Recording Musical Performances of the Finest Artists in Central New York: Renegade
Classics
Janet Brown, soprano
"There was an excellent team of vocal soloists led by Janet Brown. Her tone is
still fresh as the morning dew in paradise garden, and she sings with such
heartfelt simplicity and directness that you almost forget she's singing; she's
music, that's all."
Richard Dyer, Boston Globe
11/9/02,
reviewing a performance of
Haydn, The Creation,
(Cantata Singers,
David Hoose, Conductor)
Soprano Janet Brown has been
praised by critics for her warm, clear voice and direct expression. Richard
Dyer of the Boston Globe has called her “….one of our most treasurable
artists.” Ms. Brown is equally at home on the concert and operatic stages.
She has performed roles with the Syracuse Opera Company, the American Repertory
Theatre, the Boston Early Music Festival and the Pepsico Summerfare music
festival. On the concert stage she has performed the major oratorio roles with
the Syracuse Symphony, the West Virginia Symphony, the Cantata Singers of
Boston, the Spectrum Singers of Boston, the New England Bach Festival, the
Northwest Bach Festival, Handel & Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music of Boston and
the Tallahassee Symphony, to name a few. Ms. Brown is also a frequent
recitalist with the Skaneateles Chamber Music Festival and has appeared in
concerts of new music with the Syracuse-based Society for New Music, and
Boston’s Collage New Music.
Janet Brown has premiered works
by composers Gunther Schuller, Andrew Imbrie, Philip Glass, Nicolas Scherzinger,
Edward Cohen, Howard Boatwright and Ernst Bacon. In addition to her critically
acclaimed CD release of selections from Spanisches Liederbuch of Hugo Wolf, she
can be heard on a recording entitled "Fond Affection: Music of Ernst Bacon" on
the CRI label. Ms. Brown serves as Instructor of Voice and Academic Coordinator
at Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music.
"...But her simplicity, of course, is deceptive--the art that conceals art--as
comparison with any merely correct reading of these songs will instantly
reveal."
(Adrian Corleonis. Fanfare
Magazine. March-April 2001)
Released on the Russetbush label in 2000.
Pianist
Sar-Shalom Strong has achieved
widespread recognition for consistently delivering sensitive performances of
solo and collaborative repertoire spanning five centuries, and for
maintaining an enormous variety of duo repertoire at his fingertips. In
addition to special collaborations with major artists including flutists
Gary Shocker, Judith Mendenhall, and Rebecca Ashe, sopranos Helen Boatwright
and Janet Brown, and trombonist Joseph Alessi. Mr.
Strong can often be heard with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, the Society
for New Music, as well as the Skaneateles
Festival.
Mr. Strong is committed to
furthering the education of aspiring musicians, whether through teaching of
piano, coaching ensembles, adjudicating festivals and competitions, or
collaborating with developing young artists. Currently a lecturer in piano
and Coordinator of Staff Pianists for Hamilton College, he has also held
positions at Colgate and SyracuseUniversities.
He is a long-term member of the New York State Music Teachers Association,
the College Music Society, and the National Guild of Piano Teachers, as well
as local organizations devoted to building musical awareness and skills
among young musicians.
Mr. Strong holds degrees
from KnoxCollege
and Syracuse University. Major teachers and musical influences have
included Charles Beno, H. Murray Baylor, Alexander Braginsky, Barbara
Lounsbury, and Robert Weirich.
Fond AffectionCD Review fromNATS Journal of Singing
"The disk opens
with seven songs sung with breathtaking beauty by soprano Janet Brown.
Especially lovely is 'Schilflied,' which shows that Bacon could
set German poetry quite well."
(NATS Journal of
Singing. November/December 2002)
"This new release offers a
selection of 21 songs--half sung by soprano, half by baritone, each with
piano--all short, sharply drawn, stressing precision and focusing on a
single mood or gesture. Many are gems. 'Schilflied' (on a German lyric)
is Schubertian, infused with gloomy, ardent longing. Even better are
Bacon's Dickinson settings. 'It's Coming--the Postponeless Creature'
evokes the remorseless tread of mortality in somber repeated chords,
while 'Velvet People', with its evanescent darting piano figures like
the scattering of light on water, conjures up the bumble-bees alluded to
in the poem's title. A wayward vocal line over fluttering arpeggios in
'The Bat' portrays that tiny monster's eccentric swooping flight.
"The performers obviously love this music; they sing and play it with
warmth, sensitive musicianship, and tonal beauty. Sopranos Janet Brown
and Amy Burton have lovely voices, and baritone William Sharp is
commanding and manly. The sound (seven songs given before a politely
quiet concert audience, the remainder in the studio) is excellent. This
is a wonderful addition to the recorded repertoire of a fascinating and
inimitable American composer.
(Mark L. Lehman, American Record Guide, September 1, 2002)
