Enjoy Kelly Hill's beautiful, rich mezzo-soprano voice in lieder and chansons with a perfect view of Frenchman's Bay, tea and treats served at intermission, courtesy of the Bar Harbor Tea Company and the best bakeries in Bar Harbor. Pianist Steven Crawford comes from a career as a conductor with the Metroplitan Opera and was named "Best Vocal Coach" in New York.

 Buy reserved tickets here or pay with cash or check at the door. Call or text the Festival for ticket assistance at 207-288-5744. 

Lieder Selections from Alma Mahler (1879-1964) and Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

Selections from 5 Lieder

Laue Sommernacht
Bei dir ist es traut
Ich wandle unter blumen

Selections from Rückert-lieder
Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft!

Liebst du um schönheit
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

Selections of mélodie by Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Beau Soir

C'est l'extase langoureuse
from Ariettes oubliées, CD 63

Clair de lune
from Fêtes galantes, CD 86

Nuit d’étoiles

An Emily Dickinson Sampler
Why Do They Shut Me Out of Heaven? from Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
I’m Nobody from Four Dickinson Songs Lori Laitman (b. 1955)

Will There Really Be a Morning? from A Horse with Wings  Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956)

Intermission

Vocalise - Op. 34, No. 14 Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Siete Canciones Populares Españolas by Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)

El paño moruno

Seguidilla Murciana
Asturiana
Jota
Nana

Canción 

Polo

Half-minute Songs Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946)
Making the best of it

First ask yourself
To understand
The pleasure of giving
Keep awake
A good exercise
A present from yourself 

When they say unkind things 

Answer the first rap

Cabaret Songs by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Tell me the truth about love

Funeral Blues

Johnny 

Calypso

Dr. Kelly Hill, Mezzo-soprano, recently graduated with her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in vocal studies from the University of Iowa. She is excited to return to the Bar Harbor Music Festival after singing Prince Orlofsky in last summer’s production of Die Fledermaus.

Recent Midwest performances have included Hannah Older in As One with Washburn University Opera Theatre, as well as two appearances with the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra: the Maid in the World Premiere of Jacob Banck’s Karkinos, and Zosia in Jake Heggie’s Out of Darkness: Two Remain. She’s sung the role of Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Quad Cities, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Cedar Rapids Opera.

Concert work has included solo appearances with the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Singers of Iowa City, University of Iowa Center for New Music Ensemble, University of Iowa Choirs, Augustana Oratorio Society, Hartford Chorale, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Philharmonia. As a recitalist, she strives to uplift the voices of underrepresented composers, such as her final Doctoral Recital, Women and Women First. In 2023 she published her dissertation, “How to Play it Like A Singer Sings It: The Application of Vocal Techniques for the Singing String Student,” to emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary study between instrumentalists and vocalists in the school of music setting.

As the Performance Fellow at the University of Iowa, she performed the title role in Peter Brook’s adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen, Madeline Mitchell in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, and Jo March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women with the University of Iowa Opera Theater. She is a graduate of the Yale Opera program and University of Northern Iowa, has apprenticed with the Cedar Rapids Opera, Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Aspen Music Festival and School, and is a two-time Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Maestro Steven M. Crawford is among the most versatile musicians on the classical scene today. He has conducted in opera companies and orchestras around the United States, has accompanied the worlds finest singers, and is in the top tier of coaches in the opera world.

Maestro Crawford mad his Pacific Northwest Opera debut with La Traviata, having re- turned recently to KY Opera to conduct Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied. His past conduct- ing engagements include performances with the Metropolitan Opera (La Bohème, Cav- alleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Faust and Madama Butterfly), Cincinnati Opera, Greater Miami Opera, Syracuse Opera, Kentucky Opera, Dayton Opera, Nevada Opera, Chelsea Opera and Opera Idaho. He has also conducted a number of world and NYC premieres, including A Chekhov Trilogy by Richard Wargo, Honor by Christian Mcleer, and the Mark of Cain by Matthew Harris. His positions (past and present) include prin- cipal conductor of the Greater Miami Opera, principal conductor of Land of Enchant- ment Opera, and principal conductor/artistic advisor of Opera Idaho. He has been en- gaged as conductor by the New World Symphony as well as cover to Kurt Mazur with the New York Philharmonic.

An active accompanist, Maestro Crawford has performed in recital with Håkan Hagegåard, Ortrun Wenkel, Sue Patchell, Mallory Walker, and many others. He has worked extensively as a coach with Sherrill Milnes, Tom Krause, and Aprile Milo.

A long-time proponent of training both singers and instrumentalists, Maestro Crawford has been Music Director of Land of Enchantment Opera, is senior coach for the Vann Vocal Institute, and has conducted the New York premieres of Henry Mollicone’s Lady- bird and Kitty Braselton’s Fireworks for Hunter College. He has conducted at University of Illinois, Portland State University and Prelude to Performance, and in 2009 he spear- headed the training of instrumentalists for the Bel Canto institute of Firenze, IT.