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| Lehmann Letters, an almost monthly reportDecember 2002 September, October, November Lehmann Letter -An enthusiastic contact person in Australia has discovered a Lehmann interview made during one of her tours there in the late 1930s and has agreed to copy it for us. -During August we acquired many new Lehmann photos and Musical America magazines in which she’s mentioned and on which she’s even a cover photo. All of this is destined to be mounted in the appropriate place on this Website. -The Lehmann Chronology Project continues to grow with help from researchers in Vienna, Stockholm, Hamburg, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Cincinnati and Chicago. In Chicago alone, diligent researcher Rebecca Kahn has unearthed information about Lehmann opera performances, recitals at Ravinia and master classes at Northwestern University. -The Lehmann Foundation helped sponsor award-winning baritone Stephen Salters in recital, master classes and private lessons in Hilo. -CyberSing contestants’ entries were assembled and their recordings sent on to the judges to select the semifinalists. -The local Sixth Annual Art Song Contest Winners Recital press releases, printed programs, projected translations, etc. were all developed throughout August in preparation for the Saturday, September 7, 2002 performance in Orvis Auditorium on the University of Hawaii campus. -Lotte Lehmann memories have arrived from various of her fans and have been written up for the Lehmann Website: www.lottelehmann.org -A special Great Songs memorial tribute to University of Hawaii professor William Scherer was presented for Goethe’s anniversary celebration using excerpts from a 1992 Goethe Radio Special which Bill had co-hosted on Great Songs. -Visits to the Lotte Lehmann Website were up: 4,187 for August, a record! The Song! site remained down (62 visits) from previous highs. - The Lehmann Foundation is working with vocal music educators in Hilo to bring baritone Stephen Salters to the Big Island in August for private coaching and master classes. If you’d care to sponsor a singer or participate yourself, please contact us. - The Lehmann Foundation has provided contacts and information for both Lehmann biographies that are being written. If you have anything that you would like to offer, to help in the success of these books, such as memories, background information, contacts, photos, etc., please contact us. Remember that the book by Dr. Kater tends to be more sociopolitical and the one from Baskerville Publishers, a more traditional biography. Contact us at: info@lottelehmann.org - Gary Hickling has begun a Lehmann Chronology for the Baskerville Lehmann biography. Anyone that can provide copies of recitals or opera programs, please send them in. Researchers in Hamburg, Vienna, New York etc. have been very helpful, but it’s the odd recital in out-of-the-way cities that will prove difficult to document. - The deadline for CyberSing was July 31 and many contestants’ recordings arrived in the final days. The semi-finalists can be heard on the Song! website in October: www.art-song.net - Webmeister Ryan Hunt is designing the home page of the Lehmann Website to allow for the easiest possible use for those areas of the site most visited. For instance, the Advisors will be right there for easy access, just as they appear on our stationery. Also, the latest news will appear on the Home page. - The yearly Art Song Contest Semi-Finalists Program, on Great Songs, was broadcast July 28. Thirteen singers, representing the Big Island (both Kona and Hilo), Maui and O’ahu, with short biographies, were featured. Two days before the broadcast, Hickling discussed the Contest and the Semi-Finalists Program with Hawaii Public Radio’s Music Director, Gene Schiller, during his Masterworks Hour . - The press releases have gone out for the Art Song Contest Winners Recital, to be held Saturday, September 7th in Orvis Auditorium. The Winners are: sopranos Vania Jerome and Amber Narramore from Maui; tenors Patrick Mason and Jim Price from O’ahu. Congratulations. Three of the singers have chosen to have supra titles projected during the shared recital. - Thanks to you, our summer fund raiser was successful and we met the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts matching grant. If you haven’t already sent in your contribution, it’s never late! - Lehmann Foundation Advisor, Damien Top, tenor, attended the 100th birthday celebration of legendary tenor Hugues Cuénod, another Advisor, and sent us a report, which can be found on Cuénod’s portion of the Lehmann Website. Cuénod had a grand time at his party; he’s still healthy and active. - We continue to work with Maria Nockin for her Classical Singer Magazine article on projected titles for the recitalist. If you have experience with supra titles that you’d care to share, please contact us.- Ian Peake of Australia has discovered an interview that Lehmann made while touring there in the 1930s and has volunteered to make us a copy. - Here are the statistics for the Lehmann Website: July visits 3,774 or 11,253 pages, slightly lower than June. The Song! Website was also down a bit: 75 visits or 92 pages. The Lehmann Foundation activities shift from month to month. June saw an incredible increase in the arrival of Lehmann-related material. 1. The Lotte Lehmann Foundation mailed its World of Song Award to Hugh Cuénod in Switzerland to celebrate his 100th birthday. Press releases were sent to magazines and newspapers around the world. 2. Eight judges heard 44 recordings in the Sixth Annual Art Song Contest and chose 13 semi-finalists who will be heard on Great Songs, Sunday, July 28, 2002 at 7:00pm on KHPR, KKUA and KANO. Four winners will be chosen in a second round. 3. The Art Songs for Kids program, co-hosted by eleven year old Caitlin Tong received good media advance attention. 4. Margaret Juntwait of WNYC, New York City’s classical music public radio station wrote: “I used CyberSing as my arts news story for today on Soundcheck with John Schaefer. I referred listeners to your website. It was a live news read so I'm afraid I have nothing to send you on tape. Good luck with everything.” 5. Maria Nockin is writing an article for Classical Singer magazine on supra title projected translations for the song recitalist and we shared our experience and feedback. 6.Long time Lehmann admirer, Sherman Zelinsky sent us copies of LL recital programs which will be scanned and placed in the PhotoGalery of the Lehmann Website. We have already added the hitherto unlisted songs to the repertory list on the Website. 7. Singer/teacher Dorothy Warenskjold sent a letter with her Lehmann memories, which have been posted to the Website. 8. Lou Diamond provided copies of autographed LL Metropolitan Opera programs, a letter from Lehmann and a photo with her, all of which will be scanned and posted to the Website. 9. The English edition of Lehmann’s autobiography, Wings of Song arrived as did Players At Work with a chapter on the Singing Actor by LL. 10. We were contacted by editor Jeffrey Putnam of Baskerville Publishers regarding a LL book in their series “Great Voices.” 11. CyberSing entries begin to arrive. 12. During the month of June we had the following number of visitors to our Website: www.art-song.net had 83 visits; www.lottelehmann.org received 2,725. 13. Also during June 30 copies of Ned Rorem’s song “I Never Knew” were downloaded from the Boosey & Hawkes website. This is the required song for CyberSing. 1. The Lotte Lehmann Foundation was contacted by the eminent Canadian historian Michael Kater has been accumulating information for a new book on Lotte Lehmann. It has the provisional title of “Lotte Lehmann: Her Life and Times” and will consider the impact that sociopolitical elements had on Lehmann and her career. Those with information possibly useful to Dr. Kater can contact him at: mkater@yorku.ca 1. The Lehmann Foundation has contacted French teachers in Hawaii, California and England to gain their input into a video or CD which would use mélodie to help teach poetry to students of French. 2. Webmeister Ryan Hunt is preparing the Lehmann Website to handle the input of the audience in voting on the semi-finalists in CyberSing. With his help we were able to offer an excerpt of Lehmann's acting/singing in the MGM movie Big City. 3. A Spanish translation of the CyberSing rules will soon be available at: www.cybersing.org 4. "Three American Art Songs" was broadcast three times on Hawaii’s public television access channels “Olelo.” 5. Pianist Eric Schank and recording engineer Senator Mike Michaels flew to Hilo to record contestants for the local art song contest. Amy Yamasaki was the producer. This outreach is underwritten by the Orvis Foundation. 6. Shirley Sproule, a student of Lehmann, provided more corrections to the Lehmann biography by Jefferson, as well as a photo from Lehmann's 80th birthday. 7. Lehmann's own (unused) introduction to her final book "Eighteen Song Cycles" was purchased by the Foundation. It will be posted to the Website complete. It includes her words, "...I feel almost forced to say what I have to say about Lieder, to keep up the interest in them, the subtle and wonderful message of beauty which they -indistructibly- tell the willing listener..." 8. The original Lehmann "Farewell Recital" LP with its many photos and newspaper notices was another purchase by the Foundation. 9. The following arrived during April: a 20 CD boxed set called Wagner Mania with the Walküre Act 1 by Wagner with Lehmann/Melchior/Bruno Walter; a 10 CD box "Leise flehen meine Lieder..." the Art of Schubert Lieder including a CD devoted to Lehmann's performance of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin. 10. Here are the April Website statistics: the Lehmann Website had 3,831 visits or 11, 031 pages viewed; the art song Website 82 visits or 176 pages viewed. 11. Gary Hickling met with Lehmann Foundation Advisor Frederica von Stade after her performance in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. She plans to sing the world premier of "I Never Knew" which Ned Rorem wrote especially for CyberSing. 12. Research revealed a master class that Lehmann taught in 1962 at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada. The program and background on the event was provided by their archivist. All of the details will be available on the Lehmann Website. 1. The banner of composers’ faces at the top of the Song! home-page 2. Gary Hickling interviewed Mary Dibbern, for a Great Songs program. Mary is a new Advisor to the Lotte Lehmann Foundation. She has many world-wide contacts in the realm of song. Another Advisor, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, has provided names and email addresses for Asian singers for CyberSing. 3. Hickling met with Perry Lorenzo, education director for the Seattle Opera. A great admirer of song, Lorenzo uses the Lehmann Foundation’s Three American Art Songs in his school presentations. He encouraged us to produce an art song educational video for French classes.* 4. A copy of the BBC CyberSing feature is now posted to the Song! website. 5. A Russian translation of the CyberSing application and rules was prepared by Lehmann Foundation Board Member Marina Smous-Bradford. This translation is now available on the Website: www.cybersing.com 6. Three American Art Songs was broadcast in February on Hawaii’s public television access channels “Olelo” and is scheduled to be re-broadcast on 4 April, Ch. 52, 1:39 pm; 5 April, Ch. 54, 8:30 pm; and 6 April, Ch. 54, 6:00 pm. 7. Hickling met with the Orvis Foundation President Grover O’Neill Jr. The Orvis Foundation provided the Art Song Contest Neighbor Island Outreach grant. 8. A matching grant from Hawaii’s State Foundation on Culture and the Arts arrived. Many thanks. The “matching” element will help us with our fundraising efforts. 9. Norma Nichols and Alma McGoldrick helped distribute Foundation Newsletters at all four performances of Hawaii Opera Theatre’s Carmen. 10. In March, a producer, recording engineer and pianist flew to Kona to record nine singers for the art song contest. Next: Hilo, Maui and Honolulu. 11. Hickling met with Stephen Salters, baritone, who discussed his ideas on educational videos. He also was interviewed for a future Great Songs program. 12. Hickling worked with David Hachez, a multi-media webmeister from Brussels, who gave advice for video compression for the Lehmann Website. 13. New Lehmann-related material arrived: Playbills for Lehmann Town Hall recitals with Bruno Walter which will be posted to the Website. These 1943-44 recitals included the complete Winterreise and, hitherto unknown to our research, Mahler songs. 14. *The Lehmann Foundation is in contact with French language teachers in preparation for the development of an educational mélodie (French art song) video to be used in advanced high school and college French classes. 1. The Lotte Lehmann Foundation and CyberSing received the international attention that only a BBC feature on their World Service could provide. Gary Hickling was interviewed and the feature was broadcast in January. Interested singers’ responses from Zimbabwe and Kazakstan demonstrated the wide reach the BBC provided. The BBC will send a copy of the program for us to present on the Lehmann Website. 2. After receiving translation help from a variety of friends, the CyberSing information is now available in English, French, German and Japanese at: www.cybersing.org 3. The Marilyn Horne Foundation used projected translations for their January recital and gave credit to our supra title endeavors in both their program and their most recent newsletter. You can request the newsletter on their website: www.marilynhornefdn.org 4. During January, Gary Hickling met with two Lehmann Foundation advisors, Judith Kellock, soprano, who was in Honolulu to give a recital of contemporary songs and Natalie Limonick, pianist, coach and conductor, who spoke of her recent trip to New York and her experience with the projected translations mentioned above. (She’s almost convinced!) 5. Our demonstration video on supra titles has been edited and will soon be available on the Song! portion of our website. The 5 minute video also may be purchased for $10. We are not selling our supra title set-up, only showing how one can easily duplicate what we’ve done. 6. Until a chance reference to a Carnegie Hall appearance by Lehmann, we had no evidence that she had ever sung there or with the New York Philharmonic. Their Archives provided photo copies of the programs in which Lehmann sang. Two of these six performances were broadcast, but unfortunately they don’t have tapes of them. We’ll list these performances on the Website, along with the other Lehmann broadcasts for which we are seeking recordings. The programs will also appear on the Website. 7. Our demo video “Three American Art Songs” began its “run” on local community access television. These four broadcasts of the fifteen minute video are well scattered during the viewing days and will certainly reach a new audience. Please let us know how to contact the public access television in your area. 8. The Neighbor Island Outreach Project of our local Art Song Contest has developed nicely with recording dates for singers from both Kona and Hilo on the Big Island and good contacts working to organize Maui. 9. WNYC (New York City’s major public radio station) broadcast the Great Songs program which featured an interview with Dana Hanchard and her CD of “Once Canciones” by Diego Luzuriaga. 1. During December, CyberSing information was translated into French, thanks to Foundation Advisor Damien Top. It is available on the Song! portion of the Lehmann Website. The German and Japanese versions are being worked on and will soon be available. 2. Though credit card elements were put on the Website in November, they were not active. Now all contributors may easily donate to the Foundation by credit card on either the Song! or the Lehmann site. 3. Many thanks to the Cades Foundation of Hawaii for a major grant to the Lotte Lehmann Foundation. There were many other December donations...all greatly appreciated. All the donor names for the year 2001 are posted to the “Supporters” page on both the Song! and Lotte Lehmann Website. 4. The digital supra titles demonstration was filmed. As soon as it has been edited it will be made available on the Song! Website. 5. Contemporary song specialist and teacher Phyllis Bryn-Julson has joined the Lotte Lehmann Foundation as an Advisor and is already working to alert her colleagues about CyberSing. 6. New Lehmann photos are available in the Photo Gallery of this Website. 7. Dalton Baldwin, collaborative pianist extraordinaire and an Advisor to the Lotte Lehmann Foundation was presented the Foundation’s first “World of Song” award at his 70th birthday in New York City. The beautiful award, designed by calligrapher Denis Lund, can be viewed from "What's New". 8. Excerpts from the Art Song Contest Winners Recital were presented on Hawaii Public Radio’s Great Songs, 31 December 2001 and can be heard in the Great Songs portion of Song! The Winners Recital video (VHF format) is ready now. For copies, contact us at: info@lottelehmann.org 9. Preparations are underway for submitting our video “Three American Art Songs” to public access television in Hawaii. Please let us know how we can submit to the public access television in your area. 10. We are editing an audio tape of this year’s Art Song Contest Winners Recital for submission to National Public Radio’s Performance Today. 11. A date is set in Kona and Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii for the Neighbor Island Outreach of the Art Song Contest. Our contacts on other Neighbor Islands are also developing recording dates and venues. 12. The Lotte Lehmann Foundation Board met and is considering some minor adjustments to the Foundation’s Mission Statement. The Statement is still being written, but so far we have: To cultivate the art song genre by encouraging the performance, study, and appreciation of this music as exemplified by the legacy of Lotte Lehmann. 13. Recent Great Songs programs have been posted to the Song! site. 14. The Foundation has purchased a First Day Caché of the Lotte Lehmann Centennial German stamp of 1988. This may be seen in the PhotoGallery. Volume one of videos presenting Lehmann’s 1961 master-classes recorded for National Educational Television has arrived from VAI and we will be reviewing it. 15. The Lehmann Foundation has made available a limited number of the authorized biography Lotte Lehmann, A Life in Opera and Song by Beaumont Glass with a discography by Gary Hickling. These books are new, having been in storage by the publisher since 1988. The price is $25 plus postage. Contact: info@lottelehmann.org 16. Our friend in Munich, Frank Manhold, attended Lehmann Foundation Advisor Grace Bumby’s December recital: Homage to Lotte Lehmann. She signed his program and this, along with excerpts from reviews, is available on the Website. 1. During November, CyberSing PR was distributed for a second time to media, schools, teachers and artist managers with many good responses. 2. The Lehmann Website is now equipped to offer all the CyberSing information (application, rules etc.) as an easily downloadable and printed PDF file. 3. CyberSing contestants can now pay their $25 fee by credit card on the website. Contributors to the Foundation now can also donate on line. 4. Advisors Marni Nixon and Paul Sperry have developed and funded a CyberSing prize called the “Jan de Gaetani Prize for Best American Song Performance.” Advisor Dalton Baldwin has agreed to fund “The Dalton Baldwin Prize for the Best Collaborative Pianist.” Board member Nancy Bannick will fund the prize for the best singer and pianist combination. 5. The rescheduled Art Song Contest Winners Recital took place on November 11, 2001 and was very successful. Excerpts will be posted on the Lehmann Website and the Great Songs program of December 30, 2001 will feature the recital. 6. The final tapes from the Marr Sound Archive at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, arrived and are being cataloged. We now have a complete set of their extensive Lehmann collection. 7. We have been unable to post to the website the promised excerpts from Lehmann’s MGM movie and master classes and are in the process of reconverting from the originals. 8. We are working on a script, lighting, scheduling etc. for a demonstration video on portable digital supra titles for the recitalist. 9. Advisor Dalton Baldwin was in Honolulu and provided many addresses of performers and teachers in Asia who we can contact about CyberSing. 10. The Lehmann Foundation now has a new address: Lotte Lehmann Foundation 11. Two new domains were established for the Lehmann Foundation’s Website: www.cybersing.org and www.art-song.net This has provided broader browser recognition. 12. Many new Lehmann photos are now available in the photo gallery of the Website, as are new translations of her recorded arias and songs. 1. Webmeister Ryan Hunt, now living in Idaho, redesigned the "Song" portion of the Lehmann Website. It’s easier to find what you’re looking for and there’s now a game to play: name the song composers in the banner. Enjoy. http://english.art-song.net/ 2. CyberSing 2002 was announced in mid-October by the Lehmann Foundation and the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. One can now reach the contest information directly on: <www.cybersing.com> 3. Ned Rorem’s song “I Never Knew” (the required song for CyberSing) is now available for download on the Boosey & Hawkes website: <www. boosey.com> After choosing which of the three keys is appropriate, one can print out the first page for free, but for the whole piece one must pay five pounds. 4. CyberSing press releases by the hundreds were sent world-wide as emails to music schools, conservatories, voice teachers, agents of vocalists and music magazines and newspapers. 5. Several donors have supported CyberSing by providing prize money for specific categories. Presently under consideration are: “Best American Song Performance”, and, to reward the collaborative pianists, “Best Duo Performance.” We are still working out the exact titles and the best way to credit the donors. 6. Preparations and promotions are well underway for the re-scheduled Art Song Contest Winners Recital on 11 November 2001 at 7:30pm in Orvis Auditorium, University of Hawaii, Manoa. 7. Considering the distractions of the past six weeks, our fund drive was successful, with donations still arriving. Many thanks to you donors and to Grace Bumbry for heading this fundraiser. 8. It was announced earlier that the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts provided a small grant for the operating expenses of the Lehmann Foundation. The HSFCA is very prestigious in the state of Hawaii and provides the Foundation with added local legitimacy. On a national level, such a bona fide status is improved by the support of the renowned Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, which recently provided the Lehmann Foundation with an operations grant. Thank you. 9. Also thanks to an anonymous local foundation which sent a much appreciated gift in support of the Great Songs radio program. 10. This past month we have received various requests for Lehmann information from around the world, but specifically from England, Belgium and Israel...the latter preparing a live Lehmann tribute. The recent attention to the Lehmann Website has grown by 10%. For those who enjoy statistics: (Figures in parentheses refer to the last 7 days). Since May 2001: Successful requests: 264,134 (17,197) Average successful requests per day: 1,572 (2,456) 11. Preparations are being made to provide the Lehmann Website with short films of Lehmann from her MGM movie of 1947 and excerpts from her master classes. When available, this will greatly enhance the Website. 12. Dr. Barsewisch, the son of the Baron von Putlitz, Lehmann’s first patron, has written with the desire to set the record straight. He had provided Alan Jefferson information for his Lehmann biography which “was totally distorted.” We look forward to the corrections. 13. “Portraits and Portrayals,” selected photographs from the Lehmann Archive, at the University of California, Santa Barbara are on view there until 19 November 2001. A few hitherto unknown photos from that exhibit can be seen in the PhotoGallery on the Lehmann Website. 14. Several programs were broadcast in Germany to note the twenty fifth anniversary of the death of Lehmann (26 August 1976). One of them included a filmed interview with Lehmann which we hadn’t seen. It has been converted from PAL to VHS and we plan to place excerpts from it on the Lehmann Website. 15. We have received another set of tapes of Lehmann recordings from the Marr Sound Archives at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Many thanks for the work on this massive on-going project. 1. Webmeister Ryan Hunt is redesigning the "Song" portion of the Website. It will be easier to navigate, have some "fun" features and will be easier for the browsers to find. 2. CyberSing: 2002 is being finalized. The rules and regulations, the press releases, the world wide contacts and other support aspects are being reviewed by our lawyers Richard Lachman and James Ackerman and public relations experts Rodney Punt and Michael Roeder. 3. The Lehmann Foundation commissioned Ned Rorem to write the "required" song for CyberSing: 2002 and it is already finished. It's a wonderful, melodic song to poetry of Lotte Lehmann in an English translation by Judith Sutcliffe. 4. Boosey & Hawkes is transposing the Ned Rorem song (high, medium and low keys) to the keys that Mr. Rorem is suggesting. It should be available on their website in mid October 2001. 5. Gary Hickling finished an article for NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) and has mailed it in for their editing. 6. The Art Song Contest Winners Recital is re-scheduled for Sunday, 11 November 2001 in Orvis Auditorium on the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus. The winning singers include: Shelly Breneman, Debra Lynn, Kaweo Kanoho and Heather Roberts. Shelly's husband was transferred to Washington DC, so she won't be singing. Heather's husband was transferred to Portland, Oregon and she will fly back for the occasion. Special guest Phyllis Haines will also sing. See the "Contest" portion of the Song site for the complete program with translations. Note that one of the Winners (Kaweo Kanoho) was the direct result of our April Outreach to Hilo on the Big Island. 7. Though the Art Song Contest Winners Recital had to be postponed after the terrorist attacks, Honolulu media had recognized the importance of the recital. Midweek's Kailua insert, Honolulu Magazine and Hawaii Public Radio's "Of Note" all had articles on the recital. The newly hired Arts Reporter at HPR, Joe Bevelacqua, did a 2.5 minute segment on the Winners Recital and the station was running regular promos. Gary Hickling was scheduled to be interviewed on Gene Schiller's "Morning Café" and all of this media attention will have to be re-focused on the new date. 8. The Summer Newsletter and the Grace Bumbry Fundraiser were both mailed in August 2001. Many thanks to Ms. Bumbry for her support! 9. Gary Hickling was planning to be in New York City from 16 September to 6 October working with many experts in the art song community. In addition to the people who demonstrated their support during last year's visit, Mr. Hickling was to have worked with artist representatives, presenters, recording executives and promoters to put together a mini-convention for January 2002. The object of the mini-convention was to establish some on-going cross disciplinary support for art song. This includes as many people and organizations as possible with a vested interest in the success of classical song. The attacks of 9/11 changed all of these plans. We will review our options at a later date. 10. Fundraising efforts are being directed at the Cades, Pikake, Bauer and Cooke Foundations. Various organizations and cultural attaches are being approached to fund prizes for CyberSing: 2002. 11. Former Lehmann students Luba Tcheresky and Shirley Sproule have continued to send Lehmann-related material and photos. 12. A new, more easily portable screen has been developed for the project: Supra Titles for the Song Recitalist. It will be demonstrated at the Winners Recital. The event will be filmed and portions showing the Supra Titles in action will be posted to the Lehmann Website. 13. New advisors helping us with our work include pianist/scholar Graham Johnson and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. Welcome and many thanks! 1. The new website is ready. The site is now divided, right from the first page, between Song and Lehmann. New Lehmann songs and arias can be heard on the Lehmann portion and several complete Great Songs programs are now available on the Song side. 2. The first outreach program of the Art Song Contest occurred on 14 April, when a pianist, recording engineer and producer flew to the Big Island to record Hilo singers. Twelve wonderful singers performed. 3. On 2 April 2001 the Lotte Lehmann Foundation supplied the projected translations (supra titles) for the first full song recital in the world. Mary Chesnut sang a recital in Orvis Auditorium at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Over two hundred attended and were pleased by the supra titles. 4. Another Lehmann researcher has joined our team. Damian Griego, in Vienna, will be sending us material from the Kriegsarchiv (War Archive) and the BundesTheater Verwaltung (The United Theater Adminsitration). 5. Many friends of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation have sent in their suggestions and opinions on the Web Art Song Contest Proposal. Everyone on our list will receive another mailing on this with the accumulation of suggestions so far. Please feel free to add yours. 6. We produced a local fund-raiser in connection with the supra-titles and the outreach program. It raised about $900 so far. You may want to contribute. 7. Gary Hickling is taking a course in script writing in order to prepare a script for the next Art Song Educational Video. He submitted a treatment which was approved. On 13 April he turned in the first draft of the script itself. This video will integrate American, English, French, German and Spanish songs into one story line for two singer/actors. 8. The Fifth Annual Art Song Contest is underway and we have already received many applications. The deadline is 31 May 2001. We have reserved the recording booth at Hawaii Public Radio for interested singers to record their entries on 12 and 19 May. 9. Luba Tcheresky, a former student of Lehmann, has sent a lot of LL memorabilia which we will be entering into the Website. 10. We received a tape of the 10 inch Lehmann recordings held at the Marr Sound Archive at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. These were mainly test pressings of commerically recorded songs which have already been published. One interview with Lehmann and Schumann is completely new to our discography. 11. Gary Hickling interviewed Lehmann Foundation Advisor Hugues Cuenod (now in his 99th year!) by phone to Switzerland for a Cuenod Special on Great Songs. 12. On 9 April, Hickling interviewed another Advisor: Ned Rorem by phone, for a Rorem Special for Great Songs. 13. We are happy to welcome new artists to our Advisory Committee: American soprano Judith Kellock and the tenor Christoph Prégardien. 1. Webmeister Ryan Hunt and Gary Hickling continue to prepare the complete revision of the Lehmann Website which will be ready in March 2001. It will be easier to navigate and good to look at as well. 2. Various archives have recently begun to offer us Lehmann material. Our contact with the Hamburg Opera, Alfred Kaine, has begun work. Chuck Haddix, at the University of Missouri Kansas City, is preparing some recordings of Lehmann in song and opera. The British Museum has some unique Lehmann interviews etc. and we’ve been in contact with the BBC which holds the copyright. 3. We continue investigating the idea of offering a world-wide Art Song Contest on our Website. There already exists a classical music contest on the web, but they concentrate on instrumental performers. The director of that competition, Yoonil Auh, has been in touch to let us know how it is advertised etc. 4. Robert Crawford is flying to Hawaii from St. Louis from 13-20 February to work on the supra titles (or surtitles) for the vocal recitalist. He has prepared a computer program and many other experts, who have worked with these titles for opera companies of the US and Canada, have been generous in helping with technical questions (portable screen, light weight projector, lenses). We hope to have an experimental working version this month to test with a singer, pianist and an invited audience. We will film the event and make all of our information available on our website for any recitalist interested. 5. All choral conductors throughout Hawaii have received the Fifth Annual Art Song Contest information. Gary Hickling met with the University of Hawaii chorus director, Karen Kennedy, who enthusiastically endorses the contest and will encourage all her choir members to participate. 6. Cie McMullen has her fund raising kit together and is ready to contact businesses and corporations. Please let us know the people to phone. 7. We are preparing to make our second educational video and will film Jordan Shanahan and Mary Chesnut in August singing core song repertoire: Lieder, mélodie and perhaps some English songs. 8. New artists continue to join our Advisory Committee. It is a pleasure to welcome Birgit Nilsson, Elly Ameling and Jennifer Larmore to the Advisors. 1. Webmeister Ryan Hunt and Gary Hickling continue to prepare the complete revision of the Lehmann Website. The new Website will offer the web reader an immediate choice between the “Song” portion and the “Lehmann” section. March is the deadline. 2. We have reorganized the office so that the computer can process various sound inputs for use on the Website. This includes the LP turntable, the DAT machine and the tape cassette player. We have installed the necessary software program to process these outside sources of sound. This will allow us to offer complete “Great Songs” programs, and examples of Lehmann’s singing not available on CD. 3. We are investigating the idea of offering a world-wide Art Song Contest on our Website. There already exists a classical music contest on the web, but they concentrate on instrumental performers. The idea would broaden our mission to support the performance and appreciation of Lieder, mélodie and classical song in general. 4. The Lehmann Foundation is continuing to prepare grant requests. The most recent ones request support for the Neighbor Island Outreach Project which would send a pianist, recording engineer and producer to record Neighbor Island singers who wish to enter the Art Song Contest but don’t have means to record themselves. 5. We have begun the Fifth Annual Art Song Contest by circulating flyers and applications as well as preparing press releases announcing the Contest. 6. Fund raiser Cie McMullen is writing an article for a local newspaper such as Mid-Week or the Honolulu Weekly. It will discuss the mission of the Lehmann Foundation. After the article appears, she will use it in her fund-raising approaches to corporations. 7. We have located a great number of videos that contain performances of classical song. Lehmann Foundation Board member Richard Lachman is preparing a letter to solicit copyright permission and even financial support from the various video companies. Excerpts from such videos may be used in our next educational video. 8. Many new artists have recently joined our Advisory Committee. Our new letterhead contains the name of one of Lehmann’s most famous students, Grace Bumbry. Other artists include Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and German baritone Olaf Bär, both of whom specialize in the performance of classical song. You’ll notice the names of Nathan Gunn, a young American baritone making his mark in both opera and song, German soprano Edith Wiens, a Lieder specialist and teacher and soprano Christine Goerke, who has made excellent recordings of song. 9. We have been in touch with foreign language teachers associations and the cultural portions of the French, German and Austrian embassies to learn if any teaching videos have been made using classical song. So far, no such material has been located, which means that this is a fertile area for us to pursue. The students will have another method to learn a foreign language and be exposed to classical music at the same time. Lisa Altieri, the producer of our first educational song video is preparing estimates for three new videos: A. Previously filmed art songs with our own master/mistress of ceremonies and English translation subtitles. B. A language specific video ( i.e. to help teach German in a foreign language class) using one of our advisors as the star. This could also be possible using local singers instead, or in an additional video. C. The core classical song repertoire (a Lied, a mélodie, a tonadilla and an English or American song) sung by an upcoming singer. 10. Robert Crawford in St. Louis and various scientific contacts in Germany, Canada and the US are helping develop the same supratitles now used for opera specifically for the classical song performer. | |||
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