How do you celebrate the accomplishments of America’s greatest living composer?
Admirers of Dominick Argento have only to visit the University of Maryland School of Music throughout the month of April to hear some of his signature works and sit in on conversations between the man himself and artists he has influenced.
The opening tribute on March 30 was an overview of delights to come. An ardent admirer of the human voice, Argento has composed many song cycles, along with 14 operas. Soprano Linda Mabbs, mezzo-soprano Delores Ziegler and tenor Gran Wilson, all members of Maryland’s voice faculty, presented his “Six Elizabethan Songs” and “Songs About Spring.” They shared the program with the pianists Justina Lee, Bradford Gowen and Rita Sloan in four-hand settings of the tango-infused “Valentino Dances” from his opera, “The Dream of Valentino.”
| Onstage |
| A Celebration of Composer Dominick Argento’s Work |
| Where: University of Maryland School of Music |
| When: Friday through April 29 |
| Info: Concerts $22 to $35; other events free; 301-405-ARTS (2787); claricesmithcenter.umd.edu |
“We opened with these works to contrast his range of styles,” Mabbs said. “As a singer, I feel his music. He writes so beautifully for the human voice and the English language overall, not just poetry. I enjoy teaching his music to my students. It’s very hard, but so rewarding that they fall in love with what he is doing. He writes just as beautifully for orchestras. We first met when I was singing at the Kennedy Center and he was in the audience.”
Argento’s operas, “Postcard from Morocco” and “Miss Havisham’s Fire,” performed by the Maryland Opera Studio and accompanied by the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, are presented for two weeks on alternate days.
“The surreal ‘Postcard from Morocco’ is the perfect vehicle for a creative opera company,” Mabbs said. “Like ‘Waiting for Godot,’ it’s curious and always current. The students love working on it and using their imagination to construct scenery and costumes.”
Artist gathered to honor Argento are Washington’s own Miss Manners, Judith Martin, the subject of his song cycle “Miss Manners on Music,” and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, whose recording of his song cycle “Casa Guidi” won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. On the closing evening, she will perform one of their earlier collaborations, “A Few Words About Chekhov” (1996), with faculty member baritone Dominic Cossa.
“I want to share with the audiences and students some of the experiences I’ve had working with him. Our guest artists will do the same during the many discussions. Students Center Stage is a special lunchtime event when the students will sing for him then sit across the table and talk with him about his works. By the end of the month, they will have learned what a great artist he is and how fortunate we are to have interfaced so extensively with a major American composer whose musical connection began right here in Maryland.”
