Longy School of Music of Bard College Honors Long-Time Educator, the Late Ruth Gessner-Schocken as Part of Centennial Celebration 10.16.15

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Acclaimed soprano Ann Moss (MM ’02) will return to her alma mater, Longy School of Music of Bard College, to honor long-time Longy educator Ruth Gessner-Schocken as part of the school’s year-long centennial celebration. The concert will feature the world premiere of Longy alumnus and Boston University faculty member Vartan Aghababian’s (MM ’02) “Erbsensuppenlieder” and the East Coast premiere of Guggenheim Fellow Jake Heggie’s “Newer Everyday: Songs for Kiri.” The concert is funded by the Gessner family and honors the legacy of Ms. Gessner-Schocken, a musician, educator, philanthropist, champion of Israel and Palestine peace, and long-time supporter and faculty member at Longy. Ruth Gessner-Schocken, along with her husband, established the Gessner-Schocken concert series in 1994 to “bring young artists of the highest calibre” to perform at Longy and share their talents with the music community in Cambridge and Greater Boston. Admission to the concert is free, but ticket reservations are recommended and available at longy.edu/moss. “We’ve presented the Gessner-Schocken concert annually for the past 20 years, but this year as we celebrate our centennial, it’s particularly meaningful,” said Longy President Karen Zorn. “Ruth was someone who exemplified the personal touch that Longy is known for. She was extremely devoted to her students and the arts community, and that passion is something that was immediately conveyed to everyone who met her.” “Returning to Longy to perform [at the Gessner-Schocken concert] during the centennial celebration is a homecoming, not just because the Boston area is my home, but also because the artistic collaborators and mentors I encountered at Longy are like family to me,” said Moss. “There was a level of intimacy at Longy that allowed for deeper connections. Not only the intimacy between students and faculty, afforded by small class sizes and inter-departmental cross-pollination, but in the very nature of the way we students were encouraged to collaborate with one another, as artists. Over the years, my relationships with the composers, singers and chamber players I met at Longy have continued to deepen, becoming anchors for so many aspects of my creative work.”

Vartan Aghababian (MM ’02): Three Songs for soprano, viola & piano (1988-2010) Aghababian: “Songs of a Second April” (2007) Aghababian: “Erbsensuppenlieder” (2015, world premiere), dedicated to Ruth Gessner-Schocken John Woods Duke: Three Sonnets for voice, viola & piano (1959) Samuel Barber: “Nuvoletta, Op. 25” (1947) Claude Debussy: “L'isle joyeuse” (1904) Jake Heggie: “Newer Every Day: Songs for Kiri” (2014, East Coast premiere)

Ann Moss, soprano (MM '02) Steven Bailey, piano Justin Ouelette, viola (UD '15)

About Ann Moss: Soprano Ann Moss is an ardent and acclaimed champion of contemporary vocal music who performs and collaborates with a dynamic array of American composers. Her high, silvery, flexible voice has been singled out by Opera News for its “beautifully pure floated high notes” and by San Francisco Classical Voice for its “powerful expression” and “exquisite phrasing.” In addition to working closely with well-known composers such as Jake Heggie, John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis and Wayne Peterson, Ann seeks out and performs music by emerging voices at forums and festivals across the USA. Moss will team up with pianists Steven Baily and Jake Heggie cellist Emil Miland, violinist Isaac Allen, and GRAMMY® award winning ensemble Chanticleer to record songs by Heggie, Wade, Lennon/McCartney, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan for her sophomore album, “Love Life,” slated for release in Spring, 2016.

A co-founder and artistic director of new-music repertory group CMASH, Moss has been personally responsible for the creation and premiere of over eighty art songs, works of vocal chamber music and operatic roles, and has been a featured soloist with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, SF Contemporary Music Players, Earplay, Eco Ensemble, the Ives, Alexander, and Hausmann String Quartets, Composers in Red Sneakers, at FENAM, Other Minds Festival, Fresno New Music, PARMA and Switchboard Music Festival, among others. For more information, visit www.annmosssoprano.com.

About Ruth Gessner-Schocken: A pillar of the Longy community, Mrs. Gessner-Schocken’s association with Longy began when she was hired to teach German Diction in 1978. She was a staunch advocate of education and learning, and a passionate supporter of students. “With Ruth, age was meaningless,” said Dean Wayman Chin. “She was ever young in spirit and young at heart. She loved young people and over the years, many of our students were her beneficiaries – enjoying opportunities to perform at her home, to share her love of song literature and, above all, to experience her passion for music.” Longy’s Centennial 1915-2015 Longy’s illustrious faculty and talented students, alumni, and special guests from around the world will be featured throughout the year to celebrate the school’s centennial. Highlights include: world premieres performed by the Longy Conservatory Orchestra and Longy’s Sistema Side by Side Orchestra; the 3rd Annual Sistema Side By Side Celebration; the presentation of works from the winning entries from Longy’s call for 100-second compositions; specially curated chamber concerts; and the debut of a new Longy in the City concert series that will place students and faculty in popular and non-traditional venues throughout the Greater Boston area. The festivities will be punctuated by dynamic showcases celebrating important figures in Longy’s history, while also connecting progressive trends in music from the past 100 years to today’s ever-evolving fields of music performance and teaching artistry. For regular updates on the full list of centennial activities, visit longy.edu/Longy100.