UTNMF: Tuesday Voice Series-Canadian Art Song Showcase
80 Queens Park
80 Queens Park
Norbert Palej, festival coordinator
The University of Toronto New Music Festival and the Student National Association of Teachers of Singing present a very special concert including works by Vivian Fung, the Roger D. Moore Distinguished Visitor in Composition, alongside works by student composers from the Faculty of Music.
Tuesday Noon Series:
UTNMF – Canadian Art Song Showcase
Songs of the Living World: Music of Nature, Loss, and Tranquility
Featuring singers and instrumentalists from the Faculty of Music.
The Tuesday Noon Series is made possible in part by a generous gift from Dianne W. Henderson.
PROGRAM
Silver
Pari Bahrami
Eve Channell, soprano; Hasselhoff Chen, cello; Julia Hrejla, piano
Six Haiku
Vivian Fung*
I.
II.
Henry Paterson, baritone; Joyce Zheng, piano
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
Charlie Sadler, baritone; Joyce Zheng, piano
Novembre
Ernest Lavigne
Charis Li, soprano; Nathaniel Kulin, baritone; Hayden Thomas, piano
Kosh Khofti
Rasa Ghaedi
Théa Nappert, soprano; Azzy Lin, piano
Swift and Sure the Swallow (Songs of Childhood)
Vivian Fung
Wen-Shan Wang, soprano; Ginger Lam, piano
Crown of Bones
Elienna Wong
May Sadan, soprano; Victoria Chan, soprano; Adrian Tsui, piano
Lullaby II (Songs of Childhood)
Vivian Fung
Claire Jun, soprano; Cooper Pearson, piano
Take Me To A Green Isle
Walter MacNutt
Varuni Papade, soprano; Therèse Benoza, piano
Je ne regarderai ni l’or (Demain dès l’aube)
Justin Lapierre
Mia Paunovic, mezzo-soprano; Amy Lee, piano
Lullaby I (Songs of Childhood)
Vivian Fung
Kaaren Mastache-Martinez, soprano; YuLing Chen, piano
* Vivian Fung is the 2026 Roger D. Moore Distinguished Visitor in Composition.
This event is made possible in part by a grant from the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Silver | Pari Bahrami
Text by Walter de la Mare
Slowly silently now the moon walks the night in her silver shoon
Slowly the moon walks the night in her silver shoon
This way and that she peers and sees silver fruit apon silver trees
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thach
Couched in his kennel like a log
With paws of silver sleeps the dog
From their shadowy cote the white breasts sleep of doves in a silver feathered sleep
A harvest mouse goes scampering by a harvest mouse goes scampering by
With silver claws and silver eye with silver claws
From their shadowy cote the white breasts sleep of doves in a silver feathered sleep
A moveless fish in the water gleam by silver reeds in a silver stream
This way and that she peers and sees silver fruit apon silver trees
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thach
Slowly
Six Haiku | Vivian Fung
I. Ware to kite
asobe ya oya no
nai suzume
I. Come with me and play,
Motherless,
fatherless sparrow
- Issa
II. Oki yo oki yo
waga tomo ni sen
neru kochō
II. Wake up wake up
Sleepy b butterfly
Come let us be friends!
- Bashō
III. Shizukasa ya
iwa ni shimiiru
semi no koe
III. The stillness-
voices of the cicadas
Penetrate the rocks
- Bashō
IV. Mizu no tsuki
mondori utte
nagarekeri
IV. Moon in the water
Turned a pirouette
And floated away
- Ryōta
V. Sono koe de
hitotsu odore yo
naku kawazu
V. With that voice
Come, give me a little dance,
Croaking frog
- Issa
VI. Botan saite
Atari ni hana no
Naki gotoshi
VI. When the peonies bloomed,
all the other flowers
Seemed to vanish
- Kiitsu
Novembre | Ernest Lavigne
by Narcisse-Henri-Édouard Faucher de Saint-Maurice
Novembre étend sur nos campagnes
Son manteau chargé de frimas
Et sur le flanc de nos montagnes
L’orme blanchit sous le verglas
Soyez rêveuses jeunes filles
Ce mois vous dit où vous courez:
Regardez ces vertes charmilles
Elles passent vous passerez
Là-bas, dans les bois pas une aile
N'abrite les doux nids d'oiseaux,
L’on ne voit plus que la sarcelle,
Errante encor, sous les roseaux
Bientôt elle aussi du grand fleuve
quittera les talus glacés;
Comme elle enfants aux jours d’épreuve,
Vous aussi vous nous quitterez
November casts over our countryside
Its mantle laden with frost
And on the slopes of our mountains
The elm tree whitens under the ice
Be wistful, young girls
This month shows you where you are bound:
Look at those green arbors
They fade, so will you
Over there, in the woods, not a wing
Shelters the sweet birds' nests,
All that can be seen is the teal,
Still wandering beneath the reeds
Soon it too will leave the great river
And its icy banks;
Like it, children, in times of trial,
You too will leave us
Kosh Khofti | Rasa Ghaedi
by Rumi
Dooshine marā gozāshti khosh khofti
Dooshine khosh khofti
Emshab be daghal be har sooi miyofti
Be har sooi miyofti
Goftam ke marā tā be ghiyāmat
be ghiyāmat
mā joftim koo ān sokhani ke vaghte masti gofti?
koo ān? koo ān?
koo ān ke vaghte masti gofti? koo ān ke gofti?
Last night you left me and slept on your own
Last night on your own
Tonight you are all over the place
I said
That you will be my partner
until the end of the world
Where are those words you said to me
when you were drunk?
Swift and Sure the Swallow (Songs of Childhood) | Vivian Fung
by Christina Rossetti
Swift and sure the swallow,
Slow and sure the snail
Slow and sure may miss his way
Swift and sure may fail
Crown of Bones | Elienna Wong
Text 1: 己亥岁感事
【唐】曹松
泽国江山入战争图,
生民如计乐樵苏。
凭君莫话封侯事,
一将功成万骨枯。
A reflection on the year of Jǐhài
Cao Song 【Tang Dynasty】
Our home is battleground.
No place to live, no place to farm.
What honour is there in thy crown,
If millions perish for every battle won.
Text 2 : Bleuet
by Guillaume Apollinaire
Jeune homme
De vingt ans
Qui as vu des choses si affreuses
Que penses-tu des hommes de ton enfance
Tu connais la bravoure et la ruse
Tu as vu la mort en face plus de cent fois
Tu ne sais pas ce que c’est que la vie
Transmets ton intrépidité
À ceux qui viendront
Après toi
Jeune homme
Tu es joyeux ta mémoire est ensanglantée
Ton âme est rouge aussi
De joie
Tu as absorbé la vie de ceux qui sont morts près de toi
Tu as de la décision
Il est 17 heures et tu saurais
Mourir
Sinon mieux que tes aînés
Du moins plus pieusement
Car tu connais mieux la mort que la vie
Ô douceur d’autrefois
Lenteur immémoriale
Rookie
English translation by Richard Stokes
Young man
Of twenty,
You who have seen such horrible things,
What do you think of the men from your childhood?
You know what bravery is and cunning
You have faced death more than a hundred times
You do not know what life is
Hand down your fearlessness
To those who shall come
After you
Young man
You are joyous your memory is steeped in blood
Your soul is red also
With joy
You have absorbed the life of those who died beside you
You are resolute
It is 1700 hrs and you would know
How to die
If not better than your elders
At least with greater piety
For you are better acquainted with death than life
Oh sweetness of bygone days
Slow-moving beyond all memory
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)
Lullaby II (Songs of Childhood) | Vivian Fung
Text by Christina Rossetti
Love me-I love you
Love me, my baby
Sing it high, sing it low
Sing it as may be.
Mother’s arms under you
Her eyes above you
Sing it high, sing it low
Love me, i love you
Take Me To A Green Isle | Walter MacNutt
by H. E. Foster
Take me to a green isle
Lay me softly there
Where dew is on the roses
And peace is in the air
The white of creeping breakers
The sand of rich, fine gold
Singing fountains playing
To ease my heart so cold
Take me to a green isle
Lay me softly there
Where dew is on the roses
And peace is in the air
Je ne regarderai ni l’or (Demain dès l’aube) | Justin Lapierre
by Victor Hugo
Je ne regarderai ni l’or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et, quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.
I will watch neither the evening gold fall,
Nor the faraway sailboats descending upon Harfleur.
And when I arrive, I will put on your grave
A bouquet of green holly and heather in bloom.
Lullaby I (Songs of Childhood) | Vivian Fung
Text by Christina Rossetti
Lie-a-bed
Sleepy head
Shut up eyes, bo-beep
Till daybreak
Never wake
Baby, sleep