Song of the Day Series
Dass sie hier gewesen! (Schubert/Rückert)
Graham Johnson
For SongFest 2020 participants Alexa Sowers & Sophie Thompson.
Attribution: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Dülmen, Hausdülmen, Heubach -- 2019 -- 3260” / CC BY-SA 4.0
Duration: 30 minutes
About:
Hosted by Graham Johnson, The Song of the Day series is a daily meditation on the many layers and complexities contained in a single song. Each song is dedicated to one or more performers who would have taken part in SongFest this summer. Dedicatees were chosen in collaboration between our artistic Director Rosemary Ritter and the students.
Resources:
Graham Johnson's Dass sie hier gewesen! Program Notes on Hyperion Records
Oxford Lieder’s Translation of Dass sie hier gewesen! by Richard Wigmore
About Our Participants
Alexa Sowers
An active collaborative pianist, Alexa Sowers received her Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Iowa and her Master of Music degree in collaborative piano at Illinois State University. Her instructors and mentors include Jean Barr, Tuyen Tonnu, Ksenia Nosikova, Paul Wirth and Rachel Joselson.
Alexa is currently studying with Dr. Andrew Harley at Eastman School of Music where she is a DMA candidate in piano accompanying and chamber music. At Eastman School of Music, she has held a graduate assistantship as opera pianist/coach and is currently holding a graduate assistantship as studio pianist.
A passionate advocate for both opera and art song repertoire, soprano Sophie Thompson specializes in Baroque opera, chamber music, German repertoire, and new music. Ms. Thompson recently performed Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations as winner of the 2019 Eastman Concerto Competition, and a Lieder recital as winner of the 2019 Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition. Sophie received Second Prize in the 2020 Friends of Eastman Opera Competition, and was a Semifinalist in the 2020 Lotte Lenya Competition.
Sophie holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and will graduate from the Eastman School of Music in May 2020 with a Master of Music.