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On Sunday, January 18, 2009 5:00pm, Christuskirche will present an evening of Lieder and Opera, featuring
Contralto Victoria Hart - http://victoriahartcontralto.com
Tenor Andreas Beckett - http://www.andreasbeckett.com/htdocs/start.html
and Pianist Valéry Ryvkin - www.valeryryvkin.com
The first half of the concert will include Schumann's Dichterliebe, plus Lieder of Brahms and Mahler. The second half features a scene from the third act of Massenet's opera Werther (based on Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werther).
Admission is $18.00 (students & seniors $10.00) reception following.
When asked what he felt was special about this upcoming concert, pianist Valéry Ryvkin said, "German music and culture represent the core of the Romantic movement in music. We wanted to present a program which celebrated that influence. So in the first half, we've programmed Lieder by Schumann, Brahms and Mahler, and in the second half, we will perform a scene from Massenet's opera Werther. Although the language of the opera is in French, obviously the story is Goethe's, and Massenet's music is gorgeous and conveys the drama of the story brilliantly. Following that we'll have some lighter fare – operetta and cabaret selections, which are another wonderful part of German vocal literature, which has had a great influence on American music of the 20th century."
Dr. Hart added, "One thing that struck me as we were preparing this concert was how music brings people together. My husband Valéry came to this country as a refugee from the former Soviet Union. Andreas Beckett, our tenor, was born in Bavaria and has lived and performed all around the world. I was born in New York, with an Eastern European heritage. And yet with our different backgrounds, we all speak the same language of music. I am always amazed at how music has the power to unite people."
Tenor Andreas Beckett is the one native-born German in the group, having grown up in Bavaria, not far from Munich. A man of many talents, Andreas was a championship hockey player and acrobatic dancer before being invited to Cleveland, Ohio, to perform in West Side Story. He is an accomplished actor with many theater, television, and film credits to his name (most recently with famed director Robert Zemekis). In recent years Andreas has added opera to his list of talents, with recent performances as Tamino in Die Zauberfloete, Florestan in Fidelio, Spoletta in Tosca, and Tony in Masterclass. Other favorite roles include the Duke in Rigoletto, Don Jose in Carmen, and Werther in Werther.
The evening's pianist, Maestro Valéry Ryvkin, is currently Music Director of Opera Santa Barbara and Artistic Director of the Greensboro Opera, as well as a frequent guest conductor at the San Diego Opera. This coming June he will be conducting Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans with the Erfurt Opera in Germany. In September, Maestro Ryvkin will conduct the World Premier of Stephen Schwartz's first opera, Séance on a Wet Afternoon. Maestro Ryvkin has been on the conducting and coaching staffs of the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Opera Montreal, and has conducted gala concerts for the Chicago Lyric Opera and San Francisco Opera Young Artist Programs.