Gary Dunning, President and Executive Director
Presents
Tara Erraught, mezzo-soprano
Wednesday, December 2, 2015, 8pm — Pickman Hall
(Boston) Celebrity Series of Boston will present mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught with pianist Henning Ruhe as part of The Debut Series. The performance will take place on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 8pm at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, 27 Garden Street, Cambridge. The Debut Series is sponsored by Harriet and David Griesinger and the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Support provided by Culture Ireland and the Consulate-General of Ireland, Boston.
Limited tickets for Tara Erraught’s recital start at $25, and are available online at www.celebrityseries.org, by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661, or at the Celebrity Series box office Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.
This performance will mark Tara Erraught’s Boston debut.
Irish-born mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught has been praised for her rich voice, expansive range and appealing stage presence. Her international stature has continued to grow since she stepped in on five-days’ notice to sing the role of Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2011, her performance winning worldwide acclaim. In the seasons since, she has sung a world premiere, made numerous role debuts, and successfully toured North America twice.
Ms. Erraught’s 2014 – 2015 season featured performances in Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, and the United States. With the Bayerische Staatsoper, she made role debuts as Carlotta in Strauss’s Die Schweigsame Frau, Op. 80, Christa in Janacek’s The Makropulos Affair, Despina in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel, as well as the role of Zweite Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflote. She also debuted with the Santo Domingo Festival in the Dominican Republic. With the Hamburg Staatsoper, she sung Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Angelina in La Cenerentola. She sang with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, and in the United States for her company debut with the Washington National Opera in La Cenerentola.
Past highlights include creating the role of Kitty in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s A Harlot’s Progress at Theater an der Wien; role debuts as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, Nicklausse/The Muse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and singing in a new production of Hansel und Gretel with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. With the Wiener Staatsoper she sang Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, as well as the premiere performances of a new production of La Cenerentola, earning accolades from the press as the “New Queen of Bel canto.” In February 2011, Ms. Erraught came to worldwide attention, replacing an ailing colleague and learning the role of Romeo in five days for a new production of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. This was after singing the title role of a new production of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortileges with Bayerische Staatsoper earlier that month. In summer 2010 she joined internationally celebrated French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet for the Prinsengracht-concert telecast from the canals of Amsterdam and made her Glyndebourne debut.
In spring 2013, the Bavarian government bestowed upon Ms. Erraught the prestigious Pro meritis scientiae et litterarum in recognition for outstanding contribution to the arts. She is only the fifth musician, and the youngest recipient, to be honored with the annual award since its inception in 2000. A native of Dundalk, Ireland, Tara Erraught has been a member of the opera studio at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich since 2008. In March of 2010 she was the recipient of Dublin’s National Concert Hall’s Rising Star Award. Other honors include First Prize in the Jakub Pustina International Singing Competition in the Czech Republic, along with the Zdar nad Sazavou Audience Prize in 2008. In that same year she was awarded both the Houston Grand Opera Prize and the Washington National Opera Prize at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna. In 2007 Ms. Erraught won Dermott Troy Award for the Best Irish Singer.
A graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Ms. Erraught considers herself fortunate to continue her studies with the acclaimed Royal Opera soprano Veronica Dunne, who has been the guiding force in her musical career. In Munich, where she makes her home, she has the privilege to work with famed German mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender on her current repertoire.
Program:
Johannes Brahms:
“Jucche!”
“Wie Melodien zieht es mir”
“Meine Liebe ist grün”
“Vergebliches Ständchen”
“Die Mainacht”
“Mädchenfluch”
Franz Liszt:
“Enfant, si j’étais roi”
“Die Loreley”
“Der Alpenjäger”
“Oh! Quand je dors”
“Jugendglück”
Frederick Delius:
“Twilight Fancies”
“Hidden Love”
Roger Quilter:
“Blow, blow, thou winter wind”
“Now sleeps the crimson petal”
“Love’s philosophy”
Richard Strauss:
“Allerseelen”
“Zueignung”
“Die Nacht”
“Ständchen”
“Morgen”
“Cäcilie”
About Celebrity Series of Boston
Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. Over the course of its 77-year history, Celebrity Series has presented an array of the world’s greatest performing artists, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arturo Toscanini, Ignace Paderewski, Artur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Andrés Segovia, Kirsten Flagstad, Marian Anderson, Luciano Pavarotti, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the New York City Opera Company.
The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers–from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more–to Boston’s major concert halls for 77 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience–on stages, in schools, at home– everywhere. For more information on Celebrity Series of Boston, call (617) 482-2595 or visit us online at www.celebrityseries.org.
The Celebrity Series of Boston, Inc. receives generous support from Amy & Joshua Boger, Leslie & Howard Appleby, The Garbis & Arminé Barsoumian Charitable Foundation, the Boston Cultural Council, the Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC, the Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Deloitte LLP, Donna & Mike Egan, EMC, Foley & Lardner LLP, Gabor Garai & Susan Pravda, David & Harriet Griesinger, the Charles and Cerise Jacobs Charitable Foundation, Paul L. King, The Royal Little Family Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Joseph McNay, Stewart Myers, the National Endowment for the Arts, Eleanor & Frank Pao, The Peabody Foundation, PTC, The John S. and Cynthia Reed Foundation, The D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp., the Stifler Family Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Henri A. Termeer, Tufts Health Plan, Sanjay & Sangeeta Verma, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Nancy Richmond Winsten, Anonymous, and many others.
