Your Distant Destiny

3:00pm Saturday, June 18, 2022
George Washington Educational Campus
549 Audubon Ave.
New York, NY 10040

Free! Reservations recommended. Masks and proof of COVID-19 vaccination required.

Join us for a very special season finale of the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra taking place at George Washington Educational Campus’s spectacular auditorium. Soprano Jennifer Zetlan joins us for a newly re-orchestrated version of Washington Heights-based composer Paul Brantley’s On the Pulse of Morning, after Maya Angelou’s poem. Chris Whittaker shares a poignant musical offering from his Symphony: “This song was for you,” and we conclude our season with the famous knock of fate and Beethoven’s iconic fifth symphony. Tickets are free and young listeners are welcome! Reserve your ticket today.

“But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow,
I will give you no hiding place down here.”
-Maya Angelou from On the Pulse of Morning

Program

Paul Brantley: On the Pulse of the Morning featuring Jennifer Zetlan, Soprano
Chris Whittaker: This song was for you from Symphony
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra
Jennifer Zetlan, Soprano
Chris Whittaker, Music Director

Program will last approximately 1 hour.

About the Artists

Soprano Jennifer Zetlan is internationally recognized for her artistry and captivating stage presence. She has been seen and heard on opera and concert stages worldwide, as well as on Broadway. The 2019-2020 season included the reprise of her role as Ellen in Ellen West (Ricky Ian Gordon/Frank Bidart) with the Prototype Festival, will reprise the role of Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg (Derrick Wang) with Opera Carolina and Opera Grand Rapids, and she was the cover of Queen Tye in Akhnaten (Glass) with the Metropolitan Opera. In the 2017-1019 seasons, Ms. Zetlan was soprano soloist in Carmina burana with the Kansas City Symphony, Fauré’s Requiem at St. John of the Divine, Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg with Opera Delaware, the title role in Ellen West with Opera Saratoga, as well as the cover of Laura Fleet in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Marnie. Ms. Zetlan created the title role in Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt (Musto/Einhorn) for On Site Opera, reprised her role in Crossing (Aucoin) with American Repertory Theatre, reprised the role of Fanny in the New York premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star, and joined the San Francisco Symphony as Xenia in Boris Godunov.

In recent seasons, Ms. Zetlan made her European debut at the Staatstheater Stuttgart in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, created the title role in the world premiere of Jane Eyre by Louis Karchin with Center for Contemporary Opera, (studio recorded for Naxos), and concluded a run of Fiddler on the Roof (directed by Bartlett Sher) on Broadway. On the concert stage, she performed Kaija Saariaho’s Lonh with the New York Philharmonic at the Park Avenue Armory, sang Woglinde in Das Rheingold with the New York Philharmonic, sang the soprano solos in Bruckner’s Te Deum and Mozart’s Mass in C minor with Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and on tour in Uruguay, and was heard at Carnegie Hall as a celebrated alumna of Mannes College of Music in their Centennial Celebration concert. She was also heard in recital with pianist David Shimoni and composer Ricky Ian Gordon and was seen in Charlottesville Opera’s new production of Oklahoma! as Laurey.

Known for her passion for contemporary music, Ms. Zetlan has been featured in the premieres of numerous American operas including Ned Rorem’s Our Town (Aspen Music Festival and Juilliard Opera Center), Crossing (Matt Aucoin, ART), Steven Stucky and Jeremy Denk’s The Classical Style (Ojai Festival and Carnegie Hall), Morning Star (Ricky Ian Gordon, Cincinnati Opera), Nico Muhly’s Two Boys (The Metropolitan Opera), Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters (Gotham Chamber Opera and Opera Philadelphia), Daron Hagen’s Amelia (Seattle Opera), David Diamond’s Six Arias from The Noblest Game (Seattle Symphony), and Louis Karchin’s Jane Eyre. Other contemporary works include The Tempest Songbook (Purcell-Saariaho) with Gotham Chamber Opera, Ligeti’s Requiem (American Symphony Orchestra), Golijov’s 3 Songs for Soprano (Lexington Philharmonic), Tavener’s Requiem (St. Ignatius Loyola with Kent Tritle conducting), and Richard Ayres’ In The Alps with Alarm Will Sound for which the New York Times called her “flawless.”

At the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Zetlan has been seen in productions of War and Peace (2nd French actress), Boris Godunov (Xenia), Le nozze di Figaro (bridesmaid), Macbeth (bloody child), and Two Boys (Rebecca). Favorite notable roles elsewhere include Gilda in Rigoletto (Seattle Opera and Crested Butte), Musetta in La bohème (Princeton Festival, Seattle Opera), Woglinde in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung and The Forest Bird in Siegfried (Seattle Opera), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Ash Lawn Opera, Nashville Opera), Sardula in The Last Savage (Santa Fe Opera), Madeline in The Fall of the House of Usher (Nashville Opera), Laoula in L’étoile (New York City Opera), and Nannetta in Falstaff (Juilliard Opera Center), among others.

Ms. Zetlan is a committed performer of orchestral works, and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony, American Composers’ Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Chorale and has been heard at Carnegie Hall with Oratorio Society of New York, Musica Sacra, Alarm Will Sound, American Symphony Orchestra, MasterVoices, and the New York Youth Symphony. Recognized as a unique recitalist, Ms. Zetlan was selected as a Marilyn Horne Foundation artist; she was heard in recital with her husband, pianist David Shimoni at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church in New York City as well as at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Ms. Zetlan was awarded The Juilliard School Vocal Arts Honors Recital in Alice Tully Hall in 2012 also with Dr. Shimoni. The duo has given recitals for the Golandsky Institute, Foothills Music Festival, and the Artist Series of Sarasota. Ms. Zetlan has also given recitals with pianists Martin Katz and Ricky Ian Gordon and has released her first solo album in collaboration with Mr. Gordon at the piano. Ms. Zetlan is on the voice faculty of the Mannes College of Music.

In recent years Paul Brantley’s compositions have been performed or commissioned by Horszowski Trio, Flux Quartet, New Esterházy Quartet, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Bargemusic, U.C. Berkeley Chamber Chorus, Monadnock Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, St. Bartholomew’s Summer Festival of Sacred Music, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas (NYC’s Town Hall), Left Bank Ensemble (Kennedy Center), Ethel (Kimmel Center), Excelsior Trombone Ensemble (NPR’s Performance Today), The Goliard Ensemble on tour, The Manhattan School of Music Symphony, Belladonna (Schubert Club, St. Paul, MN), L’Opera du Village (Pourrieres, France), SONYC (the Kitchen), and as featured composer on the North River, MOSA and Concerts in the Heights series. He recently completed a commission from Maestro Kenneth Kiesler and The University of Michigan Symphony to compose The Royal Revolver, a cello concertino, for Eric Jacobsen (The Knights, Silk Road Project).

In April 2012 Brantley was invited to give a composition seminar at the Yale School of Music. He is a five-time MacDowell Colony Fellow who has also received fellowships from Banff Centre and Anderson Center.  Brantley has been composer-in-residence for Monadnock Music Festival, Gabriel Fauré Conservatoire (Angoulême, France), Goliard Ensemble, Yara Arts Group, The Seal Bay Festival, Children’s Choral Celebration, Sewanee Music Festival, Washington and Lee University, and the Sophia Institute at Union Theological Seminary in NYC.

Brantley has received solo or chamber instrumental performances by such artists as cellist Peter Stumpf; flutists Laura Gilbert, Nathalie Joachim, Marya Martin, Alex Sopp; pianists Rieko Aizawa, Steve Beck, Jeremy Denk, Pedja Muzijevic, Jeewon Park, and Catherine Schneider; violinists Cornelius Dufallo and Jesse Mills; and ensembles Cassatt Quartet, Flux Quartet, Ethel, Horszowski Trio, Music of the Spheres, and New Esterházy Quartet.

His vocal music has been sung by Tony Arnold, Janna Baty, Jeanine de Bique, Amy Blake, Karen Burlingame, Rachel Calloway, Abigail Fischer, Alexander Hurd, Sharla Nafziger, and Daisy Press.

His orchestral music has been performed by the Augusta Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Curtis Institute Symphony Orchestra, Eastman School of Music String Orchestra, Illinois Symphony, Manhattan School of Music Symphony, The Memphis Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, Reno Philharmonic, Sewanee Festival Orchestra, SONYC, and the University of Michigan Symphony.

Multifaceted musician, Brantley has performed as solo cellist with Trey Anastasio (Phish), Cassatt Quartet, Jeff Coffin Mutet, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Dave Gregory (XTC), and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Brantley has arranged and conducted for David Binney, Ethel, Todd Rundgren, and Christian Scott.

Paul studied at Manhattan School of Music (B.M), Curtis Institute (diploma), Eastman School of Music (M.M.) as well as Fontainebleau, Tanglewood, and The Yellow Barn where he was later artist faculty. His principal teachers include Samuel Adler, Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Eicher, Alan Harris, David Loeb, and David Wells.

He co-founded the Seal Bay Festival of American Music and was artist faculty at Yellow Barn Music Festival for many years. In addition to positions at Syracuse University and Washington and Lee University, Brantley was a Manhattan School of Music faculty member from 2000 to 2014.

Paul Brantley currently resides in New York City where he free-lances as a composer, cellist, and conductor. His music is published by Bill Holab Music and Oxford University Press. He has recorded solo cello for Sony/Columbia, Rounder, Warner Bros., Polydor, Compass, and others.