Race for the Sky: Songs for New York and 9/11

Soprano Lisa Radakovich Holsberg is a member of the music faculty at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, touring Poland and Prague in 2009 with the C.W. Post Symphonic Band singing Copland’s Old American Songs and the premiere of Carl Strommen’s Polska Przeplatanka: A Collage of Memories with soprano colleague Danielle McRoy.In December 2009 her composition Come, True Light: Prayer of St. Symeon the New Theologian for voice, piano, cello, bells and cymbal received its premiere at The Sophia Institute Second Annual Conference at Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan. A second New York performance of Come, True Light followed in January 2010 at the MOSA concert Songs of the Spirit, featuring musical settings of spiritual poetry from different traditions. She has presented her award-winning 9/11 music peace project Race for the Sky, music by Richard Pearson Thomas,across the U.S. since 2002. A frequent favorite on the MOSA series, Lisa has performed Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, and opened the 2007-2008 MOSA season with Race for the Sky. Her eclectic performing career includes years of international travel spanning repertoire of early music, opera, musical theatre and cabaret. Lisa holds degrees in music performance and education from Teachers College, Columbia University and University of California, Irvine. She was a Rotary Foundation International Scholar at Hull University, England, and continues to pursue her research interests in music & spirituality, theology, education and justice at Teachers College and Union Theological Seminary. Lisa studied voice with Bill Schuman.

Performer and pedagogue LeAnn Overton currently serves on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University. Ms. Overton has also taught on the faculties of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the Chautauqua Voice School, the New York Actor’s Studio, the Mannes School of Music, and the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. As music director/coach, Ms. Overton has worked for several opera companies and summer festivals including Oberlin in Italy, Vocal Arts Symposium of Colorado Springs, Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy, Cincinnati Opera, Tulsa Opera, and in NYC, Opera Northeast, West Side Opera and Brandenburg Opera. Ms. Overton enjoys writing and in addition to her poetry, has written several scripts for opera workshops and opera program synopses. Her humorous lecture on efficient practice room habits: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” has received rave reviews by faculty and student alike. In the spring of 2010 Ms Overton directed and produced “Behind the Scenes Opera Scenes” at Montclair State University. In the fall of 2005 she recorded the CD Race for the Sky with soprano Lisa Holsberg featuring the music of Richard Pearson Thomas. Ms. Overton collaborates frequently with Alexander Technique Instructor Bill Connington on classes specifically for singers. Since 2000 Ms Overton works as a supertitle caller at the Metropolitan Opera.

Violinist/Violist Katie Kresek holds a masters degree from Mannes College, where she studied violin with Lucie Robert and chamber music with Felix Galimir, Diane Walsh, and David Krakauer. As a recitalist, she has performed at the National Arts Club, Weill Recital Hall, Caramoor, Merkin Hall, and the New York Public Library, has been featured on WQXR’s McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase and WNYC’s program Sound Check.

An avid chamber musician, Ms. Kresek was a founding member of the Arabella Piano Trio, with whom she made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2002. As an orchestral musician, Ms. Kresek performs with the Harrisburg, Albany, and Princeton Symphony Orchestras, The Philadelphia Virtuosi, The Westchester and Brooklyn Philharmonics, and The American Composers Orchestra. On the popular music circuit, she has performed with artists such as Adele, Alicia Keys, Josh Groban, Jewel, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Susan Boyle. Television appearances include: The Today Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live. She has collaborated with members of the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Thomas/Ortiz Dance at the Joyce Theater and Merce Cunningham Studios, and is a member of Hector del Curto’s Eternal Tango Orchestra. Strongly committed to experiential arts education, Ms. Kresek holds a Masters of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is Family Program Designer for Caramoor, Head Teaching Artist for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Institute, The New York Philharmonic, and The 92nd Street Y. Ms. Kresek has written, performed, and hosted programs at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and in elementary schools and concert halls throughout the United States, Japan, and The United Arab Emirates.

Karla Moe, flutist, has an active career as both an orchestral and chamber musician. She frequently plays with the New York City Opera, American Ballet Theatre, American Symphony, and is principal flutist of the New York Grand Opera, New Jersey State Opera and the St. Cecelia Orchestra. She has been principal flutist with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Musica Aeterna Chamber Orchestra which performed an acclaimed series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is currently the flutist with The Queen’s Chamber Band, a Baroque ensemble. An active educator, Karla has played for the New York Philharmonic Education Programs and is on the faculty of Nassau Community College and Long Island University - C.W. Post College, where she is also the Director or Woodwind Studies. A graduate of St. Olaf College, Ms. Moe received a Master’s degree in performance from the Manhattan School of Music in NYC.

Richard Pearson Thomas, composer and pianist, has had works performed by the Boston Pops, Covent Garden Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Banff Centre, Skylight Opera Theatre, and Riverside Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. His songs have been sung in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Joe’s Pub, and before the U.S. Congress. His work Race for the Sky, which was commissioned as a commemoration of the events of 9/11, has been performed by the Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra and in recitals nationwide. Mr. Thomas’ musical Parallel Lives was produced Off-Off Broadway by the Riverside Opera Ensemble. His musical Golden Gate, winner of the Michael Stewart Foundation Award, was performed in concert by the Monmouth Civic Chorus. He is a frequent collaborator with Mirror Visions Ensemble in the United States and Europe. Mr. Thomas is on faculty at Teachers College/Columbia University and has taught at Yale and the University of Central Florida. His work with children as composer-in-residence of the Gold Opera Project, Young Audiences/New York was featured on CBS’ “The Early Show,” and singled out for praise by President Clinton when YANY was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Additionally, Mr. Thomas concertizes with singers worldwide. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California, and is a native of Montana.

Executive Director of City Lore Steve Zeitlin received his Ph.D. in Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. in Literature from Bucknell University. He is the director and cofounder of City Lore, an organization dedicated to the preservation of New York City's—and America's—living cultural heritage. Prior to arriving in New York, Steve Zeitlin served for eight years as a folklorist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He has taught at George Washington University, American University, NYU, and Cooper Union. Steve Zeitlin has served as a regular commentator for the nationally syndicated radio shows, Crossroads and Artbeat, and currently develops segments on "The Poetry of Everyday Life" for The Next Big Thing, heard on National Public Radio. His commentaries have appeared on the Op Ed pages of the New York Times and Newsday. He also coproduces the storytelling series "American Talkers" for NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday and Morning Edition. Steve is the author and coauthor of a number of award winning books on America's folk culture including A Celebration of American Family Folklore (Pantheon Books, l982); The Grand Generation: Memory Mastery and Legacy (U. of Washington Press, l987); City Play (Rutgers University Press, l990); Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling (Simon & Schuster, 1997); and Giving a Voice to Sorrow: Personal Responses to Death and Mourning (Penguin-Putnam, 2001). His children's books include While Standing On One Foot: Puzzle Stories and Wisdom Tales from Jewish Tradition (Henry Holt, l996); Cow of No Color: Riddle Stories and Justice Tales from World Traditions (Henry Holt, l998); and a book on world cosmologies, The Four Corners of the Sky (Henry Holt, 2000). He is the author of a new volume of poetry, I Hear America Singing in the Rain (First Street Press, 2003).

Photographer Martha Cooper, Missing co-curator Marci Reaven, and all the staff at City Lore.

The poets Hilary North, Alicia Vasquez and the anonymous poet of To the Towers Themselves

Tenor Anthony Pulgram

Violinist and peace ambassador William Harvey

Web site designer Stephen Beveridge

CD graphic designer Kelsey Halbert

Sean Swinney of Sean Swinney Recording, 244 W. 54th Street, New York, NY 10019. 212-262-2249

Glendower Jones and Classical Vocal Reprints