Texas Christian University’s School of Music presents the fifth annual Festival of American Song Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2018, at The PepsiCo Recital Hall with guest artist Jake Heggie, labeled by Opera News Magazine as opera’s most successful composer.
Heggie works have been regarded worldwide and produced on five continents.
The festival begins Sept. 30 with a concert featuring one of Heggie’s most highly-regarded works, Farewell, Auschwitz, performed by the TCU Artist Diploma’s postgraduate students who are also members of the Fort Worth Opera Young Artists program, the festival said in a news release.
Day two will feature a master class with Heggie and a performance from TCU students and faculty of Recital of Selected Songs with the composer himself as an honored audience member.
Best known for his prolific contributions to the American operatic repertoire, Heggie’s work include operas Dead Man Walking, Moby Dick, It’s a Wonderful Life, and the choral opera The Radio Hour, among others.
Fort Worth Opera fans may recall that the opera preformed Heggie’s Dead Man Walking during its 2009 festival and Three Decembers in 2012.
The festival is capped off with a conversation-style Q&A Session with Heggie, who will answer students’ questions related to issues of career, process, collaboration, and inspiration. Audiences from around the world can tune-in to the Q&A session and submit questions via livestream broadcast on The School of Music’s website. (See: finearts.tcu.edu/music)
Heggie’s presence at the festival will act as a mini-residency, encompassing three days of events that spotlight his influence as an American composer and orchestral icon.
The festival was made possible by TCU’s Vision in Action: Lead On – a initiative that invests in the future generation of artists.
It was based on the vision of founding director and associate professor Angela Turner Wilson, who spearheaded the launch of the festival in 2014, the news release said.
The festival’s leadership team and the voice faculty determined that space needed to be created in the university setting for contemporary American repertoire from a composer who relates to the interest of the students, someone whose work is relevant to the 21st century. The Festival Of American Song’s programming was selected based on the School Of Music’s vision for providing students an opportunity to gain exposure and work with a living, working American composer.
TCU Festival of American Song
PepsiCo Recital Hall
2800 S. University Drive, Fort Worth
Farewell, Auschwitz
Performed by TCU Artist Diploma/Fort Worth Opera Young Artists
Sunday, Sept. 30 – 7 p.m.
Tickets: $25; Free with TCU ID; $5 for students from other schools
Master Class with Jake Heggie
Following Farewell, Auschwitz
Recital of Selected Songs of Jake Heggie
Performed by TCU Students and Faculty
Monday, Oct. 1 – 7 p.m.
Tickets: $25; Free with TCU ID; $5 for students from other schools
Webcast Q&A with Jake Heggie – Moderated by TCU alum, Shields-Collins Bray
Tuesday, Oct. 2 – 11 a.m.
Free admission
Live streamed on TCU School of Music Website (finearts.tcu.edu/music)
For more information and to buy tickets, see: bit.ly/2018TCUFestival
– FWBP Staff