Felix Jarrar Presents ‘Treasure Chest: A Social Distancing Salon’ Virtual Recital

By Chris Ruel

Award-winning composer Felix Jarrar kicks off fall 2020 with “Treasure Chest: A Social Distancing Salon.”

The virtual recital will stream on Jarrar’s YouTube channel on Sunday, October 18, at 5:00 p.m. ET. “Treasure Chest” features soprano Kirsten Kunkle performing art songs written by Jarrar with text by librettist/lyricist Bea Goodwin.

Included in the program is the premiere of the soprano version of “Untitled,” Jarrar/Goodwin’s latest collaboration. Other Jarrar/Goodwin works include “Bobbing for Apples” and “I, Dead Sea.” The recital will conclude with “Aubades,” a song cycle with music and text by Jarrar.

The “Treasure Chest” virtual recital is part of the composer’s live-streamed social media concerts. The events adhere to strict COVID-19 social distancing practices and involve no face-to-face interaction between artists.

The 25-year-old Jarrar has written over 90 pieces, including 80 art songs, eight operas, two string quartets, and a cantata. Frequent collaborator, librettist/lyricist Goodwin is an accomplished stage director, having worked extensively in New York City at theaters including LaMaMa Experimental Theatre, BAM, (le) Poisson Rouge, and the DiMenna Center.

A voting member of the Muscogee Nation, Kunkle is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Wilmington Concert Opera, a grassroots women and minority-led company in Wilmington, Delaware. She has commissioned and premiered 16 original compositions, including one of her own based on the poetry of her ancestor and highly acclaimed poet of the Muscogee Nation, Alex Posey.

Her recordings are collected at the Library of Congress and the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution, among others.

Most recently, Kunkle made her European debut with the Sofia Philharmonic as Arabella in Johann Strauss II’s “Blindekuh.” A Naxos recording of “Blindekuh” featuring the soprano was released in March 2020 to much acclaim.

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