2011 Bavarian Summer Voice and Piano Collaborative Workshop
for Advanced Singers and Pianists
with
Donald George, tenor
Lucy Mauro, piano
June 17-June 25, 2011
The WVU Bavarian Summer Voice and Piano Collaborative Workshop was held in Rosenheim, Germany June 17-25. This week long program was developed by WVU faculty member Lucy Mauro and guest artist Donald George (Associate Professor, The Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam) for advanced pianists and singers to study art song and opera, experience the German culture, and be introduced to the German theater system, which offers exceptional performance opportunities for singers in opera and for accompanists in professional work.
Three pianists and six singers were selected for the program, including WVU recent graduate Min Sue Kim (D.M.A. in voice) and current students Sora Lee (M.M. in collaborative piano ) and Zhiwei Zheng (D.M.A. in piano)) along with students from SUNY Potsdam, Marshall University, China and New York. German students from the Hochschule für Musik (the Conservatory in Munich), the Bayerische Theaterakademie (Bavarian Theater Academy) and the Musikschule Rosenheim (Music School in Rosenheim) also participated. The week long program included lessons and master classes with Mauro and George and also with guest artist Lynda Kemeny, as well as German lessons, and culminated in a final concert by the students at the Musikschule Rosenheim where the program was held.
The students also participated in several trips including to the Steinway House in Munich where they had a tour, played the pianos and auditioned for a festival in Bad Nauheim, Germany; to Gut Immling for a dress rehearsal of Don Giovanni; to the Gärtnerplatz theater in Munich for a performance of La Traviata; and to the Chiemsee to tour the beautiful castle of King Ludwig.
This was the first year of the WVU Bavarian Summer Voice and Piano Collaborative Workshop, which Mauro and George plan to continue. Donald George and Lucy Mauro’s newest CD, Love is Everywhere: Selected Songs of Margaret Ruthven Lang, Volume I, was released in January 2011 by Delos. About the CD Metropolitan Opera star Stephanie Blythe said: “Bringing this repertoire to the fore, Donald George and his pianist Lucy Mauro, have done a wonderful service to the art of song with this recording- his singing is fresh and beautiful, with immediate diction, and their partnership is palpable throughout the selections. Her playing is as crystalline and telling as his singing.”
