Immersive Chamber Music presents: Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago Spring Lieder Lounge

Date: Sunday, May 7, 2023

Doors: 6PM 

Showtime: 7PM 

Tickets: $49 - General Admission | $43 - Seniors | $16 - Students 

‘Service charges apply to ALL ticket purchases (online and box office)’ - Credit card only at door

About:

Laura Strickling, Soprano:

GRAMMY®-nominated soprano Laura Strickling has been recognized by The New York Times for her “flexible voice, crystalline diction, and warm presence.” Celebrated for her work performing and promoting art song, with an emphasis on new additions to the canon, she curated The New Music Shelf Anthology of contemporary art songs for soprano and has collaborated with numerous composers including Tom Cipullo, Daniel Felsenfeld, Juliana Hall, Libby Larsen, James Matheson, John Musto, and Glen Roven. She is on the roster of the Brooklyn Art Song Society, and has appeared with Cincinnati Song Initiative, Mexicoliederfest, Calliope’s Call, Liederfest in Suzhou (China), the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, Lyric Fest, Joy in Singing, Trinity Concerts at One, the American Liszt Society, Baltimore Lieder Weekend, the Half Moon Music Festival, Concerts on the Slope, National Sawdust, Art Song at the Old Stone House, the Brooklyn New Music Collective, SongFusion, was a featured performer at the 2016 New Music Gathering, and presented a radio broadcast recital of American songs on “Live from WFMT” in Chicago with pianist Daniel Schlosberg. Laura and pianist Liza Stepanova were Artists in Residence at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, where they presented a program of Granados and modern songs in Spanish, including the world-premiere of Ciudades del Porvenir by Reinaldo Moya. She has presented guest artist recitals and lectures at the University of Georgia, Mercer University, College of William and Mary, Mercer University, University of Notre Dame, New World School of the Arts, Notre Dame University of Maryland, Pittsburg State University, McDaniel College, St. Mary’s College, and University of Richmond. She is on the New Music Advisory Board of the Brooklyn Art Song Society, and the Advisory Board of Cincinnati Song Initiative.

Equally acclaimed for her work on the concert stage, she has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, National Sawdust, Trinity Church on Wall Street, Washington National Cathedral, and the Opera America Center. Her “powerful and expressive voice across a large range, her variety of timbre and character,” (Classical Scene), make her a welcome guest soloist for a range of oratorio and concert works, from Handel to Britten. These include Messiah with the Indianapolis Symphony and the Richmond Symphony, Gloria (Poulenc) with the Asheville Symphony, Mass in c minor (Mozart) with the Richmond Symphony, Cathedral Choral Society, and Berkshire Choral International, Stabat Mater (Dvorak) and Elijah (Mendelssohn) with Berkshire Choral International, Ein Deutsches Requiem (Brahms) with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and Chorosynthesis, Luonnotar (Sibelius) and Les Illuminations (Britten) with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Barber) and Les Illuminations (Britten) with Mexicoliederfest,  Ninth Symphony (Beethoven) and Carmina Burana (Orff) with Choralis, as well as Requiem (Mozart), Credo Mass (Mozart), Dixit Dominus (Handel), Gloria (Vivaldi), Lord Nelson Mass (Haydn), and Mass in C (Beethoven). Her performance of Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Exsultate jubilate with the Cathedral Choral Society was broadcast by WETA, and her performance of Poulenc’s Gloria with the Asheville Symphony was broadcast by Blue Ridge Public Radio.

On the opera stage, Ms. Strickling created the role of Fanni Radnòti in the world premiere of Tom Cipullo’s opera The Parting with Music of Remembrance in Seattle and San Francisco (released on Naxos Opera Classics in 2020). An alumna of the Berkshire Opera Company resident artist program, her performance of the Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel was praised by Opera News: "Laura Strickling offered the creamy, clear, younger-sister-of-Eva-Pogner instrument ideal for singing the role over full orchestration."  She appeared as Pamina in the Metropolitan Opera Guild's touring outreach production of The Magic Flute. Ms. Strickling’s operatic roles also include Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Cleopatra (Julius Caesar), Mimi (La boheme), Dinorah (Dinorah), Elvira (L’Italiana in Algeri), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), and Micaëla (Carmen). She created the role of Muriel in the world premiere of Thomas Benjamin's The Alien Corn with the Peabody Opera Theater.

Ms. Strickling received critical acclaim in the Naxos Opera Classics recording of The Parting by Tom Cipullo (co-starring baritone Michael Mayes and mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook) for her “…deeply expressive, secure voice. Her exposed highs are managed wonderfully, with notable beauty.” James Matheson’s Times Alone on Yarlung Records was hailed by MusicWeb International for “shapely, nuanced voicings and emotional urgency...a striking directness.” Glen Roven’s The Vineyard Songs with pianist Michael Brofman is on New Voices, the Billboard Classical Top-Ten-selling CD.  She can also be heard on “New American Song@SongFest,”, performing Jake Heggie’s Edna St. Vincent Millay with pianist Dimitri Dover, and on The Garden: Songs and Vocal Chamber Music of Tom Cipullo, performing the landmark song cycle Of a Certain Age with pianist Liza Stepanova. Her first solo recording project of American art song, Confessions with pianist Joy Schreier, was nominated for a 2020 GRAMMY® Award.

A Chicago native, Ms. Strickling is an avid traveler, having lived in Morocco, where she studied classical Arabic at the Arabic Language Institute of Fez, and Kabul, Afghanistan, where her husband was the founding chair of the Department of Law at the American University of Afghanistan. She currently makes her home in St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands.

Alumni Society Board of Governors.

Shannon McGinnis, pianist

Pianist and CAIC Director of Education Shannon McGinnis has been recognized for her partnerships with some of the brightest stars in the classical vocal music world. Her playing has been described as “excellent” (Opera News), “strong and supportive” (Chicago Tribune), and “boldly projected, characterful, and delicately nuanced” (Chicago Classical Review). Recent season highlights include a recital with soprano Nicole Heaston and members of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, broadcast on WFMT; a recital with mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms, as part of the 2020 Collaborative Works Festival; and recitals with baritone Michael Kelly and soprano Melody Moore. 2019-2020 brought a series of concerts, including three world premieres, with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s “Emerging Voices” series, featuring sopranos Joélle Harvey and Sarah Shafer, mezzo-sopranos Jennifer Johnson-Cano and Corinne Winters, tenor Nicholas Phan, and baritones Douglas Williams and Roderick Williams. In 2022 McGinnis makes her debut with San Francisco Performances, in a salon concert curated by tenor Nicholas Phan.

A passionate advocate for art song, McGinnis is a founder of Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, where, as Director of Education, she oversees a series of master classes and workshops for singers and pianists, as well as the organization’s Vocal Chamber Music Fellowship. Also at home in the world of opera, McGinnis has held internships and appointments with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, DePaul University Opera Theater, DuPage Opera, and Kentucky Opera. In 2015 she served as vocal coach and ensemble pianist for the world-premiere performances of Matthew AuCoin’s Second Nature, presented by Lyric Opera of Chicago and “Lyric Unlimited”, and has served recently as an official pianist for the Joyce DiDonato Master Classes at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.

In 2015 McGinnis joined the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where she serves as Assistant Teaching Professor of Diction and Vocal Coaching. In addition to her regular teaching responsibilities at CCPA, she has taught a popular graduate seminar on the topic of modern and contemporary American art song; in fall 2020 she will inaugurate a seminar exploring folk song and identity. McGinnis serves as head vocal coach for “Prague Summer Nights”, a four-week opera and orchestra festival based in the Czech Republic and comprised of young artists from across the globe, culminating in performances at the historic Estates Theatre. In addition, McGinnis is a co-creator of RISE (Resound: Immersive Song Experience), a tuition-free program for emerging artist-entrepreneurs hosted by the Crested Butte Music Festival; RISE enjoyed its inaugural season, remotely, in summer 2020.

Prior to moving to Chicago in 2006, McGinnis held the position of Assistant Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Accompanying at Truman State University. She was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts in Accompanying and Chamber Music from the University of Michigan, as a student of Martin Katz, and is a recipient of the 2017 Emerging Artist Award in Music, given by the School of Music Theatre and Dance Alumni Society Board of Governors.

Ariana Strahl, soprano

Soprano Ariana Strahl’s commanding vocal power is equally comfortable in the realms of symphonic works, art song, and opera. A truly international artist, Ms. Strahl is equally at home in the United States and in Germany, having been an artist in residence at the Komische Oper Berlin, where she brought over twenty roles to the stage. Of their portrayal of Tennessee Williams’ Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, critics praised her as highly gifted and smart, attractive and empathetic - every move she made was motivated by the drama. She is an ardent new music advocate, having co-commissioned a song cycle for soprano and large ensemble by composer Eric Malmquist, called Let Me Sing - three poems of American activist women.

Ms. Strahl is an active opera, lieder, and oratorio artist. She was most recently seen in costume as Blanche Dubois in Andre Previn's Streetcar named Desire with Opera San Jose. As a Young Artist at the Komische Oper Berlin, they brought over twenty roles to the stage, including Ännchen in Calixto Bieto’s Der Freischütz, Micaela and Frasquita in Carmen, and the roles of Fortuna, Damigella, and Drusilla in Monteverdi's Poppea, part of Barrie Kosky’s stunning Monteverdi Trilogy.

Beyond the opera stage, Ms. Strahl is also an active art song singer. Recently Ariana has performed Strauss’ Four Last Songs (with pianist and conductor Kathleen Kelly), Manuel de Falla’s Siete Canciones Populares Espanolas with the DuPage Symphony, and the works of Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann with pianist and musicologist Nicholas Mathew (in conjunction with The Mendelssohn Project at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life). Last season Ariana joined Kathleen Kelly and Michael Kelly for new works from the soprano and baritone volumes of the NewMusicShelf Vocal Anthology Series. This performance was hailed as an opportunity for Ms. Strahl to “to show off her flawless legato, jaw-dropping breath control, and searing tones above the staff.” She and pianist Miles Graber also collaborate frequently, having performed Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben, Barber's Hermit Songs, Manuel de Falla's Siete Canciones Populares Espanolas, and Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne. When in Chicago, she is active in the Liederstube - an oasis for art song in the Fine Arts Building.

Ms. Strahl is equally active on the symphonic stage, most recently in the Verdi Requiem with the La Jolla Symphony. She is a frequent soloist with the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, and with this group has both performed and recorded Mozart’s Requiem and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater. In the 2019-2020 season, Ms. Strahl was scheduled to rejoin the La Jolla Symphony for both Britten’s War Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony #2 - The Resurrection, both now rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both the La Jolla Symphony and the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra maintain a focus on ensuring classical music’s availability and accessibility at the local level, something Ms. Strahl has also championed.

​When they aren’t singing, Ms. Strahl is an impassioned arts advocate and endeavors to develop and cultivate community around musical experiences. Her work with arts organizations in both Chicago and San Francisco speaks toward the community that is possible when centered around creativity. Her Chicago Back Porch Concert Series brought together some of Chicago’s finest musicians and neighbors during the summer of 2020, with a simple goal - making music apart, together.