Learn more about Powell. 

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