Join Us 6/24 for Our Free Washington Sq Music Festival Event - Vocal Music, Baroque to Modern

On Tuesday June 24 at 8 pm Lucia Hyunju Song, soprano, and Laila Salins, mezzo-soprano, accompanied by the Festival Chamber Ensemble, perform Vocal Music/Baroque To Modern, a free concert in Washington Square Park.  Ms. Song and Ms. Salins are favorite performers with the Music Festival, and this concert includes a premiere of Ms. Salins' original settings of poems by Anne Sexton.  The Festival is under the auspices of the Washington Square Association, Inc.  Seating is on a first-come, first served basis.

Festival info line: 212-252-3621 www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org

Festival Chamber Ensemble

Washington Square, main stage south of Fifth Avenue

Rainspace: NYU’s Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street

Soloists:  Lucia Hyunju Song, soprano and Laila Salins, mezzo-soprano

Alessandro Scarlatti                                                              Seven Arias

Nino Rota          Il Richiamo (The Recall - Text by Rabindranath Tagore)

 Luigi Cherubini                                         “ Ah nos peines”  from Medea  

  Cathy Berberian          Stripsody (score based on comic strip drawings) 

 Laila Salins       Starry Anna 

          Texts by Anne Sexton from "Starry Night" &" Anna who was mad”

                                     World premiere

Francis Poulenc                Le Bestiaire (Texts by Guillaume Apollinaire)

Who's Who in The Orchestra

Soprano Lucia H. Song is widely praised for her vocal talents and refined musicianship and described by Opera News as “an exceptionally lovely voice, exquisitely touching”.  She was the winner of the German Lieder Society Competition and First Prizewinner from the William Garrison Competition, and also received the Best Interpretation Award from the Baltimore Washington chapter of the American Liszt Society.  In 2009, she made her New Jersey State Opera debut as Serpina in La Serva Padrona by Pergolesi.  She made her opera debut in the title role in Hänsel und Gretel at the National Theater of Korea.  Recent operatic roles include Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Adina in L’Elisir d’Amor, Pamina & Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte,  She has performed  with numerous orchestras, and has appeared as a soloist in Schubert’s C Major Mass, Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s C minor Mass, Faure’s Requiem, and Mozart’s Requiem. She performs with the Washington Square Music Festival, the Midday Concerts at the United Nations, and the Penn Alps “Schrock Memorial Concert” .

Mezzo-soprano Laila Salins, described as “exceptional in her singing ability, feeling for style and performing intensity” (Zurich Times), has enjoyed a richly diverse career, performing chamber music, world music, jazz, tango, and music theater/opera, starring in the premieres of many contemporary music pieces. She has performed widely throughout Europe, Australia, Canada and the US, as well as performing extensively in Latvia. In 2013 Laila completed her new CD, Elevator Into the Sky, her arrangements of Anne Sexton’s poetry for jazz chamber music ensemble. This summer she will be performing in Eastern Europe with the TālaMana Ensemble in Along the Amber Road, a project which creatively explores myths and music along the ancient amber trade routes, from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean, as part of the European Union’s celebration of Riga2014.

Reminder for Our Final Concert August 8th:

Friday, August 8, 8pm: A Partnership Concert with the International Double Reed Society/NYU

Hosted by oboist Matthew Sullivan.  Rainspace is St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue. 

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and

Through Councilwoman Margaret Chin and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.  Generous grants from The Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, The Washington Square Association, Music Performance Trust Fund, The Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Affairs & NYU Community Fund, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Down The Hatch/Three Sheets/Off The Wagon, Con Edison, Washington Square Park Conservancy and the Washington Square Hotel are deeply appreciated, as is invaluable help from NYC Parks & Recreation.