Brooklyn Art Song Society Presents Circles II: The Wagnerians on November 3

BROOKLYN ART SONG SOCIETY 
PRESENTS CIRCLES II: THE WAGNERIANS 

November 3, 2023, at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn

Tami Petty, Blythe Gaissert,
Mario Diaz-Moresco, Brian James Myer, Dimitri Dover,
and Spencer Myer Perform Works by Richard Wagner,
Ernest Chausson, Henri Duparc, and Hugo Wolf

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | New York, New York (September 19) – Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) continues its 2023–24 season on Friday, November 3, 2023 at 7:30PM at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn with Circles II: The Wagnerians, the second of a six-part series exploring connections between composers throughout music history.

Curated by Artistic Director Michael Brofman, the program pairs Richard Wagner’s only song cycle, Wesendonck-Lieder, with works by Ernest Chausson, Henri Duparc, and Hugo Wolf, all of whom he deeply influenced. Wagner’s profound impact on the development of opera is widely acknowledged and even permeates his only significant song cycle, which prominently features themes from Tristan und Isolde. While Wagner remains a divisive figure in music history, his composition had an undeniable effect on future generations of composers and the evolution of vocal writing. Wagner’s use of ever-evolving leitmotivs and chromatic harmony found their way into works like Duparc’s La Vague et la Cloche, Chausson’s La Caravane, and Wolf’s groundbreaking first collection of songs, Mörike-Lieder. Soprano Tami Petty, mezzo soprano Blythe Gaissert, baritones Mario Diaz-Moresco, and Brian James Myer, and pianists Dimitri Dover and Spencer Myer perform, preceded by a lecture given by NYU history professor Larry Wolff.

 “Wagner’s music resonates so deeply because of his ability to capture the feeling of transcendence in his work,” says Artistic Director Michael Brofman. “The monumental size of his vision brings us, at its best, to a place beyond our everyday understanding. I really feel this program perfectly captures this idea in a focused and direct way.” 

The fall season rounds out with Circles III: The Second Viennese School on Friday, December 3, 2023 at 7:30PM.Sopranos Maggie Finnegan and Jennifer Zetlan, mezzo-soprano Kate Maroney, and pianists Michael Brofman, Eric Huebner (New York Philharmonic), and Nana Shi perform works by Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern following a pre-concert lecture by Columbia University's Marilyn McCoy. 

BASS is pleased to once again offer its Digital Concert Hall Subscription, which reaches audiences all over the world. The subscription includes free admission and automatic RSVP for all in person concerts (excluding the Dichter Project), unlimited on demand viewing of BASS’s entire season, complete programs, notes, texts and translations before each concert, access to BASS’ performance archive, and more. Individual tickets are also available with a “Pay What You Choose” option. In addition to the ten-concert season, BASS partners with Heights and Hills Senior Services to bring monthly concerts to their Park Slope Center for Successful Aging.

Brooklyn Art Song Society’s programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The New Voices Festival is made possible in part by support from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

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Event information:
Circles II: The Wagnerians
Friday, November 3, 2023, at 7:30PM
First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn
119 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Link: https://brooklynartsongsociety.org/circles-ii-the-wagnerians/

Program:
Henri Duparc (1848-1933)
  La vague et la cloche
  Extase
  Le manoir de Rosemonde
  Phidylé
  Les Temps des Lilas Op. 19
  La Caravane Op. 14

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Wesendonk-Lieder
  Der Engel
  Stehe still! 
  Im Treibhaus
  Schmerzen 
  Träume

Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)
From Mörike Lieder
  Auf einer Wanderung
  Gesang Weylas
  Begegnung
  Im Frühling
  Der Jäger
  Verborgenheit
  Der Feuerreiter

Artists: 
Tami Petty, soprano
Blythe Gaissert, mezzo soprano
Mario Diaz-Moresco, baritone
Brian James Myer, baritone
Dimitri Dover, piano
Spencer Myer, piano

Ticket information: 
In Person Concerts: Individual tickets are “Pay What You Wish” with a minimum of $10 and a suggested general admission price of $35. Please note: All tickets purchased at the suggested price or higher include a month-long pass to the digital concert hall. Digital Concert Hall subscribers receive free admission to all performances, with the exception of The Dichter Project.

Digital Concert Hall: Annual Subscriptions: $111.99/year or $10.99/month. Includes free Admission to In Person Concerts (with the excpetion of The Dichter Project), unlimited on demand viewing of BASS’s entire season, complete programs, notes, texts and translations, and a bonus listening guide made available before each concert, exclusive access to full episodes of Song and Wine, BASS’s hit web series. 

Individual tickets and Digital Subscriptions available at www.brooklynartsongsociety.org

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About Brooklyn Art Song Society 
Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) will enter its 14th season of first-rate music making in the Fall of 2023, having earned a reputation as one of the preeminent organizations dedicated to the vast repertoire of poetry set to music. Its mission is to preserve art song’s direct expressiveness and emotional honesty for today’s audience and future generations.

BASS has been called “a company well worth watching” by The New York Times and “superb” by New York Classical Review. Opera News wrote, “Brooklyn Art Song Society keeps the intimate recital alive with innovative programming,” and “BASS delivered a triumph of a program, as they have throughout their distinguished history, skillfully reminding us of the great vitality and power of Art Song.” The New Yorker praised BASS as “invaluable” and “uncompromisingly dedicated to continuing the traditions of classical art song, both old and new.” BASS was named the “Most Innovative” Classical Music organization of 2019 by Classical Post. Seen and Heard International wrote “BASS has not only made Brooklyn its home over the past decade, but also one of the most exciting venues for song anywhere.”  

BASS’s innovative and ambitious programming has reached thousands of audience members- lifelong classical music and first-time concert-goers alike. Since 2010 BASS has presented thousands of songs- nearly the entire canon. Highlights include presentations of the complete songs of Charles Ives and Hugo Wolf and annual themed festivals that range from  surveys of the lieder of Franz Schubert, British song, French Melodie, and songs from the two World Wars.  BASS is dedicated to creating the next generation of great song composers.  In fact, it is the single largest commissioner of new art song working today. BASS has commissioned over 25 composers, including Katherine Balch, The Balliett Brothers, Lembit Beecher, Eve Beglarian, Daniel Felsenfeld, Daron Hagen, Mikhail Johnson, Libby Larsen, James Matheson, Harold Meltzer, Reinaldo Moya, Kurt Rohde, Huang Ruo, Carlos Simon and Scott Wheeler.

Highlights from the 2023-2024 season include the six-concert festival Circles and the fourth annual New Voices Festival, a three-concert series focused on art song in the 21st-century, featuring commissioned world premieres by Iain Bell, Jessica Meyer, and Aida Shirazi. In addition to monthly concerts in Brooklyn, BASS has traveled to Philadelphia, Kansas City, Portland, ME, Raleigh, San Francisco, and Seattle and has held residencies at Cornell University, University of Notre Dame, University of California-Davis, University of Chicago, Ithaca College and University of South Carolina. BASS also reaches music lovers around the country and globe with its innovative Digital Concert Hall and partners with Heights and Hills Senior Services to bring monthly concerts to their Park Slope Center for Successful Aging.   BASS’s artist roster features over 50 of the finest young interpreters of art song. For more information visit www.brooklynartsongsociety.org.

About Michael Brofman
Pianist Michael Brofman has earned a reputation as one of the finest vocal accompanists of his generation. He has performed hundreds of songs, from Schubert’s earliest lieder to premieres of new songs by today’s most-recognized composers. He was hailed by the New York Times as an “excellent pianist” and Feast of Music recently praised his “elegant and refined playing … exhibiting excellent touch and clean technique.” Parterre Box Blog called Mr. Brofman a “master communicator at the piano,” and Voix des Arts praised his “finesse and flexibility.” Seen and Heard International recently wrote “Brofman got to the core of each song…delving into their emotional depths.” Opera News stated “Michael Brofman provided exquisite piano accompaniment.”

Highlights from Mr. Brofman’s 2023-2024 season include performances of Arnold Schoenberg’s Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten with Kate Maroney, Poulenc’s Tel Jour, Telle Nuit with Michael Kelly, and repeat or premiere performances of works written for him by Daniel Felsenfeld, Libby Larsen, Jessica Meyer, and Reinaldo Moya. Mr. Brofman also performs works by Benjamin Britten, Johannes Brahms, Michael Djupstrom, Shawn E. Okempolo, Caroline Shaw, Clara Schumann, Anton Webern, Kurt  Weill, and Hugo Wolf.

Mr. Brofman has championed new works and has fostered relationships with many living composers, including Katherine Balch, Lembit Beecher, Tom Cipullo, Michael Djupstrom, Daniel Felsenfeld, Herschel Garfein, Mikhail Johnson, Daron Hagen, Jake Heggie, James Kallembach, Libby Larsen, Lowell Liebermann, David Ludwig, James Matheson, Reinaldo Moya, Harold Meltzer, Russell Platt, Kurt Rohde, Glen Roven, Andrew Staniland, Carlos Simon, and Scott Wheeler. In all, he has premiered over 100 songs, many of them dedicated to him.  

Mr. Brofman is the founder and Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Art Song Society, an organization dedicated to the vast repertoire of poetry set to music now in its 14th  season. His first CD New Voices on Roven Records includes four world-premiere recordings and was number one on Amazon’s new releases for Opera/Vocal and debuted in the top 10 of the Traditional Classical Billboard Chart.  Since then he has recorded world premiere recordings of Kurt Rohde on Albany Records and Herschel Garfein for Acis Records.   

An eloquent and passionate advocate for art song, Mr. Brofman has been interviewed by Russell Platt for Opera News, for Caught In the Act on Brooklyn Public Television, on the WQXR radio show Soundcheck, on Seattle KING FM 98.1, and for the Linked Music blog. He also hosts his own internet show Song and Wine. Mr. Brofman has a reputation as a gifted educator and has presented masterclasses at the University of Chicago, Cornell, Ithaca College, the University of Notre Dame and University of South Carolina. Mr. Brofman holds a bachelor of Music from Northwestern University where he studied with James Giles. There he was awarded the Frida A. Pick Award for Piano and featured on Chicago’s classical radio station. Mr. Brofman spent several summers at the Aspen Music Festival as a student of Rita Sloan and continues his studies with Robert Durso. He resides in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn with his wife, violinist Stanichka Dimitrova and his two daughters, Julia and Lillian.

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Contact: Catherine Hancock / catherine@catherinehancockdigital.com / 404-642-7342