Female Destinies in the History of Music
with Nóra Tatai soprano and Ferenc János Szabó pianist
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The concert is made up of songs and song cycles written especially for and about women and female destinies. Songs by Rachmaninoff and Strauss paint unique portraits of late 19th century women. Strauss depicted female characters as flowers in his Mädchenblumen (Girl-flowers) series. Rachmaninoff’s songs convey personal stories of a prideful woman and fallen woman. The concert is going to include two song cycles by Libby Larsen (b. 1950), one of the most famous contemporary American female composers. Larsen is renowned for her ability to turn historical texts and letters into song lyrics. Her song cycle “Try Me, Good King” covers the last words of 5 wives of the English King Henry VIII. “Songs from Letters” turns into music the life of Calamity Jane, a legendary figure of American late 19th century wild west. In between the vocal pieces the audience will be treated to solo piano compositions which are also devoted to female figures.
Libby Larsen: Try Me, Good King (2000)
Liszt Ferenc: Sancta Dorothea
Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Prayer op. 8 no. 6
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Dissonance op. 34 no. 13
Richard Strauss: Mädchenblumen op. 22
Bartók Béla: 7 Sketches op. 9b - no. 1 Portrait of a Girl
Bartók Béla: 14 Bagatelles op. 6 - no. 13 (Elle est morte...)
Libby Larsen: Songs from Letters (1989)
Nóra Tatai (soprano) is a doctoral student at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy. Ferenc János Szabó (pianist) is a professor at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, and research fellow at the Institute for Musicology (Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences). Since 2016 they have held multiple concerts together. Their primary aim is to popularize the concept of a song recital, and to introduce contemporary composers to the public.
This lecture recital is part of HerMeS (Heritage, Memory and Sounds) series, organized jointly by the Cultural Heritage Studies Program and the Center for Arts and Culture at CEU, to offer its audience a combination of talks and concerts, allowing for a travel on the borderlands of performative arts and academic lectures, and at the same time, for the nurture and renewal of cultural heritage.
The lecture recital is part of a concert series titled "Female Destinies", suppoted by the National Cultural Fund of Hungary (NKA).
Admission is free.