Kling! Meine Seele gibt reinen Ton!

My Master of Music recital was December 1st. It represented about a year and a half worth of lessons, practicing, memorizing, and research. The program was near and dear to my heart. I selected all the pieces except the oratorio which was performed in last year's Chamber Choir concert and the arias which my teacher selected for me. I loved all the Ives pieces I listened to and had a hard time narrowing my selections down to these seven. And I don't know why I never sang Strauss before. His pieces are so moving. The program started with selections from Handel's oratorio Belshazzar.

O Sacred Oracles of Truth

Rejoice, My Countrymen

For Long Ago

Thus Saith the Lord

Then, the Ives selections-

In the Mornin'

Rock of Ages

Abide With Me

My Native Land

Watchman!

There is a Certain Garden

Memories

After the intermission I sang an aria from Ponchielli's La Gioconda, Stella del marinar

Then, the Strauss set-

Allerseelen

Traum durch die Dammerung (please excuse lack of umlaut)

Schlechtes Wetter

Morgen!

and Kling!

For an encore I sang Santuzza's aria from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana

My teacher told me that she could listen to me sing In the Mornin' all day. I love this piece and it's my favorite too. I sing it every time I'm in the car and it's always running through my head. Kacey Link, a collaborative pianist grad student, played harpsichord for me in the first set and piano for the remainder of the program. My cousin Caroline made my beautiful recital poster. I had given her a couple profile pictures of mine. She was creative and went through my facebook tour albums and included in the poster a picture of the garden of the Medici palace in Florence and Mozart's piano in Salzburg.

I had a lot of fun and really appreciated all the support. My mom held a reception afterwards. There was quite a good turn out for a Wednesday evening in December.