Brooklyn Art Song Society's 2016-17 Season to Launch This October

Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) is proud to announce its seventh season, beginning in October of 2017. BASS has been hailed by critics and audiences alike for its innovative programing and first-rate performances, and is now one of the pre-eminent organizations dedicated to art song in the United States. This season features more then 150 songs by 25 composers over eight concerts.

The season begins with the five concert series Wien, an exploration of Vienna's cultural landscape from 1890-1945, which will take place at BASS's new primary venue, the Brooklyn Historical Society in the heart of Brooklyn Heights. Concerts are the first Friday of every month (except December).

Opening night on October 7th, Fin de Sie?cle, features the decadent turn of the century style of Joseph Marx, Hans Pfitzner, Richard Strauss and Alexander Zemlinsky. In November BASS presents Hanns Eisler's Hollywood Songbook, a haunting meditation of loneliness and alienation in the modern world. In January 2017 BASS presents an intimate look at Vienna's greatest symphonist, Gustav Mahler. Then, on February 3rd BASS explores the Second Viennese School (Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern) through their lieder and solo piano works. Finally, in March BASS gives its unique take on Cabaret Night, with works that range from Benjamin Britten to Kurt Weill and everything in between.

On Friday, March 31st BASS continues its innovative new music series In Context at National Sawdust (debut). This season's featured composer is Jake Heggie, who has co-curated a program with artistic director Michael Brofman that features his own works along favorite French melodies by Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn, and Francis Poulenc. Mr. Heggie is best known for his operas Dead Man Walking and Moby Dick.

On Sunday, April 23rd BASS introduces its new series The Dichter Project which will highlight a different German poet each season. The inaugural poet will be Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, perhaps the greatest German poet of all time, in settings by Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf. The Dichter Project will be held at the Brooklyn Public Library and will be free and open to the public.

BASS concludes its season on Sunday, May 21st with its New Voices series, which presents Art Song written after 2010. The program features world premieres by Tom Cipullo and Glen Roven alongside works by Michael Djupstrom, James Kallembach, and Scott Wheeler.

Brooklyn Art Song Society's artist roster features over 30 of the most talented young interpreters of song. Returning favorites soprano Laura Strickling, tenor Dominic Armstrong, baritone Sidney Outlaw, and pianist Spencer Myer join several artists making their BASS debut: Sopranos Ashley Emerson (Metropolitan Opera) and Lauren Warsham (Sky Pony and A Gentlemen's Guide to Murder), mezzo soprano Margaret Lattimore (Metropolitan Opera), and baritone Christopher Herbert (New York Polyphony). For more information on all the artists and programs visit www.brooklynartsongsociety.org.

The Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) will enter its seventh season of first-rate music making in the Fall of 2016, having earned a reputation as one of the preeminent organizations dedicated to the vast repertoire of poetry set to music. The New York Times called BASS "a company well worth watching" and Voce di Meche hailed, "as long as BASS is around we do not need to worry about the future of art song in the USA." Opera News writes, "Brooklyn Art Song Society keeps the intimate recital alive with innovative programming." Past highlights have included performances of the complete songs of Charles Ives and Henri Duparc, a festival of works from Franz Schubert's last year, a five-concert survey of the songs of Les Six, and the complete output of Hugo Wolf over six seasons. Committed to keeping art song relevant in our time BASS has collaborated closely with important living composers such as Tom Cipullo, Herschel Garfein, Daron Hagen, Jake Heggie, Libby Larsen, Lowell liebermann, James Matheson, Scott Wheeler, and Yehudi Wyner, and has commissioned works from up-an-coming composers Michael Djupstrom, Marie Incontrera, and Andrew Staniland. In May 2015 BASS released its first album, New Voices on Roven Records, which debuted in the top 10 on the Billboard Traditional Classical charts. Highlights from this season include the five-concert series Wien, an exploration of Vienna's cultural landscape from 1890-1945, BASS's debut at National Sawdust with In Context: Jake Heggie, and world premieres by Tom Cipullo and Glen Roven. In addition to monthly concerts in Brooklyn, BASS has traveled to Philadelphia, Kansas City, Portland, ME and held residencies at University of Notre Dame and University of Chicago. Brooklyn Art Song Society is proud to make the Brooklyn Historical Society its primary venue starting in the 2016-2017 season. BASS's artist roster features over 30 of the finest young interpreters of art song. For more information, visit www.brooklynartsongsociety.org.

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