Valerie Capers (b. 1935) was Juilliard's first blind student pianist, earning both her bachelor's and master's degrees there, and at the encouragement of her brother has gone on to become a noted jazz pianist (if you want to hear her play, check out this YouTube video). Song of the Seasons is her only song cycle, and it definitely should be in the standard repertoire! She also composed an operatorio based on the life of Sojourner Truth.

Our special guest today is Dr. Louise Toppin, a coloratura soprano who has sung all over the world, who teaches at University of Michigan, and who also runs Videmus, a non-profit arts organisation that produces concerts and recordings.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Aliyah Quill, soprano, Rachel Boll, cello, and Ellen Rissinger, piano:

Song of the Seasons:

• I Spring
• IV Winter
• II Summer
• III Autumn

Recorded at  the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA.

The African American Art Song Alliance has the complete recording of Anita Johnson singing Song of the Seasons with Timothy Holley on cello and Susan Gray on piano, the recording that Louise mentioned at the start of the episode!

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

Aliyah Quill and Rachel Boll are students of Carnegie Mellon University.

This episode is sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University. Learn more about CMU and apply today.