Nicholas Phan and Augustin Hadelich Star in the World Premiere Of A YEAR TO THE DAY

On Friday, October 7 at 7 PM, The Violin Channel will present the world premiere of A Year to the Day, a dramatic song cycle with music by acclaimed composer Lembit Beecher and lyrics by librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell. The performance features an illustrious team of artists, including tenor Nicholas Phan and violinist Augustin Hadelich, as well as pianist Orion Weiss, and cellist Karen Ouzounian. The hour-long work examines the life of a musical artist during the pandemic with virtuosic music and poignant and witty text.

Even as the initial spark for A Year to the Day emerged from Covid-19, Beecher explained that the piece speaks to broader, timeless themes: "This is a piece about a singer's relationship to music. Though the onset of the pandemic is the instigating narrative event of the song cycle, and though at the center of the work lies the question of what we do and who we become as performing artists when the act that defines so much of our lives, performing, is taken away, the cycle does not focus on the pandemic but rather on an artist's complicated love of music."

Campbell recently expressed that he was inspired to conceive the work as he saw his colleagues struggle through the darkest days of the pandemic: "I created the text for A Year to the Day to honor musicians and the challenges they face in their professions; challenges that became even more apparent during the pandemic. In the work's six songs and five interludes, a concert and opera singer reviews his career, expresses his doubts about the future, and renews his love for the art that gives his life meaning."

Hadelich believes that the song cycle perfectly encapsulated the pathos felt worldwide during the past two years: "As I rehearsed and recorded A Year to the Day, I recognized in Mark's text and Lembit's music many of the events, thoughts, and emotions that I experienced myself during the early days of the pandemic. It is an intensely moving piece. Even weeks after recording it, I can't stop thinking about Lembit's beautiful and heart-wrenching music!"

For Phan, the project provided a much-needed opportunity for a connection with his colleagues: "A Year to the Day is ultimately an account of artistic survival and renewal during the bizarre and terrifying time of the pandemic lockdown. Having the chance to collaborate with both Mark and Lembit for the first time as well as reunite with dear friends and colleagues Karen, Augustin, and Orion was a dream come true after the nightmare of the forced isolation of the pandemic."

The San Francisco Chronicle describes Lembit Beecher's music as "hauntingly lovely and deeply personal." He has served three-year terms as the Music Alive composer-in-residence of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the inaugural composer-in-residence of Opera Philadelphia, where his opera Sky on Swings premiered in 2018. The Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning operas of Mark Campbell are among the most successful in the contemporary canon. He has written 40 operas, 4 oratorios, 6 musicals, and 8 song cycles, including Silent Night, As One, Sanctuary Road, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and Elizabeth Cree.

Lauded by the Boston Globe as "one of the world's most remarkable singers," Grammy Award-nominated Nicholas Phan is distinctive for his keen intelligence, captivating stage presence and natural musicianship. International Violin Competition of Indianapolis Gold Medal winner Augustin Hadelich is praised by The Washington Post for "the myriad ways of making a phrase come alive on the violin, delivering the musical message with no technical impediments whatsoever, and thereby revealing something from a plane beyond ours." A Year to the Day marks the first time that Hadelich and Phan have performed together, and it is the first time that they have collaborated with Campbell and Beecher for a world premiere.

Founded in Brisbane, Australia in 2009 by its CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Geoffrey John Davies, The Violin Channel is one of the most important platforms for classical music worldwide. Unison Media's President and Founder, Andrew Ousley, hailed The Violin Channel for its "singular understanding of the intersection of media and modern culture - it's something truly extraordinary."

To experience the premiere broadcast of A Year to the Day or to find out more about the project, visit TheViolinChannel.com/YearToTheDay

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