Elizabethtown College’s Rider Hall was home to a variety of programs over the course of its existence and, by the end of the 1960s, much of the building was used for the study of music. Though it’s been razed, Rider Hall still conjures fond memories.
“It’s where we lived our lives,” said Kim Pensinger Witman, who graduated in 1978 from the College’s music therapy program and was a pianist with the concert choir and played clarinet in concert band. Within the walls of Rider, she met her husband, Don Witman ’78, and got to know James Haines ’80, Chair of the College’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts.
“I haven’t been back to Elizabethtown since Rider Hall was torn down,” she said reflectively. “That will be different.”
Witman, who is now director of the opera program at Wolf Trap National Park for Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia, returns to E-town after many years to perform a Monday Series Concert on piano at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, bringing with her tenor Eric Barry.
The Monday Series sponsored by the Department of Fine and Performing Arts has been an important part of the cultural life of the College for more than 25 years, said Department Chair Haines. “When it became my job to be responsible for this, one thing I wanted to do was to begin a recurring recital that featured some of our notable alumni. And no E-town music alum is more notable than Kim Witman.
“She was the first name on my list when considering an alumni recital,” he said. “We are honored to have her come back to campus and perform.”
With Wolf Trap 31 years—12 as a freelance musician and in her present role since 1997—Witman coordinates the producing company of young professionals and the opera’s young artists training company.
From the enormous amount of applications, she receives each year for the programs, Witman hears 500 auditions in eight markets over a several month period. “We hold auditions purposefully near music schools,” she said, noting that they travel to the singers so the opera doesn’t limit auditions to just those who have the money and the time to get to Virginia.
In the end, just 36 performers are chosen. Twenty become the main artists, and 16 are studio performers—usually graduate students in their mid-20s. Witman also raises money for the company, handles the budgets and the marketing and social media and hires everyone else associated with the opera company—conductors, non-singing fellows and interns, stage directors, conductors, technical crew, costuming, lighting, stage management and the orchestra.
Rehearsals begin in May and the season continues through August. One of the three concerts is performed outdoors as part of the Wolf Trap summer festival.
Though busy with the opera company Witman tries to perform two to three times a year in recital concerts such as the one coming up at Elizabethtown.
This concert will be a bit different than the traditional opera production, she said. “There is a template, a checklist” for a typical opera production. “It used to be there are German songs and there are Italian songs.” But, she said, she and the tenor put their heads together last year to discuss how they would like to approach this offering.
“It’s Valentine’s weekend, so love and obsession is the theme,” she said. Their selections span history from the 16th century to present day with Italian, French, Russian and English compositions.
“We also speak with the audience as part of the concert,” she said. As they do at Wolf Trap, they encourage the artists to break down the fourth wall. “It’s different, softer, friendlier.”
In addition to Witman’s concert, the Elizabethtown College Department of Fine and Performing Arts offers an additional Monday Series concert this winter, with soprano Anne Gross at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8.
Gross, with Justin Badgerow on piano, presents an evening of arias and songs by W.A. Mozart, Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss, Cécile Chaminade, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Ricky Ian Gordon.
The final Monday Series Concert takes place Monday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m.Trio Caprice presents a program of music from Spain, Argentina and Russia. Paula Nelson, flutist, will perform repertoire by Nikolai Kapustin with the trio.
All Monday Series Concerts are in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center. Admission is free. Contact Amy Reynolds at 717-361-1212 or reynoldsa@etown.edu.