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Lyric Fest is the only performing-arts organization in the mid-Atlantic region with a primary focus on song and art song in all its varied expression. Now in it’s 15th year, LF has produced and presented over 100 concerts and recitals featuring more than 200 local, regional and national artists. LF’s reputation for excellence and innovation is growing regionally and nationally, and the organization has been featured in a number of national publications. Commissioning and performing new works is also an integral part of LF’s mission and programming philosophy.

Dec 13, 2023
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INQUIRING MINDS…  Can you take our survey? If you can, we’ll thank you with 2 half-price tickets to a concert this season. (Include your name on last question and we can get the discount to you.) Thank you! Loading…

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Corona Chronicles – World Music

Apr 20, 2020
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World Music I have a new definition of world music. It’s the music of the stories that make the world a smaller place. So it was that the world became smaller for me this week, when I set out into a vast web of images, in search of just the right ones for a new […]

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The Enchanted Flute – A Song Blog

Feb 18, 2020
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This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series A Pretend Series

William Bolcom and The New Cabaret Part 1 I don’t know how it could be that we haven’t delved into the Cabaret Songs of William Bolcom before now. Chalk it up to the inexhaustible world of song. (Truly, a lifetime is not enough…) In case you haven’t encountered William Bolcom, do allow me a quick […]

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THE ART OF SONG – Daron Hagen – A Song Blog

Nov 2, 2019
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The ensemble for THE ART OF SONG – by Daron Hagen. World Premiere * Over time, art forms evolve and reconfigure. Sometimes it’s like twisting a kaleidoscope one half inch to the right, and other times you just put the kaleidoscope down. I have to say, I think it’s exhilarating to be in the middle […]

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Lyric Fest seeks Managing Director

Oct 23, 2019
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This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series A Pretend Series

Lyric Fest seeks a Managing Director to work alongside its Co-Artistic Directors and together, the Managing Director and Founding Co-Artistic Directors will collaborate as partners to lead artists, staff, the Board and the community in realizing Lyric Fest’s mission: to bring people together through the shared experience of song by offering to diverse audiences lively, […]

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THE ART OF SONG – Daron Hagen – A Song Blog

Oct 18, 2019
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SCORE FOR THE WIN! There is a lot of note learning and text studying going on now as the singers and pianists are preparing to premiere Daron Hagen’s new song cycle, The Art of Song.   Here is how it goes. You’re a singer, say. You get the new score  – you may have gotten […]

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The Art of Song press release

Oct 8, 2019
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This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series A Pretend Series

Contact: Suzanne DuPlantis 215 432 5946, suzanneduplantis@gmail.com www.lyricfest.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lyric Fest to premiere new song cycle by Daron Hagen, notable among America’s premiere art song composers. Co-commissioned by Lyric Fest and The Brooklyn Art Song Society. Lyric Fest presents The Art of Song Monday, November 4th, 2019 at 7:30 PM at The Church of the […]

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The Road Less Traveled Press Release

Sep 8, 2019
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Contact:   Lauren Anderson, Executive Director Singing City www.singingcity.org Lauren@SingingCity.org 267-519-5321 Suzanne DuPlantis (Lyric Fest) suzanneduplantis@gmail.com 215 432 5946 www.lyricfest.org   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Lyric Fest and Singing City present The Road Less Traveled October 5, 2019, 4PM at Haddonfield United Methodist Church October 6, 2019, 3PM at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral   PHILADELPHIA, PA […]

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2019/20 SEASON PRESS RELEASE

Aug 1, 2019
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Suzanne DuPlantis suzanne@lyricfest.org 215 432 5946 Lyric Fest announces its 17th Anniversary Season – 2019/20 Beautifully curated, multi-faceted concerts of song Lyric Fest celebrates its 17th Anniversary with 7 distinct thematic programs and 15 performances in Philadelphia and its suburbs, New Jersey, New York and California. Lyric Fest’s concerts are […]

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WHITMAN SONG BLOG – AMERICA, SINGING

Jun 9, 2019
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  2. AMERICA, SINGING by Gilda Lyons For Carol of Words Gilda Lyons created an ensemble using almost all our forces. It’s a trio for mezzo, tenor and baritone with violin, double bass and piano. It is “America, Singing.”   This is a piece with a lot of gravitas. One that makes space for deep […]

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WHITMAN SONG BLOG – We Two, How Long We Were Fool’d

May 26, 2019
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1. We Two, How Long We Were Fool’d – Glen Roven Time to share the fruits of our labor – Walt Whitman’s, Glen Roven’s, Laura Ward-Jimmy Reese-Keith Phares’s, and Lyric Fest’s, too.   What with our Whitman CAROL OF WORDS now a month behind us and with Whitman’s actual birthday approaching on May 31st, what […]

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GERSHWIN Life-in-a-nutshell

May 16, 2019
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Here’s Gershwin in a nutshell, so you can be ready for the concert tonite!   GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937) – a short story George Gershwin made his considerable mark on American music in two short decades of composing. Such was the time he was allotted on this earth. His parents were Jewish immigrants who fled the […]

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Denyce Graves Fundraiser

Apr 9, 2019
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Lyric Fest invites your support for “An Intimate Evening with Denyce Graves for Song and Conversation” Denyce Graves and Laura Ward will premiere the new song cycle that Denyce herself commissioned by John Conahan: “Notes from Robert” Thursday, May 2, 2019 from 7-9PM hosted by Carole Haas Gravagno 560 Maplewood Road, Wayne, PA 19087 Our […]

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April 2019

Apr 2, 2019
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Read about our upcoming celebration of Walt Whitman!

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CAROL OF WORDS – Walt Whitman in Song – Press Release

Mar 10, 2019
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PHILADELPHIA, PA – March 8, 2019 Contact: Suzanne DuPlantis suzanneduplantis@gmail.com 215-432-5946 Lyric Fest presents a three-concert Walt Whitman happening in two cities in honor of the poet’s bicentennial. Twelve new vocal chamber works commissioned and premiered alongside extant song settings, biographical narration and readings from Whitman’s poetry, prose and letters.  CAROL OF WORDS […]

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THE MORE THE MERRIER – A Song Blog

Feb 26, 2019
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PART 1   If there is something inherently joyful about singing, I can tell you, that joy is multiplied exponentially when you sing duets and trios with friends. And this, friends, is the charm of our upcoming program, THE MORE THE MERRIER.   We start with Mozart, of course, the merriest of them all, who, […]

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SONGS FROM THE TUNDRA – Song Blog in Retrospect

Feb 3, 2019
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While the weather ’round us is still tundral, (and since, coincidentally, the sound files from our recording engineer were just delivered) I thought I’d share a few songs from our concert. So here, friends, is a gift for this frigid day: the two final pieces from Songs from the Tundra… Now, sometimes you just have […]

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Press Release – Das Lied von der Erde postponed – Lyric Fest presents The More the Merrier

Jan 31, 2019
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPHILADELPHIA, PA – January 31, 2019Contact: Suzanne DuPlantissuzanneduplantis@gmail.com 215-432-5946 Upcoming Lyric Fest ConcertThe More the Merrier – Duets and Trios from Purcell to GershwinSaturday, March 2nd, 2019 at 3:00 PM at The Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral23 S 38th St, Philadelphia, PA (between Chestnut and Market)FREE PARKING at the lot across the street Lyric Fest’s performance of Das Lied […]

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Season’s Greetings Press Release

Jan 31, 2019
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPHILADELPHIA, PA – October 30, 2018 Contact: Suzanne DuPlantissuzanneduplantis@gmail.com 215-432-5946  Upcoming Lyric Fest Happy Half-Hour and Mini Concert Season’s Greetings – Good Tidings from Lyric Fest Tuesday, December 4th, 2018 at 6:30PM at the Moorestown Community House, NJWednesday, December 5th, 2018 at 6:30 PM at The Academy of Vocal Arts Running Time of Music: 45 minute with no […]

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Songs from the Tundra Press Release

Jan 31, 2019
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPHILADELPHIA, PA , December 2018Contact: Suzanne DuPlantissuzanneduplantis@gmail.com 215-432-5946 Lyric Fest presents a rare opportunity to hear off-the-beaten-path songs from Slavic and Scandinavian countries.Lyric Fest in Collaboration with Variant 6 SONGS FROM THE TUNDRASaturday, January 12th, 2019 at 4:00 PM at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut HillSunday, January 13th, 2019 at 3:00 PM at […]

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Another review of Songs from the Tundra

Jan 23, 2019
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SONGS FROM THE TUNDRA – Lyric Fest in collaboration with Variant 6Review by Michael Caruso, Chestnut Hill performance, January 12, 2019, 4PMChestnut Hill LocalClick or tap: https://www.chestnuthilllocal.com/2019/01/17/tundra-warm-not-chilly-at-hill-presbyterian-church/Highlights from the review:“Chestnut Hill pianist Laura Ward and East Falls mezzo-soprano Suzanne DuPlantis founded Lyric Fest in 2003 and have overseen its growth into one of Greater Philadelphia’s most […]

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Review of Songs from the Tundra

Jan 17, 2019
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Gail Obenreder reviewed “Songs from the Tundra” in the Broad Street Review. Here is a sample: The evening featured three first-rate soloists and the luminous a cappella singing of Variant 6, all grounded by the sensitive, intuitive piano collaboration of Lyric Fest co-artistic director Laura Ward. For the whole review, please click https://www.broadstreetreview.com/music/lyric-fest-presents-songs-from-the-tundra#

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For Grammy consideration

Oct 27, 2018
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For your consideration, 61st annual Grammy Awards… DARON HAGEN AFTER WORDS: 21ST CENTURY SONG CYCLES See this page for more information!

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Review of the Bernstein concert in the Philadelphia Inquirer

Oct 23, 2018
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Great review of our Bernstein concert in the Philadelphia Inquirer by David Patrick Stearns — “It was masterfully assembled and performed”. Click: http://www2.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/lyric-fest-leonard-bernstein-pcms-20181022.html

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Un-layering Leonard Bernstein, Letter by Letter

Oct 9, 2018
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Lyric Fest Leonard Bernstein – Biography in Music Presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater October 21, 2018 at 3pm Tickets Here   This is our 7th “Biography in Music”. (This is where Laura and I select a composer whose music and life excites us. Then we launch into […]

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Lyric Fest Announces 2018-2019 Season

Sep 29, 2018
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PHILADELPHIA, PA –September, 2018 Lyric Fest’s 16th season continues our journey of bringing beautiful music to you in Philadelphia and beyond. After an outreach concert of Irving Berlin favorites In Yellow Springs, Lyric Fest joins the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society in October at the Kimmel Center to present Leonard Bernstein – Biography in […]

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My Residency with Lyric Fest (Benjamin C.S. Boyle)

May 28, 2018
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What a year it’s been! Like all wonderful times, we remember the beginning as if it were years ago and the end as having come impossibly quick. From the opening concert from the pianist’s point of view and the recital of my songs in December, to the Debussy portrait in music and the finale with […]

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2017-18: Bryan Hymel, Irini Kyriakidou, Mark Holloway & Laura Ward in Concert

May 4, 2018
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Program: Bryan Hymel, Irini Kyriakidou, Mark Holloway & Laura Ward in Concert

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Crowning the 15th-Anniversary Season

Apr 30, 2018
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Lyric Fest is 15! Having assisted in its birth, having made the first online outfit for this new baby in the Philly song scene (its first website), having helped take care of the baby’s affairs as a member of the board, having made new outfits and accessories for the growing child (new versions of the […]

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April 2018 at Lyric Fest

Apr 30, 2018
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Upcoming concert with Bryan Hymel, Irini Kyriakidou & Laura Ward and much more!

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Chansons de Diane

Apr 24, 2018
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I grew up (mostly) in Maryland and memorized as much E.A. Poe as I could get my hands on. There was a statue of him near my house, which may have deepened the kinship. Poe was also a contemporary of the early Romantic composers Chopin and Schumann, whose music I adored growing up and continue […]

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Lyric Fest Presents International Opera Stars Bryan Hymel and Irini Kyriakidou in Concert with Pianist Laura Ward

Apr 7, 2018
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Robert Rimm r.rimm@88keys.com 215.870.8800  Lyric Fest Presents International Opera Stars Bryan Hymel and Irini Kyriakidou in Concert with Pianist Laura Ward Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 3 PM Church of the Holy Trinity Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA, PA – April 6, 2018 As the grand finale to Lyric Fest’s 15th-anniversary […]

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Songs from the Great American Song Book

Apr 5, 2018
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“When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires will come to you….” I grew up listening to my mother sing “When You Wish Upon a Star” (Leigh Harline & Ned Washington, 1940), so when I heard those lyrics emerge from Richard Troxell and Suzanne DuPlantis at the […]

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HUMMING AND STRUMMING – A guitar blog

Mar 28, 2018
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  LIEDER ON SIX STRINGS   Allen Krantz, guitarist for Humming and Strumming, says Schubert is like a fine consommé, and Brahms is… how did he put it? A potage? A thick stew? A cassoulet? I can’t remember exactly, but you’re getting the point, and I’m getting hungry. Nevertheless, I am here to tell you […]

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March 2018 at Lyric Fest

Mar 22, 2018
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Humming and Strumming program, podcast & blog, a look ahead at May & June’s concerts and more!

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2017-18: Humming and Strumming

Mar 22, 2018
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Humming and Strumming program

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HUMMING AND STRUMMING – A Guitar Blog

Mar 18, 2018
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  SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED… Mátyás György Seiber and the folksong At heart I must be utterly simple. And what I so love about song, I doubly love in folksong. Fortunately, I am not alone, and many a decent composer, even many renowned ones, have a soft spot for these direct and unpretentious […]

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HUMMING AND STRUMMING – A GUITAR BLOG

Mar 12, 2018
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Sitting Down on the Job In planning a concert for singers and guitar there are some choices to make: Limit yourself to strictly guitar music? Or include songs written for its third cousin twice removed, the lute? * Stick to Schubert who published songs with guitar accompaniments, or push the envelope a little, venturing into […]

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Lyric Fest Presents Humming and Strumming: Guitar Songs with Allen Krantz

Feb 27, 2018
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Robert Rimm r.rimm@88keys.com 215.870.8800 Lyric Fest Presents Humming and Strumming: Guitar Songs with Allen Krantz Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 6 PM at the Moorestown Community House, Moorestown, NJ Wednesday, April 4, 2018 at 5:30 PM at the Philadelphia Ethical Society Auditorium, Rittenhouse Square PHILADELPHIA, PA – February 27, 2018 […]

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Songs for Butterflies / for Homeless Children during Noel

Feb 26, 2018
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Gentle reader, I have something to tell you. It’s about music and the love of song. It’s about traveling on the wings of song. It will start from an apparently prosaic place and end in memories of sublime beauty. Along the way, I will tell you about butterflies, songs of love and tragedy.   This […]

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February 2018: Suzanne DuPlantis & Amy Burton Reflect on Debussy’s Life and Sublime Songs

Feb 5, 2018
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February at Lyric Fest…  

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January 2018: A Word from Laura Ward about the Sensual Debussy

Jan 29, 2018
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January at Lyric Fest…

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Debussy and His Songs – A Blog

Jan 29, 2018
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5. RAIN   I like rain. Actually, it would be more true to say I love rain. But then again, I am not prone to too much melancholy, except the seasonal, almost pleasant kind. So truth to tell, leaden skies, wind-blown sheets of rain, splashing cars, puddled pavements – for me, these only soothe.   […]

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Debussy and His Songs – A Blog

Jan 22, 2018
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4. The Chattering Mandolin I’m torn. It’s hard to choose an angle from which to view Debussy’s exuberant song, Mandoline. Shall it be the commedia dell’arte characters who inspired the painter Antoine Watteau to capture on canvas this beautiful, nocturnal scene of masqueraders, poets and musicians in sweet poses, amid ancient ruins? Or that these paintings […]

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Debussy and His Songs – A Blog

Jan 18, 2018
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    3. DEBUSSY, VOYAGER contributed by Rachel Kesselman   Friday night, over an apéritif, I hear the question again: Et alors, pourquoi tu es venue en France ? So, why did you come to France? It is a question that naturally rises to the surface after a few introductory exchanges, one whose innocence both comforts and […]

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Debussy and His Songs – A Blog

Jan 15, 2018
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2. A VERY STRANGE MAN? “I honestly don’t know if Debussy ever loved anybody really. He loved his music – and perhaps himself. I think he was wrapped up in his genius…. He was a very, very strange man.” —Mary Garden, who premiered Mélisande in the original production of Pelléas et Mélisande   So, how strange […]

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Lyric Fest Presents Claude Debussy: Biography in Music

Jan 11, 2018
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Robert Rimm r.rimm@88keys.com 215.870.8800  Lyric Fest Presents Claude Debussy: Biography in Music Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 4 PM The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill 8855 Germantown Avenue • Philadelphia   Sunday, February 11, 2018 at 3 PM The Academy of Vocal Arts 1920 Spruce Street • Philadelphia   PHILADELPHIA, […]

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Debussy and His Songs – A Blog

Jan 2, 2018
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1. THE ALLURE OF THREE  There is something so satisfying about the number three. Not too much, not too little. It says it all, or somehow all that needs to be said, anyway. I was thinking about this, and about the distilled perfection of Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis, a three-song cycle with its titillating encounter, […]

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December 2017: Reflections from Composer-in-Residence Benjamin C.S. Boyle, New Naxos CD and Upcoming Debussy Concert!

Dec 16, 2017
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December at Lyric Fest…  

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November 2017: Art Songs of Benjamin C.S. Boyle

Nov 17, 2017
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November 2017 – Art Songs of Benjamin C.S. Boyle

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2017-18: Art Songs of Benjamin C.S. Boyle

Nov 15, 2017
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Lyric Fest Presents Art Songs of Benjamin C.S. Boyle

Nov 7, 2017
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Robert Rimm r.rimm@88keys.com 610.991.8550 Lyric Fest Presents Art Songs of Benjamin C.S. Boyle Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 3 p.m. The Academy of Vocal Arts 1920 Spruce Street • Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA, PA – November 7, 2017 In a commemoration of its 15th-anniversary season, Lyric Fest is pleased to present a […]

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ARGENTO Song Blog – “Winter” from Six Elizabethan Songs

Oct 18, 2017
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  In 1958 Dominick Argento was 31, he had just landed his first job teaching theory and composition at the University of Minnesota. Did he celebrate by writing a few songs? He did. Since this was long before the allure of setting prose, letters, and diaries set in, Shakespeare would suffice…   Here are Jessica Lennick and […]

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2017-18: Dominick Argento Turns 90

Oct 15, 2017
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Lyric Fest Announces Argento Concert

Oct 3, 2017
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Lyric Fest Announces Argento Concert FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media contact: Suzanne DuPlantis    suzanneduplantis@gmail.com,    215 432 5946 Lyric Fest Announces its first of two Happy Hour and Mini Concerts ~ The songs and biography of living composer, Dominick Argento ~ celebrated on his birthday. DOMINICK ARGENTO TURNS 90 Friday, October 27th, 2017 at 5:30 PM […]

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Review of Pedals, Page-Turns, and Postludes

Oct 3, 2017
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Michael Caruso published his review of our season opener in the Chestnut Hill Local yesterday, October 2, 2017. Click here for the review. Some tidbits from the review to whet your appetite to read the whole thing: “The center of gravity for Lyric Fest’s concert was Chestnut Hill pianist Laura Ward … co-director Ward oversaw […]

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2017-18: Pedals, Page-Turns & Postludes

Sep 15, 2017
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Pedals, Page-turns and Postludes – A Blog

Sep 10, 2017
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I’m not complaining, but… September 10, 2017 …It’s time. It’s time that Laura tells you all about what she does: her craft, her art, her technique. And while she’s at it, she’s going to tell you all about our songs, too. In this program, Laura is going to do the talking! Now this reminds me […]

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Lyric Fest Presents Pedals, Page-turns and Postludes

Sep 2, 2017
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Suzanne DuPlantis suzanneduplantis@gmail.com 215.432.5946 Lyric Fest Presents Pedals, Page-turns and Postludes – a view from the bench – Thursday, September 21st, 2017 at 6 p.m. Reception and Mini Concert at The Community House, Moorestown, NJ Friday, September 22nd, 2017 at 8 p.m. (wine and cheese reception at 7:30)     at the Presbyterian […]

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A word from Suzanne and Laura about Magic…

Aug 29, 2017
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“You know, it is probably time to remove that phrase ‘young organization’ from your Lyric Fest materials,” said a friend recently with a congratulatory smile. How did that happen? Perhaps magic had something to do with it, the kind Benjamin Britten wrote about in the Saturday Review in 1964: The magic comes when the written […]

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Past Lyric Fest Newsletters

Aug 23, 2017
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Enjoy reading our past newsletters at the links provided on this page.

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Lyric Fest Announces 2017 – 2018 Season

Aug 15, 2017
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media contact: Peter C. Phillips, M.D. pcphillips1@comcast.net, 215-808-1963 (mobile) Lyric Fest Announces 2017 – 2018 Season In celebration of its 15th year of concerts, Lyric Fest continues its fresh and innovative approach to art song performance, showcasing song in an intimate and glorious expression. Laura Ward, Lyric Fest’s Co-Founder and internationally recognized collaborative […]

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Irving Berlin Program

May 8, 2017
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Click here to see our program.

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2016-2017 Happy Birthday Irving Berlin

May 8, 2017
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Click here for program of “Happy Birthday Irving Berlin”

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LYRIC FEST PRESENTS HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRVING BERLIN

Apr 10, 2017
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 LYRIC FEST PRESENTS HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRVING BERLIN Happy Hour mini-concert toasts this song-writing genius PHILADELPHIA, PA – April, 2017 Born Israel Isidore Baline in 1888 in Tyumen, Russia, Irving Berlin became the Jewish immigrant who penned popular standards including God Bless America, White Christmas and Easter […]

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Tom Purdom reviews “It’s Elementary”

Apr 6, 2017
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Tom Purdom’s review of It’s Elementary was published yesterday in the Broad Street Review. Here are a few brief quotes to entice you to follow the link (click here) so you can read the whole, elegantly written, review. The lineup’s 21 songs were distributed among four appealing young vocalists. Soprano Meryl Dominguez and tenor Jonas […]

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2016-2017 It’s Elementary

Mar 30, 2017
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Click here for the program of “It’s Elementary”

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Lyric Fest presents It’s Elementary

Feb 17, 2017
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 LYRIC FEST PRESENTS IT’S ELEMENTARY John Musto and Michael Djupstrom premiere two newly commissioned song cycles PHILADELPHIA, PA – February 16, 2017 As technology becomes central to our lives, what happens to our relationship with the natural world? In commissioning two new song cycles – […]

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Press coverage of “Music in the White House”

Feb 4, 2017
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“Music in the White House” presented on January 28 and 29, 2017, received two write-ups in the local press. Ronnie Polaneczky, writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer “Speaking with feet, hearts, and voices” (Article) Excerpt: […] about 250 Philadelphians on the other side of town were moved to tears during a Rittenhouse Square concert called “Music […]

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WHITE HOUSE SONG BLOG

Jan 22, 2017
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4. Music hath charms… The year was 1914 and the world stood on the brink of its first World War. Woodrow Wilson had just held a formal diplomatic dinner for the Central Powers at the White House. Harpist Melville Clark had provided the music for the evening. And this is what happened at the end of […]

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WHITE HOUSE SONG BLOG

Jan 20, 2017
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3. Today, A Dirge Need I say more?  I need not, but I think I will. Abraham Lincoln (O Captain, my Captain) loved opera. His favorite one was Flotow’s “Martha.” He loved it so very much that he had it staged for his inauguration. So, on this day, so full of precedence and history, I give you […]

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WHITE HOUSE SONG BLOG

Jan 18, 2017
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 White House image by Dan Kessler, kesslerart.com 2. Winter in the White House This embedded YouTube clip is almost All-American. An American President (Jimmy Carter) invites a world renowned American opera singer (Leontyne Price) to the White House and she sings a new song composed for her by an American composer (Dominick Argento) and the president had […]

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WHITE HOUSE SONG BLOG

Jan 17, 2017
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    White House image by Dan Kessler, kesslerart.com The Music of Richard Nixon and Pearl Bailey What a time to be presenting Music in the White House! No, really… what BETTER time to be presenting Music in the White House? Having spent the last few months immersing myself in presidential history and the story that music […]

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Laura Ward and Chrystal E. Williams reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer

Jan 17, 2017
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Lyric Fest cofounder Laura Ward and Lyric Fest previously featured singer Chrystal E. Williams received a glowing review in the Philadelphia Inquirer last Friday, written by Peter Dobrin. Here is a tiny quote to entice you to read the whole thing: Williams, […], responded with great plasticity – of sound, stylistic treatment, of emotion. She […]

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Lyric Fest Presents Music in the White House

Dec 30, 2016
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 Lyric Fest Presents Music in the White House A retrospective of the American spirit as seen through the music of our Presidents In collaboration with Singing City, Lyric Fest offers a musical documentary detailing the development of the American spirit as reflected in the music […]

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Tom Purdom reviews Letters to Santa

Dec 17, 2016
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A few days ago, Tom Purdom wrote a review of our December 6 concert “Letters to Santa”, in a piece with two other short reviews, published in the Broad Street Review. A quick snippet, to whet your appetite the read the whole review: The entire cycle is a compact little musical […] They all applied their […]

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Lyric Fest Presents Letters to Santa

Oct 31, 2016
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 Lyric Fest Presents Letters to Santa Kick Off the Holiday Season with a Happy Hour and Mini Concert In a new concert format that combines a happy hour with a week night mini concert, Lyric Fest starts the holiday season Tuesday, December 6th, 2016 […]

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Two reviews of I Hear America Singing

Oct 14, 2016
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Two reviews of last weekend’s I Hear America Singing concert appeared today. One, written by Michael Caruso, [link] appeared in the Chestnut Hill Local. The other review, written by Tom Purdom, [link], appeared in the Broad Street Review. Both reviews make great reading and have many remarks that warmed our hearts. Here are some snippets, to […]

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AMERICA SINGS – A Blog

Sep 30, 2016
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Coyotes by Ricky Ian Gordon, to a poem by Ray Underwood “I understand you, coyotes. I understand the way you croon. I never did before, Before I hungered for his kisses, Underneath an amber moon…”   I love this song. A century ago when I was a young singer I went to a music festival in […]

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AMERICA SINGS – A Blog

Sep 27, 2016
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Lady of the Harbor    by Lee Hoiby (from The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus, as it appears on the Statue of Liberty) “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside […]

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AMERICA SINGS – A Blog

Sep 17, 2016
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The White Dawn Stealing  from “Four American Indian Songs” by Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881 – 1946) September 17, 2016           Okay, how’s this for a life? The year is 1851. You are born in NYC. You study business. No, wait, you really are a musician at heart. You study organ. Eh, no. […]

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I Hear America Singing – Press Release

Sep 1, 2016
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 Lyric Fest Presents I Hear America Singing Throughout history American song has given voice to our rich cultural heritage PHILADELPHIA, PA – September, 2016 Lyric Fest’s fourteenth season, Song for America, begins with a look at the richness and variety of American music. I Hear […]

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I Hear America Singing

Jun 12, 2016
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Saturday, October 8, 2016 at 7:30 pm at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church
Sunday, October 9, 2016 at 3 pm at The Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce Street

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A Neighborhood of Friends — a world of song

Jun 12, 2016
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Sunday, November 13, 2016 at 3 pm at Main Line Reform Temple
Monday, November 14, 2016 at 10 am at Girard Academic Music Program (Invitation only)

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Letters to Santa — Happy Hour and Mini Concert

Jun 12, 2016
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Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at The Academy of Vocal Arts
5:30 pm for refreshments, 6 pm music

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Music in the White House — a collaboration between Lyric Fest and Singing City

Jun 12, 2016
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Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 7:30 pm at St. David’s Episcopal Church
Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 3 pm at Church of the Holy Trinity

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It’s Elementary — Songs of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water

Jun 12, 2016
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Friday, March 31, 2017 at 7:30 pm at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church
Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 3 pm at The Academy of Vocal Arts

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Happy Birthday Irving Berlin — Happy Hour and Mini Concert

Jun 12, 2016
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May 11, 2017 at The Academy of Vocal Arts
5:30 for refreshments, 6 pm music

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Lyric Fest Announces 2016 – 2017 Season

Jun 10, 2016
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 LYRIC FEST ANNOUNCES 2016 – 2017 SEASON Song for America PHILADELPHIA, PA – June, 2016 In this fourteenth season, Lyric Fest casts its vote for American music with the theme Song for America. The season begins early October with I Hear America Singing, featuring […]

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Review of Sincerely Yours in the Broad Street Review

Apr 7, 2016
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Tom Purdom, the instigator of the theme for this program in a comment made to Suzanne some eleven years ago, enjoyed the program very much and wrote a review in the Broad Street Review. Some tidbits to entice you to follow the link above to read the entire review (and while you are at it, […]

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2015-16 Sincerely Yours

Apr 2, 2016
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2015-16-Sincerely-yours-Program

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Letters Set To Music – A Blog

Mar 29, 2016
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    March 29, 2016 Am I Blue? The winner of our song competition, Isabella Nicole Ness, set a beautiful letter of Vincent Van Gogh, written to his brother Theo. Theo adored his older brother. He believed in him, supported him financially, and unfailingly encouraged him. Theo understood Vincent. Any who have stood before a Van […]

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Letters Set To Music – A Blog

Mar 25, 2016
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      March 25, 2016 Oh, Emily I don’t know about you, but I always think of Emily in her late, reclusive years. A kind of white clad angel-scribe, observing all of nature, and all the human heart can hold – from a 3X5 foot window on the second floor of her house on Main Street in […]

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Letters Set To Music – A Blog

Mar 23, 2016
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    March 23, 2016 Dear Santa… When we were gathering composers for this letters project, we reached out to Logan Skelton. “As long as it’s an actual letter you can choose anything at all to set.” Anything… Everything. So close, these two. Dear Santa, All I want is just a little thing, but it […]

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Letters Set To Music – A Blog

Mar 22, 2016
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    March 22, 2016 Zelda’s Dream The year is 1918 – Alabama in July, and without a doubt, it is sweltering. A vivacious, attention loving coquette with talents of her own encounters a soon-to-be famous author, and just like that, two wild, uneasy souls meet – and are doomed. But all that will come in good time. After a […]

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Letters Set To Music – A Blog

Mar 21, 2016
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    March 21, 2016 The spectacle of life on the spectrum How’s this for an opener? “Dear Future Roommate, Don’t worry about us getting along. I’ve lived with crazy people all my life. My father is a poet, and his artsy friends—eccentric writers, boisterous musicians and neurotic painters— could populate a whole season of […]

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Letters Set To Music – A Blog

Mar 15, 2016
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    March 14, 2016 Amelia Musings Just the name Amelia causes a deep stirring in me. I’m not exactly sure why. Could it be her mysterious death? Her missing body? A vague nostalgia for a bygone American Spirit? Or maybe it’s just the Joni Mitchell song, an ear-worm that has accompanied hundreds of my days. In August of 1928, Amelia became […]

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Letters Set To Music – A Blog

Mar 12, 2016
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    March 12, 2016 I am moaning over here. Alas! What ever happened to letter-writing?? Not that there isn’t something elegantly haiku-ish about the perfect tweet. But I don’t know, isn’t that more like grabbing some tasty fast food on a 5 minute lunch break compared with the slow deliciousness of an unhurried meal […]

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Sincerely Yours – Letters Set to Music Press Release

Mar 11, 2016
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933   Lyric Fest Presents Sincerely Yours – Letters Set to Music Commission project celebrates the most personal of all communication and a dying art Philadelphia, Pa March, 2016 The final Lyric Fest concert of this season premieres newly commissioned works by Philadelphia composers Benjamin C.S. […]

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Lyric Fest on WETA Arts!

Feb 12, 2016
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WETA featured our recent Poe concert in the Dumbarton Concerts series in their WETA Arts program. Enjoy the whole video; the part that covers Lyric Fest’s participation in the Dumbarton Concerts is in the first 5:30 minutes or so.

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Brahms concert review by Michael Caruso

Feb 4, 2016
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Michael Caruso published a great review of our Brahms concert in the Chestnut Hill Local. We’d love for you to read the whole review. To whet your appetite, here are some small tastes: … presented a moving portrait of one of classical music’s most perplexing personalities through a deft combination of narration and music. Lyric Fest’s […]

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BRAHMS – A Blog

Jan 25, 2016
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    JOHANNES BRAHMS – Biography in Music (Rescheduled) CONCERT TONIGHT AT AVA, 7pm January 25, 2016 – Brahms-Humor (No, this is not a misnomer.) Don’t let this face fool you.       He could be funny. Okay, yes, he had a tendency to brood. (He once wrote “I have to confess …that I am […]

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2015-16 Biography in Music: Brahms

Jan 22, 2016
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2015-16-Johannes-Brahms-Program

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Snow update: no concert today, 1/24/2016

Jan 22, 2016
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Lyric Fest’s Brahms Biography in Music performance for today is CANCELED. A performance will be held tomorrow, Monday, January 25 at The Academy of Vocal Arts at 7 pm, and a second performance will be held in Chestnut Hill at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill at 7:30 pm on Friday, January 29. Stay warm […]

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BRAHMS – A Blog

Jan 21, 2016
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      January 21, 2016 – Brahms and Clara “I can do nothing but think of you and gaze constantly at your dear letter and portrait. What have you done to me? Can’t you remove the spell you have cast over me?” (21 year old Brahms to 34 year old Clara) The beginning of […]

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Michael Caruso previews our Brahms concert

Jan 15, 2016
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Michael Caruso has a very nice and informative preview of our Brahms concert in the Chestnut Hill Local.

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BRAHMS – A Blog

Jan 14, 2016
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      3. The Sexy Brahms Today’s song is Unbewegte laue Luft. But before I go any further, I have to warn you –Brahms and sex… It’s complicated. A little biographical back-drop might be in order: Picture the wharfs of Hamburg: sailors, prostitutes, rats. Now picture a pre-pubescent Johannes Brahms sent there by his father, into a brothel […]

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BRAHMS – A Blog

Jan 11, 2016
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      2. LESS IS MORE – January 11, 2016 So, I’m at the stage of cutting material out of the biographical narrative for the performance of Brahms – Biography in Music. A writer friend calls it “killing kittens.” It’s agonizing. Here, then, is one of my dead kittens: When Brahms was young – a […]

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BRAHMS – A Blog

Jan 10, 2016
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    “I have qualms about beginning this letter. So let us speak of something else.” –Johannes Brahms I wrote a Brahms Letters Programs years ago. PLF, as I like to call it. (When Lyric Fest was just a twinkle in our eye.) There was a newish book of his letters out by Styra Avins. (Highly recommended.) […]

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2015-16 Sibelius Celebrates 150

Dec 8, 2015
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2015-16-Sibelius-celebrates-150-Program

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Johannes Brahms – ­­­Biography in Music Press Release

Dec 5, 2015
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933  Lyric Fest Presents Johannes Brahms­­­ – Biography in Music  The man behind the music and the music behind the man  Philadelphia, Pa December, 2015 Johannes Brahms’s lullaby is widely known and often used to conjure up the mood of an innocent child sleeping. Yet, […]

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SIBELIUS at 150 – A Blog

Nov 22, 2015
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  Here is little dose of Sibelius to make your day. Not one, but two videos of Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte. Okay. I know it’s hard to pronounce, but just say “Flickan” and everyone will know. The story is this… The girl comes back from a tryst with her lover and her mother says, Why are […]

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SIBELIUS at 150 – A Blog

Nov 18, 2015
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    We are offering a different kind of concert experience with our upcoming Sibelius program on Tuesday, December 8 at 6pm. It’s a happy hour-birthday party that features Nordic delicacies, warming Finnish vodka, cooling wine, and about 45 minutes of incredibly beautiful songs by Jean Sibelius. Sibelius said this:  “Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in […]

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SIBELIUS at 150 – A Blog

Nov 11, 2015
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      Alas. We’ve had no luck finding a Jean Sibelius Action Figure, and here it is, less than a month away from his 150th Birthday. We will have to find other ways to acquaint you with dear Jean, the Swedish Finn, or the Finnish Swede. I never can remember. Anyway, news flash. Sibelius is one […]

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Nov 7, 2015
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I think I’ve put my finger on it. Living in Poe’s word-world has felt to me like being in a dream. Wait. Let me try again. It is more accurate to say it has begun to feel less and less like a world that could have ever really existed…for anyone but for him. Poe said […]

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2015-16 The Raven

Nov 7, 2015
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2015-16-The-Raven-Program

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Nov 6, 2015
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    THE RAVEN – A Poe Fest Saturday, November 7, 2015, 8:00pm at Dumbarton Concerts, Washington, DC Sunday, November 8, 2015, 3:00pm at The Academy of Vocal Arts (Reception following) Tonight we meet in Washington – a cast of 12. We will finally all be in the same room to begin to pull this concert […]

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Nov 5, 2015
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I try not to gossip, but really, sometimes it’s hard. Poe and these women! For a dour guy with a short and troubled lifespan, he certainly had a lot of romantic intrigue. Case in point: one poem “Thou wouldst be loved” gets recycled four times, for four different women. Let’s just jump to the end, when he was truly struggling […]

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Sibelius Celebrates 150 – Press Release

Nov 5, 2015
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 Lyric Fest Presents Sibelius Celebrates 150 Happy Hour Concert Features His Philadelphia Connections and Lifetime Contributions to Music and Swedish Culture In a new concert format that combines a happy hour with a week night mini performance, Lyric Fest fetes the 150th anniversary of the […]

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Nov 3, 2015
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      So, it was about 200 hundred years ago that EAP lived in Philadelphia –  1837 to 1844. Here is the only house he lived in that is still standing. You can visit it yourself – it’s in the Spring Garden District. Just to state, perhaps, the obvious, Poe was not a happy guy. […]

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EDGAR ALLAN POE – A Blog

Oct 31, 2015
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  Time for another action-filled video with Edgar Allan Poe (The Action Figure). Tune in while we try to reconcile Poe, the father of the American horror story with Poe, the erudite poet of heart stoppingly tender, romantic verse… THE RAVEN – A Poe Fest Saturday, November 7, 2015, 8:00pm at Dumbarton Concerts, Washington, DC […]

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Oct 28, 2015
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      Edgar Allan Poe Fun Fact Du Jour: Did you know the Baltimore Ravens were named for EAP’s famous poem “The Raven”? Just like our concert. THE RAVEN – A Poe Fest Saturday, November 7, 2015, 8:00pm at Dumbarton Concerts, Washington, DC Sunday, November 8, 2015, 3:00pm at The Academy of Vocal Arts

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Oct 27, 2015
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    It’s Things I do not have in common with Edgar Allan Poe – Day. I did not publish a book of poetry by age 18. I do not keep an exhaustive scrapbook of nearly all the far-flung bits of knowledge I have acquired. I never dropped out of college, or been kicked out of […]

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Oct 25, 2015
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  Poe Fest Alert! We are two weeks out. Mark your calendars for November 8th at 3pm at The Academy of Vocal Arts. You will not want to miss what will be a very special concert for Lyric Fest. Five singers (one, a counter-tenor, a first for LF) and Laura Ward at the piano will be joined by […]

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Oct 23, 2015
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I don’t know about you, but we’ve been immersed in Edgar Allan Poe these days. Fascinating stuff. There’s the horror element, of course, but on the other hand, the surprising discovery of exquisitely lyric love poetry. Here’s one: https://lyricfest.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Thou-Wouldst-Be-Loved.m4a Poetry so musical and rhapsodic that many composers have set them to music. We can’t help it, we ask […]

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Edgar Allan Poe – A Blog

Oct 22, 2015
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    Poe Fun Fact Du Jour: Did you know that the 19th Century French loved Edgar Allan Poe? Just loved him –practically claimed him as their own. I have it on good authority (from a Poe-aficionado-Parisian-dweller-French-lit-major-budding-author-friend-of-mine, Rachel Kesselman) that this is indeed the case. That the poet Charles Pierre Baudelaire was obsessed with Poe, for example. He […]

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Edgar Allen Poe – A Blog

Oct 20, 2015
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In anticipation of our upcoming concert, Lyric Fest is now accepting orders for the Edgar Allan Poe Action Figure. Get yours now! Interviews with Poe – The Action Figure, Poetry Readings, Poe Fun Facts and Song Rehearsals to follow. Don’t miss it! THE RAVEN – A Poe Fest Saturday, November 7, 2015, 8:00pm at Dumbarton […]

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The Raven – Press Release

Oct 5, 2015
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 Experience Edgar Allan Poe as you never have before with settings for solo voice, string quartet, and narration. LYRIC FEST PRESENTS THE RAVEN­ – A POE FEST   PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER, 2015 In a co­-production with Dumbarton Concerts in Washington, […]

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2015-16 La Dolce Vita

Oct 2, 2015
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2015-16-La-Dolce-Vita-Program

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More appetite whetting for La Dolce Vita

Sep 30, 2015
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LA DOLCE VITA Celebrating the Sweet Things in Life with Italian Song Laura and I are Italy-enthusiasts. We can’t help it. We spend a part of each summer on the staff of Umbrian Serenades (http://www.umbrianserenades.com/) in Spoleto, basking in the ancient splendor of Umbria and offering in return, concerts of solo, small ensemble and choral […]

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Season opener this weekend

Sep 29, 2015
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This weekend Lyric Fest opens its 13th Anniversary Season with: LA DOLCE VITA Celebrating the Sweet Things in Life with Italian Song Mediterranean breezes, an evening “Passegiata”, Venetian sunsets, and the effervescence of Prosecco. This and more we bring to you in song, all inspired by Italy. Here is a little known Italian gem to […]

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Important correction for Sunday’s concert

Sep 25, 2015
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Our notice here about the concert on Sunday, September 27, in Pittsburgh, contained an error about the starting time for this concert. This error has now been corrected. Sunday’s concert starts at 3 pm.

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La Dolce Vita – Press Release

Sep 9, 2015
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 Lyric Fest Presents La Dolce Vita Thirteenth season premieres sweetly with a program of Italian favorites and little-known gems PHILADELPHIA, PA – September 9, 2015  Designed to be a delightful Lyric Fest season opener with a lot of sparkle and fun, La Dolce Vita […]

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Our 2015-16 brochure

Sep 2, 2015
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Our gorgeous brochure for the new season is ready and will be mailed out soon. You can see it right here: LyricFest Brochure 15-16

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Lyric Fest Announces 2015 – 2016 Season

Aug 26, 2015
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 978 6933 LYRIC FEST ANNOUNCES 2015 – 2016 SEASON Celebrating life, poetry, and letters in the style of art song. PHILADELPHIA, PA – August 26, 2015 In this thirteenth season, Lyric Fest expands both its geographic boundaries as well as artistic. Lyric Fest goes west to […]

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Documentary about our first composer-in-residence, Kile Smith

Jun 18, 2015
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Film by John Thornton. Enjoy!

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Young Composers Competition

Jun 17, 2015
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LYRIC FEST is holding an art song competition for emerging composers under the age of 30. We are asking for songs that set letters to music for our upcoming concert, Sincerely Yours.   Check out this link for more information about this exciting opportunity!  

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Our 2015-2016 season

Jun 6, 2015
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Lyric Fest’s 2015/16 Season Waxing Poetic – “In This Blue Room” by Kile Smith Sunday, September 27, 2015 at 4pm in PITTSBURGH “Lyric Fest West” in Pittsburgh to open the new “Music and the Arts Series” at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. With Suzanne DuPlantis, mezzo soprano, Daniel Teadt, Laura Ward, piano. La Dolce Vita Friday, […]

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Tom Purdom’s review of I’ll Make Me A World

Apr 22, 2015
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Tom Purdom has published his review of our last concert of the 2014–2015 season, I’ll Make Me A World, in the Broad Street Review. Here are some little snippets from it, to whet your appetite for the whole thing, which you can read by following the link above. Once you are on the Broad Street […]

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2014-15 I’ll Make Me A World

Apr 19, 2015
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2014-15-I’ll-Make-Me-a-World-Program

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Kile Smith talks about composing In This Blue Room

Apr 13, 2015
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Enjoy this video of Lyric Fest’s first composer-in-residence Kile Smith talking about his composition of the song cycle In This Blue Room before the March 15, 2015 presentation of the cycle at the Academy of Vocal Arts.

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Tom Purdom reviews Waxing Poetic — In This Blue Room

Mar 18, 2015
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Tom Purdom has published his review of Waxing Poetic — In This Blue Room in the Broad Street Review. He sees a dialog between the sexes in Kile Smith’s new song cycle. Below, you get to taste a tidbit to whet your appetite to read all of the review at the link above. We hope […]

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Lyric Fest’s “Sing-nature” Cocktail

Mar 16, 2015
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Our Lyric Fest cocktail celebrating our Waxing Poetic – In the Blue Room concert comes from the Waldorf-Astoria Wax Poetic cocktail. But just as our concert comes from the inspiration of many arts, our Waxing Poetic Cocktail takes some colorful inspiration from batik as well as a poetic whiff of absinthe. Cocktail 2.25 ounces vodka […]

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Happy birthday and thank you Laura Pritchard

Mar 16, 2015
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Laura Pritchard is the wonderful batik artist whose work sparked the poetry and music for our Waxing Poetic — In This Blue Room concert/art event this past weekend, with a brand new song cycle by our composer in residence Kile Smith on lyrics from poems inspired by Pritchard’s art. It also happens to be Laura […]

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2014-15 Waxing Poetic

Mar 13, 2015
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2014-15-Waxing-Poetic-Program

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Cabaret 2015 POSTPONED to tomorrow

Feb 21, 2015
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Unfortunately, conditions in Philadelphia have become very difficult with the snow and we are forced to reschedule tonight’s Cabaret after all, despite our earlier announcement. The new date for Cabaret 2015 is tomorrow, Sunday, February 22. The new time for doors to open is 6:30 pm and the show will begin at 7 pm. The […]

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Meet Laura Pritchard

Jan 28, 2015
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Meet Laura Pritchard, inspiration for our next concert, Waxing Poetic! Watch and see how she creates!

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Cabaret 2015

Jan 14, 2015
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I’ll Take Romance – Cabaret and Auction Our Candlelit Cabaret Fundraiser is coming up next month. Join Suzanne DuPlantis, Barbara Shirvis, Harold Evans, piano and Ron Kerber, sax for a special night of Jazz Standards from the Great American Songbook. Candlelight, Wine, Desserts, Jazz — SUPPORT LYRIC FEST! Saturday, February 21, 2015, 7:30 pm – 10 pm […]

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Kile Smith on Much Ado about Shakespeare

Nov 17, 2014
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Lyric Fest’s first composer in residence, Kile Smith, has published his reaction to yesterday’s Much Ado about Shakespeare concert. This concert ended with the world premiere of his piece Mark the Music, commissioned by Lyric Fest. We are delighted with the piece, its reception by the audience, and Kile’s praise of the performers and our […]

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2014-15 Much Ado About Shakespeare

Nov 16, 2014
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2014-15-Much-Ado-About-Shakespeare-Program

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Much Ado about Shakespeare

Nov 11, 2014
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Click below to see the program for our upcoming Shakespeare concert: Much Ado Shakespeare Program

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Review of Vienna – City of Song by Susan Gould

Oct 16, 2014
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The Broad Street Review recently ran a wonderful review of our Vienna program by Susan Gould. By all means, please follow the link to read the entire review. Here are some excerpts to whet your appetite: … the auditorium in the Academy of Vocal Arts’s gorgeous building was the perfect setting. DuPlantis, … Her voice […]

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Pennappetit.com on our Vienna reception

Oct 15, 2014
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After our October 5 concert of Vienna – City of Song, we had a reception with many tasty treats created by students of the Restaurant School. Penn’s food magazine, Pennappetit.com, has a very nice write-up.

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Kile Smith’s take on the Vienna program

Oct 7, 2014
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Lyric Fest’s first ever composer in residence, Kile Smith, was also the narrator for our Vienna program, which was performed Sunday and Monday. You can find his impressions from this experience in his latest blog post.

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2014-15 Vienna, City of Song

Oct 5, 2014
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2014-15-Vienna-City-of-Song-Program

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Sneak Peek at Vienna – City of Song

Oct 4, 2014
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Tomorrow is our season opener – Vienna – City of Song. We had a great rehearsal yesterday! So much gorgeous music. So much variety, lush harmony, wistful lyrics, strange beauty …and humor! See full PROGRAM here. Here is a foretaste of the music to come: Strauss’s Ständchen with Erica Miller, soprano and Laura Ward, piano in rehearsal. Schubert’s Im […]

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3. Vienna inspires…. Song Blog Post

Sep 30, 2014
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This is Lyric Fest’s first program dedicated exclusively to German Lied… and it feels like coming home.  We chose Vienna to narrow the field a bit, for the field was stretching out in all directions. Vienna, birth place to Schubert and Webern, home to Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, Mahler, Wolf, Schoenberg, supplies no want of songs, […]

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2. Vienna – City of Song – Blog Post

Sep 27, 2014
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Here is an ever-so-lovely song for today, one to be featured on next week’s program. And if I post quickly enough, you’ll hear it before the sun sets… Feldeinsamkeit of Johannes Brahms. (Solitude in a field) I rest quietly in the tall green grass And for a long time send my gaze aloft, Surrounded by the unceasing whirr […]

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The Alpha and Omega of Franz Schubert

Sep 25, 2014
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1. The Alpha and Omega of Franz Schubert, September 25, 2014 “Gretchen am Spinnrade” and “Die Taubenpost” In 1815 Schubert was 18 years old. In this year alone he composed 140 songs, nine church works and a symphony. But the piece considered to be his first song-masterpiece, the Alpha of Franz Schubert the unsurpassed Lieder […]

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We Pulled Each Other Closer in the Turn

Aug 31, 2014
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Today I start a blog post series on the commissions composed for Lyric Fest’s DEAR MARCH – COME IN! –  American Female Poets in Song. I’ll do one song per post. LF gave a third performance of this concert in July and we have some video to share, so please enjoy…. American Female Poets Songbook […]

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Our 2014-15 brochure

Aug 20, 2014
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Our beautiful brochure for the coming season is ready and will be mailed out soon. Here’s your advanced preview (PDF): Lyric Fest Brochure 2014

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Lyric Fest Announces 2014 – 2015 Season

Jul 31, 2014
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Lari Robling larirob@gmail.com 215 9788 6933 LYRIC FEST ANNOUNCES 2014 – 2015 SEASON Celebrating the arts with Lyric Fest’s first Composer-in-Residence PHILADELPHIA, PA – July 31, 2014 Lyric Fest’s new season focuses on the intersection of art and life. The season begins with Vienna—City of Song a Schubertiad-styled program celebrating […]

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A glimpse of the 2014/15 season

Jul 21, 2014
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Lyric Fest announces its 2014/15 Season of Concerts. Check out this exciting season and order tickets now. Early Bird Specials available; more information on this coming soon. Here’s to you, here’s to song! Vienna, City of Songs Much Ado about Shakespeare Waxing Poetic I’ll make me a World In addition, we have two other performances: […]

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One more performance of Dear March — Come In

May 16, 2014
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Lyric Fest is presenting “Dear March–Come In–American Women Poets in Song” in Princeton, New Jersey. The performance is Tuesday, July 15, 7:30 PM, in the Bristol Chapel on Westminster College’s campus (this campus map shows it as building number 6; there are also directions to the campus). This concert is presented as part of the […]

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Tom Purdom reviews Dear March — Come In

Apr 5, 2014
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Tom Purdom reviewed in the Broad Street Review our end-of-season concert Dear March — Come In. As ever, we encourage you to read the entire text of the review at the preceding link, but here are some excerpts to whet your appetite.  It was, in short, a typical Lyric Fest variety show. If you weren’t […]

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Review of Dear March — Come In by David Patrick Stearns

Apr 1, 2014
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Inquirer Classical Music Critic David Patrick Stearns reviewed our Dear March — Come In — American Women Poets in Song program. Some excerpts follow (as always, we encourage you to read the whole review at the link).  … the concert wasn’t really a gender study but a cross-section of American song … It took current composers to […]

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Poetry: ‘Tis for thee, John Timpane says

Mar 29, 2014
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Inquirer staff writer John Timpane has an article on philly.com today that celebrates poetry, in the context of April (poetry month) and Philly Poetry Day (April 12). In the article, Timpane gives a good taste of our Dear March — Come In program. The first performance of this program was last night at Bryn Mawr […]

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2013-14 Dear March – Come In

Mar 28, 2014
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2013-14-Dear-March-Come-In-Program

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Directions to tonight’s concert

Mar 28, 2014
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Tonight’s concert is in The Music Room at Bryn Mawr College, starting at 7:30 pm. Here are helpful directions for you. Directions to The Music Room at Bryn Mawr College: http://www.brynmawr.edu/campus/visiting.shtml From Philadelphia traveling on Montgomery Avenue – at the traffic light at Morris, Turn RIGHT, (this is at the Baldwin School turning away from the Train […]

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Dear March – Composers, poems, sponsors

Mar 26, 2014
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Benjamin C. S. Boyle  set a poem by Edith Wharton. Boyle’s commission is supported by a gift from Dr. Christina Stasiuk and George Farion. Patience                      by Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937) PATIENCE and I have traveled hand in hand So many days that I have […]

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Interview with Kiera Duffy

Mar 24, 2014
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LF: Kiera Duffy, when did you first fall in love with opera and know this was your passion? KD: Well, my passion has always been for music, in general, but I guess the way in which I have expressed that passion has shifted over the years. The piano was my first love—I studied it for […]

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Audiences growing for song recitals, by David Patrick Stearns

Mar 23, 2014
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David Patrick Stearns in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, in a long piece entitled Audiences Growing for Song Recitals, talks about the story of Lyric Fest and our Dear March – Come In program to be presented Friday and Sunday. A short excerpt: Especially at Lyric Fest, which rejects traditional European formats by building programs around a […]

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DEAR MARCH – COME IN – Song Blog; No. 1 Poems

Mar 17, 2014
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When asked what she wanted most from Poetry, Sharon Olds, winner of the Pulitzer for Poetry in 2013 said “I want a poem to be useful.” I love that. And really, I think anyone who has journeyed through the vicissitudes of life, leaning on poetry all the way, recognizes this simple, kind truth. Probably I’ve […]

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The gourmet side of Love with a Twist

Feb 24, 2014
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Penn appétit, “Penn’s premiere food magazine”, has a delicious post about our reception after the Love with a Twist concert at AVA on February 16. Did you know that we have a marvelous reception with great food and drink after almost every one of our concerts?

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Love with a Twist cocktail was created by mixologist Katie Loeb

Feb 17, 2014
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Lyric Fest presented Love with a Twist: For those lucky at cards, unlucky in love—a program of great song and opera featuring the daydreams, denials, and disasters of love. To highlight our performance and Valentine’s Day celebrated mixologist Katie Loeb created an original Love with a Twist cocktail for us. And, just like romance, it shows […]

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2013-14 Love with a Twist

Feb 14, 2014
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Program of Love with a Twist

Feb 13, 2014
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We hope you are warm and cozy in this storm. We have a little gift for you: the program of Love with a Twist as a PDF file: Love Twist Program. See you at one of the performances this weekend?

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Interview with Barbara Shirvis and Stephen Powell

Feb 10, 2014
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Two of our guest artists for Love with A Twist are Barbara Shirvis and Stephen Powell. While they have independent vocal careers, they happen to be married and we are happy to have the opportunity to have them both perform in our program about the many facets of love. Lyric Fest spoke with Stephen in San Diego, […]

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Dream a little dream with me…

Feb 10, 2014
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I thought it might be nice if we put the denials and disasters on hold for a day, and dream. Besides, I am beginning to worry that you are expecting all dismal, tragic love when next we meet for Love with a Twist. Not so! I, for one, will be offering two of my dreamiest […]

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May I?

Feb 7, 2014
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And now if I may, I present our wonderful baritone for Love with a Twist, Stephen Powell (heard here in a delight from Brigadoon.) Stephen will open our exposé on love and all its foibles with the Prologue from I Pagliacci (heard here by the late, great Leonard Warren.) May I? Will you allow me? Ladies! Gentlemen! Excuse me if […]

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That Heart-Break, the Tenor

Feb 5, 2014
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In opera, anyway, the love interest in most librettos usually involves the TENOR and the SOPRANO. (Note, I am a mezzo, but in the words of the great German poet Heine, truly, Ich grolle nicht*) (Heard here with Eberhard Wächter) Now, rest assured The Tenor is often charming, persuasive, tenacious and irresistible.  And jealous, unfaithful, murderous, […]

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FIRE and ICE

Feb 3, 2014
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Well, as I sit to begin blogging for our upcoming concert “Love with a Twist,” it’s another snow-day here is Philadelphia. Thinking about all this fiery passion while staring out the snowy window can’t help but bring Robert Frost’s Fire and Ice to mind. What is it about love that freezes and burns? This is the kind […]

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Live stream of I Pagliacci tonight with baritone Stephen Powell

Jan 25, 2014
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West Chester’s own Stephen Powell is scheduled to sing in our upcoming Love with a Twist program. You can hear him tonight on a live broadcast from KPBS San Diego of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera I Pagliacci presented by the San Diego Opera. How can you listen to this on the web, you ask? Visit the KPBS website […]

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Lyric Fest Song Competition Deadline Extended

Dec 10, 2013
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We are extending the deadline to January 6, 2014. Here is the updated press release with the new deadline. We are looking forward to your song submission! PRESS RELEASE LYRIC FEST ANNOUNCES YOUNG SONG COMPOSERS COMPETITION For Immediate Release September 20, 2013 Lyric Fest announces its first song competion. The winner will receive both a cash […]

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“Britten illuminated, thanks to Lyric Fest” says reviewer

Nov 26, 2013
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David Patrick Stearns, Inquirer Classical Music Critic, wrote a review of our Biography in Music – Benjamin Britten concert in today’s philly.com. Here are some excerpts; please do follow the link above to read the whole thing. As Benjamin Britten’s 2013 centennial year loomed, Lyric Fest was all but sure to build a concert around […]

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2013-14 Biography in Music: Britten

Nov 24, 2013
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Our own Laura Ward performed in the National Portrait Gallery

Nov 1, 2013
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On Monday evening, October 28, Denyce Graves and Laura Ward performed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC to help commemorate the unveiling of the portrait of the four women Supreme Court Justices, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Justice Elena Kagan, painted by Nelson Shanks.

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Interview with William Ferguson

Oct 29, 2013
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As Lyric Fest looks forward to celebrating Benjamin Britten’s Centennial, we chat with one of our guest artists, William Ferguson, who will be portraying Benjamin Britten through songs and letters. Q: You became interested in the vocal arts at a young age. Who nurtured you? Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, I played piano and was […]

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2013-14 A Magical Musical Menagerie

Oct 27, 2013
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Announcing our first song competition

Oct 20, 2013
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LYRIC FEST ANNOUNCES YOUNG SONG COMPOSERS COMPETITION Lyric Fest announces its first song competion. The winner will receive both a cash prize of $600 and a Lyric Fest debut. The winning song will be presented on Lyric Fest’s upcoming concert in March of 2014. Composers up to age 30, as of January 1, 2014 are […]

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Lyric Fest at Steel River Playhouse this weekend

Sep 10, 2013
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Lyric Fest performs this weekend at Steel River Playhouse! Broadway Cabaret ~ Maggie Heffner Riker, Suzanne DuPlantis,Randi Marrazzo with Harold Evans and Emilio Gravagno Tickets here: http://www.steelriver.org/

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Our beautiful 2013-14 brochure

Aug 15, 2013
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This just in: our brochure for the upcoming season is ready to be printed. You can view it right here. Enjoy! We are very much looking forward to seeing you in our 2013-14 concerts.

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Laura Ward’s upcoming activities with the CoOPERAtive

Jul 9, 2013
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Co-founding artistic director Laura Ward has upcoming activities with CoOPERAtive next week. The first activity is a master class on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, at 7:15 pm, with a live stream available online. Details here. The second activity is a recital on Friday, July 19, 2013, at 7:30 pm, at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut […]

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Only connect

Jul 4, 2013
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Only connect. I had to look up who said that after it began flitting round my head recently, nosing its way into all my affairs: Writing a long overdue email… Only connect. Reluctantly picking up a ringing phone… Only connect. And then there is singing — the great connector of them all! A week ago […]

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Review of the Rosetta Stone concert

May 12, 2013
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Tom Purdom published a review in the Broad Street Review of the last concert of our 10th Anniversary Season. His very first sentence nicely captures the uniqueness of Lyric Fest: Lyric Fest never does anything quite the way anyone else would do it. A few more quotes from the review, which we encourage you to […]

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2012-13 The Rosetta Stone

May 5, 2013
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2012-13-The-Rosetta-Stone-Program

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Big Congratulations to Bryan Hymel

Mar 25, 2013
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Tenor Bryan Hymel, who sang in three Lyric Fest concerts between 2006 and 2008 (see our Archives) received today the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Beverly Sills award. This award is given once a year to a vocalist between 25 and 40 years of age who has appeared in a featured role on the Metropolitan Opera stage. […]

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Second review of Journey Toward Freedom

Mar 11, 2013
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Lewis Whittington reviewed our March 3 concert in ConcertoNet.com. Some choice excerpts from the review: “Lyric Fest designs concerts with scope and historical significance so well that it often results in uniquely vital programming. Earlier this year, their single performance of a deep field survey of music from Spanish, Latin and South American composers, brought academic […]

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Review of Journey Toward Freedom in the Philadelphia Inquirer

Mar 5, 2013
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Lyric Fest is deeply grateful to all who brought the History of the Civil Rights to our audiences for Journey Toward Freedom at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia! The roof was raised by these amazing performers: Denyce Graves Lisa Daltirus Kevin Deas Rev. Charles Rice, narrator Jeffrey Brillhart and the Singing City Chamber Choir […]

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2012-13 Journey Toward Freedom

Mar 3, 2013
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2012-13-Journey-Toward-Freedom-Program

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Interview with Kevin Deas

Feb 25, 2013
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Q – Kevin, you recorded Dave Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice with Brubeck himself. We will be including the powerful movement “Lord, Lord, what will tomorrow bring?” on Lyric Fest’s Journey Toward Freedom concert this weekend. Can you tell us something about the experience of meeting and working with the late, great Dave Brubeck? A […]

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Interview with Denyce Graves

Feb 24, 2013
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Q: When you received the Marian Anderson Award, it is our understanding that it was presented by Miss Anderson herself. Describe how you felt at that moment. A: Meeting the great Marian Anderson was a surreal experience. I felt as if I’d stepped inside the history books. I kept saying to myself, “Wow, I first […]

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A poem to start us thinking of the upcoming Journey toward Freedom concert

Feb 2, 2013
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Now, turning the leaf on the Winterreise project, we are setting our sights on the history of the Civil Rights Movement with our upcoming program “Journey Toward Freedom”. This program is inspired by the heroic efforts of so many who sought to create a better, truer America. Since learning the poem, The Cloths of Heaven […]

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Review of A New Journey Into Song

Jan 29, 2013
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David Patrick Stearns published in philly.com a review of Sunday’s concert with the world premieres of the commissioned song cycles by Andrea Clearfield and Daron Hagen. Read all about it for his incisive reaction to the compositional styles of the two cycles and his justified praise of our wonderful performers.

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Kile Smith’s reaction to our second Winterreise concert

Jan 28, 2013
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Composer Kile Smith has a wonderful reaction to yesterday’s concert. Read what he had to say to find out what made him shudder! (In a good way.)

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Finding our Winterreise posts

Jan 28, 2013
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Co-founding artistic director Suzanne DuPlantis created an excellent series of posts on the songs of Die Winterreise by Schubert, starting at the end of 2012 and ending right before our concert of Die Winterreise. We have collected all these posts into one page in our site, which you can find here. Having done so, we have removed […]

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After our Winterreise to ward off post-Winterreise blues

Jan 26, 2013
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kVrbz_oJ3g Something to stave off post Winterreise blues, or for any who may be experiencing Schubert withdrawal… This video, besides being absolutely stellar vocally, is hilarious. (I am trying not to type o – m – g) Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (1891 — 1948) dressed like Schubert, glasses and all, at the piano accompanying himself […]

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2012-13 New Journey Into Song

Jan 25, 2013
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Interview with Andrea Clearfield

Jan 21, 2013
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Andrea Clearfield was commissioned by Lyric Fest to compose a work for Lyric Fest’s 10th Anniversary Season. We thank John and Sandi so much for their generous support in making this possible. Andrea had a packed day at Yaddo Artist Residency where she was composing and also rehearsing for Lyric Fest via Skype(!) with Laura, […]

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A nice web discovery on Winterreise

Jan 18, 2013
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As our Winterreise concert double-feature comes closer, and amid our stream of daily posts about the individual songs of Winterreise, we are delighted to share this English translation of the songs of the songs, appearing in a great web site about music history, by Barry Mitchell. This page also starts with a useful synopsis of […]

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Interview with Daron Hagen

Dec 18, 2012
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We had an opportunity to catch up with Daron Hagen who has composed a new song cycle for Lyric Fest’s New Journey into Song concert on January 27, at 3pm at The Academy of Vocal Arts. The new work entitled “After Words” was commissioned in celebration of Lyric Fest’s 10th Anniversary season. Q: No spoilers here, but […]

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Another review of A tu Corazón

Nov 21, 2012
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Steve Cohen wrote a review of our Spanish Song concert from Sunday, the second review of this concert to appear in the Broad Street Review (we posted earlier about the first review by Tom Purdom). Mr. Cohen is happy that Spanish-language song is having its day in the sun more and more in our area. […]

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Review of A tu Corazón

Nov 20, 2012
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Tom Purdom wrote a wonderful review of our concert of two days ago. One more thing to be thankful for around the Thanksgiving table! Here are some tidbits from the review to entice you to follow the link for the full review: Lyric Fest transformed a concert of Spanish and Latin American songs into a […]

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2012-13 A tu Corazon Canciones y Dansas

Nov 18, 2012
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Interview with the singers of our A tu Corazón concert

Nov 11, 2012
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Lyric Fest had a chance to catch up with our guest artists, Carla Dirlikov, Diego Silva and Luis Ledesma to talk a bit about Spanish song… How does it feel to bring Spanish music to non-Spanish communities and what appeals to you in the repertoire? Diego: I have found that Spanish and Mexican music is […]

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Reaction to Old City ~ New Song

Oct 16, 2012
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Composer Kile Smith, whose song was on Sunday’s program, has some very nice things to say about that concert. For a taste, here’s his last paragraph: Kelly was one of the delicious singers on the program, along with mezzo Suzanne DuPlantis, soprano Randi Marrazzo (both co-founders of Lyric Fest, along with the redoubtable accompanist Laura […]

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2012-13 Old City New Song

Oct 14, 2012
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2012-13-Old-City-New-Song-Program

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Interview with Allen Krantz

Oct 3, 2012
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Allen Krantz, a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory and Stanford University, has received acclaim as a composer, solo guitarist, and chamber musician.  His performances throughout the United States have included appearances at Carnegie Hall, Saratoga Performing Arts Center and the Phillips Collection in Washington, with his diverse programs often featuring original compositions.  What part […]

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Our beautiful 10th Anniversary Season brochure

Sep 27, 2012
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We are happy to share with you our 2012-13 10th Anniversary Season brochure (link leads to a PDF file). Isn’t it beautiful? Design by GHI Design.

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Broad Street Review includes us in “nine great coming attractions”

Sep 26, 2012
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We are very happy that Tom Purdom has listed our entire 2012-13 season as one of his “nine great coming attractions” in the Broad Street Review. In his words: “with programs that feature every kind of vocal music from rarefied art songs to Broadway show tunes, and they haven’t put on a bad show yet” […]

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Photos from Cabaret, A Sentimental Journey, posted

Jun 22, 2012
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A quick little update for you: our Cabaret was a great success! We have two photos taken by Bill Marrazzo on the Cabaret page.

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As the Ink Dries… new and newer American Song

May 23, 2012
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Lyric Fest joins forces with the CoOPERAtive program at Rider University to present a recital of American song on July 20.

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Photos from Once Upon a Time

May 2, 2012
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Here is an album with photos from Once Upon a Time. It is as much fun as the photos suggest! If you missed it, catch it Sunday, 5/6, at 3 pm in Trinity Presbyterian Church, 499 Route 70 East, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034, http://www.trinpres.org/ — no ticket required; free-will offering at door.

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Review of Once Upon a Time by Tom Purdom

May 2, 2012
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The Broad Street Review has a review of the April 29 performance of Once Upon a Time, written by Tom Purdom. Tom starts with this: Everyone who values the Classical music tradition agrees that we must cultivate audiences if the tradition is to survive. The Lyric Fest song series supports that noble cause with an […]

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2011-12 Once Upon A Time

Apr 29, 2012
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Jake Miller and the Queen of the Night

Apr 22, 2012
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Actor Jake Miller and Suzanne DuPlantis talk about the Queen of the Night from the Magic Flute, on the program in our family concert Once Upon a Time. Don’t miss the little sample of Maggie Moliterno singing the Queen’s aria near the end of the clip!

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Actor Jake Miller talks with Suzanne DuPlantis about Once Upon a Time

Apr 22, 2012
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Jake Miller and Suzanne discuss Once Upon a Time.

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Preview video of Once Upon a Time

Apr 22, 2012
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Our newest video clip: Suzanne DuPlantis interviews Katy Pracht and Maggie Moliterno, two of the singers in our upcoming family concert “Once Upon a Time“. (This, as well as all other clips, is always available in our Listen and Watch page.)

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One more great review of the 1912 concert

Mar 28, 2012
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This one by Sharon Torello, on LocalArtsLive.com, a site well worth an extended visit by classical music lovers in the Philadelphia area. How often do you read a sentence like this in a review of a song performance? It was as if the poem was projected on a IMAX screen. Well then! Read the whole […]

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Another rave review of the 1912 concert

Mar 27, 2012
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The review was written by Tom Purdom and published in the Broad Street Review. Some choice tidbits to whet your appetite for the whole thing: […] one of Lyric Fest’s most varied and entertaining programs, complete with an after-concert mingle that included birthday cake and champagne in the Academy of Vocal Arts reception room. The event […]

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Review of 1912 concert

Mar 27, 2012
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David Patrick Stearns reviewed our A Very Good Year ~ Happy Birthday to 1912 concert in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Read all about it on philly.com; here are some choice quotes: With immense wit and perhaps tongue in cheek, Lyric Fest, the Philadelphia art song collective, unveiled the program titled “A Very Good Year: Happy Birthday […]

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2011-12 A Very Good Year

Mar 23, 2012
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Meagan Miller on WRTI 3/24 at 11 am

Mar 23, 2012
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TUNE IN to WRTI tomorrow, Saturday, March 24 at 11 am! The Creatively Speaking host Jim Cotter talks about soprano Meagan Miller as she debuts in Philadelphia with our “Happy Birthday 1912” program!

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Getting ready for our Happy Birthday to 1912 concerts

Mar 19, 2012
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Phillyburbs.com was (justifiably) very excited about our upcoming concert this next weekend (articles by Naila Francis): Lyric Fest explores the art of song Zach Borichevsky sings as a vehicle for truth What can we say? Better not miss the concert!

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Meagan Miller sings Beethoven’s Ninth in Cleveland this week

Mar 7, 2012
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We just can’t have enough news about soprano Meagan Miller. We just wrote about her rave review in the New York Times. Now, here is the link to a preview, written by Zachary Lewis for the Plain Dealer, of her performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Cleveland, under Christoph von Dohnanyi. And before the month […]

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Meagan Miller in the New York Times

Mar 7, 2012
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Soprano Meagan Miller, who will take part in our A Very Good Year ~ Happy Birthday to 1912 program on March 23 and 25, received a rave review in the New York Times, written by Vivien Schweitzer, for a recital she gave with tenor Marcello Giordani in New York on Sunday, March 4. The very […]

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Interview with Meagan Miller

Feb 7, 2012
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Meet Soprano Meagan Miller! Meagan Miller, a rapidly rising opera star from West Chester, PA, has been making celebrated debuts on important stages all over the world, interpreting the leading ladies of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi and Wagner. Her current season took her to a series of role and house debuts, the most recent – in […]

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Randall Scarlata performing in New York

Feb 5, 2012
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Baritone Randall Scarlata, who has sang in many of our programs and will sing in our March 23 and 25 program “A Very Good Year – Happy Birthday to 1912”, has two performances in New York, tomorrow, February 6 and Friday, February 10. While we have updated our Upcoming Events with our Guest Artists page […]

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Meagan Miller’s Rolls Royce voice

Feb 3, 2012
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We are not making it up, the “Rolls Royce voice” comment is right under the video of Ms. Miller singing Es gibt ein Reich from Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. She will be singing this in our upcoming 1912 concerts in March; you will not want to miss it!

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Gearing up for the next concert

Jan 28, 2012
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We are putting together a fabulous concert for late March, A Very Good Year ~ Happy Birthday to 1912. As a little introductory fanfare, we’ll be sharing with you interesting tidbits about 1912 as it features in our concert regularly. Here’s the first one: Happy Birthday to 1912 – The year Jules Massenet died, John Cage […]

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Introducing lower online ticket prices

Dec 26, 2011
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Buying tickets online is the most convenient way to get them — and now we have made it cheaper! Our new online price for a regular ticket is $20 and we have dropped the processing fee from any online ticket purchase transaction. Enjoy our new online prices and see you at the next concert! Find […]

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Philadelphia Inquirer reviews To Kiss the Earth

Nov 15, 2011
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David Patrick Stearns reviews this past weekend’s concert To Kiss the Earth. Read it at the link and discover who is “compulsively enterprising”, what “worked like a charm”, who had “a charming, articulate presence”, what is like a Cadillac automobile, and more.

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2011-12 To Kiss the Earth

Nov 12, 2011
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2011-12-To-Kiss-the-Earth-Program

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Directions to Ravenhill Chapel

Nov 12, 2011
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Directions to Ravenhill Chapel for today’s concert (November 12, 2011): A view of the chapel and a map of the area: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5871556 The Ravenhill Chapel is on the campus of Philadelphia University Campus between Henry Avenue and the Schuylkill River. From either Kelly Drive, from City Line Ave or from I-76, follow signs to “Lincoln Drive”. […]

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Great preview of To Kiss the Earth

Nov 9, 2011
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Joe Barron has a nicely informative preview of To Kiss the Earth in Montgomery News.

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Bringing Bauhaus to Life in Song

Nov 8, 2011
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William Stone is well known for his international reputation as an opera singer, concert artist and recitalist, whose career has spanned the last 35 years. But, little known is the fact that he is also an accomplished potter with strong ties to the creative process of working with clay. Through his association and study with […]

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Introducing our YouTube channel

Nov 5, 2011
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Our brand new YouTube channel is ready for you! Please follow the link and subscribe to it, so you will always have our videos at your fingertips. Our first video clips are: an interview with Co-Founding Artistic Director Suzanne DuPlantis, an interview with Allen Krantz, composer of Little Elegy, which will be performed in our […]

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Interview with Maurice Wright

Nov 4, 2011
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Lyric Fest presents To Kiss The Earth, November 12-13, 2011 Interview with Maurice Wright, the composer of the title piece To Kiss The Earth for low voice and string quartet LF:  What were the most interesting and unusual aspects that you faced while working on “To Kiss The Earth”? MW: I think that many composers who were […]

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Another great review of the Bawdy Bard

Oct 11, 2011
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This one is by Lewis Whittington, writing on www.concertonet.com. Some snippets: […] With themes of love, desire, lust and all around canoodling in the middle ages seems like it would play out fast, but it was a sumptuous feast of unexpected musical breadth and an illuminating archive. […] […] the soloists who all displayed both […]

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Second review of The Bawdy Bard

Sep 27, 2011
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This one from Tom Purdom, in the Broad Street Review. It’s another wonderful review; enjoy the excerpts below and read the whole thing, if nothing else for the truly inspired last line. No, we will not give the spoiler here. For its first early music concert, Lyric Fest joined forces with an early music expert, […]

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Review of The Bawdy Bard

Sep 26, 2011
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Our opening concert of the season got a glowing review by Michael Caruso (Chestnut Hill Local). We want to share with you some excerpts; we will post the link to the full review when it becomes available. Lyric Fest opened its ninth season Friday night, September 23, in the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill by […]

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Meet Elizabeth Racheva – On Stage and Off Stage!

Sep 20, 2011
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Let us share some exciting news. Soprano Elizabeth Racheva has been working both behind the scenes and on stage with us for about a year ~ we figure it’s time to make a proper introduction! Beginning in October, Elizabeth will take over the important task of working with the Lyric Fest audiences. She will be […]

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Saying Good Bye to First Presbyterian Church ~ Saying Hello to The Academy of Vocal Arts

Sep 20, 2011
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Lyric Fest was created because of First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Nine years ago the church acquired a 9-foot Steinway Grand, which the congregation beautifully restored, thereby making a serious commitment to music. With this instrument as an impetus, Lyric Fest was founded as a year-round festival of song.  First Presbyterian, with its decades-long love and appreciation […]

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Bawdy Bard gets a preview in the press

Sep 13, 2011
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Montgomerynews.com has a great article by Joe Barron about our upcoming Bawdy Bard concerts. Excerpt: Since its founding in 2003, Lyric Fest has established a tradition of entertaining and offbeat programming supplementing music with poetry and theater. Singing remains the focus, but overarching themes and spoken narration provide a helpful context, plugging listeners in to […]

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Interview with Matthew Glandorf

Sep 13, 2011
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LYRIC FEST – THE BAWDY BARD, September 2011. Interview with Matthew Glandorf, Artistic Director of Choral Arts Philadelphia and The Philadelphia Bach Festival. LF: What was your immediate reaction when Lyric Fest invited you and Choral Arts Philadelphia to collaborate on The Bawdy Bard? MG: I was really excited about doing a song program of […]

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Bawdy Bard poster

Sep 13, 2011
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Isn’t it gorgeous?

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Online ordering available

Sep 7, 2011
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You can now order tickets and subscriptions online, as well as make a donation to Lyric Fest. Just visit one of these links: Get a Subscription Buy Tickets Donate

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Two more concerts listed in Upcoming

Aug 29, 2011
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We have two new concerts by our artists in our Upcoming page. They are The Three Contraltos and Women of Valor Suite. Check them out, but don’t wait too long as they are scheduled for September!

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New feature on our site: upcoming events with our guest artists

Aug 26, 2011
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We have started a page that lists upcoming events by our guest artists that are not Lyric Fest concerts. You will find it here. You can also visit that page by hovering over the Artists link in the top navigation bar of our website. The first entry is a benefit concert for The First Presbyterian […]

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Meagan Miller in the New York Times

Jul 24, 2011
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Soprano Meagan Miller, slated to appear in our “A Very Good Year – Happy Birthday to 1912” concert, is to be a lead in the performance of Richard Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae at Bard in a few days. The New York Times ran an interesting article about this today. A quote from the article: […]

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New Season Preview

Jul 6, 2011
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We are very excited to tell you about our 2011-2012 season! We will update our front page with links to detailed descriptions of the concerts in the next several days. The Bawdy Bard Friday, September 23, 2011 at 8 pm in Widener Hall at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill Sunday, September 25, 2011 at […]

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Reviews of “Stranger Things”

Apr 14, 2011
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We have spotted two reviews of the last concert of our 2010-2011 season online. Some excerpts: I was first very happy to see that the program included not only translations but also engaging, easy to follow notes on each composer. […] The singers and instrumentalists were solid and did what was best – let the […]

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2010-11 Stranger Things

Apr 10, 2011
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Reception after Stranger Things concert

Apr 9, 2011
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If you are coming to Stranger Things tomorrow, don’t miss the reception after the end of the concert! Come to the back of the church after the concert and enjoy good food, drink, and conversation with the artists and all of us involved in Lyric Fest.

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Don’t miss this preview of Stranger Things, Sunday’s concert

Apr 7, 2011
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Check out the front page and page 7 of the City Suburban News. A very nice preview!

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Newsletter archive now available

Apr 7, 2011
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Our email newsletters are colorful snippets of our history in the making. Subscribing to them is and has always been available on this site by clicking the orange arrow on the right. Now you can also read all past archives by visiting this link, also available on the right a little below the orange arrow.

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Preview of “Stranger Things” in City Suburban News

Mar 29, 2011
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Check out the front page and page 7. A very nice preview!

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Interview with baritone Randall Scarlata

Mar 28, 2011
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Q: How did you decide to become a classical singer? What or who was your inspiration? RS: As a child, I tried playing a variety of instruments, never finding the right one! When I was 10, I began to play viola and continued to play it into college. I did fairly well at viola, but […]

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The PIFA Speakers Series

Feb 23, 2011
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Our next concert, Stranger Things… Paris in the early 20th Century is part of the festival on early 20th Century Paris organized by the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA). PIFA is also putting together a speaker series to go with the performances of the festival. For details, please visit the PIFA website. For […]

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PIFA is approaching—here is NBC Philadelphia’s take

Feb 17, 2011
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Our last concert of the 2010-11 season is on April 10, and belongs to the PIFA festival. NBC Philadelphia ran an article about it yesterday. Check it out, follow the links, and check out our own contribution to the festival. Visit our tickets page and get your tickets today!

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2010-11 I’ve Got Rhythm

Jan 28, 2011
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Photos from Sunday’s rehearsal for I’ve Got Rhythm

Jan 25, 2011
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Check them out on our Facebook page!

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Revamped Listen and Watch page

Jan 23, 2011
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We’ve streamlined our Listen and Watch page to make it easier to find the clip you want to hear/see. Check out the page and its subpages from the drop-down menu. Enjoy!

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More audio for you

Jan 16, 2011
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We just added to our Listen and Watch page an audio clip of mezzo-soprano Meghan Dey-Toth singing “Dream within a Dream” from our Old City ~ New Song program in April 2008. Enjoy!

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New Audio in Listen and Watch

Jan 14, 2011
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We just added two songs to the Listen and Watch page, of baritone Daniel Mobbs, with Laura Ward at the piano, performing “The Infinite Shining Heavens” of Ralph Vaughan-Williams and “Svarta Rosor” (“Black Roses”) by Jean Sibelius, from our Night and Day ~ The Harmony of Yin-Yang concert in November 2010. Also added: a photo […]

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Give a gift of PIFA tickets for the holidays – our April 2011 “Stranger Things ~ Paris in the Early 20th Century” included

Dec 10, 2010
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Our friends from the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts have a special deal for you! “Looking for a truly unique holiday gift this year? How about a once-in-a-lifetime experience? The upcoming Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), which holds the spotlight for three and a half weeks next spring (April 7 to May 1), […]

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2010-11 Night and Day

Nov 21, 2010
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Travel alert for tomorrow, November 21

Nov 20, 2010
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The Philadelphia marathon is tomorrow. Please check the schedule for information. Specifically, it appears that Kelly drive will be closed until 3 pm and the Ben Franklin Parkway will be closed until 4 pm on November 21. Traffic.com is recommending Broad Street as an alternate route for those who would otherwise have used Kelly Drive […]

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Montgomery News previews The Harmony of Yin-Yang

Nov 16, 2010
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Victoria Genuardi previews The Harmony of Yin-Yang in the Montgomery News.

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Interview with pianist Harold Evans

Nov 11, 2010
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Interview with pianist Harold Evans: How did you grow to play piano and how did you start improvising? I was fortunate to be born with what musicians refer to as “perfect pitch”, i.e., the ability to identify musical sounds simply by hearing them and not actually by seeing them on the printed page.  After I […]

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Michael Caruso’s review of the Barber concert

Nov 8, 2010
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The Chestnut Hill Local published a glowing review of the Biography in Music ~ Samuel Barber concert by Michael Caruso. Get the November 4th issue and look for the “Noteworthy” column! Here are some excerpts: … a superbly satisfying musical experience … … How better to appreciate that deeply missed voice than to hear some […]

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Interview with Thomas Lloyd

Nov 6, 2010
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Interview with Thomas Lloyd What were your inspirations for the new song “Fatherly Reflections”? Tell us about this piece’s background and the lyrics. The poems were published years apart from each other by poet Karl Kirchwey, a colleague of mine at Bryn Mawr College, where he is an associate professor and director of the creative […]

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One more great review of the Barber concert

Nov 5, 2010
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Lewis Whittington reviewed the Biography in Music ~ Samuel Barber concert in culturevulture.net. Some morsels: Lyric fest’s soloists — William Stone, Emily Bullock, Randi Marrazzo, Michelle Johnson and Suzanne DuPlantis — offered interpretive readings of Barber’s bold relationship with voice and text. … and the singers made this more than an academic appreciation of Barber. Just as […]

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Sure on this shining night

Nov 3, 2010
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Description of Elysium There:  far, friends:  ours:  dear dominion: Whole health resides with peace, Gladness and never harm, There not time turning, Nor fear of flower of snow Where marbling water slides No charm may halt of chill, Air aisling the open acres, And all the gracious trees Spout up their standing fountains Of wind-beloved […]

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Tom Purdom’s review of the Barber concert

Oct 26, 2010
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Did you get to enjoy one of the Barber concerts? Did you have to miss it? Tom Purdom has an insightful review in the Broad Street Review. Choice quote: The program added a major, highly entertaining contribution to the Barber centennial, and Lyric Fest is the only organization in the Philadelphia region that could have […]

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2010-11 Biography in Music: Barber

Oct 23, 2010
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Traffic alert for October 23, 24 2010

Oct 23, 2010
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TRAFFIC ALERT for those coming to tonight’s concert: Lincoln Dr will be closed the entire weekend between Wissahickon Dr and Gypsy Ln. (via @crossingchoir on Twitter)

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Preview of the Barber concerts of this weekend

Oct 20, 2010
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Read all about it in Montgomery News Ticket by Joe Barron.

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Change in artists for Biography in Music

Oct 14, 2010
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Bryan Hymel, previously announced as a singer for Biography in Music ~ Samuel Barber, will not be with us for this event. We will miss him, but we are very happy for Bryan, as he has been invited to La Scala in Milan to step in as a Don José in their production of Carmen. We hope to […]

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Review of Laura Ward’s recent performance in the Boston Musical Intelligencer

Oct 6, 2010
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Our own co-founding artistic director, pianist Laura Ward, recently performed with soprano Jennifer Aylmer and baritone Randall Scarlata in a program called “Tin Pan Alley at the Gardner”. Read the rave review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. Excerpt from the review: Soprano Jennifer Aylmer, baritone Randall Scarlata, and pianist Laura Ward in a program “Tin […]

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Interview with Donald Nally

Sep 22, 2010
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Q: What is the history and the inspiration behind The Crossing? How was this group created? DN: We came together in 2005 as a group of friends who missed each other – we never intended to found a chorus and I certainly don’t take credit for that.  Instead, we planned a concert and were surprised […]

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Biography in Music ~ Samuel Barber

Sep 13, 2010
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Saturday, October 23, 2010 at 8pm
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 3pm
The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia

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Night and Day ~ The Harmony of Yin-Yang

Sep 13, 2010
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Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 3pm
The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia

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I’ve Got Rhythm ~ Family Concert

Sep 13, 2010
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Friday, January 28, 2011 at 10am
Student Performance, GAMP School, 22nd and Ritner
Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 3pm
The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill

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Stranger Things… ~ Paris in the early 20th Century

Sep 13, 2010
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Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 3pm
The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia

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Song of the week: “Grace”

Sep 9, 2010
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To start things rolling Laura will be submitting a weekly blog called “Song of the Week.” This should take us into the next millennium… Song of the Week First blog ever of Laura Ward September 8, 2010 “Grace”      by Michael Tilson Thomas (b.1944) Composed in honor of Leonard Bernstein’s 70th birthday Recently published in […]

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New look for our website

Aug 24, 2010
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This is the brand new Lyric Fest website. We will be tweaking it in the next several days and adding some functionality, so bear with us while we are under construction.

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2010-11 Unplug

May 22, 2010
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2009-10 Biography in Music: Tchaikovsky

Feb 27, 2010
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2009-10 Biography in Music: Shakespeare

Nov 17, 2009
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2009-10: Moving Heaven and Earth

Oct 30, 2009
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2009-10: Four Hands Warm Hearts

Oct 2, 2009
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2008-09 Komm, Liebe Zither

Apr 25, 2009
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2008-09 The Voice of the Sea

Mar 12, 2009
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2008-09 Music in the White House

Feb 7, 2009
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2008-09 A World of Friends

Nov 8, 2008
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2008-09 Mahler Resurrected

Sep 27, 2008
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2007-08 Old City, New Song

Apr 12, 2008
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2007-08 Tales from the Exotic

Jan 27, 2008
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2007-08 Last Songs

Nov 11, 2007
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2007-08 Biography in Music: Shakespeare

Sep 16, 2007
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2006-07 Once Upon A Time

May 19, 2007
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2006-07 American Poets in Song

Apr 15, 2007
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2006-07 I Love My Love

Feb 10, 2007
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2006-07 Biography in Music: Mozart

Nov 12, 2006
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2006-07 Home and the Immigrant Soul

Oct 15, 2006
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2005-06 Biography in Music: Britten

Apr 30, 2006
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2005-06 Myth and the Muse

Jan 29, 2006
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2005-06 Simple Gifts

Nov 19, 2005
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2005-06 Shall We Dance?

Sep 25, 2005
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Review of the April 10, 2005 concert A Brave Heart is a Powerful Weapon

Apr 14, 2005
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Chestnut Hill Local, April 14, 2005 By MICHAEL CARUSO MUSICAL WEAPON Lyric Fest presented a Sunday afternoon concert of music intended to fight war without violence. Performed before a large and energized audience in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, the ensemble — founded by soprano Randi Marrazzo of West Mt. Airy and mezzo Suzanne DuPlantis and […]

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2004-05 A Brave Heart is a Powerful Weapon

Apr 10, 2005
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2004-05 White Nights and Northern Lights

Jan 30, 2005
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2004-05 Spiders and Witches and Goblins

Sep 12, 2004
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2004-05 Around the World in 80 Minutes

Sep 12, 2004
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2003-04 Come with a whoop

Jun 6, 2004
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2003-04 L’invitation au Voyage

Apr 4, 2004
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