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| The 2009-2010 Season of Song |
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Greetings!
Greetings from Lyric Fest!
 Remember the lyric, "What the world
needs now, is love, sweet love"? Well, that is just what we were
thinking when we planned to open with Four Hands ~ Warm
Hearts, love songs for a crowd. This is just the start of the
wonderful Lyric Fest season, all beginning THIS WEEKEND. Plan to
come and be wooed!
We've had a great summer putting together five
special programs to bring to you. Besides love, we'll touch on world spirituality and mysticism, Tchaikovsky's life and works and
a child's world of sounds. We like to be unpredictable... but
you can count on a concert experience of incredible variety, art, humor
and humanism, inspired by the voice and by words. We have
engaged twenty five fabulous artists this season. Some you'll
recognize, but also many new, outstanding singers, singing worldwide, who
nonetheless have set aside some intimate time to spend with all of us.
These are voices you will not want to miss. To learn more about
each concert, read on below.
Don't forget that all concerts will be presented
in suburban venues again this year, as well as at our home venue, First
Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. And one special concert, a reprise
of our Biography in Music - SHAKESPEARE, is being offered at the University of
Delaware and is FREE to the public.
We thank you for your support and for being a part
of Lyric Fest community. And we look forward to sharing song with each
and every one of you.
Laura, Randi and Suzanne, co-Founders of Lyric Fest
P.S. A reminder that subscribing to Lyric Fest helps you and helps us. It is only $64 this season, less
than last year! (Think of it as our very own stimulus package!)
Photos above by Aaron Warkov.
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DON'T MISS THIS WEEKEND!!!
Four Hands ~ Warm Hearts
love songs for a crowd
Friday, October 2nd at 8 pm, at Haverford College -- Robert's Hall
Sunday, October 4th at 3 pm, at The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia (open reception with artists following the concert).
Soloists: Suzanne DuPlantis, Thomas Lloyd, Randi Marrazzo, Randall Scarlata, Benjamin Sosland and Elizabeth Weigle,
with Harold Evans and Laura Ward on the piano.
Four Hands ~ Warm Hearts is a concert programmed for an ensemble of
solo voices, with all four-hand piano music. The texts are light -
mostly about the fun and foibles of love - and the music runs from modern
to delightful and sparkly. I wonder if Brahms knew when he composed his
beloved Liebeslieder Waltzes in 1868-69, that he would be inspiring composers
with the concept for the next 150 years? Our program looks at the modern
answers to Brahms' seminal works.
There have
been many works directly inspired by the Liebeslieder.
Besides the fact that masterpieces are always inspirational, there is a more
practical reason. Modern composers have often been commissioned to write
companion pieces to program alongside Liebeslieder, using the same
forces. One such composition featured on our program is the Liebesleid-Lieder by John Greer. "The task of writing a modern answer to Brahms' beloved
Liebeslieder waltzes was an appealing and challenging one," the composer
writes. "I decided to concentrate on the foibles of love and romance,
whimsical, humorous and otherwise. But rather than limit myself to waltz songs,
I chose different dance forms, from the Renaissance to the first half of the
twentieth century... and chose the acerbic poems of Dorothy Parker which gives
this work so much of its flavor."
 The
Liebermann setting of Appalachian Liebeslieder, also on our program,
again uses the four-hand accompaniment, but with only two singers, a soprano
and baritone. The poems are the wacky and sneak-up-on-you-touching verse
by Laren Stover. Penned in German-English fused language, they are the
story of a blue-eyed German girl who falls for a " 'merican" car mechanic with
big hands. The musical language is modern, humorous, sometimes surreal and
transcendent.
But
whether it's Brahms, Greer, Bernstein or Liebermann, even at their most frothy,
the spirited sounds belie some real challenges for both the singers and
pianists. But that's all the more fun... "The challenge for each singer is
to paint the text as an ensemble in a short period of time. But singers love
those kind of challenges," says Randi Marrazzo. However, make no mistake:
the real fun is being had at the keyboard! In the
performance, we challenge you to keep your eyes from veering always back to the
piano, where Laura and Harold are dancing away.
The
Friday night performance at Haverford College will have additional new singers. As part of the
special relationship Lyric Fest has with Haverford College, a selected quartet
from the Chamber Singers of Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges will perform
alongside the professionals in a few selections of the Brahms' 2 waltzes.
"Lyric Fest provides this unique opportunity in keeping with our desire to
mentor young performers in the genre of classical vocal ensemble
repertoire," says Suzanne DuPlantis. We welcome these young singers to the
stage: Jacquelyn Freund, Katherine Comey, Kevin D'Aquilla and Conor
Weiss.
Read Press Release to learn more.
On the photo above: Laura Ward, Randall Scarlata and Suzanne DuPlantis are rehearsing for the concert. Photo: Lisa Schaffer. |
Upcoming Season at a Glance
 Moving Heaven and
Earth ~ World Spirituality in Song
Friday, October
30, 2009 at 7:30 PM
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill;
Sunday, November
1, 2009 at 3 PM
The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
Soloists: Timothy Bentch, Suzanne DuPlantis, Lorraine Hinds, Jennifer Hsiung, Steven LaBrie, Randi Marrazzo, and the Motet Choir of the
Pennsylvania Girlchoir, Mark Anderson, conductor. With pianist Laura Ward.
Lyric Fest takes a spiritual journey into
the abundant store of sacred song and poetic text all celebrating the
experience of the Divine. The featured World premiere by Kile Smith, acclaimed
Philadelphia composer, Two Laudate Psalms, is set to Psalms 113 and 150 and is composed for
a mezzo-soprano solo and girl choir. This commission was made possible by the generous grant from the Musical Fund Society and Lyric Fest Vice-president and patron Allan Schimmel. Our sincere thanks to them.
 Biography in Music: William Shakespeare - FREE
CONCERT!
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 8 PM The
University of Delaware, Roselle
Center for the Arts -- Gore Recital Hall.
Soloists: David Adams, Suzanne DuPlantis, Cara Latham, Kate Mangiameli, Randi Marrazzo, Mark Moliterno and Alexander Tall, with narrator John Morrison and pianist Laura Ward.
Back by popular demand, Lyric Fest's Biography in Music series finds its way
to the University of Delaware! Shakespeare
- Bard of Avon and
the human heart, a writer so universal in scope as to have been
translated into nearly every language on the globe. Lyric Fest brings back Shakespeare's life and
works in song as his timeless verse threaded throughout 400 years of musical
history. Biography
in Music: William Shakespeare debuted in 2007.
Biography in
Music: Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky
Saturday,
February 27, 2010 at 5 PMBryn Mawr Presbyterian Church;
Sunday, February
28, 2010 at 3 PM
The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
Soloists: Anton Belov, Suzanne DuPlantis, Michael Fabiano, Jessica Julin,
Randi Marrazzo, Tatyana Rashkovsky, with narrator Jim Bergwall and special guest
pianist, Ghenady Meirson.
Tchaikovsky, a composer, a poet and music critic... Against
the backdrop of Czarist Russia, he
labored through nationalism, fiery relationships and mental turmoil to
emerge at last as one of his era's most universally beloved and widely
performed composers.
 Unplug! Annual
Family Concert
Saturday, May 22,
2010 at 3 PM
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill;
Sunday, May 23,
2010 at 3 PMThe First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
Soloists: Markus Beam, Emily Bullock, Suzanne DuPlantis, Jeffrey Halili, Elizabeth
Racheva, Randi Marrazzo, actors Jake Miller and Karim Council, and the "Grads" of the Keystone State Boychoir directed by Joe
Fitzmartin. With pianist Laura Ward.
Lyric Fest takes kids on a
live sound
and song journey through Philadelphia. Broadway, Jazz, the Classics and Opera - all in one City,
unplugged. The concert winds up with Richard Wargo's The Music Shop, a hilarious mini-opera
about a trip to a music store to find a tune so familiar, that no one can
remember it. A
concert so entertaining and full of surprises, it will get the toughest iTuned
kids to take off their earphones.
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Tickets, Subscriptions and More:
Tickets can be pre-ordered by phone or purchased at the door. Call us at 215-438-1702. General $20, Student $5. Season Subscriptions now available at 15% off
regular admission ($64, down from $80 last year!). Subscriptions are sold at the door. Please call or visit us at www.LyricFest.org for more information! Meet the Artists:
We host receptions following most of our
concerts where we hope to connect with you, our audience! Be sure to stop by and say hello! The 2009-2010 Concert Venues:
The First Presbyterian Church:
21st and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia,
PA, 19103
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill:
8855 Germantown Avenue, Chestnut Hill,
PA, 19118
Haverford College - Roberts Hall: 370
Lancaster Avenue, Haverford,
PA, 19041
Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church:
625 Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr,
PA, 19010
The University of Delaware: Roselle Center
for the Arts -- Gore Recital Hall, Orchard Road, between
Winslow Road and Kent Way, Newark, DE 19716.  On this photo: Our family concert audience at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, Nov. 2008. Photo: Aaron Warkov.
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