March 10: Carnegie Hall Presents Mezzo-Soprano Samantha Hankey in Debut Recital

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
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Carnegie Hall Presents Mezzo-Soprano 
Samantha Hankey in Debut Recital
with Sophie Raynaud, piano

Weill Recital Hall – Friday, March 10, 2023 at 7:30pm

Performing a Program of Art Songs by Berg, Mahler, 
Schoenberg, Strauss, Ravel, Zemlinsky, and Satie

“dusky focus and hypnotic allure” – The Times

“much elegance and youthful tone” – Financial Times

“utterly exquisite" – Herald Scotland

www.samanthahankey.com
 

New York, NY (January 31, 2023) – Praised for her “luscious” voice and “distinctive…vividly dramatic” performances by Opera News, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey makes her Carnegie Hall recital debut on Friday, March 10, 2023 at 7:30pm in Weill Recital Hall as part of Great Singers III: Evenings of Song. 

Hankey shares, “After having postponed this recital for over 2 years, when revisiting the program material I wanted it to be a celebration filled with music I adore and have always wanted to perform. Highlights include Ravel’s masterpiece, Schéhérazade, and selections of Schönbergs cabaret songs, the Brettl Lieder. 

"The first half of the recital was inspired by Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder, and my hope to explore and expand upon a journey from night to day, largely through repertoire from the second Viennese school and its predecessors. The inclusion of repertoire by Alma Mahler (who was herself a student of Zemlinsky) was particularly important to me because her music brings a female writing perspective from this time and is the perfect vehicle to highlight the evolution in compositional style of the early 20th century.”

Samantha Hankey opened her 2022-2023 season as Federico García Lorca in Golijov’s Ainadamar at Scottish Opera and in January 2023, made her house debut as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel at Chicago Lyric Opera, before she reprises the role of Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Palm Beach Opera. In summer 2023, Hankey makes her role and house debut as Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande at Santa Fe Opera.

Program Information
Carnegie Hall Presents Samantha Hankey, Mezzo-Soprano with Sophie Raynaud, Piano
Friday, March 10, 2023 at 7:30pm 
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall | New York, NY
Link: www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2023/03/10/Samantha-Hankey-MezzoSoprano-Sophie-Raynaud-Piano-0730PM

Program:
Alban Berg – "Nacht" from Sieben frühe Lieder
Alma Mahler – "Laue Sommernacht" from Fünf Lieder
Alban Berg – "Schilflied" from Sieben frühe Lieder
Alma Mahler –  "In meines Vaters Garten" from Fünf Lieder
Alexander von Zemlinsky – Selections from 6 Lieder auf Gedichte von Maurice Maeterlinck, Op. 13
      "Die drei Schwestern" 
      "Die Mädchen mit den verbundenen Augen"
      "Als ihr Geliebter schied" 
      "Und kehrt er einst heim" 
Arnold Schoenberg – "Erwartung" from Vier Lieder, Op. 2
Alban Berg – "Schliesse mir die Augen beide" (1907 version)
Richard Strauss – "Malven"
Richard Strauss – "Der Stern," Op. 69, No. 1
Richard Strauss – "Frühlingsfeier," Op. 56, No. 5
Alban Berg – "Sommertage" from Sieben frühe Lieder
Maurice Ravel – Selections from Valses nobles et sentimentales 
   "Modere tres franc"
   "Assez lent avec une expression intense"
Maurice Ravel –  Shéhérazade
Alexander von Zemlinsky – "Mit Wärme," Op. 1, No. 1
Arnold Schoenberg –  "Galathea" from Brettl-Lieder
Alexander von Zemlinsky – "Flüchtig," Op. 1, No. 2
Arnold Schoenberg –  "Gigerlette" from Brettl-Lieder
   "Sehr schnell und leicht," Op. 1, No. 4
Arnold Schoenberg –  "Der genügsame Liebhaber" from Brettl-Lieder
Erik Satie – "La diva de l'Empire"

About Samantha Hankey
Praised for her “luscious” voice and “distinctive…vividly dramatic” performances by Opera News, Samantha Hankey has established herself as one of the leading young mezzo sopranos of her generation. Increasingly lauded for her powerful stage presence, Samantha shines when faced with a complex character, praised for her “exquisite feeling… and a certain splendour” (The Arts Desk).

Samantha made significant house and role debuts in the 2021-2022 season at the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, San Diego Opera, and Ruggiero in Glyndebourne Festival’s new production of Alcina. She made her role debut as Prince Charmant in Cendrillon at the Metropolitan Opera, and her house debut in the same role at the Opéra de Paris, before returning to Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper, where she held a contract from 2019-2021. In 2019, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Pantalis in Mefistofele, and returned to The Met for Adriana Lecouvreur, Carmen, Das Rheingold, Götterdämmerung, and Rigoletto, debuting a myriad of named roles within a single season. Other recent house debuts include Opernhaus Zürich, Den Norske Opera, The Dallas Opera, and Grand Théâtre de Genève. 

On the concert stage, Samantha performed the title role in Handel’s Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro in Turku, Finland; Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Hélèn at Bard Festival; and Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall. She has been presented in solo recitals at Wigmore Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Equally at home with new music, Samantha has a longstanding relationship with composer David Herzberg, with whom she co-developed the title role in The Rose Elf as well as The Fairy Prince in The Wake World. She also has been involved in numerous world premieres including productions with Opera Philadelphia and The Metropolitan Opera. 

In 2018, she won both First Prize and Media Prize at the Inaugural Glyndebourne Cup, as well as multiple prizes at the Operalia Competition and a Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, following an earlier 2016 award of a Sara Tucker Study Grant. In 2017, she was named a Grand Finals Winner by the Metropolitan Opera National Council, took First Prize in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, and received a Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship.

Samantha is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. A native of Massachusetts, Samantha sang with the Boston Children’s Chorus, attended the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and pursued pre-college training at the Longy School of Music and New England Conservatory. Learn more at www.samanthahankey.com. 

*Photo Credit: Faymous

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