Music Performance Dissertation

One operatic role and two vocal recitals were performed in lieu of a written dissertation. The operatic role was Count Almaviva in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. The necessities of the performance demonstrated knowledge of classical style, controlled vocal technique, carefully crafted dramatic intention and stagecraft, and proficiency in Italian. The first recital was a review of vocal works by living American composers, based on poetry that expressed a multitude of diverse experiences throughout American history. The second recital, Songs of the Lost, was an homage to the lost generation of WWI in preparation for the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, using only musical sets containing either music or poetry written by a combatant in that conflict. December 11th, 2017 at 8:00 PM, in McIntosh Theatre. Accompanied by César Cañón. John Musto, Shadow of the Blues, poetry by Langston Hughes: “Silhouette”, “Litany”, “Island”, “Could be”. Tom Cipullo, Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House, poetry by Billy Collins: “Desire”, “Embrace”, “Cancer”, “Flames”, “Putting Down the Cat”, “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House”. David DiChiera, Letter to Sarah, based on a letter by Sullivan Ballou: Featuring Benjamin Thauland, Trumpet. Steven Mark Kohn, American Folk Song Arrangements, set to traditional American texts: “Ten Thousand Miles Away”, “Poor Wayfaring Stranger”, “Wanderin’”, “The Farmer’s Curst Wife”, “Hell in Texas”. March 23rd and 25th, 2018 in Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Conducted by Martin Katz. Directed by Grant Preisser. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. Role performed: Count Almaviva. April 20th, 2018 at 8:00 PM, in McIntosh Theatre. Accompanied by Landon Baumgard. Gabriel Fauré, L’horizon chimérique, poetry by J. de la Ville de Mirmont: “La mer est infinie”, “Je me suis embarqué”, “Diane, Séléné”, “Vaisseaux, nous vous aurons aimés”. George Butterworth, Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad, poetry by A.E. Housman: “Loveliest of Trees”, “When I was One and Twenty”, “Look Not in My Eyes”, “Think No More Lad”, “The Lads in Their Hundreds”, “Is My Team Ploughing”. Ralph Vaughan Williams, Songs of Travel, poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson: “The Vagabond”, “Let Beauty Awake”, “The Roadside Fire”, “Youth and Love”, “In Dreams”, “The Infinite Shining Heavens”, “Whither Must I Wander”, “Bright is the Ring of Words”, “I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope”.AMUMusic: PerformanceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147554/1/jrdaugh_1.pd