Concert Blog Series

Posts

  • WHITE HOUSE SONG BLOG

    January 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

    January 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

    January 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

    January 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

    January 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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  • Tom Purdom reviews Letters to Santa

    December 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

    October 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

    October 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

    September 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

    September 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

    September 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

    June 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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