Sunday, September 11
2:00pm at FUMC Harlingen
7:00pm at ST. Eugene De Mazenod Brownsville
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Singers
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Diane Walters, described as a “clear, beautifully colored soprano” (Broad Street Review) and “sweetly endearing” (Music in Cincinnati), is an artist based in Brownsville, Texas. A specialist in collaborative music and frequent soloist, Diane has sung with ensembles across the country and in Europe including The Crossing, Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble, Alium Spiritum, Chorosynthesis, RedShift, Taylor Festival Choir, Weimar Bach Cantata Academy, Berwick Chorus of the Oregon Bach Festival, Dallas Choral Festival, and JSB Ensemble of the International Bachakademie Stuttgart. She can be heard on several commercial recordings including the 2022 GRAMMY® nominated recording Rising w/The Crossing. Diane is on the voice faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She holds degrees from the Capital University Conservatory of Music and the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University. Diane enjoys knitting, cooking, and spending time with her husband, Sean and daughter, Cecilia.
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Lauren McAllister is a lyric mezzo-soprano based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her recent credits include covering Ännchen with Queen City Opera, working with Catacoustic Consort as their Vocal Young Artist, joining Conspirare for their 2018-19 season, reuniting with the Lynx Project for their Autism Advocacy Project, and performing with Cincinnati Soundbox as an artist-in-residence, where she premiered works for vocal trio in April and for solo voice, bass, and percussion in May. This season, Lauren returns to Austin to join Grammy®-winning ensemble Conspirare for their 2019-20 season. In the spring of 2020,
she joins Opera Louisiane to perform the roles of Muse/Nicklausse/Antonia’s Mother in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. An avid recitalist, Lauren will make her debut with Salon 21 to perform works by Heggie, Schumann, and Stephen Variames. Lauren appeared as Lazuli (l'Étoile, Sin City Opera), Melanto (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, Opera Louisiane), and as the mezzo soloist for the Duruflé Requiem with the Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble. She covered the roles of Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) and The Maid (The Witches of Venice) at Opera Saratoga and performed the title role of La Perichole with Sin City Opera. She also toured in Norway with Conspirare for the 2016 St. Olav Festival. In December of 2015, Lauren took first place in the Nebraska District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Lauren received her Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), in the studio of Karen Lykes. While at CCM, Lauren performed as the alto soloist in a staged production of the Bach St. John Passion, sang the role of Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), and covered the role of Lazuli (l'Etoile). Lauren holds a Bachelor's degree in Voice Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Robert McIver. She performed the roles of Aunt Emma (Hin und Zurück) and Rosine (Signor Deluso), and was a finalist in the Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition (2012). |
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Romanian American Tenor, Mark Istratie attended Madonna University where he studied Vocal Performance. Opera credits include Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus), and Count Barigoule (Cendrillon) with Madonna Lyric Theater and Peter Quint (Turn of the Screw) with Opera MODO. Mark has performed in the Michigan Opera Theatre Chorus in the productions of Faust, Macbeth, Carmen, The Passenger, Cyrano, Don Giovanni, Girl of the Golden West, and Silent Night. As a concert performer, Mark has been heard with Detroit-based Audivi, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Recently, Mark holds credits with the Michigan Opera Theatre Outreach program and Opera San Antonio. Until relocating to Austin, Texas Mark served as a staff singer at Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Currently, Mark is an active vocalist in the Austin area as well as Color Guard instructor for High School Marching Bands throughout Texas.
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Pennsylvania native Sean Taylor is Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Choral Studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he conducts the Master Chorale and Chamber Singers and teaches applied voice, conducting, and choral literature. He is Director of Traditional Music at First United Methodist Church in Harlingen, Texas, and serves on the summer faculty of Berkshire Choral International, teaching classes, giving recitals, and leading sectionals in Massachusetts, Oregon, and California. A specialist in professional ensemble singing, Sean has sung with Conspirare, Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble, the Dallas Choral Festival, Charleston’s Taylor Festival Choir, The Oregon Bach Festival, and the Choir of Cincinnati’s St. Rose Church. Sean earned a DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music in Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University, where he served as assistant conductor to Grammy-winning conductor Robert Page. Sean balances his scholarly and artistic work with video games, Batman movies, and preparing for Shark Week.
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Texts and Translations
The 23rd Psalm (dedicated to my mother)-Bobby McFerrin
The Lord is my Shepherd, I have all I need,
She makes me lie down in green meadows,
Beside the still waters, She will lead.
She restores my soul, She rights my wrongs,
She leads me in a path of good things,
And fills my heart with songs.
Even though I walk, through a dark and dreary land,
There is nothing that can shake me,
She has said, She won't forsake me,
I'm in her hand.
She sets a table before me,
in the presence of my foes,
She anoints my head with oil,
And my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and kindness will follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I will live in Her house forever and ever.
Glory be to our Mother, and Daughter,
And to the Holy of Holies,
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen.
Mary Hynes-James Stephens (after the Irish of Raftery)
She is the sky of the sun!
She is the dart of love!
She is the love of my heart!
She is a rune!
She is above the women
of the race of Eve,
as the sun is above the moon!
Lovely and airy
the view from the hill
that looks down from Ballylea!
But no good sight is good,
until you see
the blossom of branches
walking towards you, airily.
(2pm concert only) Voice on the Wind-Sarah Quartel
I heard a voice on the summer wind,
Who she is I can’t explain.
I heard a voice on the summer wind,
Blowing free and blowing wild.
I heard a voice on the summer wind,
Strength and spirit in her song.
I heard a voice on the summer wind,
With a song I seem to know.
I heard a voice on the summer wind,
Sounds familiar like my own.
I heard a voice on the summer wind,
Moves me like she knows me well
I heard a voice on the summer wind,
Sounds familiar like my own.
I am the voice on the summer wind,
Strong and sure where’re I stand.
I am the voice.
Psalm 74
O God, why have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember the nation you purchased long ago,
the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed--
Mount Zion, where you dwelt.
Abide with Me-Marty Goetz
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
Come not in terror, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings;
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death's sting?
Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me
(7pm concert only) The Coolin-James Stephens (after the Irish of Raftery)
Come with me, under my coat,
And we will drink our fill
Of the milk of a white goat,
Or wine if it be thy will,
And we will talk,
Until talk is a trouble, too,
Out on the side of the hill,
And nothing is left to do;
But an eye to look into an eye
And a hand in a hand to slip
And a sigh to answer a sigh
And a lip to find out a lip,
What if the night be black,
And the air on the mountain chill,
Where the goat lies down in her track,
And all but the fern is still,
Stay with me, under my coat,
And we will drink our fill
Of the milk of the white goat,
Out of the side of the hill.
Faith is the bird that feels the light-Rabindranath Tagore
Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.
(2pm concert only) The Beautiful Land of Nod-Ella Wheeler Cox
Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear,
Your head like the golden-rod,
And we will go sailing away from here
To the beautiful Land of Nod.
Away from life's hurry and flurry and worry,
Away from earth's shadows and gloom,
To a world of fair weather we'll float off together,
Where roses are always in bloom.
Just shut your eyes and fold your hands,
Your hands like the leaves of a rose,
And we will go sailing to those fair lands
That never an atlas shows.
Down the river of sleep our boat shall sweep,
Till it reaches that mystical Isle
Which no man hath seen, but where all have been,
And there we will pause awhile.
I will croon you a song as we float along
To that shore that is blessed of God,
Then, ho! for that fair land, we're off for that rare land,
That beautiful Land of Nod.
Crucifixion (He Never Said a Mumblin' Word)-Traditional Spiritual
They crucified my Lord,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
they crucified my Lord,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.
They nailed him to a tree,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
they nailed him to a tree,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.
They pierced him in the side,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
they pierced him in the side,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.
He bowed his head and died,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
he bowed his head and died,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.
John 15: 1-5, 12-14
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:
and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches:
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing.
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain-Charles d'Orleans
Winter, you are nothing but a villain
Summer is pleasant and gentle,
As confirmed by May and April,
Who escort it evening and morning.
Summer clothes the fields, woods, and flowers
With its garb of greenery
And many other colors,
According to the laws of nature.
Funeral Ikos-from the Order for the Burial of Dead Priests, trans. Isabel Hapgood
Why these bitter words of the dying, o brethren,
which they utter as they go hence?
I am parted from my brethren.
All my friends do i abandon and go hence.
But whither i go, that understand i not,
neither what shall become of me yonder;
only God who hath summoned me knoweth.
but make commemoration of me with the song
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
But whither now go the souls?
How dwell they now together there?
This mystery have i desired to learn; but none can impart aright.
Do they call to mind their own people, as we do them?
Or have they forgotten all those who mourn them and make the song:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Youth and the beauty of the body fade at the hour of death,
and the tongue then burneth fiercely, and the parched throat is inflamed.
The beauty of the eyes is quenched then, the comeliness of the face all altered,
the shapeliness of the neck destroyed; and the other parts have become numb,
nor often say: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
With ecstasy are we inflamed if we but hear that there is light eternal yonder;
that there is Paradise, wherein every soul of Righteous Ones rejoiceth.
Let us all, also, enter into Christ, that we may cry aloud thus unto God:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
I’ll Fly Away-Albert E. Brumley
Some bright morning when this life is o'er;
I'll fly away;
To a home on God's celestial shore;
I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, Oh Glory,
I'll fly away
When I die, Hallelujah by and by,
I'll fly away.
When the shadows of this life have gone,
I'll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, oh Glory I'll fly away
when I die, Hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away
Just a few more weary days and then,
I'll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end,
I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, oh Glory ,
I'll fly away
when I die, Hallelujah by and by,
I'll fly away.