74TH SEASON 

OF CONCERTS

JANUARY 3, 2016 • NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
2 * National Gallery of Art

3:30 • West Building, West Garden Court

New York Opera Society (NYOS)

Rosa Betancourt, soprano

John Tiranno, tenor

Hans Pieter Herman, baritone

Ballroom Dancers

Rudiger Homm and Ekaterina Kanevskaya

NYOS Piano Quartet

Eine Nacht in Wien

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)

Weiner Blut Waltz

Franz Lehar (1870-1948)

From Paganini

"Liebe, du Himmel auf Erden”

Strauss

From Die Fledermaus

"Dieser Anstand, so manierlich”

Lehar

From Das Land des Lachelns

"Dein ist mein Ganzes Herz"

From Die lustige Witwe

"The Merry Widow Waltz"

Oscar Straus (1870-1954)

From Ein Walzertraum

"Da draussen im duftigen Garten"

Lehar

From Giuditta

"Meine Lippen, Sie kussen so Heiss" 

Strauss

From Eine Nacht in Venedig

"Ach, wie so herrlich zu schau'n"

Rudolf Sieczyhski (1879-1952)

From Wien, du Stadt meiner Traum

"Wien, Wien, nur du allein"

Lehar

From Die lustige Witwe

"Weibermarsch"

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Auld Lang Syne
The Performers

New York Opera Society

The New York Opera Society develops new audiences for opera by commissioning, creating,

and funding distinctive and high-quality productions here and abroad. To that end, NYOS

serves as a conduit to the public by disseminating important messages, musical inspiration,

and seminal artistic performances via partnerships with major performance venues,

corporations, nonprofits, and governments to present the work of our artists in the United

States and abroad.

NYOS annually tours new productions to international festivals and presents a

contemporary opera or new commission in the United States. It also hosts a salon series

and oversees an international artist-in-residence program and substantive outreach

programs. Recent highlights include productions of Falstaff and Madame Butterfly for its

annual festival in Southern France; the Lincoln Center and Teatro Sao Pedro, Sao Paulo,

Brazil, premieres of its contemporary Spanish opera, Las Horas Vacias, by Guggenheim 

fellow and Juilliard faculty member Ricardo Llorca; three tours and a world premiere of the 

NYOS's commission of Max and Moritz: A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks, by Gisle Kverndokk.

Other notable NYOS evenings have taken place at the National Gallery of Art, the Chicago

Cultural Center, the Embassy of Italy, New York's World Financial Center, Lincoln Center's 

Alice Tully Hall, and the United Nations. Audiences have included Supreme Court Justice

Anthony M. Kennedy, the Royal Couple of Norway, ambassadors, the vice chairman to the

Joint Chiefs of Staff, Queen Sofia of Spain, Stanley Tucci and Martin Scorsese (at a gala

in their honor), and nearly every European and South American embassy and consulate. 

During this current season, NYOS has been favorably reviewed on PBS and in Time Magazine,

GQ Magazine, Opera News, and the Wall Street Journal. The New York Opera Society is led by

a dedicated Board of Directors and philanthropist, Lesley Silvester.

Rosa Betancourt

Puerto Rican soprano Rosa Betancourt made her professional debut in 2005 as Musetta in

Puccini's La boheme with Opera de Puerto Rico. Representing NYOS at the Spanish Nights

Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, Betancourt sang the title role in Ricardo Llorca's Las Horas

Vacias in 2014 and has continued to excerpt the opera in regular performances, including

at the Lincoln Center in the fall of 2015. In 2014, she was a semi-finalist in both Rochester's

Classical Idol and Opera Birmingham's competitions. Other recent professional engagements include: the title role in the zarzuela Marina, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Adina

in L'elisir d'amore, Rosina in II barbiere di Siviglia, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Susanna in Le nozze

di Figaro, and Fraulein Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor. She has performed as a soloist in

Haydn's The Creation with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and as the soprano soloist

in Robin Halloway's Clarissa Sequence with the New World Symphony, under the baton of 

Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas.

4 * National Gallery of Art

Hans Pieter Hermann

Dutch baritone Hans Pieter Herman's operatic roles include Marcello in Puccini's La boheme,

Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflote, Dr. Miracle in Offenbach's Les Contes d’Hoffmann,

II Conte Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, and

Alidor in Nicolo Isouard's Cendrillon, performed and recorded on CD in Moscow at the 

famous Stanislavski theater on special invitation by Maestro Richard Bonynge.

In addition to operatic appearances, he performed the lead role of Guido Contini in

the musical Nine and participated in two other Dutch national tours of two musical productions, A Little Night Music and She Loves Me, both produced by the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

As a soloist, he also appeared with great success in oratorio and concert performances, including Carl Orf's Carmina Burana, performed in Chicago and conducted by

Vance George, Mahler's Ruckert-Lieder, at Northwestern University, and Das klagende lied,

also by Gustav Mahler, and performed with the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra in Amsterdam, with Hartmut Haenchen conducting.

John Tiranno

Tenor John Tiranno has been called a "clear-voiced tenor" and has had his singing called

"ardent and mellifluous" by the New York Times. Upcoming engagements include Mahler's

Symphony no. 8 (Oratorio Society of New York), Haydn's Creation (Masterwork Chorus), and

Theresienmesse (Riverside Choral Society). Recent performances have included Berlioz's

Requiem (La Jolla Symphony and Chorus), Bach's B-Minor Mass (Sacred Music in a Sacred

Space in New York City), Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle (the Dessoff Choirs), Richard

Strauss's Deutsche Motette (Musica Sacra), recitals at King Abdullah University of Science

and Technology in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, a European debut in Rome singing Saint-Saens's

Requiem (Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra), and a South American debut in

Sao Paulo singing Mozart's Missa in C. Tiranno created two opera roles for Norwegian

composer Gisle Kverndokk: Trouble in Max and Moritz and the Man in the Mirror in

Supersize Girl, both with New York Opera Society.

Ballroom Dancers

Rudiger Homm is originally from Germany and has been dancing professionally since he

was nine. As a youth competitor he won the under-twenty-one standard division at the 

Blackpool Dance Festival, which is considered the world's preeminent ballroom dance

competition. He then continued his successful career with a professional standard ranking

in the top fifteen in the world and in the top two in Germany.

Ekaterina Kanevskaya is originally from Ukraine and started dancing at the age of 

six. In 1999, she moved to New York with her family and continued to pursue her dance

career. She went on to become the undefeated US national amateur champion three times,

and after that, achieved professional ranks, placing in the top eight in the United States.

Homm and Kanevskaya started dancing together in September 2014 and performed

in their first competition after ten days of practice. Since then they have made the finals in

numerous worldwide competitions and are looking forward to new challenges.

74th Season * 5
I

Upcoming events of the SeventyFourth Season of The William

Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot

Belin Concerts

Yael Weiss

Music by Auerbach, Beethoven,

and Schubert

January 10, Sunday, 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

Fisk Jubliee Singers

Spirituals

January 17, Sunday, 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

Aspen String Trio

J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations

January 24, Sunday, 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble

Songs inspired by mythology

January 31, Sunday, 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

Presented in honor of Power and Pathos:

Bronze Sculptures of the Hellenistic World

Cantus

The Four Loves

February 7, Sunday, 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art

and all of its programs is free of charge,

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording equipment

during the performance is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic

devices are turned off.

Concerts are made possible in part

through the generosity of donors to the

National Gallery of Art through The Circle.

Reserved seating is available in recognition

of their support. Please contact the

development office at (202) 842-6450 or

circle@nga.gov for more information.

www.nga.gov

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The department of music produced these

program notes. Copyright © 2016 Board of

Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Cover Marc Chagall, Greeting Card for 19J2

(detail), 1971, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gerhard E. Pinkus

Back cover West Building, East Garden 

Court, Photo by Rob Shelley, National Gallery

of Art, Washington