Artburst: music, dance, theater, etc.

An Evening of Kurt Weill

... a journey through the life and times of legendary Berlin/American theatre composer Kurt Weill, with soprano Diane McNaron and pianist Thomas Bagwell ...

Sunday, May 18, 2008, 7:30 PM
An Artburst Concert at the Unitarian Universalist Church,
4300 Hampton Heights Drive, Homewood, AL 35209









Guest Artist: Bayan accordionist Alla Melnyk Mulvehill

Here is Michael Huebner’s Preview of this performance.

Ticketing: table seating, by reservation only, $15.00, BYOB
Table seats are now SOLD OUT. 
There are still plenty of row seats available. $8.00 and $4.00 student/senior
To purchase tickets online:  http://dianemcnaron.com/training.html
Or email or phone 205.838.1391
Row Seating, unreserved, $8
Directions to performance site: http://uucbham.org/location.shtml

You can read Michael Huebner’s review here.

The Program:  Soprano Diane McNaron’s Kurt Weill Retrospective, not heard in Birmingham in nearly a decade, will be preformed Cabaret-style with New York pianist Thomas Bagwell.  Though born in Birmingham, the pianist has not appeared here in fifteen years. He has served as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, the Washington National Opera and the Santa Fe Opera, among others. He appears regularly at the Marlboro Music Festival and has collaborated in recital with such luminaries as Midori, Marilyn Horne, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Denyce Graves and James Morris. He teaches Collaborative Piano at Mannes College.

Diane McNaron (http://dianemcnaron.com ) began a life-long exploration of the works of Kurt Weill while a grad student in Stage Direction at the Florida State University School of Music and Department of Theater. With Voice as a secondary area, she studied with Randolph Symonette, who sang leading roles in several of Weill’s Broadway shows and coached with Lys Symonette, long time VP of The Kurt Weill Foundation and editor of many Weill music editions and books about him and his wife Lotte Lenya. ( http://kwf.org ) McNaron, who appears widely as a Twentieth-Century art song recitalist, was formerly head of the voice department at the University of Adelaide. She is presently recording the works of Argentine composer Valdo Sciammarella, and also produces and appears in political cabaret.

The program will open with the rare and atmospheric Alban Berg Piano Sonata, a Bagwell favorite. The two artists will then take the audience on a musical odyssey through the controversial lives and the turbulent times of Berlin/American composer Kurt Weill and the woman he married twice, the chanteuse Lotte Lenya. Featuring songs from THREEPENNY OPERA, HAPPY END, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY, the lesser known and expressive art songs and big Broadway hits from Weill’s American Period.