Beginnings, Middles, and Ends

II: Remembering

BME II copy [50%]

Friday, November 5, 2021 7:30PM
Digital Release: Monday 22, 2022

First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn, 119 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Two monumental British song cycles explore the fleeting wonder of youth. Finzi’s A Young Man’s Exhortation is filled with the tenderness of first love, while Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel looks back at youth with bittersweet wisdom. Pre-concert lecture at 7:00PM by Erik Gray (Columbia University).

Gerald Finzi: A Young Man’s Exhortation Op. 14
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel

Dominic Armstrong, tenor
Joshua Conyers, baritone

Mike Brofman, Brent Funderburk, piano

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Important Safety Information: In order to be admitted to any in person event, Brooklyn Art Song Society will require all guests who are eligible (any one 12 years or older) to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19 in the form of a physical card, picture, or using a State or City approved app. All guests will be required to wear a mask or equivalent face-covering before entering the concert venue until they depart.

other series concerts

VI: Fin-du-Siècle

VI: Fin-du-Siècle

March 4, 2022 7:30PM
Digital Release: Monday, March 21

Brahms’ final Four Serious Songs give a tragic finality to his life and work. Berg’s 7 Early Songs and Strauss’ 4 Last Song, though written 40 years apart, look back on Late Romanticism with aching nostalgia.

V: Testaments

V: Testaments

Friday, February 4, 2022 7:30PM
Digital Release: Monday, February 21

Britten’s Songs and Proverbs of William Blake ponders the infinite; Shostakovich’s 7 Romances by Aleksander Blok stares down mortality; Hugo Wolf’s Michelangelo-Lieder is the composer’s final testament before losing his mind.

IV: Evidence of Things Not Seen

IV: Evidence of Things Not Seen

Friday, January 7, 2022 7:30PM
Digital Release: Monday, January 24

Ned Rorem’s magnum opus explores the entire breadth of life in this evening-length song cycle. Evidence of Things Not Seen captures everything that makes up the human experience in song.

III: Mortality Mansions

III: Mortality Mansions

Friday, December 3, 2021 7:30PM
Digital Release: Monday, December 20, 2021

Two titans of American vocal music, Tom Cipullo and Herschel Garfein, explore the final stages of life through some of their most ambitious and poignant works.

I: Mörike Liederbuch

I: Mörike Liederbuch

Friday, October 1, 2021 7:30PM
Digital Release: Monday, October 18, 2021

Hugo Wolf made his genius known to the world with his first major work, the Mörike Songbook. Composed at age 28, these songs are teeming with youthful energy, passionate drama, and slapstick humor.