Night and Day

Generously co-sponsored by
Carolyn & Peter Pereira
Theodore N. Foss & Kent S. Dymak
NIGHT and DAY: 5th Season Opening Concert and Celebration
Friday, November 2, 2018

We open our fifth season with a song recital in one of the most beautiful rooms in America, Frank Lloyd Wright's spectacularly refurbished Unity Temple. In NIGHT and DAY we transport the listener through times of day: beginning with the first morning light and progressing throughout the program to midnight. Featuring the return of some of our most beloved guest artists, pianist Mark Bilyeu and baritone Samuel Schultz, the quartet performs well-loved art songs from the German, French, and English repertoire alongside contemporary American works.  A celebration of Fourth Coast's fifth season with live jazz music directly follows the concert.

7:00-8:30pm - Concert
8:30-10:00pm - 5th Season Opening Celebration

Tickets $60
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PROGRAM
Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain - Claude Debussy
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Baïlèro - Joseph Canteloube
Réveil - Ernst Chausson
Bonjour, Suzon! - Léo Delibes
Phidylé - Henri Duparc
Hymne au soleil - Lili Boulanger
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Fish in the Unruffled Lakes, selections - Benjamin Britten
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Here and Gone  - Jake Heggie
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Apparition, selections - George Crumb
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Nacht - Alban Berg
Die Mainacht - Johannes Brahms
Mein Liebchen, wir sassen beisammen - Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel
Erlkönig - Franz Schubert
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Insomnia, selections - Tom Cipullo
Artists
  • Sarah van der Ploeg
  • Bridget Skaggs
  • Zachary Vanderburg
  • Samuel Schultz
  • Mark Bilyeu
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​Sarah van der Ploeg is an American lyric soprano who has been singing since before she could speak. Praised as a singing actor for her “thoughtful musicality”, “clarity of tone” and “versatility”, the New Jersey native has performed in London, New York, Chicago, Vienna, and elsewhere around the US and Europe. Equally at home on stage, in concert halls, and in recital, she particularly loves 20th Century & contemporary music and composer collaborations. Performance highlights: world premiere of staged Gary Fry work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; “Une bête” in Ravel’s L’Enfant with Esa Pekka Salonen and CSO; Stella/Muse in Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s Tales of Hoffmann: Retold; solo turns at the Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall; Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with Civic Orchestra of Chicago; Barber’s Knoxville with Lake Forest Civic Orchestra; staged production of David Lang’s the little match girl passion; Mozart’s Requiem with Chicago Chamber Orchestra & Elmhurst Choral Union; Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus) at Northwestern; Encouragement Award, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; First place, Chicago NATS. Sarah holds degrees from the Royal Academy of Music (Diane Forlano), Northwestern University (Theresa Brancaccio & Alan Darling), and Princeton University (Public Policy & Music Performance). A Marshall Scholar, she believes deeply in the communicative power of the arts for cultural diplomacy and reconciliation, and works through music outreach and education in addition to performance in pursuit of these aims. sarahvanderploeg.weebly.com
American mezzo-soprano Bridget Skaggs frequently performs in concert halls throughout the United States and Europe.  Critics have noted the way she “lights up the scene” onstage (Chicago Reader), and her “dynamic singing” (Schmopera) was named as a musical highlight of Chicago Fringe Opera’s world premiere of The Great God Pan in March 2018.  A two-time recipient of the Vocal Chamber Music Fellowship from Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, Ms. Skaggs trained with art song teachers Martin Katz, Nicholas Phan, Michelle DeYoung, Craig Terry, and Shannon McGinnis.  As co-founder of Fourth Coast Ensemble, she maintains an active schedule as curator and recitalist of art song programs throughout Chicago. On the operatic stage, this season she appears as the Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen (Opera Steamboat), Giunone in Cavalli’s La Didone (Haymarket Summer Opera Course), and Austin in The Great God Pan (Chicago Fringe Opera).  Other professional credits include Charlotte/A Little Night Music (Opera Theater of Pittsburgh), Tangolita/Ball at the Savoy (Chicago Folks Operetta), Quickly/Falstaff (/kor/ productions), Carmen/Carmen (Lake Forest Civic Orchestra), concert soloist/Anton Bruckner’s Te Deum (Blue Lake International), and festival soloist/Baroque on Beaver Festival (Beaver Island, MI).  Ms. Skaggs holds a B.M. and M.M. from Oklahoma City University, where she sang Flora/La Traviata, Prince Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus, and Secretary/The Consul. www.bridgetskaggs.com
Tenor Zachary Vanderburg has been heralded as singing “beautifully” (Chicago Classical Review) and “with vocal luster, dramatic fire, and lyrical sympathy” (Augsburger Allgemeine), and his performances have been called “very fine” (Chicago Tribune), “riveting”, “a knockout” and “sensational”(Chicago Classical Review). Performances last season included appearances with the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra as Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen; an Alumni Recital at Roosevelt University with renowned pianist Dana Brown; appearances with Music of the Baroque, of which he is a member, under the direction of Jane Glover. Comfortable in opera repertoire as well as concert and recital, past seasons have seen Zachary’s role debuts of Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème, The Visitor in Glass’ In the Penal Colony, and Leander in Nielsen's Maskarade; performances with the Chicago Opera Theater; Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2, “Lobgesang” at the Masterworks Festival; Bach’s Quodlibet, Cantata 147, and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy as an artist-in-residence at the Baroque on Beaver Island Music Festival; European tours of Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Bruckner's Te Deum, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass headlining the Eutiner Festspiele, Festival Durance Luberon, Hamburg's St. Michael's Church, as well as other venues in Germany, France and Luxembourg; and appearances as a backup singer in Chicago with The Rolling Stones on their 50 & Counting tour. Zachary has a masters from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and recently completed a fellowship in vocal chamber music at the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago. www.zacharyvanderburg.com
Praised by Opera News as possessing a "smoky-dark baritone" and “remarkable confidence and color,” baritone Samuel Schultz recently made his company and role debuts as Howie Albert in Champion with Washington National Opera, Schaunard in La Bohème with Opera Omaha, and Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos with Berkshire Opera Festival. After making his company debut with Utah Opera in La Bohème, Samuel sang his debut performance of Carmina Burana with the Omaha Symphony. Mr. Schultz next looks forward to singing Wagner in Gounod’s Faust with Opera Omaha.

Mr. Schultz can be heard on the album New American Song @ Songfest performing the world premiere recording of Bolcom’s Gettysburg: July 1, 1863. Samuel performed in a concert version of Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony, a concert whose recording recently won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

Mr. Schultz has appeared with Houston Grand Opera as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Mr. Lindquist in A Little Night Music, Morales in Carmen, The Businessman in The Little Prince, and Perückenmacher in Ariadne auf Naxos. For his Santa Fe Opera debut he performed Wyatt in the world premiere of UnShakeable. He performed Ramiro in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole and Don Quichotte with the Houston Symphony. Mr. Schultz sang Berio's rarely-performed Coro, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, at the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland).

Mr. Schultz is an alumnus of the United States Senate Page Program and The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

www.samuelschultzbaritone.com
​Described as “superb partner,” pianist Mark Bilyeu passionately engages in music as a committed performer, inspiring teacher and enterprising curator. He was the only American finalist in the 2015 Das Lied Song Competition, and maintains an active performing schedule. He has served as faculty at Viterbo University and was the Visiting Artist in Vocal Coaching and Collaborative Piano at the University of Northern Iowa. He is also the Co-Founding Artistic Director of the Source Song Festival. Held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Source is a week-long celebration of words and music which includes public concerts and masterclasses by international artists for pianists and singers, as well as a composer institute led by Libby Larsen. Bilyeu has performed at such venues as the Grand Théâtre de Tours (France), the Schubert Club of St. Paul, the Everson Museum (New York), PianoForte Foundation, and the Belle Sylvester Recital Series of New York. He has been heard via live radio broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio with soprano Lori Phillips, and on WFMT via the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series. He holds degrees from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and the University of Minnesota, studying with Timothy Lovelace and Chicago Symphony Orchestra pianist Mary Sauer. He has studied at the Aspen Summer Music Festival, Britten-Pears, Vancouver International Song Institute and l’Academie Françis Poulenc. Additional studies with Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles and Susan Manoff. Upcoming recording projects include “The Transmodernist Troubadour,” a recording of music by Australian composer Nicholas Vines with baritone Aaron Engebreth on the Navonna label and a Winterreise recording on Leaf Records with tenor Jon Valender.
VENUE AND LOCATION
Unity Temple in Oak Park
875 Lake St, Oak Park, IL 60301