News Detail
Valentine's Day Concert of Romantic Lieder Offered at Crane
02.02.12
SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will host a special Valentine’s Day concert with a guest artist, featuring romantic German lieder at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 14 in the College’s Sara M. Snell Music Theater.
Guest artist Dr. Esther Jane Hardenbergh will showcase her powerful soprano voice and François Germain will accompany her on piano in the Guest Artist Series concert. The program will feature a collection of German lieder, or art songs.
These two talented and experienced performers will present rarely heard pieces by Zeisl, Zemlinksy and Korngold, as well as great works by Strauss, Brahms, Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn.
Hardenbergh will also lead a masterclass with Crane vocal performance students at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13 in Snell Theater.
This concert is free, and the public is welcome to attend.
About the performers:
Dr. Esther Jane Hardenbergh is an associate professor and department chair of the Department of Vocal Performance at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. She is also the program director for the Frost School of Music at Salzburg, Austria, and has toured professionally in the United States and Europe in opera, oratorio and recitals. Hardenbergh regularly performs as a soloist with orchestras and conducts masterclasses. She made her Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall debut as winner of the 1999 International Opera Singer Competition and is a respected interpreter of 19th century German lieder and 20th century American art songs. Her operatic roles include: Countess Almaviva, Micaela, Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, Marguerite and Pamina. Hardenbergh holds a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Richmond, a master’s degree in music specializing in voice and opera performance from Boston University and a doctorate in music and music education in vocal pedagogy from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Dr. François Germain is an adjunct instructor at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, teaching piano, vocal coaching and opera. He has performed in the United States, Europe and Canada as a soloist and accompanist. Originally from Aix-en-Provence, France, Germain is the recipient of many awards. These awards include first prizes in the Radio-France Competition, the Madeline de Valmalete Competition and the Pail and Verna Gelinas Competition. He specializes in French mélodie, lieder and art songs. Germain holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud and a master’s and Ph.D. in piano performance from the University of Montréal.
To find out more about other events on the busy Crane School of Music concert calendar, visit www. potsdam.edu/crane.
Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York’s only All-Steinway institution, and is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2011-12.