SING, AMERICA!
ON JANUARY 23 WITH PIANIST ALAN LOUIS SMITH AT CARNEGIE HALL
 Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe returns to Carnegie Hall with pianist Alan Louis Smith to lead an audience sing-slong concert, Sing, America!, on Saturday, January 23 at 2:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage as part of Carnegie Hall’s annual series The Song Continues. Audience members have the opportunity to join in and sing along to some of America’s most popular songs from the early 1900s including “Oh, You Beautiful Doll,” ”Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” “By the Beautiful Sea,” and many more.
“The excitement of the live experience is what drives people to go to concerts,” offers Ms. Blythe. “A sing along is just taking that excitement one step further because the act of group singing helps to create a community joined together by physical, active participation.” For a video interview series with Ms. Blythe, please click here. Sing, America! is presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute as part of The Song Continues, an annual series led by renowned mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, exploring song repertoire through master classes and concerts with the goal of encouraging, supporting, and preserving the art of the vocal recital. As part of the series, Ms. Blythe will coach four young singers in a public master class on Wednesday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. About the Artists A frequent recitalist, Ms. Blythe has been presented in recital in New York by Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage and Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center in both its Great Performers Series at Alice Tully Hall and its American Songbook Series at the Allen Room, Town Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has also been presented by the Vocal Arts Society and at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC; the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Shriver Hall in Baltimore, and San Francisco Performances. A champion of American song, Ms. Blythe has premiered several song cycles written for her including Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson by the late James Legg, Covered Wagon Woman by Alan Smith which was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and recorded with the ensemble (CMS Studio Recordings); and Vignettes: Ellis Island, also by Alan Smith and featured in a special television program entitled Vignettes: An Evening with Stephanie Blythe and Warren Jones. This season, Ms. Blythe’s many engagements include returns to the San Francisco Opera as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and the Houston Grand Opera at Nettie Fowler in Carousel. She also performs her new program, Sing, America!, at Carnegie Hall and at the Harris Theater in Chicago. Ms. Blythe was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year for 2009. Her other awards include the 2007 Opera News Award and the 1999 Richard Tucker Award. She is also the Artistic Director of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar at the Crane School of Music. Pianist Alan Louis Smith enjoys a reputation as one of the United States’ most highly regarded figures in the field of collaborative artistry. His performing experiences have included associations in major musical venues with such musical personalities as singers Thomas Stewart, Barbara Bonney, and Stephanie Blythe; violist Donald McInnes; and violinist Eudice Shapiro; as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Virtuosi. Broadcasts of his performances, compositions, and interviews have been aired internationally. His expertise and experience in song literature, chamber music, and opera make him much sought after as an accompanist, coach, faculty colleague, teacher of master classes, and adjudicator of area and international competitions, including regular engagements as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mr. Smith is also the chair of Keyboard Studies and the director of the Keyboard Collaborative Arts program at the USC Thornton School of Music. His awards include the Virginia Ramo Award for excellence in teaching and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Thornton School, and the Inaugural Mellon Award Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Mentoring. His current and former students maintain important positions internationally in the field of collaborative piano and coaching. He has served for 24 years as a member of the vocal coaching faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center in western Massachusetts, and was formerly that program’s vocal program coordinator and most recently served as the coordinator of the piano program, for which he held a named chair as the Marian Douglas Martin Master Teacher. His own compositions for voice and piano have received performances in many parts of the world by some of the world’s most acclaimed artists in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, and the Ravinia Festival. Program Information Tickets: $15 Saturday, January 23 at 2:00 p.m. The Song Continues is supported, in part, by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation. Workshops and master classes are made possible, in part, by Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. These programs are part of the Marilyn Horne legacy at Carnegie Hall. Tickets: $25–$50 Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
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