AIDAN SODER MAKES SOLO APPEARANCE WITH HOUSTON SYMPHONY
On November 20-22, 2004, mezzo soprano Aidan Soder becomes the first Shepherd School vocalist to make a solo appearance with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. In a subscription series concert, Hans Graf conducts a performance of Mahler's Das klagende Lied and Schubert's Symphony No. 8, Unfinished in Jones Hall in Houston, Texas.
November 20, 21, 22, 2004
Houston Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Hans Graf, conductor
Twyla Robinson, soprano
Aidan Soder, mezzo soprano
Gregory Turaym tenor
For tickets or information phone 713-224-7575
Mezzo soprano AIDAN SODER displays her exceptional versatility through the diversity of her orchestral, chamber, opera, and art song repertoire. Ms. Soder’s chamber repertoire includes performances of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, Luciano Berio’s Circles, Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses, André Caplet’s Septet, as well as other chamber works by Ibert, Crumb, Chausson, and Ellsworth Milburn. She has performed with orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, including the Delaware Symphony, the Lancaster Symphony, the Omaha Chamber Symphony, as well as with orchestras in Austria and England. Ms. Soder’s concert and oratorio performances include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mass in C, the Bach Magnificat, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Messiah, Honegger’s King David, Mozart’s Requiem, Cherubini’s Missa Solemnis No.2, and the Verdi Requiem.
Ms. Soder sang for two consecutive seasons with Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York where she performed the role of Mrs. Vandeveer in Sousa’s The Glass Blowers, as well as a performance of Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro. Other opera credits include Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance; Katisha in The Mikado; Florence Pike in Britten’s Albert Herring; the Abbess in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly; as well as concert excerpts from L’italiana in Algeri, Werther, The Rape of Lucretia, Maria Stuarda, and Don Carlo.
An esteemed interpreter of art song, Ms. Soder’s recital repertoire is extensive and varied. Her programming often focuses on contemporary music and French music of the early twentieth century, and has included such works as André Caplet’s Le vieux coffret, Argento’s From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Five Greek Songs, John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs, and Ned Rorem’s Poems of Love and the Rain. Most recently, Ms. Soder performed and lectured on Arnold Schoenberg’s Opus 15, The Book of the Hanging Gardens. Future engagements include performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Respighi’s Il Tramonto, and the premiere of Tagore Love Songs, a song cycle by Houston composer Karim Al-Zand.
A native of Omaha, NE, Ms. Soder currently resides in Houston, TX with her ten-year old daughter, Caitlin. She is in the process of completing a doctorate in music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under the instruction of Joyce Farwell. Ms. Soder was heard earlier this year by Houston Symphony audiences on the interAct! series concerts, “Did Mozart Like His Father?” These performances, however, mark her debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
