Liliana Guerrero, soprano & James Maverick, piano

About the Program

Program Notes by Mark Bilyeu.

Daniel Catán
Escúchame from Florencia en el Amazonas
Born April 3, 1949, Mexico City, Mexico
Died April 9, 2011, South Pasadena, California
Premiered October 26, 1996, Houston Grand Opera

In 1996, Mexican composer Daniel Catán was jointly commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Seattle Opera to craft what would be the first Spanish-language opera commissioned by American opera houses. Florencia en el Amazonas, with a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain – a pupil of Gabriel García Márquez, the leading figure in magical realism – tells the story of famous recluse opera singer Florencia Grimaldi. The soprano travels incognito down the Amazon, en route to the city of Manaus, where her fellow travelers are hoping to see the elusive diva perform. Grimaldi, however, is seeking her lost lover, Cristóbal, whose love had unlocked her superhuman musical abilities. As they make their way down the river, a storm causes the boat to run ashore. As they finally draw near to their destination, the passengers, entangled in their own complicated lives, realize that Grimaldi is on the ship with them. Finding out the city of Manaus has been decimated by cholera, they decide to not disembark, and the heroine sings this lament for her beloved Cristóbal, knowing he is present in the wind, in the water, and in her song. 

Alberto Ginastera
Cinco canciones populares Argentinas 
Born April 11, 1916, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died June 25, 1983, Geneva Switzerland
Composed 1943

Composer Alberto Ginastera divided his own artistic output into three distinct time periods: Objective Nationalism (1934 –1948), Subjective Nationalism (1948 –1958), and Neo-Expressionism (1958 –1983). It was toward the end of this first period—a time of his unabashed national pride—that a militant revolution was occurring in Argentina. This revolution, as Aaron Copland observed, allowed musical policy to be dictated by “a small group of conservative musicians” (this aligns with the crackdown on the musical output with the Soviet regime). Ginastera, inspired by Béla Bartok’s bold move to publish his own Hungarian Folksong in his communist country, set out to publish his own set of Argentine songs. These songs—unusually sparse, poly-rhythmic,  and tinged with harmonic dissonance—offer opportunities for displays of technical prowess for the pianist, and long-spun intimate lines for the singer. The 27 year old Ginastera took inspiration from common folks songs as he crafted melodies that are familiar, but not always traditional. While it was Ginastera’s public stance against the political leadership which would eventually make him a target and cause his dismissal from his teaching positions at state-run institutions, it was his deep love for his country that gifted us these songs.

Jamie León
Rima | A ti | La casa del Lucero | Algum día
Born December 18, 1921, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
Died May 11, 2015, Bogotá, Columbia

Colombian pianist and composer Jamie León wrote a total of 43 songs, often setting the poets of his generation, including Dora Castellanos and Eduardo Carranza. His compositional style incorporates aspects of his Colombian heritage with that of American jazz and musical theater. After completing studies at the Juilliard School in piano, conducting, and composition, León pursued a career as a conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the American Ballet Theater Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá. In 1988, he was awarded Columbia’s Order of Artistic Merit.

Ernesto Lecuona
Por eso te quiero | Noche azul | Siboney 
Born August 7, 1895, Havana, Cuba
Died November 29, 1963, Canary Islands

Ernesto Lecuona’s works have become ubiquitous with the Cuban music craze of the 1930’s and 40’s. Born in Havana, he studied piano with his sister, Ernestina, who was a lauded composer and pianist, until he moved to continue his studies with Joaquín Nin at the Peyrellade Conservatory. At the age of 20, he gave his New York City debut recital at the Aeolian Hall. His songs feature not only the Afro-Cuban and Cuban rhythms that permeated his childhood, but also a lush romantic harmonic texture, and full, sonorous accompaniments. Like others on this program, he wrote for a booming film industry; his credits included the films The Cuban Love Song, Always in My Heart, and One More Tomorrow, and the entire musical score of the film Carnival in Costa Rica. Although “Siboney” might be his most recognizable tune, his music deserves a much deeper look than this one hit. In 1985, Placido Domingo received a Grammy for his album of Lecuona’s songs, Siempre en Mi Corazón — Always in My Heart: The Songs of Ernesto Lecuona, but this annotator recommends the recordings of the composer playing solo piano versions his own works, or accompanying his fellow Cuban, the tenor Mariano Meléndez.

María Grever
Cuando vuelva a tu lado | Te quiero, dijiste | Júrame
Born September 14, 1885, Leon, Mexico
Died December 15, 1951, New York, New York

Once called “the busiest woman in all New York” by The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Maria Grever might not be a familiar name to many. Born to Mexican and Spanish parents, she was identified as a prodigy, and went on to study with Claude Debussy and Franz Lehar (two very different musical influences!). She built a career for herself in Mexico, writing some music while raising her two children with her husband, an American businessman. At the age of 31, she took her two children and moved to New York city—a radical thing for a woman to do in 1916. She began performing in New York, but never played her own songs. Until G. Schirmer publishers picked up her bolero “Júrame” in 1926. The next year, the Mexican tenor Jose Mojica released a recording of “Júrame,” which made Maria Grever a household name. She continued to write over 800 songs (some accounts say nearly a thousand) which would go on to be used in films, and sung by the biggest stars of the day including Bing Crosby’s version of "Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado” (“What a Difference a Day Makes”), and her 1944 lullaby “Te Quiero Dijiste,” which was used in the film Bathing Beauty starring Red Skelton and Ester Williams (though that was also renamed as Magic is the Moonlight for English audiences). Maria Grever remained active until her death in 1951 and in 1952 was declared Woman of the Americas by the Union of Women of the Americas. 

Gonzalo Roig
Salida de Cecilia from Cecilia Valdés
Born July 20, 1890, Havana, Cuba
Died June 13, 1970, Havana, cuba 
Composed 1931
Premiered 1932, Havana, Cuba 

Gonzalo Roig is one of Cuba’s most prominent musicians, having founded both Havana’s National Opera and its Philharmonic Orchestra. Trained as both a pianist and violinist, the young musician toured throughout his homeland, while also composing. His first big hit "Quiéreme mucho," came at the age of 21. He later sold the rights to the song, and the (totally re-written) English version was made famous by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1941. His zarzuela—a Spanish language dramatic work that incorporates spoken dialogue alongside both operatic and popular songs—Cecilia Valdés first premiered in Havana in 1932 and became his calling card. The work's plot (based on a famous novel by Roig's countryman, Cirilo Villaverde), introduces us to the titulature heroine: the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Spaniard,  who falls in love with a nobleman. When he leaves her for another woman, Cecilia hatches a plot to have him killed. Here, though, in her entrance number, “Salida de Cecilia,” we are blissfully unaware of the conflict, and can simply enjoy the music. 

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About The Artists

Lilian Guerero

Dr. Liliana Guerrero is Assistant Professor of Voice at the Butler School of Music, where she teaches Vocal Pedagogy and Applied Voice.

The daughter of Mexican and Cuban immigrants, her research focuses on advocating for Latin-American voices in classical music and she has received fellowship funding for this from the Society for American Music. She is a frequent lecturer and panelist on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the voice studio and serves as a member of the NATS DEI Task Force as well as the organizer for the NATS Latinx/Hispanic Teachers Affinity Group. She is a previous Faculty-First Look Fellow at NYU Steinhardt and a Future of Music Faculty Fellow at Cleveland Institute of Music. With a passion for community outreach, Guerrero serves as a Teaching Artist for Austin Opera, Membership Liaison for South Texas NATS, and Webmaster for Texoma NATS. Guerrero is also part of the founding committee for the Ibero-American Chapter of NATS and spends summers on the voice faculty of the Atlantic Music Festival.

As a soprano, Dr. Guerrero has performed operatic repertoire all over the United States and Europe. Her competition prizes include awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, National Opera Association, Opera Grand Rapids Vocal Competition, Naftzger Young Artist Competition, NATS Artist Awards, Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston Competition, Bel Canto Foundation, and two artist grants from the Koch Cultural Trust.

A proponent of singing and teaching all vocal styles, Guerrero completed the Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah Conservatory as well as Level 1 of LoVetri Somatic Voicework™. Guerrero was also selected as a 2021 NATS Intern. She is a member of the National Association for Teachers of Singing, Pan American Vocology Association, National Opera Association, Opera America, and National Association of Latino Arts and Culture.

James Maverick

Pianist James Maverick joined the University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music in 2021, where he teaches vocal repertoire and accompanying. He has worked as music staff at Cincinnati Opera, where he was pianist and assistant chorus master for Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Bizet's Carmen, and Puccini's Tosca, and Opera Philadelphia, where he prepared a workshop for the upcoming premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Woman with Eyes Closed. He was a Resident Artist at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, where he assisted in the preparation of nine opera productions, including serving as chorus master for Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles. He has been a coach on the faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and has also served as the official accompanist for the Kansas City district of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and an apprentice coach at the Merola Opera Program and Wolf Trap Opera. A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he received a B.A.in economics and B.M. in piano performance from Lawrence University, where he studied with Michael Mizrahi, and he received an M.M. in piano and choral conducting and Performer Diploma in collaborative piano from Indiana University, where his teachers included Emile Naoumoff, Kevin Murphy, Anne Epperson, Walter Huff, Betsy Burleigh, and Dominick DiOrio.

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Upcoming Events

Butler School of Music Presents
Les Noces
By Igor Stravisnky 
and Ballet Mécanique by Geroge Antheil 
 

FEATURING
Experimental & Electronic Music Studio
Concert Chorale
Percussion Ensemble

Patti Wolf, Rick Rowley, & Andrew Brownell, piano
Leah Crocetto, soprano
Page Stephens, mezzo soprano
Evan Brown, tenor
Mikhail Smigelski, bass 

Thursday, October 17, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall 

Tickets

Butler Opera Center Presents
La Traviata 
by Giuseppe Verdi
October 18 & 25, 7:30 p.m.
October 20 & 227, 4:00 p.m.
McCullough Theatre

Concert Chorale
Sunday, November 5, 4:00 p.m. 
Bates Recital Hall

Butler Opera Center Presents
Song Reimagined Series: The Shards of Love
Friday, November 8, 7:30 p.m. 
McCullough Theatre

Donnie Ray Albert, baritone
Celebrating 50 Years of Performing
Thursday, February 27, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

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