Soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon — A Musical Storyteller — to Perform at the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival in June

By James Carder

In an era where vocal pyrotechnics often take center stage, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon has the goods, but she can deliver so much more. Known for a voice that critics describe as “dazzling,” “virtuosic” and “serenely beautiful,” Lucy also brings to her performances a compelling understanding of the text and an intimate, highly emotional interpretation. Moreover, when given a forceful text, she inhabits the character, performing as a musical storyteller, albeit one with a peerless voice. Although she performs traditional repertoire, she is foremost a dedicated champion of modern and contemporary compositions, as will be evident at this year’s Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival where she will perform three works: Kate Soper’s Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say (June 12th); Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok (June 13th); and Kian Ravaei’s Gulistan (“Flower Garden”) (June 14th).

Lucy Fitz Gibbon is a graduate of Yale University and holds an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto as well as a Master’s degree from the Bard College Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program in New York. Before focusing on voice, Lucy studied the violin, an experience that she credits for her affinity for chamber music and a string-like vocal articulation. She views the creation and performance of new compositions as essential to the health and longevity of classical music. And by performing the works of living composers, she hopes to provide audiences with a greater diversity of voices and a broader range of human experiences than can be found in the traditional musical canon alone.

In collaboration with flutist Tara Helen O’Connor (who will be playing three instruments!), Lucy will tackle the highly virtuosic score of Kate Soper’s 2011 Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say. Set to three texts by Lydia Davis, Soper’s score requires the soprano to speak, sing and vocalize – a test, as Soper has written, of the absolute limits of the singer’s physical and expressive capabilities. Reviewers have praised Lucy Fitz Gibbon for her faultless timing and “screwball comedy” energy in performing this work. They have described her and the flutist as “different facets of the same person” during the piece’s intricate, synchronized gymnastics, where the voice at times becomes an instrument and the instruments become vocal.

In Shostakovich’s Seven Romances, Lucy’s voice is paired sparingly with three instruments – violin, cello and piano – and she blends her voice seamlessly with these forces, serving as an ensemblist rather than as a detached soloist. However, her flawless interpretation of the poems is equally notable. Reviews highlight her “haunting” and “chilling” reading of the work and her ability to navigate the cycle’s arc from quiet, mystical meditation to “desolate despair.”

Although Kian Ravaei originally scored his 2023 song cycle Gulistan for mezzo soprano, he specifically adapted it for Lucy Fitz Gibbon’s soprano voice. The cycle interweaves traditional Azerbaijani and Persian songs with Western folk songs to create a multi-layered lament on unrequited or abandoned love. Although the texts are often cloaked in poetic ambiguity and symbolism, not to mention the incomprehensibility of the Azeri and Farsi languages to Western audiences, Lucy Fitz Gibbon brings across the essence of the story line through vocal colorations, employing breathiness, rubato or the use of a flexible tempo for dramatic effect, and dynamic shading of the words to convey grief or anger or another emotional underpinning to the text. As one reviewer observed, “She treats the text with the reverence of a poet, ensuring that whether she is singing in German, French, English , the story always reaches the back of the hall.”

Be a part of this year’s Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival and experience this extraordinary soprano in an intimate setting. Detailed information on the Festival concerts, including programs, dates, times and ticket availability, can be found at ChesapeakeMusic.org.