CCM voice professor Amy Johnson releases 'Portrait of an Artist'
The album features works by Richard Wagner, Stephen Schwartz, Anton Coppola and more
UC College-Conservatory of Music Associate Professor of Voice Amy Johnson released her first solo album, Portrait of an Artist, this summer. The album showcases Johnson’s wide range of vocal abilities and features works in six languages, including four pieces that have never been featured on professionally-released albums.
Lauded by the New York Times as “an intelligent artist" who "sings with confidence and impassioned lyricism,” the acclaimed soprano’s debut album has been in the works for several years. Each work on Portrait of an Artist is excerpted from an opera, including Wagner’s Die Walküre, Strauss’s Salome and Massenet’s Thaïs. Johnson portrays a wide range of characters, including a self-doubting courtesan, a charismatic servant of God and a disturbingly depraved teenager fulfilling a macabre last wish.
Amy Johnson. Photo/Provided by Amy Johnson.
“I hope to take the listener on a unique journey via the women represented, all of whom are complex, passionate characters,” Johnson says. “It was important to me to include newer works that I love by composers I deeply respect.”
“I have a strong personal connection to the repertoire selected, especially the works by the living composers. I was fortunate enough to create the role of Manuela in Musgrave’s Simón Bolívar at the Virginia Opera in 1995. A series of serendipitous encounters led Broadway legend Stephen Schwartz to grant me permission to record the Séance on a Wet Afternoon excerpt in advance of its world premiere.”
The soprano has been lauded over a three-decade career for her vocal versatility and extraordinary stage magnetism, combining the ability to portray youth with sufficient vocal brilliance to soar above the largest of orchestral forces.
The Iowa native began her career as a mezzo-soprano, with her first soprano effort coinciding with creating the role of Manuela in Thea Musgrave’s Simón Bolívar. She is perhaps best known for the title role in Puccini’s Tosca, which she has performed more than 100 times, and the title role in Richard Strauss’ Salome.
In recording the album, Johnson collaborated with Hungary’s MÁV Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Steven Mercurio, as well as guest vocal artists Emily Langford Johnson, Melissa Primavera and CCM Visiting Assistant Professor of Opera Vernon Hartman. Additionally, a cadre of Johnson’s students sang the necessary chorus parts.
When asked about the standout parts of the recording process for this album, Johnson says, “Everything stands out."
She notes a few highlights: "Stephen Schwartz coaching me. Schwartz and Mercurio discussing the orchestration of his piece. Maestro Mercurio’s steady, meticulous preparation, including obtaining hard to find orchestral parts from the Met, and the incredible musicians of the MAV orchestra. They weren’t used to soloists speaking to them! The day we recorded Kát’a Kabanová, the featured violist was so excited. He proudly showed me his bleeding fingers from practicing his solo so much, and he thanked me for the opportunity to play this great music.”
Portrait of an Artist be purchased through the MSR Classics website. It can be streamed via Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube, among other streaming services.
Story by CCM Graduate Student Alexandra Doyle
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