Brooklyn Art Song Society Presents CIRCLES V: THE MINNESOTA CONNECTION

Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) continues its seasons on Friday, February 2 at 7:30PM at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn with Circles V: The Minnesota Connection.

This season, BASS has been exploring connections between composers throughout history, and this fifth concert in the Circles series brings the theme into the present day. The program features works by composers active in Minnesota between the late 1950s and today who helped make the heartland state the "unofficial capital of American song -" and who have a particular relationship with BASS.

Dominick Argento arrived in Minnesota in 1958 from the East Coast to teach theory and composition at the University of Minnesota. Over the next six decades, he transformed the state's musical landscape. While initially reticent about living in the flyover territories, he soon developed what he would later call a "love affair" with the Twin Cities. In 1963, he founded Center Opera Company (now Minnesota Opera), which premiered Postcard from Morocco in 1971 - the opera that solidified his national reputation as one of the most important American composers of the 20th century. Over the course of his career, he taught many influential composers, including Libby Larsen, who has resided in Minnesota since the age of three and co-founded the American Composer Forum, formerly the Minnesota Composers Forum. Michael Djupstrom was born and grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and Venezuelan-born Reinaldo Moya resided in Minnesota and taught at St. Olaf College.

In addition to their shared connection to Minnesota, these composers have strong associations with BASS. "Michael Djupstrom has been working with BASS since it's earliest seasons, both as a composer and pianist. His Teasdale Songs are some of our favorite contemporary songs to program. We've also worked closely with Libby, programming her work many times in Brooklyn and on tour. We commissioned The Other Side of Silence in 2020, and this will be the in person premiere of the work. George Eliot is the perfect text match for Libby, as both artists capture a sense of wonder at the immeasurable. We premiered Reinaldo's Nocturno in 2022 and are thrilled to be presenting an encore performance of this monumental work. Reinaldo also sits on BASS's New Music Advisory Board and has contributed to the diversity and brilliance of our New Voices Festival in recent seasons." comments Artistic Director Michael Brofman.

The program centers around Argento's 13-song cycle, The Andrée Expedition, which sets diaries and letters from a tragic balloon expedition to the North Pole in 1897. It is his magnum opus in song. Also on the program are Djupstrom's 3 Teasdale Songs and two BASS-commissions by Larsen and Moya. Moya's Nocturno is set to poetry by Ruben Darío and traces the progression from late afternoon to morning and premiered with BASS in 2022 . Larsen's The Other Side of Silence was commissioned by BASS during the pandemic and premiered virtually in 2021.

Composer Libby Larsen makes a special appearance at the concert, giving a pre-concert lecture, and soprano Tori Tedeschi Adams, baritones Jesse Blumberg and Randall Scarlata, and pianists Laura Ward and Michael Brofman perform.

BASS continues its season and the Circles series with Circles VI: The February House on Friday, March 1, 2024 at 7:30PM. Soprano Ashley Emerson, mezzo-sopranos Abi Levis and Kristin Gornstein, tenor Dominic Armstrong, and pianists Michael Brofman, Jeremy Chan, and Mila Henry perform music by Benjamin Britten and Kurt Weill.

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 V: The Minnesota Connection
Friday, February 2 2024, at 7:30PM
First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn
119 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Link: https://brooklynartsongsociety.org/circles-v-the-minnesota-connection/

Program:
Dominick Argento, The Andrée Expedition
Michael Djupstrom, 3 Teasdale Songs
Libby Larsen, The Other Side of Silence (BASS Commission)
Reinaldo Moya, Nocturno (BASS Commission)

Artists:
Tori Tedeschi Adams, soprano
Jesse Blumberg and Randall Scarlata, baritones
Laura Ward and Michael Brofman, 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

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.

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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