'Art of the Song' Recital Series Returns to Lincoln Center Tonight

After a season's hiatus, the popular and critically-acclaimed Art of the Song series returns to Alice Tully with recitals by four luminous vocal artists.

Opening the series tonight, February 4, 2015 is American tenor Matthew Polenzani singing works by Beethoven, Liszt, Satie and Barber, joined by Julius Drake, piano. Following acclaimed appearances in Art of the Song (2012) and the White Light Festival in 2013, soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci returns, joined by pianist Donald Sulzen, in an all French program highlighted by Poulenc's La voix humaine, on March 5. English mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly sings Mahler's Rückert-Lieder and works of Schubert, Elgar and Copland in her recital, with pianist Joseph Middleton, on April 12. Concluding the series on April 29, English baritone Simon Keenlyside is joined by pianist Emanuel Ax for a program of vocal and piano works by Ravel and Fauré.

Launched in the 1986-1987 season, Art of the Song has presented the U.S. and local debuts of an array of stellar vocalists, including Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Stephanie Blythe, Cecelia Bartoli, and Christoph Prégardien.

A focus on the vocal arts continues this spring with Great Voices on Film, presented in association with the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Classifilms. Screenings at the Walter Reade Theater take place in March and April. Programs 1 and 2 (March 2 and March 4) feature Handel operas. Programs 3 and 4 (both on April 1) explore the music of Kurt Weill.

William Christie and Les Arts Florissants return to Alice Tully Hall on April 23 to showcase the latest crop of talented young singers from Le Jardin des Voix in works by Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Banchieri, Stradella, Wert, Porpora, and Cimarosa.

Pictured (clockwise from top left): Sarah Connolly (credit: Peter Warren), Matthew Polenzani (credit: Dario Acosta), Anna Caterina Antonacci (credit: Benjamin Ealovega), and Simon Keenlyside (credit: Benjamin Ealovega).

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