The Brooklyn Art Song Society will continue “The New Voices Festival: Departures” on May 2 at the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. The program will explore the meaning of loss. Katherine Balch’s “Estrangement” will be a reimagining of Schumann’s “Dichterliebe,” while Aida Shirazi’s “Language of Loss” will get its world premiere. The piece explores exile and features texts by poet {…}
Brooklyn Art Song Society is set to present The Dicther Project: Paul Heyse. The concert will be held on March 17, 2024, our annual Dichter Project returns to the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. The series has been exploring musical settings of the greatest German poets set by the greatest lieder composers, and this year’s installment will center on Paul Heyse, {…}
The Brooklyn Art Song Society has released “Circles V: The Minnesota Connection” on its Digital Concert Hall. The concert will be available for FREE to non-subscribers. “The Minnesota Connection” features soprano Tori Tedeschi Adams as well as baritone Jesse Blumberg. The concert also features pianist Michael Brofman, baritone Randall Scarlata, and pianist Laura Ward. OperaWire‘s review praised the performance, stating {…}
The Brooklyn Art Song Society is set to present “Circles VI: The February House,” which will be the final installment to its Circles series. The performance will be held on March 1, 2024 and will draw inspiration from an often overlooked sliver of history. Amidst the backdrop of a frenetic pre-WWII New York City, an experiment in communal living occurred {…}
(Photo: Catherine Hancock) Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) presented “Circles V: The Minnesota Connection” on Friday, February 2nd 2024 at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. The program focused on works by Michael Djupstrom, Libby Larsen, Reinaldo Moya, and Dominick Argento. The pre-lecture before the program began featured Larsen and Moya discussing their works and the Minnesota connection. Larsen’s comments about her work, “The {…}
(Photo: Catherine Hancock) Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) presented “Circles IV: Les Six” on Friday, January 5th 2024, at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. The compositions chosen for the evening were delightful examples of what made Les Six exciting, however short-lived the group proved to be. Les Six was a peculiar group consisting of Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, {…}
On Jan. 5, 2024, the Brooklyn Art Song Society is set to present “Circles IV: Les Six” at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. This installment will focus on a group of six young composers who rebelled against the status quo in the first part of the 20th century. The concert will feature music by Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, {…}
(Photo credit: Catherine Hancock) Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) presented “Circles III: The Second Viennese School” on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 at the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. The organization’s season has been a major hit among art song lovers and listeners who might not find a program like this anywhere else, but right here in Brooklyn. The season began {…}
Photo credit: Catherine Hancock Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) continued its 14th season with “Circles II: The Wagnerians” on Friday, November 3rd, 2023, at the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. OperaWire covered its season opener, “Circles I: Clara, Robert & Johannes,” last month and discovered how art song continues to engage listeners from a place of uninhibited curiosity and what {…}
Brooklyn Art Song Society is set to continue its 2023–24 season on Dec. 1, 2023, at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn with “Circles III: The Second Viennese School.” This will be the third of a six-part series exploring connections between composers throughout music history. For this program, the company will present music by Arnold Schoenberg and his students, Alban Berg {…}
Photo Credit: Catherine Hancock Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) opened its 14th season with “Circles I: Clara, Robert & Johannes” on Friday, October 6th 2023 to an audience of engaged listeners and avid art song lovers. Artistic director Michael Brofman welcomed everyone and introduced Dean Whiteside of the Goethe-Institute for his pre-concert lecture pertaining to the intimate details behind some {…}