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Schumann’s “Liederkreis”Romantic German Art SongFor this Lieder recital, the young Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins will be joined by Michael Jarvis on a magnificent, recently restored 19th-century grand piano, for a programme that also includes works by Beethoven, Schubert & Mendelssohn. Joshua Hopkins baritone
 Sunday matinée performance at the Kay Meek Studio Theatre in West Vancouver:
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Rastlose Liebe | Restless Love Mailied Op. 52, no. 4 (1805) Seligkeit D 433 (1816/pub. 1895) Allnächtlich im Traume seh’ ich dich Op. 86, no. 4 (c.1832) Fortepiano by Aloys Biber, Nuremberg, c.1830
– programme subject to changes
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This programme will be the debut performance of a newly-restored 6½-octave Viennese grand by the famous Munich builder, Aloys Biber. Biber was considered one of Germany's leading piano builders, celebrated by performers and other builders alike, and was considered the equal of Dulcken and Graf. Built in Munich in 1832, this piano is a rare example of a surviving transitional instrument (not many exist in private collections, especially outside Europe.) Essentially built on 18th-century principles, with leather hammers, and an all-wood construction (no iron frame, etc.), this is exactly the type of instrument with which Schumann, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Hummel, etc. would have been intimately familiar. This concert offers a rare opportunity to hear German Lieder performed using the ideal original instrument, recreating the sounds the composers heard, by two of Canada’s leading performers
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Joshua Hopkins baritone
The 2011-12 season included operatic performances of Händel’s Rinaldo in a new Robert Carsen production with the touring company of the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the Verbier Festival conducted by Paul McCreesh, Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with Houston Grand Opera under the baton of Rory Macdonald, and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia both with Vancouver Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Concert engagements included his European concert debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain, performing Peter Lieberson’s beautiful and poignant Songs of Love and Sorrow, Bach’s Magnificat with Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the baton of Robert Spano at Carnegie Hall, and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 as well as Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Alan Gilbert. As part of the New York Philharmonic’s plan to record all of the Nielsen symphonies and concertos, DaCapo records has released this performance of Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3. Mr. Hopkins was also featured in Marilyn Horne’s The Song Continues…Annual Recital at Carnegie Hall, which included the world premiere of William Bolcom’s song cycle, Chestnuts. Operatic highlights of past seasons include a Metropolitan Opera debut as Ping in Turandot, conducted by Andris Nelsons, as well as performances of Marcello in La bohème at the Houston Grand Opera, where he also covered the title role of Billy Budd. Further highlights include Junior in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place in a new Christopher Alden production for New York City Opera, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at Santa Fe Opera conducted by Lawrence Renes and Sid in Albert Herring at the Santa Fe Opera under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis, and Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette for Dallas Opera. Completing his formal training as a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio in the spring of 2005, early performances with the company included the role of The Pilot in The Little Prince and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. Mr. Hopkins toured North America with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy offering performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Händel’s Messiah in Quebec, Montreal, Los Angeles, and at Carnegie Hall in New York. He has also performed and recorded Bach’s St. John Passion with Portland Baroque Orchestra and Arion Orchestre Baroque. Additional highlights of his concert schedule include his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy in performances of Peer Gynt, Händel’s Dettingen Te Deum with the San Francisco Symphony, Messiah with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under Trevor Pinnock, and Die Zauberflöte with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Labadie. Under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, the artist appeared in recital at the Santa Fe Concert Association and, in conjunction with the Gilmore Festival, Mr. Hopkins presented an all-Schumann programme for recitals in Michigan. Profoundly committed to the art of song, Mr. Hopkins’ first recital disc was released in 2010 featuring songs of Barber, Bowles, Glick, and Vaughan Williams on the ATMA Classique label. He has given recitals in New York, at Carnegie Hall with J.J. Penna, in Vancouver, under the auspices of the Vancouver Recital Society with Graham Johnson, and in Toronto, in conjunction with The Aldeburgh Connection, offering a programme entitled 'Schubert's Florilegium' highlighting many Lieder about flowers written by the composer. He is proud to have given the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas’ Rilke Songs at Zankel Hall in New York and to have joined Barbara Bonney for performances of songs by three generations of Mozart (Leopold, Wolfgang Amadeus, and Franz Xaver) under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also collaborated, in a programme of Haydn part songs, with pianist Richard Goode. Also a force on the competition stage, Joshua Hopkins has won numerous awards and distinctions. He was the winner of both the Verbier Festival Academy’s 2008 Prix d’Honneur and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2006, and a prizewinner at the prestigious ARD Musikwettbewerb of 2006 and at the 2005 Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition held in Madrid. In 2002, José Carreras presented him with the first place prize in the Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition. The artist was also the recipient of prizes from the George London Foundation and the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, and won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award from the Canada Council for the Arts.
His new recording of Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin, Op. 5 (with violinist/violist Paul Luchkow, and performed on an original Viennese fortepiano, c.1800) is available on the Marquis Classics label and was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award as best classical album in 2012. Performances for Early Music Vancouver in 2013 include a programme with violinist Paul Luchkow of fortepiano and violin sonatas by Hummel, Dussek and Beethoven, and the inaugural recital of his newly-restored 6 1/2 Viennese Grand fortepiano from 1830 with the brilliant baritone Joshua Hopkins (recently heard in 2012 as the star of Vancouver Opera's "Barber of Seville" and in 2013 in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda") in a programme of Lieder by Schumann, Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. |
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Morgens steh’ ich auf und frage
Chosen by OPERA NEWS as one of twenty-five artists poised to break out and become a major force in the coming decade, Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins has been hailed as “…an outstanding young baritone with a virile, vigorous yet velvety sound and an immediately evident dramatic authority.”