Ariana Wyatt, soprano; Richard Masters, piano

Works by Aaron Copland, Ian Veneables, Robert Spillman, Howard Ferguson and Frank La Forge.

Described as “brilliant” (Opera Today) and “alluringly complex” (Opera News), Ariana Wyatt’s recent opera engagements include appearances with Gotham Chamber Opera, Opera on the James, Opera Omaha, Opera Roanoke, Glimmerglass Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, the Juilliard Opera Center, and the Aspen Opera Theater. She has appeared in venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Jerusalem Synagogue, and Martinů Hall, performing large works including Haydn’s Creation, Brahms’ Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and James Whitbourn’s Annelies. An enthusiastic advocate for contemporary art song and opera, she has premiered and championed chamber works by Alan Louis Smith, Daron Hagen, Gregory Hutter, and Lori Laitman. Her 2020 recording Let Evening Come: American Songs Old and New was named one of the best classical recordings of 2020 by the Chicago Tribune.

Richard Masters is a soloist, opera coach, chamber musician and orchestral pianist based in Blacksburg, VA, where he is an assistant professor of piano and collaborative piano on the music faculty at Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts. Significant collaborations include concerts with Grammy-winning baritone Donnie Ray Albert, the late Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Barbara Conrad, and many others. He has appeared with former Boston Symphony principal trombonist Norman Bolter, former Juilliard String Quartet violinist Earl Carlyss, saxophonist Harvey Pittel, and under the baton of Lorin Maazel. Masters has performed solo, chamber and vocal recitals throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Recent performances include recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Schola Cantorum in Paris, Gallery 345 in Toronto, and the San Francisco Conservatory.

Program

Aaron Copland: Selected songs from the Dickinson settings 
Ian Venables: Three Songs, op. 37 
Robert Spillman: Spring Rain: Seven Poems of Sara Teasdale 
Howard Ferguson: Five Bagatelles for solo piano
Frank La Forge: (1) Hills  :(2) I came with a song  : (3) Song of the Open