Songs Old and New
Songs Old and New
Art Song Festival Concert Tour
The Art Song Festival is a new festival for India, celebrating Western classical Art Song through events dedicated to showcasing Indian performers and composers.
The festival was founded in 2020 by artistic director Nina Kanter, during her time teaching at KM Music Conservatory (KMMC) in Chennai, with the aim of offering educational and performance opportunities to young singers and pianists. The 2021 festival was delivered virtually in a new partnership between KMMC and Trinity Laban International Academies, reaching audiences worldwide.
And in 2022 we return to KMMC, Chennai to deliver our first hybrid live/virtual celebration of art song! This year’s festival features masterclasses for singers and pianists, workshops for composers, a performance competition and a concert tour with visiting guest artists.
Art Song is a favourite genre for performers and audiences of Western Classical music. Usually written for solo singer and pianist and performed in concert halls rather than theatres, it offers audiences a more intimate performance experience than opera and requires finely nuanced delivery from performers.
The songs set works by great poets, allowing singer and pianist to work together as equals to communicate sublimely beautiful poetry and music. The German genre began in the nineteenth century with simple songs written for amateur musicians to enjoy at home. Over the next hundred years it blossomed into an international phenomenon, with thousands of songs written in various national styles, from the folk-like to highly sophisticated concert works for professional singers, pianists and orchestras.
Tonight’s concert is a showcase for our brilliant 2021 festival prize-winners.
Soprano Anusha Merrin Bobby (winner: Best Overall Performance) is currently studying at the Royal Northern College of Music in London
Baritone Shashwat Vishwakarma (winner: Best Programme) is about to take up a place to study at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, Germany
Tenor Himanshu Barot (winner: Best Potential) has recently performed opera arias at Chennai’s Russian Consulate.
Their programme features a selection of much-loved songs from some of the Romantic European composers who created this genre, plus Spanish and English composers who developed Art Song in the twentieth century, allowing audiences to hear different national styles. Our final part of the evening will feature performances of new Art Songs by Indian composers, which were submitted for the 2021 festival, including works in Urdu and Tamil. We are proud to showcase these songs and support today’s composers telling contemporary stories, including songs reflecting on lockdown.
Performers
Nina Kanter, Lyric Soprano, Music Educator, Producer, Director Art Song Festival
Sandeep Gurrapadi, Tenor, Composer, Theatre maker and Educator
Karl Lutchmayer, International Concert Pianist & Music Educator
Adam Greig, Pianist – performer & Musicologist, Academic Coordinator – KMMC
Gerardo Sanchez Lara, Pianist, Piano Teacher KMMC
Shashwat Vishwakarma, Baritone (prize-winner, Art Song Festival 2021)
Anusha Merrin Bobby, Soprano (prize-winner, Art Song Festival 2021)
Himanshu Barot, Tenor (prize-winner, Art Song Festival 2021)
Programme
Shashwat Vishwakarma:
1. Ralph Vaughan Williams : It was a lover and his lass
IRV 35. Text from As you like it, Act 5, scene 3 (Shakespeare)
2. Franz Schubert : An die Musik
Op. 88, No. 4, D.547; text: Franz Von Schober
3. Johannes Brahms : Alte Liebe
Fünf Gesange, Op. 72 – I; text: Karl August Candidus
4. Hugo Phillip Wolf : Zur Warnung
Mörike Lieder, No. 49; text: Eduard Mörike
5. Gabriel Fauré : Nell
Op. 18, No. 1; text: Leconte de Lisle
6. Reynaldo Hahn : L'heure Exquise
Chansons Grises, No. 5; text: Paul Verlaine
7. Gabriel Fauré : Après un rêve
Op. 7, No. 1; text : Romain Bussine
Anusha Merrin Bobby:
1. Breit über mein haupt – Richard Strauss
From 6 Lieder aus 'Lotosblätter', Op. 19
2. Amor – Richard Strauss
From 6 Lieder, Op.68
3. Die Nacht – Richard Strauss
From 8 Gedichte aus "Letze Blätter", Op.19
4. De donde venis amore? - Joaquin Rodrigo
From Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios
5. Il pleure dans mon coeur - Claude Debussy
from Ariettes oubliées, L. 60
6. La Sauterelle - Louis Durey
From Le Bestiaire, op. 17
7. Kashmiri song - by Amy Woodforde-FInden
From Four Indian Love Lyrics
8. Radnor (New) - Cecilia McDowall
from Radnor Songs
Himanshu Barot:
1. Erlkönig – Franz Schubert
D. 328. Text: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
2. Nana – Manuel de Falla
From Siete canciones populares españolas. Text: traditional
3. Ellens dritter Gesang (Ave Maria) – Franz Schubert
From Lady of the Lake, op 52, no. 6; D. 839. Text: Adam Storck, after Sir Walter Scott
4. Ici-bas! – Gabriel Faure
From 3 Songs, op 8, no. 3. Text: René-François Sully-Prudhomme
5. Ständchen – Franz Schubert
From Schwanengesang, D. 957. Text: Ludwig Rellstab
6. Morgen! - Richard Strauss
From 4 Songs, op. 27, no. 4. Text: John Henry Mackay
New Art Songs by Indian composers, written for the 2021 Art Song Festival
1. Prologue – Dharma (duet in Urdu), by Advait Mahesh (Sandeep und Nina)
2. Where Everything is Unknown, by Samson Ezekiel (Shashwat)
3. From my Balcony, by Jay Parte (Sandeep)
4. Sleep by Elizabeth John (Nina)
5. Never Give all the Heart, by Srikanth Gnanasekaran (Sandeep)
6. Sleep by Elizabeth John (Nina)
7. Chinnanchiru Kiliyae Kannamma (solo song in Tamil), by Johnson Joseph Wilson (Shashwat)
(c. 23.5 minutes)
Total Duration: 1 Hour 20 Minutes approx.
>>Click here for the poster
All are welcome as per Pandemic Protocols*
*Pandemic Protocols @ Goethe-Institut Chennai
- Final vaccination Certificate / RTPCR Test should be shown on request.
- A thermal scanning will be done at the Entry.
- Mask must be worn by all non-performers all the time.
- Sanitizer Stands will be provided at appropriate points for use.
- Entry and Exit into the performance hall will be organized one by one.
- Physical distancing has to be strictly maintained on corridor and in the hall.
- Access to other spaces in the premises is possible only on prior permission.
- Air-conditioner will be @ 27-30 degrees, and Entry Door of the performance hall may be kept open.
If any member fails to observe the guidelines even after our request, they may have to leave the venue.
We look forward to your cooperation to ensure safety for everyone.
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