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Press Releases
Fleur Barron & Julius Drake: Winter Journey (Winterreise)
Chamber Music Northwest to Premiere
Virtual Concert Featuring
Fleur Barron & Julius Drake: Winter Journey (Winterreise)
February 27
(Portland, OR) February 10, 2021 – Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) presents Fleur Barron & Julius Drake: Winter Journey (Winterreise) for the next concert in the 2020-21 Season. Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron will perform her interpretation of Schubert’s haunting song cycle that is normally sung by a tenor, with Julius Drake’s piano accompaniment. This concert was recorded for Chamber Music Northwest at The Razumovsky Academy in London. Fleur Barron and Julius Drake performing Winterreise will premiere Saturday, February 27 at 7 pm PT on CMNW.org, and can be streamed through Saturday, March 6. In connection with this concert, CMNW will host a live Musical Conversation with lecturer Michael Parloff on Tuesday, February 23 at 6 pm PT. Parloff will explore Winterreise’s enduring, enigmatic allure. Hosted by CMNW Co-Artistic Director Soovin Kim, this enrichment event of the Musical Conversation series is free and can be accessed on the CMNW website.
Praised as a “charismatic star” by the Boston Globe, mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron is the winner of Tanglewood Festival’s 2016 Jackson Prize, awarded to one outstanding young vocalist each year. “A collaborator gifted with sensitive phrasing and insight” (The New York Times), internationally-renowned pianist Julius Drake is the perfect accompaniment to Barron’s “thrillingly dark and rich-veined mezzo” (Seen and Heard International). Experience this unique presentation of Schubert’s Winterreise – a lieder traditionally performed by a tenor – sung by the mesmerizing Barron.
From CMNW Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim: “If you are a fan of the art song repertoire then you are probably familiar with the exquisite pianist Julius Drake. Julius’s musical and
literary insight make him the favorite partner for many of the greatest singers in the world. Through Julius, we got to know the work of the charismatic mezzo-soprano, Fleur Barron. Her seemingly limitless voice and her penetrating understanding of the music makes every one of her performances a memorable event. Schubert’s Winterreise is usually sung by a male voice, but Fleur’s storytelling interpretation will challenge that tradition.”
TICKETS
2021 All-Access Passes: $99
Single Concert Passes: $20
Musical Conversation series: Free
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/2020-21-season
THE MUSICIANS
Fleur Barron
Mezzo-Soprano
British-Singaporean mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron has been hailed as a “charismatic star” by the Boston Globe and a “knockout performer” by The Times. She is a 2018 HSBC Laureate of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and received Tanglewood Festival’s 2016 Jackson Prize, awarded to one outstanding young vocalist each year. A passionate interpreter of chamber music, concert works and opera ranging from the baroque to the contemporary, Barron is mentored by Barbara Hannigan.
Barron is committed to exploring the way music can facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and healing. She is a member of the Hope Collective, and has mentored and worked with young musicians in Malaysia, South Africa, Belgium, the U.S., and the U.K. Born to a British father and Singaporean mother in Northern Ireland, Barron grew up in the Far East and has also spent considerable time in New York and the U.K. She is currently based in London. Barron holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature with highest honors from Columbia University and a Masters from Manhattan School of Music.
In the 2020-2021 season, Barron stars as Ottavia in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under the baton of Leonardo Garcia Alarcon; she will make house debuts at Opera Philadelphia as Sasha Garner in the world Premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Woman with Eyes Closed; Arizona Opera as the title role in Carmen; Garsington Opera as Olga in Eugene Onegin. Fleur also reprises Ottavia in L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Versailles Opera and sings Mercedes in Carmen with Opéra de Monte-Carlo. On the concert platform, Barron performs Chausson’s Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer with the Orchestre Symphonique de Toulon, and joins regular collaborator Julius Drake for several recitals: a duo recital with Ian Bostridge at the Oxford Lieder Festival, a duo recital with Eric Owens a the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, a solo recital at Het Concertgebouw, a recital with Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, and at multiple venues in the U.K. In addition, Barron performs a recital with Myra Huang for Cincinnati Song Initiative, a Red House recital at Aldeburgh with Jocelyn Freeman, a recital with Patrick Nebula at the Cannes Music Festival, and records a disc of Samuel Barber songs with pianist Dylan Perez for Resonus Classics.
Julius Drake
Piano
Pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. The New Yorker recently described him as the “collaborative pianist nonpareil.” He appears regularly at all the major music centers and festivals: the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich, Schubertiade, and Salzburg Music Festivals; Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre New York; The Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and Philarmonie, Berlin; the Châtalet and Musée de Louvre Paris; La Scala, Milan and Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid; Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Vienna; and Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms, London.
Director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000 – 2003, Drake was also musical director of Deborah Warner’s staging of Janácek’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared, touring to Munich, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, and New York. Since 2009 he has been Artistic Director of the Machynlleth Festival in Wales. Julius Drake’s passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for Wigmore Hall, London; the BBC; and The Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. His annual series of song recitals – Julius Drake and Friends – in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London, has featured recitals with many outstanding vocal artists including Sir Thomas Allen, Olaf Bär, Iestyn Davies, Veronique Gens, Sergei Leiferkus, Dame Felicity Lott, Simon Keenlyside, and Sir Willard White. Drake is frequently invited to perform at international chamber music festivals – most recently, Lockenhaus in Austria, West Cork in Ireland, Oxford in England, Boswil in Switzerland, and Delft in the Netherlands.
Drake holds a Professorship at Graz University for Music and the Performing Arts in Austria, where he has a class for song pianists. He is regularly invited to give master classes worldwide; recently in Aldeburgh, Brussels, Utrecht, Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Vienna, and at the Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien.
THE MUSIC
SCHUBERT Winterreise, D. 911 (77’)
(1797 - 1828)
Gute Nacht
Die Wetterfahne
Gefrorne Tränen
Erstarrung
Der Lindenbaum
Wasserflut
Auf dem Flusse
Rückblick
Irrlicht
Rast
Frühlingstraum
Einsamkeit
Die Post
Der greise Kopf
Die Krähe
Letzte Hoffnung
Im Dorfe
Der stürmische Morgen
Täuschung
Der Wegweiser
Das Wirtshaus
Mut
Die Nebensonnen
Der Leiermann
- Read Program Notes by Cori Ellison for SCHUBERT Winterreise, D. 911.
- Read Winterreisse Text and Translation.
- Learn about Franz Schubert.
MUSICAL CONVERSATION
Musical Conversation: Mastery, Magic, and Mystery Exploring Winterreise
In this Musical Conversation, lecturer Michael Parloff will explore Winterreise’s enduring, enigmatic allure. Schubert’s haunting Winter Journey has been casting its dark spell over music lovers for almost 200 years. As composer-pianist Benjamin Britten, a great devotee of the cycle, wrote: “Every time I come back to the Winterreise, I am amazed not only by the extraordinary mastery of it, but by the renewal of the magic: each time, the mystery remains.”
Following Parloff’s presentation, Co-Artistic Director Soovin Kim will invite questions from the audience at home. The livestream event is on Tuesday, February 23 at 6 pm PT on CMNW.org, and can be viewed on-demand at CMNW.org.
About Michael Parloff
Principal Flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra from 1977 until his retirement in 2008, Michael Parloff has been heard regularly as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. As a lecturer, conductor, and teacher, Parloff has appeared at major conservatories and university music schools in the United States and abroad. He has been a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music since 1985. Parloff is the founder and Artistic Director of Parlance Chamber Concerts.
Learn more about Michael Parloff.
UP NEXT
Goldmund Quartet: Europe’s Rising Stars
Saturday, March 20, 2021, 7 pm PT at CMNW.org
Live Musical Conversation on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, 6 pm PT at CMNW.org
Hailed as one of the most exciting young string quartets in the world, the Goldmund Quartet’s exquisitely refined playing has been awarded prizes at major competitions such as the Wigmore, Melbourne, and ARD Munich, and are the Rising Stars of the European Concert Hall Organization. In this concert, hear the Goldmund perform dramatic chamber works written by Puccini, Strauss, and Schubert on their historic set of Stradivari instruments once owned by the great virtuoso Niccolò Paganini.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/all-concerts-events/goldmund-quartet-europes-rising-stars/1057
Parker Quartet: Inventive & Inspired
Saturday, April 24, 2021, 7 pm PT at CMNW.org
Live Musical Conversation on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 6 pm PT at CMNW.org
Inspiring performances, luminous sound, and exceptional musicianship are the hallmarks of the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet. Renowned as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation for their purity of sound and the depth of their music, the Parker Quartet will apply their “exceptional virtuosity [and] imaginative interpretation” (The Washington Post) to compositions by three masterful composers representing the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries including Beethoven’s spiritual Heiliger Dankgesang string quartet.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/all-concerts-events/parker-quartet-inventive-inspired/1193
Kenari Quartet: Transforming Perceptions of the Sax
Saturday, May 15, 2021, 7 pm PT at CMNW.org; $20 or free with All-Access Pass
Free live Musical Conversation on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, 6 pm PT at CMNW.org
Applauded for their “flat-out amazing” performances and “stunning virtuosity” (Cleveland Classical), the Kenari Quartet's larger-than-life personalities pop off the stage. The unique style and flair of this Protégé Project alumni all-saxophone ensemble electrified Chamber Music Northwest audiences in 2018. Their triumphant return to the CMNW stage will feature modern and contemporary work plus improvisation.
ABOUT CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST
Now in its 51st season, Chamber Music Northwest shares the richness and diversity of chamber music with more than 50,000 people through 80 events annually, including our Summer Festival of outstanding concerts, illuminating outreach activities, educational programs supporting young musicians, and innovative collaborations across the Portland Metro region.
Chamber Music Northwest’s mission is to inspire our community through concerts and events celebrating the richness and diversity of chamber music, performed by artists of the highest caliber, presenting our community with exceptional opportunities for enjoyment, education, and reflection. Chamber Music Northwest is led by Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim, and Executive Director Peter Bilotta.
As one of the nation’s leading chamber music presenters, Chamber Music Northwest brings to our community the world’s greatest musicians and composers, from rising-star members of our Protégé Project and exceptional local musicians to world-renowned artists that include Grammy Award winners, Avery Fisher Prize honorees, and MacArthur ‘Genius Award’ recipients. Together they collaborate to perform the expansive 500-year chamber music repertoire, ranging from beloved classics and hidden masterpieces to contemporary works and less conventional projects.
Chamber Music Northwest is an international leader in celebrating chamber music’s enduring relevance and diversity, with more than 100 commissions and premieres of new works as well as its Protégé Project, which cultivates the next generation of dynamic chamber music performers by supporting exceptional, early-career chamber musicians and composers in their professional development.
CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST WEBSITE
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