On Sunday, August 28, 2016, at 3:00 pm, mezzo-soprano Kate Butler will present an all-English recital — “Words That I Gather” — featuring musical settings of the poetry of William Butler Yeats. Irish poet, dramatist and prose writer Yeats (1865-1939) received the Nobel prize for Literature in 1923 and is considered to be one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century. The recital includes songs by composers Ivor Gurney, Sidney Homer, Thomas Dunhill, Alec Wilder, Ned Rorem, Samuel Barber, Ben Moore, Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and others. Joining Ms. Butler in performance are pianist Michael Cotton and tenor Jon David Gruett. The recital will be performed at Ebenezer Church, 801 B. St., Lincoln, NE.
Mezzo-soprano KATE BUTLER has established herself as a singing artist both in the U.S.A. and abroad. Her professional career began with performances at the Chautauqua Opera Festival and continued with performances at Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, San Diego Opera, Opera Pacific, Orlando Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Cleveland Opera, Sacramento Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, Long Beach Opera, Nevada Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Ensemble of New York. She was the leading mezzo-soprano with the Bremen Opera in Germany for six years, where she sang Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Cherubino in Nozze di Figaro, Romeo in I Capuleti, Dorabella in Così fan Tutte, Orfeo in Orfeo, David in Saul and numerous other roles.
Currently dedicated to teaching, Ms. Butler is associate professor of music and voice area head at UNL, where she teaches voice, graduate diction, undergraduate diction and literature (French, German, Italian, and English) and directs the annual Friends of Opera Gala Fundraiser. Her students have won numerous awards and competitions and regularly star and perform in the operas and choral concerts. Her students have sung with professional opera companies as well as prestigious training programs, workshops, and concerts in the United States and abroad.
Additional Public Info:
Free and open to the public.