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Bronx Arts Ensemble Presents: Jay St. Flono in Recital at Christ Church Riverdale
February 25 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
FREE
In honor of Black History Month, Bronx Arts Ensemble presents soprano vocalist, author, cook, and composer Jay St. Flono for an evening of unique expression.
In collaboration with the Bronx Arts Ensemble, join Jay Saint Flono (sopranist) and Edward Callahan (piano) as they
perform two esoteric vocal recitals celebrating stories of lost love and spiritual passion with music from the 17th to the 21st centuries.
This program also includes the world premiere of “An Hymn to the Evening” an art song by James Thomas Dargan with text from celebrated African- American poet, Phillis Wheatley (1753- 1784).
PROGRAM
I
| There’s not a Swain Z. 587 no. 1 from Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1693) John Fletcher (1579 – 1625), playwright |
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) |
| Strike the Viol Z. 323 no. 5 from Come Ye Sons of Art (1694) Nahum Tate (1652 – 1715), poet |
|
| Come All Ye Songsters Z. 629 no. 7 from The Fairy Queen (1692) Elkanah Settle (1648 – 1724), poet |
II
| Amarilli mia bella published in Le nuove musiche (1601) Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 – 1612), poet |
Giulio Caccini (1551 – 1618) |
| Spesso vibra per suo gioco Anonymous, poet |
Alessandro Scarlatti (1659 – 1725) |
| Che fiero costume op. 14, published in 1678 from the cantata Echi di reverenzia Anonymous, librettist |
Giovanni Legrenzi (1626 – 1690) |
INTERMISSION
III
| Breit über mein Haupt Op. 19 no. 2 from Sechs Lieder aus Lotosblätter Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack (1815 – 1894), poet |
Richard Strauss (1864 – 1949) |
| Allerseelen Op. 10 no. 8 from Acht Gedichte aus Letzte Blätter Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg (1812 – 1864) |
|
| Zueignung Op. 10 no. 1 from Acht Gedichte aus Letzte Blätter Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg (1812 – 1864) |
IV
| I’ll Make Me a Man (Gen. 1:26) A song sermon excerpted from God’s Trombones No. I in My Favorite Spirituals James Weldon Johnson (1871 – 1938), poet |
arr. Roland Hayes (1887 – 1977) |
| In-a-Dat-Mornin’ Trad. Spiritual No. II in My Favorite Spirituals |
|
| Roun’ About de Mountain An Appalachian folk song No. X in My Favorite Spirituals |
V
| An Hymn to the Evening No. XVI in Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral (1773) Phillis Wheatley (1753 – 1784), poet |
James Thomas Dargan (1984 – ) |
| Sacred Ones a-Glowin’ from the opera-in-progress Spirit in the Vine: a Sankopera Jay Saint Flono (1990 – ), librettist |
James Thomas Dargan (1984 – ) |
JAY ST. FLONO
JAY ST. FLONO is a classical singer, actor, librettist, composer and author from Brooklyn, New York. Jay’s professional life in music began in 2004 after a successful audition as a treble/boy soprano for the Choir Academy of Harlem, singing with the Boys Choir at the Summer Music Institute at Skidmore College and at Madison Square Garden for the Republican National Convention. Jay initially trained as a lyric tenor in the Vocal Performance program at Mannes School of Music, minoring in Creative Writing at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, programming recitals of Lieder, Spirituals and Baroque art song and arias. Jay has performed as a soloist and ensemble-member in the world of Oratorio and African-American Sacred Music, including the Wendell Whalum Recital at the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference and Choir Directors/Organists Guild Workshop in Hampton, Virginia (2014) the Brooklyn Ecumenical Choir and most recently with the Brooklyn Contemporary Chorus as an Alto Soloist.
During the 2019/2020 season, Jay joined the Ensemble cast of New York City Opera for the premiere of Stonewall at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Shortly after, Jay began privately studying Voice with mezzo-soprano, Kori Jennings. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jay listened intently to their instrument as their voice began to further shift in a higher direction and vocally transitioned back to soprano during the Great Pause. Jay marked their return to live performance in autumn 2021 as the soprano soloist in the premiere of “Deep Blue Sea” with Bill T. Jones.
Jay has appeared as a chorister and as a soloist with the Unsung Collective in engagements at
Lincoln Center, The CARA, Co-Cathedral of Brooklyn and with visual artist Bethany Collins for America: A Hymnal. Recent engagements include recital, orchestral and chamber appearances with Harlem Opera Theater, the Grace Chorale of Brooklyn in Oratorium nach Bildern der Bibel and with SugarHill Salon for an in-progress cantata entitled Praise Song for the Flying Africans.
Jay was a 2019-2021 Librettist Fellow with Composers and the Voice (AOP) where they
completed the libretto, Spirit in the Vine. In 2024, Jay returns to opera performance where they will sing the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Killer Queen Opera.
EDWARD CALLAHAN
EDWARD CALLAHAN admired classical performers who wowed audiences in their tuxedos, but they didn’t look like him. He wanted to change that. As a teen, he won state and national competitions and was selected for a three-city musical by the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. He represented his hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan in the National NAACP ACT-SO Competition, and later moved to New York to pursue his dream to perform at Carnegie Hall.
While attending Nyack College, he served as pianist for the Nyack Touring Gospel Choir and
also opened at Lincoln Center with the ensemble. In addition to being a lead musician for such productions as, “The Wiz” in Central Park, he self-produced, “ The Minor Keys,” (2019) with works by Chopin and Schubert, and “Crazy Etudes” (2021) They ranked #1 on the Classical itunes charts, and #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Album Charts, respectively making history as the first African American pianist to reach #1. In 2023 he was a participant of the Inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition, where he reached the quarterfinals. Callahan is on the music staff at The Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and Union United Methodist Church in Brooklyn. He plans to release his third album in 2024.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and by District 11 Councilmember Eric Dinowitz and Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz