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Press Releases
Sparks & Wiry Cries Presents sparksLIVE Song Festival from February 19-21 at Symphony Space
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katlyn Morahan | Morahan Arts and Media
katlyn@morahanartsandmedia.com | (646) 378-9386
Sparks & Wiry Cries Presents sparksLIVE Song
Festival from February 19-21 at Symphony Space
Sparks & Wiry Cries Presents The Invisible Man, Featuring Stephanie
Blythe and Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, Showcasing Works from the
American Songbook by Harry Warren on February 19
Inaugural songCIRCLE Project Features Rebecca Hass, Lucy Shelton,
Kamala Sankaram, Kate Morton, and Erika Switzer in the
World Premiere of The Song Blanket on February 20
Celebrating the 10th Annual songSLAM Competition, Featuring
Commission Prizewinner Joshua Bornfield on February 21
November 20, 2025 (New York, NY) — Sparks & Wiry Cries, led by Co-Founders and Directors Martha Guth and Erika Switzer, presents sparksLIVE 2026 – an annual captivating series of live events showcasing exceptional art song performances, world premiere commissions, and programming that addresses socially-relevant issues – from Thursday, February 19, 2026, to Saturday, February 21, 2026, at the Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space. The three-day event features vocalist Stephanie Blythe in recital with pianist and arranger Ryan MacEvoy McCullough for The Invisible Man; the inaugural songCIRCLE project with the world premiere performance of a work created and performed by Rebecca Hass; and the tenth annual songSLAM competition.
sparksLIVE 2026 kicks off with The Invisible Man on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. Featuring world-renowned American vocalist Stephanie Blythe, together with pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, The Invisible Man presents world premiere arrangements by McCullough in celebration of the life and work of songwriter Harry Warren. With compositions spanning over six decades, beginning in 1918, the program showcases a selection of Warren’s works from the American Songbook, highlighting his collaborations with many of the great lyricists of the day, including Al Dubin, Mack Gordon, and Johnny Mercer.
The following evening, on Friday, February 20, 2026, at 7:30 p.m., sparksLIVE features the world premiere of The Song Blanket, commissioned by Sparks & Wiry Cries. Georgian Bay Métis artist and Citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario, Rebecca Hass (Nitaawe Giizhigok – Singing Sky Woman), carries the legacy of her grandmother’s quilts. In The Song Blanket, Rebecca gives voice to an old woman searching for what has been forgotten, using traditional teachings and cultural wisdom carried in the legacy of her grandmother’s storytelling, and embodied in her quilts. The performance also features vocalists Lucy Shelton, Kamala Sankaram, Kate Morton, and pianist Erika Switzer.
The series concludes on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. with a special tenth anniversary edition of the songSLAM – Sparks & Wiry Cries’s flagship event that continues to expand its global reach. The songSLAM event features 15 teams made up of composers, singers, and pianists premiering songs for a voting audience, concluding with a performance by the 2025 songSLAM Commission Prizewinner, Joshua Bornfield.
Fashioned after traditional poetry slams and storytelling events like The Moth, Sparks & Wiry Cries’s songSLAMs give teams of composers and performers a chance to present world premieres of art songs and compete for audience-awarded cash prizes totaling up to $2,000. With the success of the last five years’ added virtual component, Sparks & Wiry Cries will once again incorporate both recorded and live elements into the 2026 NYC songSLAM event, where all 15 songSLAM teams will perform.
Every year, Sparks & Wiry Cries awards a songSLAM commission prize to one of the composers from the previous NYC songSLAM. This year’s winning commission, to be performed on February 21 at Symphony Space, will be the world premiere of Trial by composer Joshua Bornfield, poet Tom Haviv, soprano Marie Herrington, and pianist Timothy Krippner.
First premiered in NYC in 2015, the songSLAM has now been or will be co-presented with regional partners in four countries and 10 different cities around the globe: NYC, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Ljubljana, Ann Arbor, Cincinnati, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Waco, with even more growth on the horizon.
Event Information:
The Invisible Man
Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space | 2537 Broadway at 95th St. | New York, NY 10025-6990
Link: https://www.sparksandwirycries.org/sparkslive-2026
Program:
Celebrating the music of composer Harry Warren
Artists:
Stephanie Blythe, vocalist
Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, pianist
_______________________________________
The Song Blanket
Friday, February 20, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space | 2537 Broadway at 95th St. | New York, NY 10025-6990
Link: https://www.sparksandwirycries.org/sparkslive-2026
Program:
Rebecca Hass - The Song Blanket (2025) *World Premiere
Ian Cusson - What Binds Us (texts by Rebecca Hass and Michelle Poirier Brown)
Artists:
Rebecca Hass, vocalist and storyteller
Lucy Shelton, vocalist
Kamala Sankaram, vocalist
Kate Morton, vocalist
Erika Switzer, pianist
_______________________________________
Tenth Annual NYC songSLAM
Saturday, February 21, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space | 2537 Broadway at 95th St. | New York, NY 10025-6990
Link: https://www.sparksandwirycries.org/songslam-events/nyc-songslam
Program:
songSLAM compositions
Joshua Bornfield - Trial (2025) *World Premiere
Artists:
Tom Haviv, poet
Marie Herrington, soprano
Timothy Krippner, piano
Teams TBA
About Stephanie Blythe
A renowned opera singer and recitalist, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is one of the most highly respected and critically acclaimed artists of her generation. Her repertoire ranges from Handel to Wagner, German Lieder to contemporary and classic American song. Ms. Blythe has performed on many of the world's great stages, such as Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Paris National Opera and San Francisco, Chicago Lyric and Seattle Operas. Ms. Blythe was named Musical America's Vocalist of the Year in 2009, received an Opera News Award in 2007 and won the Tucker Award in 1999.
About Ryan MacEvoy McCullough
Pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough has developed a rich musical life as soloist, vocal and instrumental collaborator, composer and arranger, and pedagogue. Ryan’s growing discography features many world premiere recordings, including solo piano works of Milosz Magin (Acte Prealable), Andrew McPherson (Secrets of Antikythera, Innova), John Liberatore (Line Drawings, Albany), Nicholas Vines (Hipster Zombies from Mars, Navona), art song and solo piano music of John Harbison and James Primosch (Descent/Return, Albany), and art song by Sheila Silver (Beauty Intolerable, Albany). He is also founder of False Azure Records, dedicated to recordings of new and unusual works, with a catalogue spanning from Handel to Stockhausen and beyond. Ryan has appeared on PBS’s Great Performances (Now Hear This, “The Schubert Generation”) and is an alumnus of NPR’s From the Top. He has also appeared as concerto soloist has appeared with major orchestras, including with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, is a frequent collaborator with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and has performed at the Tanglewood Music Center, Kneisel Hall, and Marlboro Music Festival. Ryan is on the faculty at Bard College Conservatory and lives in Kingston, NY, with his wife, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon.
About Rebecca Hass
Rebecca Hass (Nitaawegiishigok/singing sky woman-Georgian Bay Métis, French, English, German) represented Canada at the 2024 World Opera Forum and was the inaugural winner of the 2022 Nada Ristich Changemaker Ruby Award from Opera Canada. In her over 30 year classical career as a mezzo-soprano, she has appeared with just about every opera company and orchestra in Canada and is currently recognized in the field for her passionate advocacy for civic engagement in the arts.
As a Métis woman she lives her culture composing songs in Indigenous language and writing stories as a way to connect people with place and matriarchal lineage. Focused on singing the land, Rebecca was an artist in residence at The Leighton Studio’s at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and is currently curating and composing new works for choral and song programs.
Upcoming creations include a collaborative creation with the Pax Collective for performances in 2025-2026. Her work for choir Ki Kishkishin (Do you remember?) debuts in February 2025 performed by the Vancouver Chamber Choir, as part of the Soundstreams RBC Bridges program.
About Erika Switzer
Erika Switzer is an accomplished collaborative pianist who performs regularly in major concert settings around the world, such as New York’s Weill Hall (Carnegie), Frick Collection, and the Kennedy Center. Her performances have been called “precise and lucid” (The New York Times), and “intelligent, refined, and captivating” (Le Monde). She has won numerous awards, including best pianist prizes at the Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and Wigmore Hall International Song Competitions. Switzer is a co-founder of the organization Sparks & Wiry Cries, which curates opportunities for art song creators, performers, and scholars through innovative initiatives that capture the stories of diverse communities. She is assistant professor of music at Bard College and director of collaborative piano studies at the Conservatory, and holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School.
About Sparks & Wiry Cries
Sparks & Wiry Cries exists to curate opportunities for art song creators, performers, and scholars. It began in 2009 as a podcast and online magazine, contextualizing art song through the sharing of recordings, interviews, and articles by prominent artists and scholars. In 2015, co-founders soprano Martha Guth and pianist Erika Switzer expanded their vision by presenting an art song recital series based in New York City’ today, sparksLIVE events and the Art Song Magazine actively engage in current conversations through insightful publishing, programming, and commissioning. Recent additions to the Sparks brand are the curation and publication of new works through E.C. Schirmer and NewMusicShelf, and the development of art song performance projects as represented by UIA Talent Agency.
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