Brooklyn Art Song Society's 16th Season Features Return Of New Voices Festival and More

The Brooklyn Art Song Society has announced its 2025–2026 season, its sixteenth, under the banner Cycles. This year-long exploration of the most ambitious song cycles in the canon also includes a three-part New Voices Festival: Longing, showcasing more than twenty contemporary works and three new commissions by Charlotte Bray, Benjamin Attahir, and Michael Djupstrom.

BASS continues its residency at Roulette in Downtown Brooklyn, a historic 1928 venue, and reaffirms its mission amid a national decline in arts funding—including the recent termination of its National Endowment for the Arts grant. Artistic Director Michael Brofman responded with a call to action:

Mainstage Series: Cycles

Each Cycles program focuses on one or two major song cycles that have redefined the expressive potential of art song. Pre-concert lectures contextualize each performance.

October 12, 2025: Schubert Marathon

Three complete Schubert cycles in a single day:

• 3:00PM – Die schöne Müllerin (Tyler Duncan, Erika Switzer)

• 5:00PM – Winterreise (Paul Appleby, Ken Noda – BASS Debut)

• 7:00PM – Schwanengesang (Gregory Feldmann, Michael Brofman)
  Lectures by Dean Whiteside (Goethe-Institut)

November 9, 2025: Cycles II – Memory and Estrangement

• Schumann’s Dichterliebe

• Bernard Foccroulle’s Zauberland (selections)

• Katherine Balch’s estrangement (BASS commission)
  Performers include Kristina Bachrach, Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Randall Scarlata, and pianists Lyndsi Maus (BASS Debut), Ryan McCullough, and Brofman.

December 14, 2025: Cycles III – Die schöne Magelone

• Brahms’ romantic cycle performed by Brian James Myer and pianist Dimitri Dover, narrated by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. Lecture by Larry Wolff (NYU).

January 11, 2026: Cycles IV – Modernist Visionaries

• Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared

• Schoenberg’s Das Buch der hängenden Gärten
  Featuring debuts by Katherine Lerner-Lee and Maia Sumanaweera; lecture by Daniel Felsenfeld (Juilliard).

February 1, 2026: Cycles V – Messiaen’s Harawi

• Erin Wagner and Shawn Chang (BASS Debut) perform Messiaen’s ecstatic 20th-century cycle. Lecture by Lucy Shelton (MSM).

March 8, 2026: Cycles VI – Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen

• A rare full performance of this sweeping 36-song cycle, featuring a quartet of singers and pianists Mila Henry, Nana Shi, and Miori Sugiyama. Lecture by Michael Brofman.

New Voices Festival: Longing

Now in its sixth year, New Voices is a major platform for contemporary art song. The 2026 edition explores longing in personal, social, and political dimensions.

April 12, 2026: Longing I – From the UK

• Features a BASS commission by Charlotte Bray (Van Koolbergen Award winner) with text by Sholeh Wolpé.

• Works by Iain Bell, Helen Grime, Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, Hannah Kendall.
  Performers include Maggie Finnegan, Abi Levis, Brandon Bell, and more. Lecture by Bray.

May 10, 2026: Longing II – Planetary Crisis

• Includes Lembit Beecher’s After the Fires, a world premiere by Benjamin Attahir, and the U.S. premiere of Hèctor Parra’s L’illa dels lliris vermells.

• Works by Missy Mazzoli and Huang Ruo round out the program. Lecture by Attahir.

June 14, 2026: Longing III – American Visions

• Features a new BASS commission by Michael Djupstrom and works by Carlos Simon, Will Liverman, Quinn Mason, Jessica Meyer, Tom Cipullo, and more.
  Performers include Joseph Parrish (BASS debut) and Jessica Meyer. Lecture by Djupstrom.

Digital Access, Ticketing & Subscriptions

BASS continues to offer its Digital Concert Hall Subscription, giving global audiences access to the full season online, along with pre-concert materials and archival content.

• Annual Subscription: $111.99

• Monthly Subscription: $10.99/month

• Premier Add-On: $165 (includes drink, house concert access, and priority seating)

Opening Night Premium Package (Schubert Marathon): $100
Premium Individual Tickets: $55

Tickets and subscriptions are available at brooklynartsongsociety.org