Baritone John Brancy and Pianist Peter Dugan Premiere Their Program "Armistice: The Journey Home" on Thursday, April 5, 2018, at 7:30pm in Alice Tully Hall

Recital Features Songs by Schubert, Vaughan Williams, Ives, Berlin, and More

NEW YORK –– Baritone John Brancy and pianist Peter Dugan, both Juilliard alumni, will premiere their program “Armistice: The Journey Home” on Thursday, April 5, 2018, at 7:30pm in Alice Tully Hall. Inspired by the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I, this program tells the story of men and women who must find their way back home, literally and figuratively. While most of the music is directly related to World War I, its themes are universal, reaching as far back as Homer’s Odyssey. “Armistice: The Journey Home” features music from Schubert’s Der Wanderer and Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel to  Ives' "They Are There," and popular WWI era tunes by Oley Speaks and Irving Berlin. (The complete program follows at the end of this press release.) The evening is a companion program to Brancy and Dugan’s critically acclaimed “A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song,” which commemorated the centennial of the beginning of World War I.

This program also features music by Gustav Holst, Pete Seeger, Rudi Stephan, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Ivor Novello. The duo will also present the world premiere of Leonardo Dugan’s setting – commissioned by Juilliard - of the haunting World War I poem, “I Have a Rendezvous With Death.” The poem was by Alan Seeger, a New Yorker who joined the French Foreign Legion when war was declared in Europe in 1914, making him one of the first Americans to fight in it. He was killed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, almost a year before the U.S. entry into the war. Brancy and Dugan write, “In this song, the soldier’s thoughts are bittersweet with memories of love and springtime, even as he comes to terms with his own mortality in an eerily resolute premonition of his death on the battlefield.” Alan Seeger’s brother Charles Seeger was on the Juilliard faculty and his nephew Pete Seeger was the famous folk singer, whose famed anti-war song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” is also on the program. Leonardo Dugan, who composed this setting of “I Have a Rendezvous With Death” is Peter Dugan’s brother.

Tickets at $20 ($10 for full-time students) are available at juilliard.edu/calendar. Veterans with a valid ID may purchase tickets at $10, only at the Alice Tully Hall Box Office. 

The concert is presented as Juilliard’s 20th Alice Tully Vocal Arts Recital, originally established with a gift from the Alice Tully Foundation to promote exceptionally talented Juilliard singers on the threshold of a professional career. 

Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts was established in 2010 by the generous support of Ellen and James S. Marcus. 

About the Artists

Baritone John Brancy and pianist Peter Dugan have been redefining the art song recital since their critically acclaimed debut of “A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song” at the Kennedy Center in 2014. That program commemorates the centennial of World War I through music by composers who lived through, fought in, and died in the Great War. They have since released their debut album A Silent Night and have been presented in recital by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, St. John’s College, University of Chicago, Societe d’art Vocal de Montreal, and more. Together they won second prize at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in 2017. Messrs. Brancy and Dugan met as students at Juilliard. As collaborators, they are committed to reenergizing and reinventing the approach to art song, with repertoire ranging from the classic song cycles of the 19th century to original arrangements of the American Songbook and modern popular tunes. They are co-creators of OPERAtion Superpower, a superhero opera that encourages children to use their talents – their real-life superpowers – to do good in the world.

Peter Dugan made his 2017 debut with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas and has appeared as a recitalist across North America and abroad. Mr. Dugan has collaborated in duos and trios with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. He studied with Matti Raekallio at Juilliard and now serves on the piano faculty of Juilliard's Evening Division.

Baritone John Brancy is a presence on the international opera, concert and recital stages. This 2017-18 season, Mr. Brancy made his Austrian debut as Albert in Stadttheater Klagenfurt’s new production of Werther conducted by Lorenzo Viotti. In 2018 Brancy makes a return to Oper Frankfurt for a new production of Lost Highway by Olga Neuwirth directed by Yuval Sharon. He also debuts with the Carmel Bach Festival performing Carmina Burana and Bach's St. Matthew Passion. (www.johnbrancy.com)

About the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at Juilliard

Brian Zeger, Artistic Director

One of America’s most prestigious programs for educating singers, Juilliard’s Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts offers young artists programs tailored to their talents and needs. From bachelor and master of music degrees to an advanced Artist Diploma in Opera Studies program, Juilliard provides frequent performance opportunities, featuring singers in its own recital halls, on Lincoln Center’s stages, and around New York City. Juilliard Opera has presented numerous premieres of new operas as well as works from the standard repertoire.

Juilliard graduates may be heard in opera houses and concert halls throughout the world; diverse alumni artists include well-known performers such as Leontyne Price, Renée Fleming, Risë Stevens, Tatiana Troyanos, Simon Estes, and Shirley Verrett. Recent alumni include Isabel Leonard, Susanna Phillips, Paul Appleby, Erin Morley, Sasha Cooke, and Julia Bullock.

Recognized as one of today’s leading collaborative pianists, Brian Zeger has performed with many of the world’s greatest singers in an extensive concert career that has taken him to the premiere concert halls throughout the United States and abroad. Recent recordings include Preludios – Spanish songs with Isabel Leonard, a recording of Strauss and Wagner lieder with Adrianne Pieczonka, Dear Theo: 3 Song Cycles by Ben Moore (Delos) with Paul Appleby, Susanna Phillips, and Brett Polegato, and All Who Wander, a recital disc with mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton. For more information about Mr. Zeger’s activities, please visit his website, brianzeger.com.

 

PROGRAM LISTING:

John Brancy, baritone

Peter Dugan, piano

“Armistice: The Journey Home”

Thursday, April 5, 2018, 7:30pm, Alice Tully Hall

HOLST (arr. Peter Dugan) From The Planets, for solo piano
     Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

SPEAKS When the Boys Come Home

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS from Songs of Travel, Nos. 1-8
     The Vagabond
     Let Beauty Awake
     The Roadside Fire
     Youth and Love
     In Dreams
     The Infinite Shining Heavens
     Whither Must I Wander
     Bright is the Ring of Words

LEONARDO DUGAN I Have a Rendezvous with Death*

PETE SEEGER Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

SCHUBERT Der Schiffer

STEPHAN Am Abend

SCHUBERT Der Wanderer

STEPHAN Memento Vivere

SCHUBERT Du bist die Ruh

RACHMANINOFF Ja zhdu tebja (I Wait for Thee)
     Zdes' khorosho (How Fair this Spot)
     Vesennije Vody (Spring Waters)

BERLIN Goodbye, France

NOVELLO The Land of Might-Have-Been
     Shine Through My Dreams

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS From Songs of Travel, No. 9
     I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope

 

Tickets at $20 ($10 for full-time students) are available at juilliard.edu/calendar. Veterans with a valid ID may purchase tickets at $10, only at the Alice Tully Hall Box Office. 

The Juilliard School is honored to present the 20th Alice Tully Vocal Arts Recital, originally established with a gift from the Alice Tully Foundation.

Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts was established in 2010 by the generous support of Ellen and James S. Marcus.