Brooklyn Art Song Society Presents Circles IV: The February House

Brooklyn Art Song Society Presents Circles IV: The February House

Friday, March 1, at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn at 7:30PM

Program Inspired by Brooklyn-Heights-Based Artist Commune that Housed Benjamin Britten, Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, and W.H Auden between 1940 and 1941

Performance Features Soprano Ashley Emerson, Mezzo-sopranos Abi Levis and Kristin Gornstein, Tenor Dominic Armstrong, and Pianists Michael Brofman, Mila Henry, and Jeremy Chan

Author Sherill Tippins Presents Pre-Concert Lecture at 7PM

New York, New York (February 16, 2024) – Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) continues its season and presents the culmination of its Circles series with Circles VI: The February House on Friday, March 1, 2024, at 7:30PM at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. From 1940–1941, an experiment in communal living occurred at a broken-down brownstone in the heart of Brooklyn Heights. Amidst the backdrop of a frenetic pre-World War II New York City, Harper’s Bazaar editor George Davis conceived a bohemian haven and invited a motley crew of creatives to reside at 7 Middagh Street. Among the figures that occupied the space were Paul Bowles, Gypsy Rose Lee, Salvador Dalí, Anaïs Nin, Benjamin Britten, W.H. Auden, Peter Pears, Kurt Weill, and Lotte Lenya. Although short-lived, the time spent together at this brownstone, later called “the February House,” was pivotal for these artists.

Circles V: The February House examines work that resulted from collaborations between two groups of artists that occupied the February House: Benjamin Britten and W.H. Auden, and Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya. The first half of the program highlights two works by Benjamin Britten, set to texts by W.H. Auden: On This Island and Cabaret Songs. Britten and Auden met in 1935 and enjoyed an intense period of collaboration. As two of the most gifted creators in 20th-century English culture, the pair seemed like an obvious creative match. The two, however, had profoundly opposed personalities, and unfortunately, living in the same house put an irrevocable strain on their relationship. When Britten left the February House, not only did the two men never work together again, they never even spoke.

The second half of the program features Kurt Weill’s 4 Whitman Songs and a collection of six songs that Lotte Lenya recorded in 1943. George Davis also played a pivotal role in the intertwined lives of Weill and Lotte, aiding their move from war-torn Germany to the USA. After Weill died in 1950, Lenya turned to Davis for both financial and emotional support. Davis was integral in forming the Kurt Weill Foundation and Davis and Lenya married in 1953. The marriage was platonic in nature (Davis was openly gay) and marred by Davis’ alcoholism. 

Artistic Director Michael Brofman writes “This final concert of Circles perfectly captures the underlying spirit of the whole series: the complex tapestry of personal relationships that lays beneath the surface of this incredible, timeless music.”

Soprano Ashley Emerson, mezzo-sopranos Abi Levis and Kristin Gornstein, tenor Dominic Armstrong, and pianists Michael Brofman, Jeremy Chan, and Mila Henry perform, and Author Sherill Tippins, who explores this period in the primary source-based book, February House, presents a pre-concert lecture at 7PM. 

BASS continues its season on Sunday, March 17 at 7PM at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music with The Dichter Project: Paul Heyse when soprano Kristina Bachrach, mezzo-soprano Devony Smith, tenor Dylan Morrongiello, baritone Sidney Outlaw, and pianists Michael Brofman, Danny Zelibor perform selections from Hugo Wolf’s Italienische and Spanisches Liederbuches. Later in March, BASS’s celebrated New Voices Festival kicks off with Departures I on Thursday, March 28 at 7:30PM at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. The first of three contemporary programs features tenor Paul Appleby, mezzo-soprano  Fleur Barron,  baritone Joshua Conyers, and pianists Michael Brofman and Myra Huang performing works by Iain Bell’s  Somerton Moor (World Premiere, BASS Commission), Kai-Young Chan’s Hard it is to Meet and Part, Fang Man’s Patridge Song (New York Premiere), Shawn E. Okpebholo’s 2 Black Churches, Russell Platt’s After Apple Picking (World Premiere), Huang Ruo’s Song of Everlasting Regret (BASS commission), and Raymond Yiu’s Bright Fear.

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 trans,lations 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. 

Event information:

Circles VI: The February House 
Friday ,March 1 2024, at 7:30PM
First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn
119 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Link :https://brooklynartsongsociety.org/circles-vi-the-february-house/

Program:
Benjamin Britten
   On This Island, Op. 11
   Cabaret Songs

Kurt Weill
   4 Walt Whitman Songs
   6 Songs: 
      Lost in the Stars
      Lover Man
      J’attends un navire
     Complainte de la Seine
     Surabaya Johnny
     Denn wie mach sich bettet

Artists: 
Ashley Emerson, soprano
Abi Levis and Kristin Gornstein, mezzo-sopranos
Dominic Armstrong, tenor
Michael Brofman, Jeremy Chan, and Mila Henry, pianists 

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*.

Digital Concert Hall: Annual Subscriptions: $111.99/year or $10.99/month. Includes free Admission to In Person Concerts*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

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.

Artwork by Joan Chiverton

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