Liliana Guerrero, soprano & James Maverick, piano

About the Program

Program notes by Mark Bilyeu except where noted

Russell Podgorsek
Only Good
Composed 2025
World Premiere 

Only Good for solo voice is the seventh in my series of Quantum Commissions. Professor Guerrero specifically asked for something "sharp" and "ironic" that spoke to current events and featured repeating text. We live in a time with many gifted orators, but we don't generally hear about what they say every day on the news. As such, I set a text from a press conference and subjected it to a few minor transformations to inflect its meaning subtly. The music is intended to reflect the "off the cuff" nature of the original speaker's delivery and the increasing use of ornamental figures to represent the usual unfurling veil of superficial verbiage.

– Russell Podgorsek

Irving Berlin
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor from Miss Liberty
Born May 11, 1888, Tyumen, Russia
Died September 22, 1989, New York City
Composed 1949
Premiered July 15, 1949, New York City
2 minutes

Based on a book by Robert E. Sherwood, Irving Berlin and Moss Hart wrote and produced the musical comedy Miss Liberty in 1949.  The show is one of mistaken identity, as journalists try to uncover the name of the Statue of Liberty’s anonymous female model. The show was not a hit (it opened the same year as both “Showboat” and “Kiss Me Kate”), but this song, which is the show’s final number, has stood the test of time. Utilizing text from the famed Emma Lazarus “The New Colossus,” the song gained popularity and additional significance throughout the 1950s and 1960s by way of a choral arrangement by Fred Waring. 

Lee Hoiby
Lady of the Harbor from Three Women
Born February 17, 1926 
Composed 1985
Duration 2 minutes

“I love words. I love language,” wrote Lee Hoiby. “I take special care that the words should be understood, and not only that, but the music should help them further, to elucidate the feeling, the meaning of the words, otherwise there is no reason to set it to music.” Hoiby studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Gian Carlo Menotti, and composed over 100 songs throughout his lifetime. “Lady of the Harbor” was written for the centenary of the Statue of Liberty, using the final lines from Emma Lazarus’ famous poem inscribed at the base of the iconic statue. 

Evan Mack
Preach, Sister, Preach
Born 1981, Forestburgh, NY
Composed 2019
Duration 12 minutes

Evan Mack has devoted much of his compositional life to opera and song. His 2016 opera Rosce premiered at Seagle Music Colony and immediately received its orchestral and world premiere with the Albany Symphony starring soprano Deborah Voigt. A favorite among recitalists, his songs have been heard on stages across the country. His set of songs Preach, Sister, Preach was inspired by the energy of the first women’s march. In it, he explores and celebrates the voices of ten powerful women such as Lucille Ball, Mae West, Simone de Beauvoir, Tina Fey, and Ellen DeGeneres.

Rosephanye Powell
Then, Here, and Now
Born 1962
Composed 2020
Duration 8 minutes

Dr. Rosephanye Powell is celebrated as one of America’s foremost women composers of choral music, earning widespread acclaim for her exceptional contributions to the art form. Her contributions to solo repertoire are equally impactful, as is exemplified in her set of songs Then, Here and Now. The title refers to the spiritual's use during slavery (then) and its relevance today (here and now):

Each song reflects my visceral and emotional reactions to dramatic events that transpired during 2020,” shared composer Rosephany Powell in a 2023 video, “As I observed the worldwide sadness and grief of the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of George Floyd, and widespread protests around the world, I became emotionally exhausted. Tears were my daily companion, expressing what could not be uttered.

In time, words came—not my own words, but the words of the African-American spiritual. Intuitively, they came the way my grandmother sang and hummed them with her Bible in hand. The words and melodies of the spiritual gave voice to my sorrow, just as they did for my grandmother and my ancestors during slavery.

Thus, the title Then, Here and Now refers to the spirituals’ enduring messages of hope, strength, healing, and justice. Because of their universal messages, it is my intention for Then, Here and Now to be performed and embraced by people of all races, cultures, nationalities, and backgrounds. My hope is that these songs will be cathartic for both the singer and the audience.

Patrice Michaels
The Long View: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Composed 2013 - 2018
Premiered 2018
Duration 40 minutes

Patrice Michaels studied composition with Dominick Argento, but made the choice to set aside her compositional creativity in favor of her prolific singing career. In 2013, she began work on a project which Argento—known for setting such prose as the diary of Virginia Woolf and journal entries of failed polar expeditions—would have been proud of: crafting a set of songs based on letters and writings of the second female justice in Supreme Court history (and her mother-in-law) Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  In this nine-song cycle, Michaels pulled not only from letters, but from remembrances, conversations, and even Court opinions which span the justice’s life from as early as ten years old. In the forward to the score, Michaels writes in part:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has become quite a folk hero in the past few years. This diminutive, quiet woman could easily be taken in passing for anyone's "Bubbie," but RPG's unflinching legal opinions pack a giant intellectual punch. Her pursuit of gender equality first gained attention when she began arguing discrimination cases as an appellate lawyer. Attention became notoriety with her famous dissents from the Supreme Court bench in cases concerning issues of social justice ...This song cycle is the result of many hours of research, interviews with generous family, friends and colleagues, and discussion with "Notorious RBG" herself. The experience has been rewarding beyond my imagination - as a wonderful musical project, as an opportunity to know my husband's family more deeply, and as a tribute to someone who is revered by millions for her ethics, determination and achievements on behalf of others.

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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

James Maverick joined the Butler School of Music in 2021, where he teaches vocal accompanying and coaches singers. Since 2020, he has been music staff and Assistant Chorus Master at Cincinnati Opera, and has also been music staff at Austin Opera since 2023. He was chorus master and keyboardist for productions of Les pêcheurs des perles and Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, where he was also a Resident Artist from 2017-2019. While in Kansas City, he served on the coaching faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. He has prepared workshops of new operas through Austin Opera's LatinX Residency, Cincinnati's Opera Fusion: New Works program, and Opera Philadelphia. He has previously been a fellow with Wolf Trap Opera, the Merola Opera Program, and the Tanglewood Music Center, and he holds degrees in piano performance, choral conducting, and collaborative piano from Lawrence University and Indiana University.

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