Boston Art Song Society To Conclude Seventh Season With World Premiere Performance

Prior to the final concert of its 2021-2022 season, Boston Art Song Society has announced the first world premiere in its seven year history.

The work, titled For My Mother and The Mother I Am is a short monodrama written for soprano voice and piano by Boston-based composer Mason Bynes. It features poetry by the abolitionist, suffragist, and poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

Bynes, who has been commissioned by groups such as The Westerlies & Festival of New Trumpet Music, The National Association of Teachers of Singing, Ex-Aequo, Bass Players for Black Composers, and Lumedia Musicworks, currently serves as Boston Art Song Society's inaugural Composer in Residence.

"We are beyond proud of the work we've been able to achieve with Mason this year," said Artistic Director Ethan DePuy. "This is an historic moment for Boston Art Song Society."

Bynes' monodrama will be brought to life by soprano Lisa Williamson and pianist Brett Hodgdon in "America Sings!", a program featuring Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and music by Margaret Bonds, Aaron Copland, Harry Burleigh, and H. Leslie Adams.

Williamson, who has been described by the Washington Post as "a showstopper" for recent performances with Washington National Opera, will make her Boston Art Song Society debut. Hodgdon, a known commodity to Boston audiences, is the chorus master and principal coach at Boston Lyric Opera, where he has served on the company's music staff for over two dozen productions since 2011.

Through intimate salon-style concerts, Boston Art Song Society enables diverse audiences to engage more deeply with poetry and music in an unpretentious, casual setting. For more information, visit http://www.bostonartsongsociety.org, or follow Boston Art Song Society on Facebook or Instagram. To learn more about Mason Bynes, visit http://www.masonbynes.org.

Boston Art Song Society's seventh season concludes on Sunday, May 15th, 2022 at 3pm with a performance at the Longy School of Music's Wolfinsohn Recital Room in Cambridge, MA.

Tickets available for purchase at https://americasings.eventbrite.com.

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