Review: A Weekend in Kentucky: Three Music Performances from Kentucky Universities with a Visit to the Bluegrass
I hope that readers will seek out these performances not only for the music itself, but as a reason to travel, to discover new places, and to become more attuned to the communities in which they live—participating in a cultural life that reflects on music, theater, and the higher thought of the arts.
The weekend also included a stay at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill near Harrodsburg and at the new Trail Hotel in Bardstown. Driving through the rolling hills and graceful countryside of the Bluegrass, with its stone walls and long fences, one is reminded of an earlier Kentucky—of a landscape that seems to carry the memory of the Commonwealth just beginning.
The End of the Week at the Top of the Hill
My weekend started with a surprising program with the Western Kentucky University Symphony. The promise of a full string sound of a Tchaikovsky symphony is always welcome.
Dr. Brian St. John, Conductor WKU Symphony
Dr. Jessie Welsh, Piano Soloist
Finlandia, Opus 26 (1900) Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Concerto in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra (1934) Florence Price (1887-1953)
Andantino
Adagio cantabile
Allegretto
Pause
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Opus 64 (1888) Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Andante-Allegro con anima
Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza
Valse: Allegro moderato
Finale: Andante maestoso-Allegro vivace
The stately “Finlandia”, Opus 26, by Jean Sibelius, opened the concert with its profound brass section opening and evolved into a full symphonic sound featuring the string section and French Horns filling the hall with distortionless sound.
The Concerto in D minor by Florence Price was performed by Dr. Jessie Welsh. It is a serious piece of music with the breadth and depth of the great masters. The piece demands not only detailed skill from the pianist but also the ability to produce an ample sound amidst a lushly textured orchestration. It certainly deserves to be on symphonic programs the world over. Kudos to the orchestra and Dr. Welsh for a beautiful performance.
Price’s life story is not only a miracle but also a testament to how music can lift people out of their circumstances and into a completely different level of existence. I hope to feature American composers as Musiterania grows.
Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony hardly needs any introduction. The first bars of the piece lay the groundwork for what is Tchaik’s principal theme, the vast emptiness of the Russian landscape represented by the lush string sounds that characterise his music.
The WKU Symphony, conducted by Dr. Brian St. John, handled this masterpiece extremely well. That the orchestra can even approach such a demanding work reflects many years of string development in the Bowling Green and Warren County area, the result of WKU’s long-standing commitment to music education. This is no small accomplishment, and it does not happen without the dedication of the professors on The Hill and the leadership of music educators in the public schools. The profound work of Dr. Ching-Yi Lin with the violins, Sarah Berry with the cellos, and Dr. Andrew Braddock with the violas becomes especially apparent when an ensemble takes on a string repertoire of this scale.
These performances are done once. They are ‘rare’ in this area, to say the least. That makes them valuable. You can listen to all of the recordings you want, it will never match a live sound. My job is to make people aware of these performances well in advance so as many people as possible can benefit from them.
A Little Piece in a Small Town with a Few People
When I contacted my long-time friend and colleague, Dr. Sherri Phelps, to say that I was coming to Lexington, she invited me to attend a performance of “The Old Maid and the Thief” at Asbury University. I had never been to Wilmore, Kentucky, just 20 minutes away from Pleasant Hill and on the road to Lexington.
I attended the final performance on Saturday, March 7, 2026. The production had two casts, as is normal for university productions. The goal of university productions is to give as many students performance opportunities as possible, doing repertoire within the capabilities of both the school and the students.
Gian Carlo Menotti, libretto and music, composed “The Old Maid and the Thief” for an NBC radio performance in 1939.
Production Team:
Dr. Marie-France Duclos: Director
Dr. Sherri Phelps: Assistant Director
Dr. Mary Ann Wilder, Head Vocal Coach
Celesta Letchworth, Pianist
Jonny Adkins, Media Tech
Jane Margaret A. Childress, Assistant for Music and Art Departments
Cast (Thursday and Saturday)
Erin Robinette - Miss Todd
Faith Alford - Leatitia
Heidi Pym - Miss Pinkerton
Charles Madsen - Bob
Cast (Wednesday and Friday)
Gentry Osbourn - Miss Todd
Mikah Saub - Leatitia
Emma Lightner - Miss Pinkerton
Nathan Smith - Bob
As in most theater, this piece questions social norms. Under the cloak of propriety in towns large and small all across the world, there is another story going on. Sometimes the predisposition to being proper clashes with the desires of the flesh. Whether it be for money, for power, or for sex, people often think they can get away with something that they otherwise would criticize. The comedy unfolds when an “Old Maid” takes in a ‘bum’ who is just looking for a hot and a cot, but is assumed to be a burglar who has recently been stealing in town. In her desire for a man in the house, Miss Todd lets him stay in a guest room. Leatitia, the maid, is all for it, but Miss Pinkerton, the moral conscience of the piece, is kept in the dark. After an hour or so, the story is told, and the unlikely couple rides off into the sunset, leaving the “Old Maid” on the couch, without a man and a maid. The only thief in the story is “The Old Maid”.
This is primarily a theater piece with music. There are a couple of musical arias, but mostly it is a parlando type of music. I applaud all involved for preparing the piece so well. The actors were in solid control of their lines as they were accompanied well on the piano without a conductor or prompter. The rhythmic complexity helps the piece move forward, but it is also very tricky to perform, and they made it look all quite natural.
Considering all of these students are younger than I was when I first started singing onstage, I was impressed by their musicality and vocal work. This is not a musical with mics. There is no leveling of the playing field by someone tweaking volumes. They all managed extremely well and portrayed their roles well while handling the vocal stress of singing.
The Set was simple but effective, and the action on stage was lively without being out of control. There were surtitles on the projection behind the stage, which probably helped some, but I was happy with the diction. The text goes by very quickly, and you have to stay attentive to catch it all. It was an enjoyable evening of live music done acoustically.
Standing in Lines at the Opera: “A Nation of Others”
The Online Program for “A Nation of Others” Click on this link for the full online program!
Moving from Asbury University’s production to the University of Kentucky Opera Theater’s production of “A Nation of Others” is like going from a high school gym to Rupp Arena. Yet, for all of the differences, there is one truth that rings throughout the world of vocal classical music and theater in general: “Everyone cooks with water.” No matter where you go, or at what level you experience things, everyone is challenged by the same limitations of the human being. That is what makes this genre so special—the insecurity of weaknesses versus the challenge of performing anyway. Nobody is beyond it.
| Dr. Everett McCorvey Conductor |
Paul Moravec Composer |
| Sarah Ina Meyers Staging Director |
Mark Campbell Librettist |
| Tomasso | Dylon Crain | Pharel Silaban, coverCoryOn Brooks, cover |
| Connor | Brandon Whitish | William Middleton, cover |
| Mr. Nowak | Christopher Burchett | Will Jones, coverWill Darragh, cover |
| Mrs. Nowak | Emily Wicker | Calia Burdette, cover |
| Mirjana | Fairynne Rogers | Andrea Trusty, cover |
| Teo | Asher Fitzgerald | Asher Liang, cover |
| Karin | Kaylee Piatt | Andrea Trusty, cover |
| Anna | Hailey Wells | Elpida Zavitsanou, cover |
| Hanna | Ella Clark | Lucy Schapman, coverEmory Hampton, cover |
| Masha | Jessica Leigh | Kelli Evans, coverDestiny Cardell, cover |
| Aram | Max Taylor | Austin Morgan, cover |
| Constanza | Dejah Watts | Mariah Graves, cover |
| Jean | Darian Wright | Kaeden Worley, cover |
| Mikel | Jackson Cleland | |
| Ricardo | Will Jones | Will Darragh, cover |
| Marion | Bizhou Chang | Emily Hayes, cover |
| Francesca | Ashley Patak | Lydia Naberhaus, cover |
| Henrietta | Mariah Graves | Calia Burdette, cover |
| Rachel | Emily Hayes | Zetong Xu, cover |
| Officials
CoryOn Brooks, Will Cordier, Jay McNamee, William Middleton III, Austin Morgan, Pharel Silaban |
||
| IMMIGRANT ENSEMBLE
Bizhou Chang, Kelli Evans, Jessica Leigh, Nichelle Noble, Ashley Patak, Fairynne Rogers, Lucy Schapman, Hailey Wells, Zetong Xu, Aubrey Young, Elpida Zanitsanou, Calia Burdette, Destiny Cardell, Jaime Chaudoin, Ella Clark, Mariah Graves, Emory Hampton, Emily Hayes, Lydia Naberhaus, Kaylee Piatt, Andrea Trusty, Dejah Watts, Emily Wicker, Jozi Woods, Brennan Bartley, Dylon Crain, Kaeden Worley, Darian Wright, Grayson Boehm, Chris Burchett, Will Darragh, Jackson Cleland, Will Jones, Che Lin, Brandon Whitish YOUTH ENSEMBLE |
||
“A Nation of Others,” composed by Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell, is a piece about one day at the Ellis Island immigration station in New York Harbor.
Presented as a “World Premiere,” “A Nation of Others” was originally composed as an “Oratorio” and premiered at Carnegie Hall on November 15, 2022, performed by the Oratorio Society of New York. This production makes a valid case to present it as a staged opera.
There is a lot to unpack here, and to cover the entirety of this performance would be quite the effort. As these are ‘reviews’ and not ‘critiques’ in the New York Times sense of the word, it is more about the experience than it is about getting all techy with taking apart a performance piece by piece, singer by singer. I could do that, but I don’t want to here. However, like any performance you see from the Metropolitan Opera to the high school musical, it is always going to be a mixed bag of performers. I don’t know if I have ever witnessed a truly uniform cast anywhere.
I visited Ellis Island years ago and was surprised by the story it told. The various destinies that played out there were as vast as entering the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz to entering a prison camp in World War 2. For some, it went quickly and easily; for others, it was a misery. Let us not kid ourselves about how the United States has treated immigrants over the years. Most have been treated perfectly fine, and others like garbage. This story takes place on one day in 1922.
The entire 65-minute one-act takes place in the great reception hall on Ellis Island, and the entire ensemble is in a long winding line. As their part comes forward, the soloists step out of line and tell their story to the audience, then get back in line and continue moving forward.
I’m not, because I can’t really go into detail about each part. It would take forever to do that, other than to say they all presented very well. I can say that the choral parts were absolutely beautiful, and the orchestra played well in their accompaniment of the stage. I was down front in the 3rd row on the very far right side, so my acoustic experience was a bit less than what I would have preferred. However, I heard everyone well, and it all seemed well balanced, even from that perspective. Dr. McCorvey was in firm control throughout the piece, and the staging moved well at all times.
The set was on multi levels and was dominated by the half-circle windows that are a likeness of the windows in the Ellis Island building. The lighting cues were all spot on and served to create a great atmosphere on stage.
This was my first visit to the Lexington Opera House. I really love this theater. It is a perfect venue for opera. The pit is deep and creates a sonorous sound. The theater has two balconies with several boxes that I would have loved to inhabit. I will definitely come here again. I have attended opera at UK’s facility, and it is very nice, but the element of a true “Opera House” is just too good not to take advantage of. This is how opera was meant to be presented, in my opinion. Yes, it is old, smallish, and tight… but it is also cozy, intimate, and friendly. I can’t wait to go back.
I was thrilled to see Lexington on a beautiful sunny day. I want to get to know the city better and to learn all it has to offer outside of basketball and horse racing. The city’s architecture is a mix of old-town charm and bold modern skyscrapers. It is a walkable downtown, and I am looking forward to exploring it sometime in the future.
A Weekend in Kentucky
I rushed to Pleasant Hill to arrive before a storm approaching. Arriving at 1:30 p.m., my room was ready, and I could move in and enjoy the peace of the village in the off-season. It was almost like having the entire place all by myself. I went to the living area of the East Family House and relaxed, lying on the sofas and just listening to the rain pelt the windows. I could hear the wind through the barren tree skeletons. It made me think about what it was like to live here, day in and day out, as a Shaker in a community that shared everything and worked for each other—a village based on a faith that “put their hands to work and lifted their hearts to God.” No duty was too small, as the God of all things blessed it.
I thought about the cliques between family houses, or the gossiping that went on about who was slipping in their Shaker faith. I wondered if there was jealousy, envy, or pride in their hearts.
Above all, I am impressed by their work and craftsmanship. Everything was built by their hands. Every stone, brick, and board was made right there. If you look at the Farm Deacon’s Shop or the Old Stone Shop, you are forced to put this community into a historical perspective. Built in 1809 and 1811, they coincide with Abraham Lincoln's birth. Abraham Lincoln’s childhood was spent scraping by in a little log cabin, while these Shakers were building towns with large mansions that could house many. They used no slave labor; in fact, they had members of different races in their numbers. The Shakers came to America for religious freedom and were free to build the society of their dreams. Even within their culture, they allowed freedoms, and no one was recruited or held against their will. There was no judgment in that way.
When the Shakers spoke about the society outside their little realm, they called it “The World.” Whenever I visit a Shaker community, I seek the same “otherworldly” peace it offers. I go as often as I can because it feels like sanity there.
On Sunday, I took Highway 68 from Pleasant Hill to Lexington, passing through the Kentucky River canyon, by the rolling country horse farm estates, and eventually made it to the shining city of the Bluegrass. I had a great visit after the opera and then drove on, intending to make it back to Bowling Green.
However, I stopped for a brief rest in Bardstown in the parking lot of the old Holiday Inn, where I spent many days during my summer at The Stephen Foster Story, swimming. Some local business people have purchased the property and converted it into a very nice, if not luxurious, “Trail Hotel,” and I couldn’t resist the temptation to stay the night. The Trail Hotel is designed to cater to visitors to the famous Bourbon Trail, and it has completely transformed the property into a destination. I checked in, chilled for a bit, and then made my way to the bar, where I had a great conversation with the folks there about music, history, where everyone was from, and why they were there. People being people, enjoying each other’s company, and broadening the horizons of everyone open to sharing their lives.
My little project of going to these live events and talking about great music, the magic of live music, and the paths that cross on these journeys is something I am thoroughly enjoying. It is a great reason to travel, making the journey even more adventurous and fulfilling. I hope you enjoy it.
Musiterania Closing
At Musiterania, the journey to the music is often as memorable as the performance itself. Whether in a grand opera house, a university concert hall, or along the quiet roads that lead through historic communities, live music invites us to see places—and one another—with fresh ears and open minds. Each performance becomes another reason to travel, to listen, and to discover the cultural life that surrounds us.