RWSUM 19th Annual Founders Day Dinner
~ Friday, September 22nd ~
Please join us for our
Nineteenth Annual Founders Day Dinner
Friday September 22nd
6:15 – 9:30 PM
The Black Forest Inn
1 East 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Parking in back; Off street parking available
You are cordially invited to the 19th Annual Founders Day Dinner of The Richard Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest!
RWSUM Business Meeting 6:15 - 6:30 PM
Society Updates and Election of Officers
Social Hour 6:30 - 7:15 PM
Mini ham & sauerkraut balls on toothpicks
Cheese and vegetable on toothpicks
Choice of one glass of red or white wine
***** PROGRAM UPDATE *****
Music Program 7:15 - 8:00 PM
Richard Wagners operas have left a profound mark on the world since he created them in the mid- to late-ninetieth century. The music is powerful, sweeping, yet also tender and aching, with a range both epic and intimate. The themes he explores are the most extreme in our human experience. They are both grand and public as well as intimate and internal, dealing with issues of life and death, power, greed, passionate love, and the complexities of relationships. His influence was, and is, impossible to ignore.
Wagner is also the epitome of the Romantic artist, giving full reign to his creativity and passion, and represents no less an ambition than of Art changing the world. This model has changed during the course of the tumultuous and lethal twentieth century, which in some ways played out the themes in his operas, but there are still so many aspects of Wagners art that can be celebrated and live on in music, opera, theater and film today. His work continues to captivate and enthrall and remains a reference point and comparison for other artistic endeavors.
The musical program at this years Founders Dinner celebrates this passion and range with duets and solos from Tannhäuser, Tristan, Die Walküre and Siegfried, and a surprise or two, with artists who are devoted to keeping this art alive.
“Winterstürme, wichen dem Wonnemond” Die Walküre
"Du bist der lenz" Die Walküre
“Nothung! Nothung! Neidliches Schwert!” Siegfrieds Forging Song
Verborgenheit - Hugo Wolf
“O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe” (Act 2 Love Duet) - Tristan
Heimliche Aufforderung - Richard Strauss
“Dich theure Halle” Tannhäuser
“Den Gott der leibe sollst...Gepreisen sei die Stünde” (Act 2 Duet Scene) Tannhäuser
Megan Wagner - Soprano
Obed Floan - Tenor
Roderick Phipps-Kettlewell - Piano
Profiles below
***** UPDATE OF DINNER MENU *****
Dinner 8:00 - 9:00 PM
Dinner at attendee's own expense. *Menu available options:
Vegetable Strudel $12.00
Sausage Sampler $14.50
Sauerbraten Dinner $20.50, Half-portion $11.25
Hungarian Goulash Dinner $16.75, Half-portion $9.75
Dessert options:
Hazelnut Torte $7.50
Apple Strudel $7.50, Half-slice $4.00
*Due to the late announcement of the limited menu, the Black Forest Staff should be able to accomodate should you want an entree not on this list.
Discussion 9:00 - 9:30 PM
The cost for this event for entertainment and hors d'oeuvres:
$10 RWSUM Members
$20 Non Members
All Reservations must be received by 20 September 2017
This is a reservation event. Walk-ins cannot be accommodated.
Reservations are not accepted by phone. Tickets may be purchased online by clicking BUY TICKETS NOW or by mailing a check to:
The Richard Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest
P. O. Box 3804
Minneapolis MN 55403
Roderick Phipps-Kettlewell, Pianist
London-born pianist Roderick Phipps-Kettlewell now lives in Stillwater, MN. He received his musical training in England, France and at the Juilliard School, and has performed throughout Europe and the United States, most notably at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, having been based in London, New York, Boston and the Twin Cities.
Roderick’s multifaceted musical career includes performing song recitals, chamber music, conducting choirs, orchestras, and collaborating with violinists to saxophonists. In addition, he has played Broadway shows, worked in straight theater, and coaches opera, musical theater and song repertoire. He has a great love for the Wagnerian opera and enjoys the dramatic range and intensity of the music.
He has recorded almost 40 CDs and sold over one million copies. Currently he is finishing a memoir for Calumet Editions, incorporating his ideas on ways to develop more imagination, creativity and expression in the training of musicians.
More information can be found at www.amademusic.com
Obed Floan, Heldentenor
It is rare for someone in the 21s t century to possess the natural qualities of the Heldentenor voice that is reminiscent of the golden age of opera. Obed Floan has been hailed as having a voice "with unforced power, purity of tone, and all the vocal bloom of youth" and possessing a "genuine helden sound" (Wagner Society of Ohio) and sang "Nothung! Nothung! from Wagner's Siegfried in a voice of spun gold" (Brooklyn Daily Eagle).
Floan began his operatic career singing the roles of First Armored Man in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Basilio in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Mr. Upfold in Britten's Albert Herring,
King Kaspar in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Judge Gray in Burrs' Vanqui, Lord Arturo Bucklaw and Normanno in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Arrigo in Verdi's La battaglia di Legnano, and Tito in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.
Floan has experience performing as the tenor soloist in oratorio masterpieces that include Handel's Messiah, Saint-Saëns' Oratorio de Noël, Schubert's Mass in G and Mass
in A-flat, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Haydn's The Creation, Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Dubois' The Seven Last Words of Christ, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Being a genuine Heldentenor, Floan has taken time to truly understand his voice. While studying, Floan has had the opportunity to perform Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio, Laça in Janáček's Jenůfa, Second Nazarene in Strauss' Salome with Minnesota Opera, Parpignol from Puccini's La Bohème and The Chaplin in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites both with Des Moines Metro Opera.
Floan has had training specifically for Wagnerian voices, which include selected role performances of Siegfried, Tannhäuser, and Tristan at the Wagner Intensive in Berea,
Ohio. Recent successes include being chosen from an international pool of contestants as one of 16 singers considered to be the world's greatest up-and-coming Wagnerian singers selected to participate in the 2010 Lauritz Melchior International Singing Competition under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II held in Aalborg, Denmark. The competition was the largest in the world of its kind, whose goal was to find and profile
the best young Wagnerian singers. In 2012 and 2013, Floan was a winner of The Wagner Society of New York Encouragement Grant. Floan is also a 2015 finalist of the Classical Singer Magazine International Vocal Competition Emerging Professional Division and the 2015 winner of The Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition - Wagner Division, which resulted in Floan's Carnegie Hall Debut in April 2015.
Megan Wagner, Soprano
Ms. Wagner obtained her Master of Music degree from the University of Minnesota where she performed the role of Kostelnicka in Jenůfa. She also performed scenes from Die Walküre as Sieglinde, Die Zauberflöte as 2nd Lady, Der fliegende Holländer as Senta, and Peter Grimes as Ellen Orford. She was guest soloist for the Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest, and traveled to Lichtenberg, Germany to study with Siegfried Jerusalem at the Haus Marteau Internationale Musikbegegnungsstätte.
While a doctoral fellow at the University of Oklahoma, Ms. Wagner performed the roles of Dianna in Iphigènie en Tauride, Bradamante in Alcina, and Arminda in La finta giardiniera. She performed scenes as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito in Verona, Italy, Elsa in Lohengrin and Irene in Rienzi with the BW Wagner Intensive.
Ms. Wagner has performed the role of Prince Charming in Cendrillon with Garden of Song Opera, performed scenes as Aida in Aida, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Desdemonda in Otello, Marietta in Die tote Stadt, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi in Oklahoma, Elvira in Ernani with the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra in Minnesota, and Brünnhilde in Die Walküre – Act III with the Bloomington Symphony.
Concert soloist performances have included Bach’s Wachet Auf, Haydn’s The Creation, Puccini’s Messa De Gloria, Schubert’s Mass in A Flat, Mass in G, Mass in C Major, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Missa Brevis in C, Missa Brevis in D, Coronation Mass, Regina coeli in C Major, and Kodaly’s Missa Solemnis.
