SONGFEST 2020: May 27 - June 22, 2020 – The Colburn School, Los Angeles, CA
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SongFest
SongFest comprises of three (3) programs for singers at every stage of their development: Studio Artist, Young Artist, Professional Fellow and Pianists. A rigorous art song program with over 20 internationally distinguished pianists, singers, composers, and guest artists give daily thematic master classes, and private coachings in their area of expertise: covering the breadth of art song from lieder, to mélodie, to American art song. Whatever your interest in song repertoire, you will encounter new exciting repertoire, new music from our resident composers, and build relationships with fellow art song enthusiasts that will last a life time.
“Our SONGFEST mission, under the all-encompassing Californian skies, is to bring together the old and new where the study of masterpieces from the past enhances the vitality and relevance of contemporary music. Many of the singers and pianists have come here because they already sense that art song has brought depth and refinement to their lives, both as musicians and human beings. Younger performers at Colburn find themselves crossing a summer threshold that will lead to lifelong fealty. Teachers and students share a devotion to a genre that is too easily labelled “elitist” or simply “boring”. These golden weeks, shining with youthful energy, purpose and enthusiasm, demonstrate that art song is impossible to belittle or dismiss – old hands inspired by fresh and questing talent pass on a tradition rich in the articulation of many of civilisation’s most precious values. If art can make men see things in a different way, one should never underestimate the power of great poetry from many countries in tandem with great music to touch a hitherto unresponsive heart and make a difference. I would like to believe that a world prepared to listen to more song recitals, and take to heart what they convey, would be less inclined to destroy the past with the reckless abandon that is sadly characteristic of present times.”
Don't Miss our New CD!
Available on CDbaby, and for streaming on Spotify, iTunes and more! Featuring over 15 alumni performing commissions, world premieres, and songs featured during SongFest's 20 year history, by some of the best of modern day American song composers.
Announcements
CONCERTS
Read more about upcoming concerts – click HERE.
EVOLUTIONS
In a special SONG recital, narrated by Graham Johnson
In words and music MARTHA GUTH, soprano and GRAHAM JOHNSON, piano trace the metamorphoses of four composers from their youthful to their later creations. Songs by Schubert, Fauré, Poulenc, and Britten demonstrate how young composers gradually evolve from their early beginnings to mature mastery.
Friday, June 7, 2019
7:30 p.m., Thayer Hall
Colburn School
GUEST ARTIST
SUSAN GRAHAM, mezzo-soprano
MALCOLM MARTINEAU, piano
in recital
Monday, June 10, 2019
7:30 p.m., Zipper Hall,
Colburn School
Read more about upcoming concerts and master classes – click HERE
THE BREAKING OF NATIONS: WWI & II and Recovered Voices
A recital commemorating the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I and featuring composers suppressed by the Nazi regime. In collaboration with the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices
Curated by LIZA STEPANOVA
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
7:30 p.m., Thayer Hall
Colburn School
Read more about upcoming concerts – click HERE.
Photo by Marthe Griebler
A JOURNEY THROUGH SCHUBERT LIEDER
devised and narrated by
GRAHAM JOHNSON
Sunday, June 16, 2019
3:00 p.m., Thayer Hall
Colburn School
To read more about the Schubert Class Series – click HERE.
©Jeanine Hill Photography
SongFest News
SongFest is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
Erika Baikoff, SongFest alumna was awarded first prize at the 2019 Helmut Deutsch International Lied Competition. She is a Young Artist at the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Program and is singing Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro at the MET.