Friends making music for Wednesday concert

Sunday, August 3, 2014
Amy Hayes and Steven Linville to perform at Greencastle Music Festival Wednesday night at Gobin Church. (courtesy photo)

Back by popular demand after a hugely popular 2013 performance, DePauw University School of Music alumni vocalists Amy E. Hayes and Steven R. Linville and faculty pianist Amanda Hopson will return Wednesday for a free concert as the 2014 Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues.

The trio will perform vocal/piano selections in a at 7:30 p.m. concert titled "Inner Thoughts: An Evening of Reflective Works for Voice and Piano," in the sanctuary of Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.

Festival events are supported by donations from individuals, local businesses and a rapidly growing endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation.

The performance will feature both classical and musical theater selections performed by Hayes and Linville, who run Indianapolis-based Intimate Opera .

"We tried to select pieces to cover a wide range of emotions, but all still connected to an inner monologue for the character of the song," explained Linville, executive producer for Intimate Opera. "Some of these pieces will make you laugh, and some may even make you cry. We hope by the end of the evening we can share a bit of ourselves with you."

Festival artistic director and founder Eric Edberg, currently traveling in China, praised the performers.

"I'm sure Amy, Steven and Amanda will share much more than a bit of themselves. Their performance last year was exciting, engaging, entertaining and moving, and I was hearing praise about it for months. There was no question but that we had to have them back. I wish I could be there.. These three artists have been friends since Amy and Steven were School of Music students, so this concert is truly 'friends making music for friends.'"

Wednesday concert selections include art song such as "Songs of Travel" by Ralph Vaughan Williams and "Prayers from the Ark" by Theron Kirk -- a set of songs showcasing the prayers of the animals on Noah's Ark.

The recital will also feature operatic selections by Benjamin Britten and Bernard Herrmann, and will end with a collection of pieces from the musical theater repertoire ­-- including a "love" duet between Hayes and Linville.

Hayes received her bachelor's degree in vocal performance from DePauw, where she began her operatic career as the Fire and the Nightingale in Ravel's "L'enfant et les sortilèges." Further performances included Countess in Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" and Nella in Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi."

At DePauw, she developed a love for concert work as well when she was cast as the soprano soloist in Schola Cantorum's annual performance of Handel's "Messiah" and Orff's "Carmina Burana." She continued her vocal studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, augmenting her repertoire of often performed works with less common works from Baroque era composers.

Throughout her career Hayes has found various opportunities to express her versatile singing ability. Her roles range from many performances of the Countess to Rosalinda in "Die Fledermaus," First Lady in "Die Zauberflöte," the Fifth Maid in Richard Strauss's "Elektra," Antonia in "Les contes d'Hoffmann. "

Her love of opera and dedication to led her to found Intimate Opera of Indianapolis, with the mission to bring underperformed staged music and local talent to the Indianapolis area, where she now serves as executive director.

Linville has performed in a variety of roles, including Don Basilio (Le Nozze di Figaro), Gherardo (Gianni Schicchi), Pluto (Orpheus in the Underworld), Monostatos (The Magic Flute), Ivan (Die Fledermaus), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the world premiere of Bernard Rands' opera Vincent, and Mayor Upfold in Albert Herring.

He has also worked as director, musical director, and vocal coach for productions including "Bat Boy: The Musical," "Urinetown: The Musical," "The Who's: Tommy," "Children of Eden" and "Into the Woods." In addition to his opera and directing work, Linville has performed in musicals such as "Guys and Dolls" (Rusty Charlie), "Hello, Dolly!" (Rudy), "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!" (Charlie Brown), "The Music Man" (barbershop quartet, first tenor), "Godspell" (John the Baptist/Judas), Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" (Steward), "Cabaret" (Quartet; Nazi), "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" (Bazzard) and "Sweeney Todd" (Pirelli).

His most recent production was Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" as Sir Toby Belch.

Linville graduated cum laude from DePauw with a bachelor of music in vocal performance in 2006, and received his master of music in vocal performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2012. He now serves as executive producer for Intimate Opera, as well as music operations manager and part-time assistant professor of music at the DePauw School of Music, as well as maintaining a private voice studio.

Hopson is a summa cum laude graduate of Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., where she earned the bachelor of music degree in piano, studying with Dr. Sharon Kleinhuizen Jensen. She earned master's and doctoral degrees in piano at The University of Texas at Austin, where her principal teacher was Danielle Martin. While at Texas, she studied pedagogy with Martha Hilley and Amanda Vick Lethco and performed with the New Music Ensemble, working with visiting composers such as John Corigliano, William Kraft and Joan Tower.

Since moving to Indianapolis in 1998, she has worked extensively as a freelance artist, specializing in song accompaniment. She performs frequently as a master class accompanist for artists such as Elly Ameling, Leonard Hokanson and Nathan Gunn and has been heard in recital with former King's Singer Gabriel Crouch and Metropolitan Opera soprano Lise Lindstrom. Hopson serves as oordinator of keyboard studies, assistant professor of music and staff accompanist at DePauw.

The festival's final 2014 concerts will feature jazz/electric violinist Cathy Major is on Wednesday, Aug. 13 and "Stars of the School of Music," top returning performance majors, on Thursday, Aug. 21.

Now in its 10th season, the Greencastle Summer Music Festival presents free concerts, supported solely by donations from individuals and local businesses, celebrating friendship and community with "friends making music for friends." The (non-religious) concerts are held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the

sanctuary of Greencastle's Gobin Church.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: