This performance is free, thanks to a grant from the Free for All Fund of The Boston Foundation.

“In Praise...” fuses tone poems and settings of poetry from new voices Allen Shearer and John McDonald with perennial favorites Brahms and Schumann, and Iberian Renaissance composer Mateo Flecha.

Repertoire:

Mateo Flecha el Viejo: La Bomba
Iberian madrigal for a vocal quartet
This whimsical tale tells the story of a crew bailing out a sinking ship (in four part harmony!)

John McDonald: Khayyam Quatrains
Piano and vocal quartet
A 21st century setting of poetry by famed Persian mathematician Omar Kayyam

Schumann: Bilder aus Osten (Pictures from the East)
Piano four-hands
Schumman paints a vivid picture of Arabic poetry

Allen Shearer: November Gold (5 Selections)
Piano and mezzo-soprano
A sublime setting of poetry by Amherst writer Robert Francis, the prodigy of Robert Frost

Brahms: Liebeslieder Waltzes Op. 52
Piano four hands and a vocal quartet
An achingly beautiful ode to romance at every stage, drawing texts from folk poetry and Goethe

MUSICIANS
Sarah Joyce Cooper, Soprano
Elizabeth Eschen, Mezzo-soprano
Corey Dalton Hart, Tenor
Will Prapestis, Baritone
D’Anna Fortunato, Mezzo-soprano
Rachel Goodwin, Piano
Eileen Hutchins, Piano