RSNA 2023: A Celebration Through Song
Olivia Doig, soprano
Ian Murrell, baritone
Florence Mak, piano
PROGRAM
Largo al factotum (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Una voce poco fa (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
by Gioachino Rossini, Italy
O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi)
Questo amor (Edgar)
by Giacomo Puccini, Italy
Springtime in Munich
’Til the End of Time
by Shao Suan Low, Singapore
Swallow
That Night
by Liu Bin, Singapore
La ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni)
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austria
Ma rendi pur contento
Vaga luna, che inargenti
by Vincenzo Bellini, Italy
La Seduzione
by Giuseppe Verdi, Italy
Tristezza
by Francesco Paolo Tosti, Italy
Nebbie
by Ottorino Respighi, Italy
O solo mio
by Eduardo di Capua, Italy
Olivia Doig, soprano
Chicago-born soprano Olivia Doig performs a range of art song, opera, and musical theater repertoire with companies across the Midwest, including recent performances with Ohio Light Opera, Haymarket Opera, Music Theater Works, and Florentine Opera. Olivia holds degrees from Wheaton College and Florida State University and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Illinois. Alongside performing, Olivia shares her love for musical storytelling through teaching. This includes teaching voice lessons as a guest lecturer at Wheaton College and as a graduate assistant at Florida State University, in addition to teaching and music directing a variety of youth musical theater productions. In the fall of 2019, she helped develop and pilot Lynx Project’s cross-genre educational program Composition of a City, which teaches youth about the role of poetry in classical art song and hip-hop rap and aids them in writing their own music and poetry by combining elements of these two genres.
Ian Murrell, baritone
Making his Lynx Project debut, Ian Murrell is a native of Vandalia, Illinois and has been praised for his "Powerful, resonant baritone" and "commanding stage presence" by Indiana Public Media.
Mr. Murrell has sung several operatic roles that include Ping in Turandot, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Belcore in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore, the Jazz Trio Baritone in Trouble in Tahiti, Le Marquis de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Harry Bailey in "It's A Wonderful Life," Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and Ned Keene in "Peter Grimes". Mr. Murrell has also portrayed Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly in a staged production with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Riff in a concert version of Bernstein’s "West Side Story" under the baton of Alfred Savia. Equally at home as a recitalist and concert musician, Mr. Murrell has sung as a soloist in Handel's Messiah, Saint-Saëns's Christmas Oratorio, Duruflé’s Requiem, Britten's Cantata Misericordium, and Stravinsky's Pulcinella suite in addition to presenting full recital programs in downtown Chicago as well as his home town of Vandalia. Ian has sung engagements with the Grant Park Symphony, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Camerata, Indianapolis Opera, Asheville Lyric Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, Chautauqua Opera Company, and the Florentine Opera Company. He is a graduate of the University of Evansville and with a masters from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Ian currently works as a voice teacher and sings with the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
Florence Mak, piano
Born and raised in Canada, Florence Mak quickly realized that she would not be able to fulfill her dream as an All-Star hockey player in the NHL, given that she has never put on a pair of hockey skates. As a result, she turned her focus to piano and has appeared on stage throughout North America and Europe as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, and page turner.
Without having the vocal range of a bass-baritone or ability to circular breathe, Florence decided to live vicariously through others by way of musical collaboration. As a result, she received her doctorate in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music. She recently held positions as a Collaborative Pianist at Bard College Conservatory of Music and as the Coordinator of Collaborative Piano at Ohio University. In work and in life, she is an avid punster and a certified Rick-Roll enthusiast.
Florence is the Artistic Director and a founding member of LYNX Project, a nonprofit art-song organization whose mission is to amplify diverse voices through song commissions, inclusive concerts, and innovative educational programming.
TRANSLATIONS
Largo al factotum (Make way for the factotum) from The Barber of Seville
Translation: Stephen McCloskey
Make way for the topman of the city.
Rushing to his shop now that it's dawn.
Ah, isn't life good, how pleasant it is
For a barber of class!
Ah, nice one Figaro!
Nice one, really nice one!
I am the luckiest, it's true to say!
Ready for anything,
night and day
Always busy and around.
A better lot for a barber,
A more noble life cannot be found.
Razors and combs
Lancets and scissors,
At my command
Are all here.
And there are ‘extras',
Then, for the business
With women... and with gentlemen...
Everyone asks for me, everyone wants me,
Women, young people, old people, the golden haired;
What about the wig... A quick shave...
Some leeches for bleeding...
Quick the note...
What about the wig, a quick shave,
Figaro! Figaro! Figaro! etc.
Heavens, what mayhem!
Heavens, what crowds!
One at a time, For pities sake!
Figaro! Here I am.
O me, Figaro! Here I am.
Figaro here, Figaro there,
Figaro up, Figaro down,
Quicker and quicker the sparks fly with me;
I am the topman of the city.
Ah, nice one Figaro! Nice one, really nice one;
From you luckiness will not depart.
Una voce poca fa (A little voice from the past) from The Barber of Seville
Translation: Gabriel Huaroc
A voice a little while back
echoes here into my heart,
my heart has already been pierced
and it was Lindoro who plagued me.
Yes, Lindoro will be mine,
I swear it, I'll win.
My guardian will refuse,
I'll sharpen my mind
In the end it will finally settle – he'll accept,
and happy I'll stay.
Yes, Lindoro will be mine
I swear it, I'll win.
I'm docile, I’m respectful
I'm obedient, sweet, loving;
I let myself be held, I let myself be guided.
But, if they touch me
On my weak spot,
I'll be a viper and a hundred tricks
I’ll play before I yield.
O mio babbino caro (O my dear papa) from Gianni Schicchi
Oh my dear papa,
I like him, he is so handsome.
I want to go to Porta Rossa
To buy the ring!
Yes, yes, I want to go there!
And if my love were in vain,
I would go to the Ponte Vecchio (an old bridge)
And throw myself in the Arno! (river in Florence)
I am pining, I am tormented!
Oh God, I would want to die!
Father, have pity, have pity!
Father, have pity, have pity!
Questo amor (This love) from Edgar
She would have been
The cruelest worry of my life?...
It's fifteen years of Hungarians and Morischi
A wandering crowd
In the village passed, here a little girl
Abandoning... It was Tigrana!... It grew
Daughter of all... Alas, on our breasts\
We warmed the viper!
This love, my shame,
I would like to break, forget;
But of a horrid spell
My senses are slaves...
A thousand times I swore to heaven
To escape from her!... And I returned to her!
She laughs at my tears,
My indignation is mocked;
And I, vile, with a broken heart,
At his feet I prostrate myself...
And she alone I dream, I long for!
Ah, misfortune!... I love her!... I love her!
Swallow
I love the autumn’s swallow,
Who, all night, knows not fatigue,
As if urging,
As if responding,
As they cry, as they fly.
Never asking on which cloud her songs stay?
She just keeps singing, keeps flying,
In the dark sky,
With light wings.
I would rather be a swallow,
Everything made forgotten –
When I mention, when I remember:
Not regret,
Not joy.
That Night
That night, my boat pushed out
To the middle of the river,
The clear blue sky held up dense stars.
That night, your hand held my hand,
The perplexed starry night
sealed off heavy melancholy.
That night, you and I
Separately decided directions –
Each of us chose a way of living.
And now, my boat is still on the sea adrift,
The thin and fragile mast sways in the stormy waves,
And now, the sun lingers on my back,
Layers of shadow linger around me.
And now, I still remember that night’s sky,
Starlight, tears, river mist-covered and white,
And now, I still miss your cultivation on the shore,
Red flowers, yellow flowers, all bloom lively.
One day, I wish to walk to the top,
The nectar of memory is like honey.
One day, I will ride a feather-winged arrow,
Aiming at your garden with a full drawn bow.
One day, if you hear a bird singing,
That would be me, quietly awaiting your praise.
One day, if you see a messy flower’s shadow,
That is the border where I broke into privately.
La ci darem la mano (There we will hold hands) - duet from Don Giovanni
Translation: Jennifer Rushworth
DON GIOVANNI:
There we will hold hands,
There you will say yes to me:
You see, it’s not far,
Let’s go, my dear, from here.
ZERLINA:
I would like to and I would not like to,
My heart trembles a little,
It’s true that I would be happy,
But he can mock me still!
DON GIOVANNI:
Come, my lovely delight!
ZERLINA:
Masetto takes pity on me.
DON GIOVANNI:
I will change your fate.
ZERLINA:
Quickly… I cannot resist any longer.
BOTH:
Let’s go!
Let’s go!
Let’s go, let’s go, my love,
To redeem the sufferings
Of an innocent love.
Ma rendi pur contento (But please do make contented)
But please do make contented
My beautiful one’s heart
And I will forgive you, love,
If mine is not happy.
I dread her anxieties
More than my anxieties,
Because I live more through her
Than I live for myself.
Vaga luna, che inargenti (Pretty moon, who silvers)
Lovely moon, you who shed silver light
On these shores and on these flowers
And breathe the language
Of love to the elements,
You are now the sole witness
Of my ardent longing,
And can recount my throbs and sighs
To her who fills me with love.
Tell her too that distance
Cannot assuage my grief,
That if I cherish a hope,
It is only for the future.
Tell her that, day and night,
I count the hours of sorrow,
That a flattering hope
Comforts me in my love.
La Seduzione (The Seduction)
She was beautiful as an angel from heaven,
and as innocent as a budding flower,
And with the first heartbeat of love,
a cruel one awakened her heart.
Inexperienced and trusting,
She herself committed the disloyal lover;
She was seduced! And pleaded,
In vain, for a wedding ring.
Doomed to shame and scorn,,
Nine moons moaned the betrayed;
Then, her life consumed by pain,
She prayed for forgiveness to the cruel man and died.
And the fruit of vile betrayal
Place him near him in the tomb;
There, not a cross, nor a cypress,
Not a stone bore her name.
Tristezza (Sadness)
Look; far far away,
the sun is dying on the waves,
flocks of birds are flying
back to the plain.
I feel a sadness in my heart,
And yet I don't know why;
Looking into your eyes,
O my beauty, silently I hold you close.
A shadow cloaks creation,
the sky and the sea,
I feel tears brimming
in my eyes.
The Ave Maria sounds and it is so sad,
And yet I don't know why;
Devoutly I pray, O my beauty,
I pray with you.
Tenderly, the prayer goes out
from our loving hearts,
into the splendour
of the evening.
The sadness
makes me think
and yet I don't know why,
that one day, alas,
my heart will lose
this dream and you!
Nebbie (Mists)
I suffer. Far, far away,
the sleeping mists
rise from the silent plain.
Shrilling cawing, the crows,
trusting their black wings
cross the heath grimly.
To the raw weathering of the air,
the sorrowful tree trunks,
offer, praying, their bare branches.
How cold am I! I am alone;
driven through the gray sky,
a wail of extinction flies;
And repeats to me: come,
the valley is dark.
Oh sad, oh unloved one,
Come! Come!
O solo mio (Oh My Sun)
What a wonderful thing, a sunny day
The serene air after a thunderstorm
The fresh air, and a party is already going on…
What a wonderful thing, a sunny day.
(Chorus)
But another sun,
that’s brighter still
It’s my own sun
that’s in your face!
The sun, my own sun
It’s in your face!
It’s in your face!
When night comes and the sun has gone down,
I start feeling blue;
I’d stay below your window
When night comes and the sun has gone down.
(Chorus)
What is LYNX Project?
We are a Chicago-based nonprofit organization amplifying diverse voices through new art song commissions, inclusive concerts, and innovative educational opportunities. We pride ourselves on bringing communities together through the celebration of diverse stories and experiences in the genre we love—art song (poetry set to music, usually for solo voice and piano).
In addition to concerts that celebrate the beautiful canon of classical art song, we run two programs that connect specific communities to this work:
Through our Amplify Series, we premiere new song commissions featuring poetry from nonspeaking autistic poets, and music from renowned classical composers. Learn more.
Composition of a City is a songwriting program for teens, which leads students through the elements of writing, rehearsing, and performing original music, using elements from the genres of hip hop and classical art song. Learn more.