Kathryn Findlen                                            Photo: Jimmy Williams

"Findlen exudes confidence and grace.  Her movements and expressions are private and sensual and I often felt as though we were peeking in on something we shouldn't be watching."

                            --The Austin Post Review of "Rear View"

Kenneth Frazelle's

"Songs in the Rear View Mirror"

Kathryn Findlen, mezzo soprano,

with Richard Masters, pianist

7:30 p.m. Monday, March 11

Watson Hall

FREE

UNCSA alumna Kathryn Findlen, mezzo soprano, and pianist Richard Masters bring a preview of their Carnegie Hall show to Watson Hall, performing: "Songs in the Rear View Mirror" by faculty composer Kenneth Frazelle.

The work has been hailed as  "...one of the finest American song cycles in recent or distant memory…" ( San Francisco Classical Voice).  Part road trip and part childhood reminiscence, the work transports listeners on an evocative and haunting musical portrait of Southern life and art, past abandoned barns, tangles of kudzu and evangelizing road signs. The work grew out of a fascination with the artistic progeny of humble Hale County, Ala., through the celebrated photographs, sculpture and paintings of Alabama native William Christenberry.

When Frazelle undertook his own journey in the artists’ footsteps he not only found new sources of inspiration but unexpectedly unearthed many poignant, nostalgic and often turbulent memories from his own Southern childhood. "Songs in the Rear View Mirror" is one of Frazelle’s most ambitious works, comprising 10 songs united by refreshing harmonies, coloristic piano writing, and the undulating rhythm of the highway.

KATHRYN FINDLEN

Mezzo Soprano Kathryn Findlen “has a rich, lush vocal quality and an incredible stage presence” (Austin Post) which have gained her a nomination for Best Classical Vocalist of the Year in Austin by the Austin Critics Table Awards. Findlen’s collaborations place her at the forefront of new American concert repertoire. She has worked with Pulitzer Prize winning composers John Harbison, John Corigliano, and Robert Ward, and most recently Pulitzer Prize winner George Crumb, bringing their compositions to life on the concert stage.  Findlen has appeared as soloist with Austin Lyric Opera, the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Texas Choral Consort, Austin Civic Chorus, and been presented in concert at Texas State University, the University of Texas at Austin, Southwestern, and Texas Lutheran University.  Upcoming this season, she performs with harpist Delaine Fedson on the Jessen Distinguished Artist Series at the University of Texas at Austin, and as mezzo soloist for the Verdi Requiem with Austin Symphony Orchestra.

Kenneth Frazelle

KENNETH FRAZELLE

Composer Kenneth Frazelle's music has been commissioned and performed by numerous prominent artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Jeffrey Kahane, Dawn Upshaw, Emmanuel Ax, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ransom Wilson, Paula Robison, John Adams, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Jan DeGaetani, and Gilbert Kalish. Frazelle first received international acclaim with his score for "Still/Here", a multimedia dance/theater work for the Bill T.Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company Frazelle was the winner of the 2001 Barlow Prize, the international competition administered through Brigham Young University. He has received awards and fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy in Rome, and Columbia University. He has held residencies with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Frazelle was a pupil of Roger Sessions at The Juilliard School and graduated in 1978 with the Gretchaninoff Award for High Achievement in Composition. He attended high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied with Robert Ward. Frazelle was born in Jacksonville, N.C., in 1955. His music is published by Subito Music Corporation.