Cantata Profana to Explore the Inexpressible in 'WHEN WORDS FAIL'

The vocal/instrumental group Cantata Profana explores the struggle to express the inexpressible in Cantata Profana "When Words Fail". The program, featuring mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen, cellist Hannah Collins and pianist Lee Dionne, is at Baruch Performing Arts Center's acoustically stunning Engelman Recital Hall on April 21 at 8:00 pm.

Tickets are $35 ($15 for students) and are available at www.baruch.cuny.edu, by phone at (212) 352-3101 or in person at the box office. The concert is presented in honor of Nathan Ackerman.

The mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen portrays two lll-fated heroines in Handel's La Lucrezia and Shostakovich's Song of Ophelia, offering contrasting depictions of madness and plighted love. Beethoven's sublime An die ferne Geliebte addresses an immortal beloved at an impossible distance. Modern offerings from Reena Esmail and Tonia Ko delve further into the subject of distance, literal and figurative. Esmail's work - a world premiere - takes its texts from haikus written between Japanese monks, each sequestered in his own mountain solitude. Ko's Between Us finds a startlingly affecting language in a musical exploration of stuttering.