4 AUGUST 2019

JULIANA HALL - USA 
BORN 4 AUGUST

American art song composer Juliana Hall is a prolific and highly-regarded composer of vocal music, whose songs have been described as “brilliant” (Washington Post), “beguiling” (Times of London), and “the most genuinely moving music of the afternoon” (Boston Globe).

Hall began composition studies as a 26-year-old graduate student majoring in piano performance at the Yale School of Music. Her teachers – Martin Bresnick, Leon Kirchner, and Frederic Rzewski – encouraged her to change careers, and in 1987 she received her Master’s degree in Composition.

Following Yale, Hall completed her studies with Dominick Argento in Minneapolis. While there, in 1987, she received her first commission (from the Schubert Club of Saint Paul) for a song cycle for star soprano Dawn Upshaw; in 1989 she received a second commission, for Metropolitan Opera baritone David Malis, and was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Since then Hall has composed song cycles for numerous singers, including baritones Christopher Dylan Herbert and Richard Lalli; bass baritone Simon Chalifoux; countertenors Brian Asawa and Charles Humphries; mezzo sopranos Stephanie Blythe, Molly Fillmore, Clara Osowski, and Kitty Whately; sopranos Gwen Detwiler, Maggie Finnegan, Steffi Fischer, Martha Guth, Amy Petrongelli, Pamela Jordan Schiffer, and Laura Strickling; tenors Joel Burcham and Andrew Fuchs; and the vocal duo Feminine Musique (soprano Korliss Uecker and mezzo Tammy Hensrud), among many others.

Hall also received SongFest’s 2017 Sorel Commission, and was the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar’s 2018 Guest Composer as well as CollabFest’s 2018 Resident Composer.

Several art song organizations have presented concerts devoted to Hall’s music in recent years, including Sparks & Wiry Cries’ “Casement Fund Song Series” in New York City in 2016, the Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project (CUSP) in Princeton in 2017, London’s “ReSung” art song series in 2018, and Calliope’s Call in Boston in 2019.

♫ LISTEN

At that hour when all things have repose by Juliana Hall  

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KRISTINA ARAKELYAN - HUNGARY/ARMENIA 
BORN  4 AUGUST   

Kristina Arakelyan is an award-winning composer and pianist. Kristina studied music composition at the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Oxford, generously supported by the Raffy Manoukian trust, the Luys foundation and St Peter’s College choral scholarship.

Aged 15, Kristina won first prize in the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers’ competition, resulting in a broadcast on BBC Radio 3 of her choral composition performed by the BBC Singers. In July 2011, she was commissioned by Music for Youth to write a choral piece for Canzonetta Girls’ Choir which was performed at the Schools Prom in the Royal Albert Hall. Kristina's other awards include Overall Cup winner of the EPTA Composition Competition (2009), the David Cox prize (2012), First Prize in the Shakespeare 400 Orchestra of the Swan competition (2014). Kristina was commissioned by Grace Francis to write a piano piece which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (March 2015) and subsequently in Flagler College Radio in St. Augustine, Florida (August 2015). Kristina received first prize in the older age category of the NCEM Composer's award with her lute song "Penelope".

Kristina has had masterclasses most notably with John Adams, Bernard d'Ascoli, Steven Osborne and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Kristina's compositions have been heard on BBC Radio 3 and the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Steinway Hall, St John's Smith Square, Conville and Caius College (Cambridge), St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Southbank Centre, in concert halls in Mexico, Spain, Belgium, Croatia and Armenia.

♫ LISTEN

Two pieces for Saxophone, Violin & Piano by Kristina Arakelyan

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25 APRIL 2019

LUISA ADOLPHA LE BEAU - GERMANY 
BORN 25 APRIL 

Luisa Adolpha Le Beau was a German composer of classical music. She studied with noted musicians Clara Schumann and Franz Lachner, but her primary instructor was Josef Gabriel Rheinberger. Like many other 19th century female composers, Le Beau began her career in music as a pianist, and later earned her living teaching, critiquing, and performing music.

Le Beau received piano lessons beginning at the age of five. Le Beau composed her first piece at the age of eight. She studied languages from 1863 through 1866 as a guest at the local girls' school.  At age sixteen, she completed her education with a degree from a private institution for girls, and from then on devoted herself to music. 

With a letter of recommendation from the pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow, the Le Beau family decided to relocate to Munich to facilitate Luise studying under composer Josef Gabriel Rheinberger in 1876. Due to the regulations put in place by the Royal Music School, Le Beau was tutored separately from the male students. Rheinberger and Le Beau developed a close relationship, and Rheinberger dedicated his “Toccata for piano” op. 104 to Le Beau. While at the Royal Music School, Le Beau's teacher for counterpoint, harmony, and form was Ernst Melchior Sachse, and Franz Lachner offered critiques of many of her works.

Due to the increasing frailty of the Le Beau elders and Luise's struggle to find musicians in Munich to work with, the family relocated to Wiesbaden in 1885. Le Beau had some of her pieces performed in Wiesbaden, where she also taught music theory and offered vocal lessons. In Wiesbaden, Le Beau began her pieces Hadumoth, Op.40 and Op. 37, Piano Concerto. Le Beau's pieces began to be performed outside of Europe, reaching both Sydney and Constantinople.

In 1890, the family was forced to move to Berlin. Le Beau began to study music history at the Royal Library. She later entrusted her music to the Royal Library for preservation. In Berlin, she came in contact with other musicians including Woldemar Bargiel, Joseph Joachim, and Philipp Spitta. During this time, Le Beau only tutored a few students so that she could focus on composing and duplicating the score for “Hadumoth.”  Georg Vierling, a member of Berlin's Royal Academy of Arts nominated Le Beau for a chair position at the Royal School of Music. Ultimately, Le Beau was not granted the position, as it was never assigned to women.

Full list of compositions

♫ LISTEN

Streichquintett c-Moll op. 54 (1900), I. Allegro by Louisa Adolpha le Beau

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ERZSÉBET SZŐNYI - HUNGARY
BORN 25 APRIL

Erzsébet Szőnyi, also Erzsébet Szilágyi,  is a Hungarian composer and music teacher. Her works encompass symphonic compositions, chamber music works, art songs, and oratorios. She has also written numerous stage works including eight operas.

Erzsébet Szőnyi studied composition and piano at l'Université de musique Franz-Liszt in Budapest with János Viski. She received a secondary school music teaching diploma. In Paris, she attended courses by Tony Aubin and Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire de Paris, obtained a prize for composition, and worked in private with Nadia Boulanger in 1947 and 1948. She was also a pupil of Zoltán Kodály, with whom she worked in close collaboration. Later, she taught at l'École Franz Liszt, providing classes in musical education and directing choirs. From 1964 onwards, Erzsébet was a member directing the International Society for Music Education (ISME). She was vice-president of ISME from 1970 to 1974.

♫ LISTEN

Trio Concertino by Erzsébet Szőnyi

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