Song on the Rio Grande Presents “Liederabend” at TAMIU Saturday
Prepare to have a splendid evening of German art song at the upcoming Song on the Rio Grande Vocal Series Liederabend Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Texas A&M International University Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall.
Admission is free and open to the public.
Baritone Scott LaGraff and pianist Andrew Hudson will perform songs by several Romantic composers—Franz Schubert, Carl Loewe, Hugo Wolf and Robert Schumann.
“My colleagues, Suzanne Ramo-Gechter and Dr. Friedrich Gechter, and I are thrilled to present another opportunity for our students and all of Laredo to hear performances of some of the most celebrated Lieder ever written, and from exemplary interpreters like Scott LaGraff and Andrew Hudson,” said Dana Crabtree, vocal instructor.
“There is also a cross-disciplinary interest in that our piano students will get to hear a true specialist in collaborative piano, Andrew Hudson,” Crabtree added.
The guest artists will also hold a master class Saturday, Oct. 15 at noon with four TAMIU voice students.
Dr. LaGraff is a graduate of the Tri-Cities Opera Resident Artist Training Program in Binghamton, N.Y., where he sang the title roles in Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro, The Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Capulet in Roméo et Juliette—among others—and was a recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
He appears frequently with Opera East Texas and has performed the roles of Schaunard in La bohème and Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore. LaGraff has also sung roles with the Syracuse, Tulsa, Pensacola, and Westchester Hudson opera companies.
The Athens, Ohio, native received the Bachelor of Music degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Master of Music degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University.
LaGraff’s first CD, Songs by Stephen Lias, Michael Patterson and Lee Hoiby, which he recorded with Dr. Hudson, was released internationally by Centaur Records in 2009.
Over the past 20 years, Hudson has performed more than 2,000 songs and arias with singers from around the world, including alumni of the Bayreuth Leibzig, Metropolitan, New York City, and Nice Operas and the National Opera of Prague and collaborative performances in Austria, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Mexico and throughout the U.S.
The Winston-Salem Journal described his performance as “poised, confident, and enthralled. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote his performance exhibited “powerful virtuosity paired with philosophic peace.”
Hudson, currently on the faculties of McLennan Community College and Baylor University, is an avid proponent of contemporary song and has premiered many works by award-winning American composers.
He has also been the rehearsal pianist for the Lyric Opera Waco, a faculty pianist at the American Institute of Music Studies in Graz, Austria, principal lieder coach for Lied Austria and musical director for Baylor Opera.
A native of Nashville, Tenn., Hudson holds degrees in piano performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Texas at Austin.
The Rio Grande Vocal Series is presented by Song on the Rio Grande, a collaborative group formed in conjunction with Laredo Community College to provide an opportunity for students at LCC and TAMIU to participate in master classes, roundtable discussions and the chance to learn alongside some of the nation’s top performers.
For additional information, contact Crabtree at 326.3040 or email dcrabtree@tamiu.edu. Contact Ramo-Gechter at 326.2654 or email suzanne.ramo@tamiu.edu
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