Juilliard's annual Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital features soprano Katherine Whyte on Friday, February 29 at 8 PM at Carnegie's Weill Hall

Juilliard’s annual Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital features Canadian soprano and Juilliard alumna Katherine Whyte on Friday, February 29, 2008 at 8 PM in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall (154 West 57th Street). She is joined by pianist Miloš Repický in a program featuring Strauss Lieder; Gunnar de Frumerie’s Hjärtats sånger (Songs of the Heart); Thomas Pasatieri’s Letter to Warsaw; Fauré’s La bonne chanson; and Wolf Lieder. This annual recital, which is supported by a gift from the Alice Tully Foundation to promote outstanding young vocalists on the threshold of a professional career, is relocated to Carnegie because of the extensive renovation taking place at Alice Tully Hall.

Mr. Pasatieri’s Letter to Warsaw had its world premiere on May 10, 2004 in Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington at Music of Remembrance’s (MOR) Holocaust Remembrance Day concert with guest soprano Jane Eaglen and MOR musicians led by conductor Gerard Schwarz. The work is the extraordinary musical setting of one woman’s intimate first-hand account of life in the grip of the Holocaust. American composer and Juilliard alumnus, Thomas Pasatieri, created this powerful song cycle in 2003, setting six texts by poet/cabaret artist Pola Braun. Braun wrote these texts while in the Warsaw ghetto and in the Majdanek concentration camp, where she perished in 1943.

Swedish composer Gunnar de Frumerie’s Hjärtats sånger (Songs of the Heart) was composed in 1942. The songs are set to love poetry. The composer makes use of nature to describe the beautiful aspects of love. Mr. de Frumerie studied at the Stockholm Conservatory and continued his piano studies with Alfred Cortot. A concert artist, teacher and a composer, he has few Swedish equals in the field of song. He also composed works for the piano.

Past recipients of the Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital include: Jennifer Aylmer, William Ferguson, Sari Gruber, Stephanie Houtzeel, Mariana Karpatova, Brenda Patterson, Randall Scarlata, Lauren Skuce, Raquela Sheeran, and Sarah Wolfson.

Tickets at $20 are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office or through CarnegieCharge: (212) 247-7800. Half-price discounts for students and seniors are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office. Up-to-date information about this and any of Juilliard’s 700 annual performances may be found at www.juilliard.edu.

Katherine Whyte is a recent graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center where she created the role of ‘Betty’, the protagonist’s only respite of sanity and well-being, in the world-premiere performances of Lowell Liebermann’s opera, Miss Lonelyhearts. She received her bachelor and master of music degrees from the University of Toronto and completed additional studies at the Britten-Pears School for Advance Musical Studies and The Stean’s Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival. 

The recipient of several awards, including the Ben Heppner Vocal Award and Jessye Norman Award from the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Ms. Whyte has performed on opera and concert stages across her native Canada and the United States. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut during the 2006-07 season as First Elf in Richard Strauss’ Die Ägyptische Helena. She returns to the Metropolitan Opera this season as the Garish Lady in Prokofiev’s The Gambler with Valery Gergiev conducting, and in productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Peter Grimes, Manon Lescaut, and War and Peace.
       
Ms. Whyte was a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center in 2006 and returned in the summer of 2007, where she appeared as soprano soloist with the Mark Morris Dance Group in performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in Seiji Ozawa Hall. She also performed in Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer at Tanglewood, and with the Mark Morris troupe at Jacob’s Pillow.  Her Tanglewood Fellowship also included chamber music recitals and master classes with James Levine. She has participated in master classes with the Marilyn Horne Foundation, appearing in the 2005 Song Continues at Carnegie Hall.

Other recent performances by Ms. Whyte have included Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Banff Centre, Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Mozart’s Requiem with the New York Symphonic Ensemble, Bach’s Cantata No. 105 with the Toronto Bach Festival, and Messiah with Earl Haig Orchestra. She also has performed with the Scarborough Philharmonic, Aldeburgh Connection, Toronto Sinfonietta, and MacMillan Singers, and has been presented in recital by Regina Resnik Presents and at the Mountain View Festival of Song.

Pianist/conductor Miloš Repický was born in Bratislava, Slovakia and raised in France and Canada. He is a member of the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera, where he recently was heard playing the harpsichord continuo for this season’s Le nozze di Figaro. He has been responsible for musical preparation for many other operas, including Macbeth, War and Peace, Hansel and Gretel, Rigoletto, La Traviata, and The Magic Flute. He served as Czech coach for Jenufa. In addition to the Met’s radio and Sirius satellite broadcasts, his performances have been heard on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and New York’s WQXR. Mr. Repický was a featured performer on a multimedia DVD release of Pierrot Lunaire by Sundailtech Pictures. As conductor for the world premiere of Tobin Stokes’ opera The Vinedressers, Mr. Repický was featured in a television documentary for the CBC. He has performed in recital for Regina Resnik Presents, Montreal’s Jeunesses-Musicales, the Chicago Cultural Center, and New York’s Julian Autrey Song Foundation.

About Juilliard Vocal Arts
One of America’s most prestigious programs for educating singers, The Juilliard School’s Vocal Arts Department offers young artists programs tailored to their talents and needs. From bachelor and master of music degrees to advanced artist diploma programs in voice and opera studies, Juilliard Vocal Arts and the tuition-free Juilliard Opera Center provide frequent performance opportunities, featuring singers in its own recital halls and on Lincoln Center’s stages. Vocal Arts students work with a distinguished faculty, many of whom are members of the artistic staff of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera. Additionally, many Juilliard singers perform at both these opera houses upon completion of their education, a benefit of Juilliard’s Lincoln Center location. Vocal Arts students enrolled in degree or artist diploma programs receive comprehensive education in areas such as opera, lieder and art song, diction, movement, acting, and stagecraft, as well as private musical coaching for performances. They also take courses in opera scene study, improvisation, makeup application, and languages. Among Juilliard’s diverse roster of alumni from its voice departments are distinguished and well-known singers such as Jan DeGaetani, Faith Esham, Simon Estes, Renée Fleming, Anthony Dean Griffey, Hei-Kyung Hong, Audra McDonald, Leontyne Price, Florence Quivar, Neil Rosenshein, Risë Stevens, Tatiana Troyanos, Shirley Verrett, and Robert White.
---------------------------------------------------
KATHERINE WHYTE, SOPRANO
With Miloš Repický, piano
Friday, February 29, 2008, 8 PM
Weill Recital Hall, 154 West 57th Street, NYC
Tickets: $20, available beginning 2/1/08 at the Carnegie Hall Box Office. CarnegieCharge: (212) 247-7800 or www.carnegiehall.org.
Half-price tickets for students and seniors are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office
The Juilliard School is honored to present the 11th annual Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital established with a gift from the Alice Tully Foundation to promote outstanding young vocalists on the threshold of a professional career.

STRAUSS Lieder
GUNNAR DE FRUMERIE Hjärtats Sånger (Songs of the Heart)
THOMAS PASATIERI Letter to Warsaw
FAURÉ La bonne chanson
WOLF Lieder