Sky Was Possible

Join us for the Vermont premiere of Sky Was Possible, a song cycle for soprano, flute, and piano composed by Middlebury’s own Fletcher Professor of the Arts and Music Department Chair Su Lian Tan, with texts by Middlebury President and Professor of Religion Laurie Patton. Sky Was Possible consists of four poems from Patton’s books Fire’s Goal: Poems from a Hindu Year and House Crossing, taking us on a journey through love, love lost, and love passing. Soprano Kristen Watson and pianist John McDonald will start the evening with J.S. Bach’s Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt, BWV 151, which will be followed by selected works for flute and piano by Tan and McDonald. After Sky Was Possible’s stunning close to the program, the audience is invited to celebrate the artists at a post-concert reception. The concert will also be streamed at the Robison Hall YouTube channel.

About the Artists: 
Boston-based pianist and composer John McDonald has earned international acclaim. His compositions have been performed on four continents, and his work is frequently featured in the U.S. by such ensembles as Alea III, Arden Quartet, Boston Composers String Quartet, Hartt Contemporary Players, Marimolin, Rivers Trio, A Far Cry, and Duo 101. His recordings appear on the Albany, Archetype, Boston, Bridge, Neuma, New Ariel, Arsis, and New World labels. McDonald is Professor of Music at Tufts University, and was recently on leave as Valentine Visiting Professor of Music at Amherst College (2016–2017). He has served as Chair of the Music Department at Tufts, and Director of Graduate Music Studies. He was an Artistic Ambassador to Asia, and is on the advisory board of Worldwide Concurrent Premieres, Inc. and several other cultural and academic organizations.

Laurie L. Patton is the 17th president of Middlebury and the first woman to lead the institution in its 223–year history. Patton joined Middlebury in 2015 after serving as dean of Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and as the Robert F. Durden Professor of Religion.

Patton is an authority on South Asian history, culture, and religion, and religion in the public square. She is the author or editor of 10 books and more than 60 articles and has translated the classical Sanskrit text The Bhagavad Gita. She is also the author of three books of poems: House Crossing, Barrytown: Station Hill Press 2018; Angel’s Task: Poems in Biblical Time, Barrytown: Station Hill Press 2011; and Fire’s Goal: Poems from a Hindu Year, Seattle: White Clouds Press 2003.

From 1996 to 2011, Patton served on the faculty and administration at Emory University, where she was the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Religions and the inaugural director of Emory’s Center for Faculty Development and Excellence in the Office of the Provost. Patton began her career at Bard College, where she was assistant professor of Asian religions from 1991 to 1996.

Patton earned her BA from Harvard University in 1983 and her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1991. She served as president of the American Society for the Study of Religion in 2011 and the American Academy of Religion, made up of over 9,000 members, in 2019. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018 in two categories, philosophy/religion and educational leadership.

In her inaugural address, Patton described a vision of a Middlebury that would actively engage with the most challenging issues facing society and challenged the community “to have more and better arguments, with greater respect, stronger resilience, and deeper wisdom.” Since then, the College has inaugurated Envisioning Middlebury, Middlebury’s strategic framework. In 2019, Patton announced Energy2028, Middlebury’s bold plan to address the threat of climate change, after having achieved carbon neutrality in 2016; Middlebury’s core campus will be powered by renewable energy in four years. In 2020, Patton’s team launched the new residential learning program, Compass. Under her leadership, in the pandemic year, Middlebury had one of the lowest rates of COVID in the nation, and in 2022, Middlebury received a $25 million grant to begin the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation. Dedicated to the study and development of conflict transformation skills as a liberal art, the collaborative supports wide-ranging initiatives in high school, undergraduate, graduate, global, and experiential learning.

In 2025, she will leave her role at Middlebury to become the president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She will remain a friend and fellow traveler as a resident of Shoreham, VT.

Su Lian Tan is a much sought-after flutist and composer. Her music has been described as “the stunner of the evening,” (Washington Post) and “…music that demands to be heard….masterpiece..” (Fanfare Magazine). Making her first recordings at the age of 14, she has also been featured in Flute Talk and American Record Guide. Tan has been commissioned by groups such as the Grammy-winning Takács String Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Players, and the Vermont Symphony. Recordings of her music including Grand Theft and other Felonies and Revelations have been received with great acclaim. Her multimedia chamber opera. Lotus Lives, received similar praise. Her commissions include Legends of Kintamani, a concerto for cellist Darrett Adkins, (recording Oberlin/Naxos) and a piccolo concerto for Nicola Mazzanti. Her music is published by ECS Publishing and Theodore Presser. Also a dedicated teacher, Tan is Professor of Music at Middlebury College. She holds degrees from the Trinity College, London (F.T.C.L.), Bennington College (B.A.), The Juilliard School (M.M.), and Princeton University (Ph.D.).

Soprano Kristen Watson, hailed by critics for her “blithe and silvery” tone (Boston Globe) and “striking poise” (Opera News) has made solo appearances with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Classical Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Group, Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and A Far Cry at such venues as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Boston’s Symphony Hall. Ms. Watson has received particular acclaim for her interpretations of Baroque repertoire, performing as soloist for the San Francisco Early Music Society, Trinity Wall Street, North Carolina Symphony, Sarasa, Aston Magna Festival, and Boston Early Music Festival. “…keen musicianship, agility and seamless control” (San Antonio Express).

Program:
Kristen Watson, Soprano
Laurie Patton, Recitation
Su Lian Tan, Flute
John McDonald, Piano

BACH  Aria: Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt, BWV 151
MCDONALD Sol, Ut 
TAN Daydreams 
MCDONALD Flute On The Bottom 
TAN/PATTON Sky Was Possible 

Free, no tickets required. Approximate running time: 60 minutes, no intermission. Sponsored by the Middlebury Performing Arts Series and the Office of the President.