MARY JANE JOHNSON AND JAMES GARDNER
PRESENTED BY MIDAMERICA PRODUCTIONS

Soprano and pianist to perform
selected songs and opera arias including
a New York premiere

Handel: "Lusinghe più care" from Alessandro
"Art Thou Troubled?" from Semele

R. Strauss: "Breit Uber Mein Haupt", Op. 19, No. 2
"Zueignung", Op. 10, No. 1
"Cacilie"
Recognition Aria from Elektra

Granados: Art Songs
"El tra-la-lá y el punteado"
"El Majo Discreto"
"Del cabello más sutil"
"De los alamos vengo madre"
"La Maja y el Ruisenour" from Goyescas

Libby Larsen: Cowboy Songs
"Bucking Bronco"
"Lift Me Into Heaven Slowly"
"Billy the Kid"

Puccini:"Vissi d'arte" from Tosca
"Quando men vo" from La Boheme

James Gardner: Groove (New York Premiere)

Spirituals: "Let's Have Union
Medley of Hymns (arr. Gardner)

Lehar: "Liebe, du himmel auf Erden" from Paganini

MidAmerica Productions, Peter Tiboris Artistic Director, presents its 7th concert of the new 2006-2007 season at Weill Recital Hall on Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 8:30 PM.

Soprano Mary Jane Johnson and pianist James Gardner will perform a variety of songs and opera arias from across the musical map. In addition there is the New York premiere of a work, Groove, by Mr. Gardner.

Mary Jane Johnson is a top dramatic soprano and one of opera's finest interpreters. She has sung the role of Emilia Marty in Janácek's The Makropoulos Case at the Metropolitan Opera, Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth as well as Katarina Ismailova in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Opera Bastille of Paris and the title role in Strauss' Salome at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. She has made many distinguished opera, orchestral and recital appearances throughout the world.

James Gardner is a composer aand performer and in both he specializes in variety. His compositions utilize interpretive and improvisational techniques and have been performed in Boston, New York and Prague. Mr. Gardner has done work as a jazz pianist, concert accompanist, organist and even as vocal coach and operatic baritone! He is currently director of music ministries at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Amarillo, Texas.

KATZ-SHTEINBERG DUO AT WEILL RECITAL HALL PRESENTED BY MIDAMERICA PRODUCTIONS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2006, 8:30 PM

Violist Shmuel Katz and pianist Dmitri Shteinberg
to perform works from several centuries

Bach: Sonata No. 2 in D Major for Viola da Gamba and Keyboard, BWV 1028

Hindemith: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4

Mozart: Six Variations on “Hélas, j’ai perdu mon amant” in G Minor, K.360
(Originally for violin and piano)

Bridge: Pensiero
Allegro appassionato

Brahms: Sonata in E-flat Major for viola and piano, Op. 120, No. 2

MidAmerica Productions, Peter Tiboris Artistic Director, presents its 6th concert of the new 2006-2007 season at Weill Recital Hall on Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 8:30 PM.

The Katz-Steinberg Duo – Shmuel Katz, viola and Dmitri Shteinberg, piano – perform a handful of works that display the expressive bond between the viola and the piano. Bach’s sonata, originally composed for viola da gamba and harpsichord was composed when the trio sonata form was just beginning to take form and so Bach puts two of the voices in the keyboard. Hindemith was himself a viola player – perhaps the last great composer/virtuoso - and wrote quite a number of pieces for the instrument. This 1939 work is neo-classical in design and is restrained and lyrical but is also full of fire and fantasy. Mozart’s 1781 variations were written in the year that he was finally “liberated” from the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg (Mozart referred to him as the Archbooby). The lovely piece is based on a French folk song – sometimes referred to as “Au bord d’une Fontaine” – and it is thought that the actual source was a 1767 collection of songs of castrato Antoine Albanese. Frank Bridge was also an accomplished violist but these two graceful compositions from 1908 were the only two showcase pieces published in his lifetime. They were also the first two works to be placed in the Lionel Tertis Memorial Library. (Tertis was the first great viola virtuoso and champion and was to the instrument what Casals was to the cello.) The Brahms Sonata was written in 1894 as a sonata for clarinet and piano and for the great clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, whose inspired interpretations and friendship deeply inspired Brahms. The two numbers of Opus 120 were both arranged for viola and are often thought to be the first repertory sonatas for the instrument.

Shmuel Katz is a native of Israel and maintains a performing career as a chamber musician, soloist and orchestral player. He received degrees from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Pinchas Zuckerman and Michael Tree. Mr. Katz has won prizes in various international competitions and has also been a recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships since 1986. He has collaborated in chamber music concerts with Zuckerman, Tree and Ralph Kirschbaum and with members of the New York Philharmonic. He is a frequent guest violist with the Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and New York City Opera.

Dmitri Shteinberg has appeared throughout North America and Europe. He has been a prizewinner in twenty competitions worldwide including first prize in “Citta de Senigalla” International Competition in Italy. Shteinberg has collaborated with violinist David Garrett and cellist Natalia Gutman and has made recordings for WQXR, the Bavarian Radio and Yamaha Disklavier. He currently heads the piano studies at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and is on the faculty of the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, VT.