SongFest 2015 presents:
PROGRAM
A Compilation of songs by SongFest Faculty and Grammy Award-winning composer Libby Larsen including a world premiere of The Birth Song Cycle.
TICKET INFORMATION:
This event is FREE and open to the public.
NOTES ON THE WORLD PREMIERE
The Birth Song Cycle
Breaking the Taboo: Song Cycle Gives Birth to a New Perspective
Grammy award-winning composer Libby Larsen will premiere her new work, The Birth Song Cycle, at SongFest 2015 this summer. Sopranos Gwen Coleman Detwiler and Audrey Luna, for whom the work was commissioned, will collaborate with internationally-known pianist Lydia Brown in performing this cutting edge composition, giving fresh and current perspective on this powerful subject.
Classical song literature touches on the most personal and deeply felt of human experiences. It brings to flight those human emotions that are beyond words. However, the profound transformation of childbirth is scarcely treated in the cannon of vocal literature. The personal and private subject of childbirth and motherhood is emerging in our political landscape and collective conscience. (In the past year, The New York Times has published over 600 articles on these subjects.) The Birth Song Cycle explores those human sensations of exuberance and loss, of pain and triumph that are the emotional fabric of childbirth. Through humor and lyricism, Libby Larsen illuminates our humanity with genius blending of music and the words of modern authors including: Pheobe Damrosch, M. K. Dean, Jennifer Gilmore, Lauren Groff, Langston Hughes, Heidi Pitlor, A. E. Stallings, Cheryl Strayed, Akiko Yosano and Gina Zucker. Her song cycle gives voice to what is seemingly a taboo subject in the cannon of vocal literature.
PERFORMERS:
SongFest Faculty & Guest Artists:
Audrey B. Luna, soprano
Gwen Coleman-Detwiler, soprano
Lydia Brown, piano
Songfest participant singers:
Shelby VanNordstrand, soprano
Christopher Mitchell, baritone
Raejin Lee, soprano
David Tahere, baritone
Latoya Lain, soprano
Drew Ladd, tenor
Katie Hannigan, mezzo-soprano
Songfest participant pianists:
Maria Mlynarek
Yuko Kato
Anna de Groot
Rami Sarieddine
Casey Robards
Gloria Kim
Jinhyun Park