Program and Artist Biography
"History Repeating"
Iestyn Davies, countertenor and Kevin Murphy, piano
December 04, 2011 at 4 pm
Iestyn Davies, countertenor and Kevin Murphy, piano
December 04, 2011 at 4 pm
Purcell/Britten – “Lord What Is Man”
Purcell/Britten – “In the black dismal dungeon of despair”
Purcell/Tippett – “Sweeter than Roses”
J.S.Bach / Realized Britten – “Five Spiritual Songs” (Geistliche Lieder)
1. “Gedenke doch, mein Geist, zurücke”
2. “Kommt, Seelen, dieser Tag”
3. “Liebster Herr Jesu”
4. “Komm, süsser Tod”
5. “Bist du bei mir”
Intermission
F.Schubert – “Der Tod und das Mädchen”
J.Brahms – “Alte Lieb”
J.Brahms - “Unüberwindlich”
G.F.Handel – Two ‘Partenope’ Arias
“Sento Amor”
“Furibondo”
P.Warlock – “Bethlehem Down”
H.Howells – “O my deir heart”
Britten – “That youngë child” (from a Ceremony of Carols)
Britten – “The Ash Grove”
Britten – “Oliver Cromwell”
Countertenor Iestyn Davies studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London, after graduating in archaeology and anthropology from St John’s College, Cambridge. His operatic engagements have included Ottone (L’incoronazione di oppea, Monteverdi) for Zürich Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Arsace (Partenope, Handel) for New York City Opera; Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten) for Houston Grand Opera; Apollo (Death in Venice, Britten) for English National Opera and in his house debut at La Scala, Milan; Hamor (Jephtha, Handel) for Welsh National Opera and Opera National de Bordeaux; and Steffani’s Niobe at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
His concert engagements have included performances at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, with conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the Concertgebouw and Tonhalle with Ton Koopman, the Barbican, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lincoln Center, and the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, with orchestras which included the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Britten Sinfonia, Concerto Köln, Concerto Copenhagen, Ensemble Matheus, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Future engagements include his New York debuts at the Metropolitan Opera and in recital at Carnegie Hall. In Chicago he will make his debut at the Lyric Opera and he returns to English National Opera as Oberon. He continues to enjoy a successful relationship with Wigmore Hall, with regular recitals and concerts in the coming seasons.
His recordings include two versions of Handel’s Messiah (New College Oxford, AAM/Naxos and Polyphony, Britten Sinfonia/Hyperion), Griselda by Vivaldi for Naïve, Lukaswzewski’s Via Crucis and Handel’s Chandos Anthems on Hyperion, Handel’s Flavio for Chandos with The Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn, Bach’s Easter Oratorio with Retrospect Ensemble, and his debut solo recording Live at the Wigmore Hall with his own Ensemble Guadagni. DVD recordings include Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera under Emmanuelle Haïm on Decca and the Spirit in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for the Royal Opera House with Hogwood on Opus Arte.
He is the recipient of the 2010 Royal Philharmonic Young Artist of the Year Award.
Pianist Kevin Murphy has been Director of Music Administration at the New York City Opera since September of 2008. Prior to joining the New York City Opera Staff, he was appointed by Gerard Mortier as the Directeur des Etudes Musicales at the Opéra National de Paris. In 1992, he was the first pianist invited by Maestro James Levine to participate in the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and continued as an assistant conductor from 1993 through June of 2006. He has played continuo harpsichord with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in productions of Così fan tutte, La Cenerentola, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo, and traveled with the company on tour in Japan.
In addition to his on- and off-stage partnership with soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, Mr. Murphy has collaborated in concert and recital with many of today's leading artists including Michelle DeYoung, Bejun Mehta, Gary Lakes, Nathan Gunn, Olaf Bär, Bryn Terfel, Marcelo Alvarez, Placido Domingo, Frederica von Stade, Renee Fleming, Paul Groves and Cecilia Bartoli. He is also respected for his work in master classes and as a private coach and has performed in chamber music collaborations with the Zukerman ChamberPlayers as well as members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. He has appeared on The Today Show with soprano Renée Fleming, Good Morning America with soprano Cecilia Bartoli, and The Tonight Show with tenor Gary Lakes. He has been musical assistant and played continuo harpsichord for the Seiji Ozawa Opera Project in Japan, at the Tanglewood Music Festival and Verbier for James Levine and worked with Esa-Pekka Salonnen at La Jolla’s SummerFest. Additional festival appearances have included Music @ Menlo, Bellingham Festival of Music and Vin et Musique in Burgundy. Mr. Murphy has been in residence with the Canadian Opera Company and the Vocal Arts Program at The Juilliard School. He is a regular adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and collaborated with members of the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera in May.
A native of Syracuse, New York, Mr. Murphy received his Bachelor's of Music in Piano Performance from Indiana University and Master’s of Music in Piano Accompaniment from the Curtis Institute. Kevin Murphy makes his home in New York, NY with his wife, Heidi Grant Murphy, and their four children.
Photograph by Marco Borggreve.
His concert engagements have included performances at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, with conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the Concertgebouw and Tonhalle with Ton Koopman, the Barbican, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lincoln Center, and the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, with orchestras which included the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Britten Sinfonia, Concerto Köln, Concerto Copenhagen, Ensemble Matheus, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Future engagements include his New York debuts at the Metropolitan Opera and in recital at Carnegie Hall. In Chicago he will make his debut at the Lyric Opera and he returns to English National Opera as Oberon. He continues to enjoy a successful relationship with Wigmore Hall, with regular recitals and concerts in the coming seasons.
His recordings include two versions of Handel’s Messiah (New College Oxford, AAM/Naxos and Polyphony, Britten Sinfonia/Hyperion), Griselda by Vivaldi for Naïve, Lukaswzewski’s Via Crucis and Handel’s Chandos Anthems on Hyperion, Handel’s Flavio for Chandos with The Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn, Bach’s Easter Oratorio with Retrospect Ensemble, and his debut solo recording Live at the Wigmore Hall with his own Ensemble Guadagni. DVD recordings include Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera under Emmanuelle Haïm on Decca and the Spirit in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for the Royal Opera House with Hogwood on Opus Arte.
He is the recipient of the 2010 Royal Philharmonic Young Artist of the Year Award.
Pianist Kevin Murphy has been Director of Music Administration at the New York City Opera since September of 2008. Prior to joining the New York City Opera Staff, he was appointed by Gerard Mortier as the Directeur des Etudes Musicales at the Opéra National de Paris. In 1992, he was the first pianist invited by Maestro James Levine to participate in the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and continued as an assistant conductor from 1993 through June of 2006. He has played continuo harpsichord with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in productions of Così fan tutte, La Cenerentola, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo, and traveled with the company on tour in Japan.
In addition to his on- and off-stage partnership with soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, Mr. Murphy has collaborated in concert and recital with many of today's leading artists including Michelle DeYoung, Bejun Mehta, Gary Lakes, Nathan Gunn, Olaf Bär, Bryn Terfel, Marcelo Alvarez, Placido Domingo, Frederica von Stade, Renee Fleming, Paul Groves and Cecilia Bartoli. He is also respected for his work in master classes and as a private coach and has performed in chamber music collaborations with the Zukerman ChamberPlayers as well as members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. He has appeared on The Today Show with soprano Renée Fleming, Good Morning America with soprano Cecilia Bartoli, and The Tonight Show with tenor Gary Lakes. He has been musical assistant and played continuo harpsichord for the Seiji Ozawa Opera Project in Japan, at the Tanglewood Music Festival and Verbier for James Levine and worked with Esa-Pekka Salonnen at La Jolla’s SummerFest. Additional festival appearances have included Music @ Menlo, Bellingham Festival of Music and Vin et Musique in Burgundy. Mr. Murphy has been in residence with the Canadian Opera Company and the Vocal Arts Program at The Juilliard School. He is a regular adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and collaborated with members of the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera in May.
A native of Syracuse, New York, Mr. Murphy received his Bachelor's of Music in Piano Performance from Indiana University and Master’s of Music in Piano Accompaniment from the Curtis Institute. Kevin Murphy makes his home in New York, NY with his wife, Heidi Grant Murphy, and their four children.
Photograph by Marco Borggreve.
©2012 The Phillips Collection.
1600 21st Street, NW | Washington, DC 20009 | 202-387-2151