The use of cameras or recording equipment during the

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry ofthe

West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers, 

the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

The Seventieth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,865th Concert

Thomas Mark Fallon, countertenor

With

Angela Uperti-Hite, flutist

Jorge Orozco and Pablo Saelzer, violinists

Maria Montano, violist

Vasily Popov, cellist

Katerina Zaitseva, pianist

December 18, 2011

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

“A Countertenor Christmas”

Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)

Pastorale,

From Concerto Grosso, op. 6, no. 8 (“Christmas Concerto”) (1690)

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion

From Messiah, hmv 56 (1741)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Et misericordia

From Magnificat in D Major, bwv 243 (1733)

Handel

Pifa and Four Recitatives

From Messiah

Traditional French Carol 

Angels We Have Heard on High

Arranged by Robert J. Powell (b. 1932)

Handel

He Shall Feed His Flock

From Messiah

Cesar Auguste Franck (1822-1890)

Sweet Child ofBethlehem

Arranged from Panis angelicus by Joel Raney

Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921)

Evening Prayer

From Hansel and Gretel (1893)

James H. Murray (1841-1905)

William Kirkpatrick (1838-1921)

Away in a Manger

Arranged by Robert J. Powell

Donald Fraser (b. 1947)

This Christmastide (1990)

INTERMISSION

Franz Xavier Gruber (1787-1863)

Silent Night

Arranged by Robert J. Powell

James Cavanaugh/John Redmond/Frank Weldon

Christmas in Killarney (1950)

Adolphe Adam (1803-1856)

O Holy Night

English setting of Cantique de Noel (1847)

Arranged by James Biery and Eric Liu
The Musicians

THOMAS MARK FALLON

A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, countertenor Thomas Mark Fallon is a

recipient ofthe F. Lammot Belin Arts Scholarship. He has won awards,

scholarships, and performance grants from the Liederkranz, Puccini, Rosa

Ponselle, United Nations, and William Sullivan musical foundations as well as

the 1992 Luciano Pavarotti Competition, the 1994 Alfredo Kraus Competition,

and the 1995 Maria Callas Competition. Fallon’s repertoire encompasses five

centuries ofmusic, from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607) to the world premiere

of Hugo Weisgall’s Esther (1993), which also marked Fallon’s New York City

Opera debut. Recent career highlights include his Carnegie Hall debut in

“Salute to the Irish,” with the New York Pops Orchestra under maestro Skitch

Henderson, and vocal recitals in Detroit, Key West, Louisville, and Tampa. 

Performances of Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and the settings ofthe

Magnificat by J. S. Bach and Pergolesi have taken Fallon to Italy, Portugal,

South Africa, and Spain. This past season he appeared as a guest artist on

Austrian and Spanish television, accompanied by the Bratislava National 

Orchestra and the Orchestra ofthe Principality ofAndorra.

During his European debut in France, he sang the tenor role in Carmina

Burana in Carcassone, Marseille, and Toulouse. His career as an opera singer

has taken him to Verona, Italy, for Vivaldi’s Tamerlano and Teatro Reggio in

Turin for Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the United States, he has

sung Alessandro Scarlatti’s La caduta de Decemviri with Opera Antica in Palm

Beach, Florida; Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the Knoxville Opera Company; 

and in concert with the Little Orchestra Society at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully

Hall. Fallon has made the role of Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus an operatic

specialty, having received critical acclaim for his performances ofthat role 

with the West Virginia Symphony and the opera companies of Baden, Austria;

Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Toledo, Ohio.

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Awarded the F. Lammot Belin Art Scholarship in 1976, Thomas Mark

Fallon became the youngest recipient in the history ofthe prize. Established

in 1964 by Captain Peter Belin in memory of his father, the scholarship

aids students who live or have lived in the northeast region of Pennsylvania

and who have exceptional ability in painting, sculpture, photography, music,

drama, dance, literature, or architecture. Also in memory of F. Lammot

Belin, the Belin family has provided a significant portion ofthe endowment

that continues to support these concerts at the National Gallery ofArt.

KATERINA ZAITSEVA

Hailed by Fanfare magazine as a pianist with an “imaginative and colorful 

interpretive approach,” Katerina Zaitseva has performed in France, Germany, 

Japan, Luxembourg, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, and the United States, at

major venues that have included the Kennedy Center, Moscow State Conservatory Hall, Steinway Hall in Dallas, and Yamaha Hall in New York, as well as

the opening ofthe Meadows Museum ofArt in Dallas, with Juan Carlos 11 of

Spain in attendance. She has played at the Nancyphonies Music Festival in

France and the Madeira Music Festival in Portugal, and has performed as a

soloist with the Corvallis (Oregon) Symphony, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra,

Lewisville Lake Symphony (Texas), Meadows Symphony Orchestra (Texas),

Rapides Symphony Orchestra (Louisiana), and the Russian Philharmonic

Orchestra (Moscow).

A winner ofnational competitions and awards including the Music 

Teachers National Association Competition, the Southern Methodist University Concerto Competition, and the Von Mickwitz Prize in Piano, Zaitseva is

currently a faculty member ofthe International School ofMusic in Washington, DC, and executive director ofthe Washington International Piano Festival.

A recipient ofthe master ofmusic degree from Southern Methodist University,

the bachelor ofmusic from the University of North Texas, and the diploma

from the Moscow State Conservatory Music School, she studied under Joaquin 

Achucarro, Pamela Mia Paul, and Marina Prozorova.

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ANGELA UPERTI-HITE

A versatile orchestral and chamber musician who performs with numerous

ensembles throughout the Washington metropolitan area, flutist Angela 

Uperti-Hite has performed with the Alexandria Symphony, Amadeus, Kennedy Center Opera, National Gallery ofArt, National Philharmonic, National 

Symphony, Washington Concert Opera, and Virginia Chamber orchestras.

Noted conductors with whom she has worked include Ivan Fischer, Christopher Hogwood, Lorin Maazel, and Leonard Slatkin. Uperti-Hite is principal

flutist ofthe Manassas Ballet Theatre Orchestra and the Dominion Symphony,

an orchestra she cofounded in 1999 with her husband, conductor and clarinetist Christopher Hite. A graduate ofthe Catholic University ofAmerica, she

studied with Bernard Goldberg, Toshiko Kohno, and Kazuo Tokito, principal

flutists ofthe Pittsburgh, National, and Philadelphia orchestras, respectively.

JORGE OROZCO

Concertmaster ofthe Metropolitan Orchestra at Montgomery College in

Rockville, Maryland, violinist Jorge Orozco is a faculty member at the Levine

School of Music and the Georgetown Visitation School. He is also conductor

of chamber strings and preparatory strings for the Maryland Classic Youth

Orchestras, which have performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, 

and the Music Center at Strathmore. An active chamber musician, performing with pianist Carlos Rodriguez and violist Maria Montano, Orozco holds

a master’s degree in music performance from the University of Southern

Mississippi and a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the Institute Superior de Artes in Havana, Cuba. He has participated in numerous

festivals and workshops, including the Havana Contemporary Music Festival, the Juilliard Conducting Workshop, the Sterling-Delay Seminar, the

Texas Music Festival, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the Vicksburg Chamber

Music Festival.

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PABLO SAELZER

A faculty member at the Levine School of Music, violinist Pablo Saelzer has

shifted his career in recent years toward orchestral conducting. Currently

the conductor ofAvanti (the orchestra ofthe Friday Morning Music Club), 

the Metropolitan Orchestra at Montgomery College, and the Chamber

Orchestra ofthe Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, he conducted the latter

group in its Carnegie Hall debut in May 2011. In demand as a guest conductor, Saelzer appears regularly with Orquesta Clasica in Santiago and the

orchestra at Chile’s Conservatorio Nacional. He also conducted at the 2011

Festival Internacional de Cuerdas Ibague in Colombia; Festival de Po^os de

Caldas in Brazil; FestivalSouth in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Music on

the Mountain in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. A graduate ofthe Music

Conservatory in Valdivia, Chile, and the Kantorei Sankt Martini in Bremen,

Germany, Saelzer holds a bachelor ofmusic degree from the Universidad

Austral de Chile and a master ofmusic degree from Columbus State University in Georgia.

MARIA MONTANO

Venezuelan violist Maria Montano started her musical training in El Sistema, 

the unique music program developed in her home country. Currently a violin

and viola instructor at the Levine School ofMusic and the Landon School,

she also works with the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras and the Youth

Orchestra ofthe Americas. Now playing regularly in the Alexandria Symphony

Orchestra, the Sur String Quartet, and the Vox Amadeus Ensemble, she was

formerly a member ofthe Mobile and Pensacola symphony orchestras. Having 

earned the bachelor ofmusic degree in viola performance from the University 

of Southern Mississippi, she is currently finishing her master ofmusic degree

at the University ofMaryland.

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VASILY POPOV

Born into a musical family in Saint Petersburg, Russia, cellist Vasily Popov

keeps an active concert schedule performing both classical music and jazz

in concert halls in Europe, Japan, and the United States. The recipient of

prizes and diplomas from a number of national and international competitions, he has recorded for Arte Nova Records, BMR, Excelsior, Intercount

Music, Madacy Records, and Melodia. A dedicated student ofthe cello from

age seven, Popov studied under Natalia Gutman, Anatoly Nikitin, Walter

Nothas, and Daniil Shafran. A member ofthe music faculties ofthe Levine

School of Music and Georgetown University, he is also the artistic director 

and conductor ofthe Levine Chamber Orchestra. He performs on a French

cello from 1850 presented to him by Stephen and Susan Low.

Program Notes

The vocal designation “countertenor” is applied to a male voice that approximates the female alto. Sometimes, however, a countertenor can sing as

high as the soprano register, usually by using a technique known as falsetto,

vibrating only a portion ofthe vocal chords. During the medieval and

Renaissance periods and much ofthe baroque, women were banned from

singing in churches and other public venues. Composers and choir directors 

depended on boys and men with high voices to sing the alto and treble 

choral parts. The prominence of countertenors dwindled in the classical and 

romantic periods, and female altos took over the parts that had been written

for countertenors in earlier music. Thanks in large part to a revival of

historical performance practice by countertenor Alfred Deller (1912-1979),

male singers have reclaimed these roles to some extent. Contemporary 

composers often write specifically for the countertenor voice and expect a

male singer to perform.

This evening’s program begins with instrumental music—a pastorale 

by one ofthe most influential Italian baroque composers, Arcangelo Corelli.

The tradition oflilting Christmas pieces in 6/8 or 12/8 meter comes from 

the association ofthese rhythms with the music that shepherds played

in the fields on their flutes and pipes, and the further association ofJesus’

birth with shepherds. Handel and other baroque composers used the term

Pifa to identify their pastorales, recalling the popularity ofthe Italian pifferari

(players of bagpipes and other reed instruments), whose presence was

much in demand at Christmastide.

Handel’s Messiah is without question the most popular baroque choral

work today, sung in churches and concert halls throughout the world, especially at Christmas. Using the King James translation ofthe bible, librettist

Charles Jennens provided the composer with texts from the Book ofIsaiah, The

Gospel according to Luke, and The Gospel according to Matthew for the first third 

ofthe oratorio, which deals with the prophecy ofJesus’ coming and his birth.

O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion sets the prophet Isaiah’s words of

admonition as a gentle dance in 3A time.

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In 1723 Johann Sebastian Bach was in his first year as director of music

for Saint Thomas’ Church and School in Leipzig. For his first Advent music, 

he composed a twelve-movement setting ofthe canticle of Mary, the Magnificat. The sixth movement, Et misericordia (And his mercy is on those who

fear him), scored by Bach for countertenor, tenor, flutes, muted strings and 

continuo, uses a sweet progression ofparallel thirds and a gently undulating

12/8 rhythm to evoke the spirit of mercy.

The Pastoral Pifa from Messiah is juxtaposed with four accompanied

recitatives, in which the birth ofChrist is announced to the shepherds by

angels. In a performance ofthe full oratorio, the chorus sings the Glory to God

as a response to those recitatives. Thomas Mark Fallon replaces the chorus 

with Robert J. Powell’s setting ofthe well-known carol Angels We Have Heard

on High. Known first in France as Les Anges dans nos campagnes (Angels in our

countryside), it is typical ofmedieval hymns in that it mixes the vernacular

with Latin—in this case, Gloria in excelsis Deo at the end of each verse.

Turning to another familiar movement from Messiah, Fallon sings He

Shall Feed His Flock, which is performed as a double aria in the full oratorio,

first by the countertenor in F major and then a fourth higher, in B-flat major,

by the soprano. Some scholars believe Handel may have based this aria on

Canzone di zampognari, one ofthe seventeenth-century carols he would most

likely have heard during his time in Italy (1704-1707).

In the world of classical music, the word “parody” does not have pejorative connotations—the term simply means that an arranger has set different words to a familiar tune. For Sweet Child ofBethlehem, the tune is Cesar

Franck’s Panis angelicus (Bread ofAngels), a movement from his Messe a

trois voix (Mass in Three Voices), opus 12.

In act two, scene two, ofthe opera Hansel and Gretel, the protagonists, 

lost in the forest, kneel to sing their evening prayers (Abendsegen). While

the sandman sprinkles sand in the children’s eyes to help them sleep,

fourteen angels descend to guard and protect them. Premiered in Weimar,

Germany, on December 23,1893, under the baton of Richard Strauss, the 

opera continues to be associated with the Christmas season. In this arrangement, the countertenor sings the role of Hansel, and the flutist plays the 

harmonic line of his sister Gretel.

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Arranger Robert J. Powell has creatively woven together two melodies 

associated with the text Away in a Manger. The familiar hymn was composed 

in 1885 in Philadelphia by James Murray. A second tune was written by

William J. Kirkpatrick for a musical that came to the stage in 1895—Around

the World with Christmas.

Written by lyricist Jane McCulloch and composer Donald Fraser in

honor ofsoprano Jessye Norman, This Christmastide is also known as Jessye’s

Carol. Incorporating bold and gentle musical touches in close juxtaposition, 

the piece reflects on the full meaning ofChristmastide.

Sung in every corner ofthe world and translated into forty-four languages,

Silent Night is the most international of all Christmas carols. It was first performed at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Oberndorfbei Salzburg, Austria,

on Christmas Eve, 1818. Fallon dedicates tonight’s performance ofthis carol

to his mother, Pauline Mayer Fallon, who is ofAustro-Hungarian descent.

The melody can be heard to contain a hint ofthe unique Austrian vocal art of

yodeling. Although the Church of Saint Nicholas was destroyed by a flood in

the early 1900s, the site ofthe original church now houses the Silent Night

Memorial Chapel and Museum, a highly popular tourist destination during 

the month of December.

In celebration ofhis Irish heritage, Fallon includes the popular Irish 

American Christmas song Christmas in Killarney. Like many songs of Irish 

origin, it has been adopted and recorded by singers of many backgrounds,

including Bing Crosby, Dennis Day, Bobby Vinton, Anne Murray, and the 

Irish Rovers.

Adolphe Adam’s moving O Holy Night, based on the poem Miniuit,

chretiens (Midnight, Christians) by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877), follows

the strong French tradition of celebrating midnight mass on Christmas

Eve. Eric Liu, a Taiwanese pianist and composer, presents both the French 

original and the English version in this arrangement. Liu has masterfully 

arranged the song for the extensive range and varied vocal colors of his 

friend Thomas Mark Fallon’s unique countertenor voice.

Program notes based on materials provided by Thomas Mark Fallon

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