This early German Baroque music by Heinrich Schütz was composed with a text compiled by Count Henry II of Ruess-Gera for his own funeral. It has grown to become one of Schütz’s most beloved works and is a quintessential example of his unmatched use of language in music. The picturesque basilica in Victoria serves as the stage for this choral masterpiece.
In a collaboration with Russell artist Dustin Poché, our house mezzo Katelyn Mattson-Levy explores four archetypes of women: maid, mother, crone, and enchantress, featuring music from Amy Beach, Florence Price, Ellen Mandel, Lori Laitman, Ethel Smyth, and Rebecca Clarke. Katelyn will be joined by Victoria-native Matthew Piatt, now assistant director for Chicago Lyric Opera and San Francisco Opera, on piano.
This concert will introduce the remarkable music of Anna Pidgorna to western Kansans. Ad Astra is commissioning Ms. Pidgorna and her sister Maria Reva to write an original opera about the life of Russell High School art teacher legend Trudy Furney to be premiered at Prairiesta in 2021.
An evening of exploring musical responses to war and peace. The terrifying string quartet by George Crumb depicts the brutal violence and political unrest at the height of the Vietnam War, while Libby Larsen's Sifting Through the Ruins uses words written in New York City immediately after 9/11. Interwoven throughout the evening are songs of peace by Nobel laureate Bob Dylan.
Selected Songs - Bob Dylan
Sifting Through the Ruins - Libby Larsen
Black Angels - George Crumb
Ad Astra String Quartet
Katelyn Mattson-Levy, mezzo-soprano
Michael Davidson, tenor
Matthew Piatt, piano
Jacob Long, percussion
BYOB as we enjoy the music in a casual, salon-like setting!
The festival's Young Artists sing the music of Franz Schubert with Matthew Piatt at the piano. In 1820s Vienna, Schubert hosted his artist and philosopher friends to share their music, poetry, paintings, and prose. We've chosen music about Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water and invited Kansas artists and writers to share their work alongside Schubert's timeless music. Kevin Rabas, the current Kansas Poet Laureate, will share his work, Russell's Angela Muller will display some of her element-rich pieces, photographer Greg Rud's work will already be on display at the Deines Cultural Center, and Emporia State University faculty member Amy Sage Webb will share some of her literature.
Victoria Lawal, soprano
Alexandra Galla, mezzo-soprano
Logan Barat, tenor
Cooper McGuire, baritone
Matthew Piatt, piano
Pulitzer Prize finalist Kate Soper's Here Be Sirens is an opera/theatre work blending music, terrifying noise, screwball comedy, and Aristotelian tragedy to present the mythological sirens as real beings, invested in their own origins and obsessed with the possibility of escape from the tedium of endless irresistible desire. The New Yorker calls this 2014 work "an hilarious, furiously inventive meditation on the siren myth." For more information, click here.
Aani Bourassa, soprano
Janie Brokenicky, soprano
Jorie Moss, soprano
Patrick Murray, music director
Sasha Hildebrand, stage director
