Interview with Thomas Hampson for his video podcast series on IDAGIO, “World of Song.”
17 November 2020
Roundtable discussion with Thomas Hampson and guests Stephen Rodgers, Laura Tunbridge, and Susan Youens for IDAGIO “World of Song” video podcast series.
15 December 2020
From the Hampsong Foundation website:
“Song: Mirror of the World is a 13-week radio series that explores classic song — poetry set to music — as a prism for understanding culture and history. Each one-hour program includes 40-45 minutes of music, drawn from recordings of all eras, and 15-20 minutes of commentary by international opera star, recitalist, and arts and humanities advocate Thomas Hampson. Song: Mirror of the World takes a broad, humanities-based approach to the role of song in society. The series explores the relationship of song to cultural movements, historical events, and intellectual thought. There is a special focus on cross-cultural dialogues throughout the European continent, and between Europe and the United States.”
I researched, programmed, and wrote the script for Program 5 in the series, “Paris: City of Light.”
“This radio program roams the streets of Paris during the fast-changing period of 1840 to 1848, when the French capital was a cradle for literary, artistic, and musical innovation—and a centrifuge for social, philosophical, and political revolution. Artists we meet include Chopin, Liszt, Meyerbeer, and Offenbach, plus Heine, Hugo, and the fable writer La Fontaine.”
Interview with Martha Guth, soprano and co-founder of the Sparks and Wiry Cries art song organization. From the Sparks website:
“The end of Napoleon's reign and the birth of the Biedermeier era brought about many things, including - in a round about way - the birth of the song salon. Musicologist Ben Binder discusses why the politics of the time created an atmosphere where people were comfortable to be themselves only at home, and why Schubert mattered so much. Performances of 'Nacht und Träume,’ ‘Auflösung,’ ‘Der Jungling und der Tod,’ and ‘Der Wanderer.’”
Interview with Martha Guth. An introduction and exploration of Schumann’s most beloved song cycle, Dichterliebe [A Poet’s Love], op. 48. Includes excerpts performed by Gerald Finley and Julius Drake.