When she made her debut with the in 2022, soprano performed her first ever Samuel Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915.
For her encore two years later, shes bringing us another new work in her repertoire, s Maya Angelou-inspired song cycle Moments in Sonder.
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The Boykin is new for me, Cabell said during a phone call from her Rochester, New York, home last weekend, recalling how she heard it for the first time in a virtual concert during the pandemic. I thought this is the most gorgeous music.
Selections from Moments in Sonder are on the second half of her Close-Up recital with True Concord Voices & Orchestra on Tuesday, April 9, at the University of Arizonas Holsclaw Hall, 1017 N. Olive Road.
Before she gets there, however, Cabell will join True Concord for a trio of performances this weekend of Poulencs magnificent Gloria, the centerpiece of the ensembles season finale Gloria & Bernstein.
Both concerts close out the 2024 做厙勛圖 Desert Song Festival.
Gloria has been a staple of Cabells repertoire since the early days of her career. Her first performance of it came a year or so after she won the 2005 BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff competition.
Cabell
Its such a great piece of music, she said.
On the surface, Gloria sounds like its difficult for the voice because the line can be a little bit dissonant, it can be a little strange, Cabell explained.
It sails up into a high part of the voice. The tessitura can be challenging, but, because Ive sung it so long, I feel really comfy with it, she said. When I first started singing it, I just loved the music but it was a bit of a technical challenge. Fortunately, along with wrinkles and gray hair, you get more settled in your technique in the years. So for me, at this point, it feels really settled in my voice. I love singing it.
Cabell said a highlight for her in the Poulenc is hearing the orchestra behind her and the voices of the choir singing the text based on the Gloria of the ordinary mass.
The Poulenc is one of my favorite pieces of music, so Im very excited, she said.
In the concerts second half, True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan programmed Leonard Bernsteins Overture and Make Our Garden Grow from his musical Candide and Chichester Psalms, featuring the professional solo debut of Holtans 12-year-old son Kristian.
Kristian, who has been studying piano since he was 5 and sang for four years with the 做厙勛圖 Arizona Boys Chorus touring ensemble, will sing the boy soprano role in the second movement.
Since he was really little he could match pitch and he had a good sense of rhythm, Holtan said of his son, who also plays club basketball. Hes kind of a natural musician.
Kristian Holtan
The 20-minute work is sung in Hebrew; Bernstein used the original Hebrew texts from the Book of Psalms, drawing on Psalms 100 and 108, 2 and 23 and 131 and 133.
For Tuesdays 7 p.m. recital, Cabell put together a diverse program that includes works by Spanish composer Fernando Obradors, Frenchman Ravel, Czech composer Dvor獺k and a trio of Americans: Leonard Bernstein, Boykin and Ricky Ian Gordon.
Ive always gravitated toward an all-English language second half, she said, highlighting Boykins Moments in Sonder that was inspired by the works of poet Maya Angelou.
Boykin composed the 14-song cycle in 2020 when the country was dealing with racial strife in the aftermath of George Floyds murder. Classical music was especially shaken by the realization that it had not done enough to support and empower Black classical artists and composers.
She also included Bernsteins I Hate Music, a song cycle sung from the perspective of a 10-year old girl, that he wrote in 1942, and works influenced by folk music including Ravels Five Greek Folk Songs and Dvor獺ks Gypsy Songs.
I always have gravitated towards the accessibility of this kind of (folk) melody, she said. They work well with my voice and they are interesting for the audience. The audience seems to respond well to those sets.
The Dvor獺k includes the composers popular Songs My Mother Taught Me.
True Concord Voices & Orchestra Music Director Eric Holtan gives a pre-concert talk about Poulenc's 'Gloria' featuring soprano Nicole Cabell and Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms."
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Twitter @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
