Bienen Ensembles

Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble

Scattering Dark and Light

Friday, December 6, 2024 at 7:30pm CST

Galvin Recital Hall

Andrew Megill, conductor

Join the singers of BCE as they explore the choral works of Samuel Barber, who has been praised as America’s most profound composer of vocal music. The program will include his Reincarnations, three settings of poetry by James Stephens based on earlier poems by Anthony Raftery—a blind Irish bard who spent much of his life wandering across Ireland, taking shelter wherever it was offered in return for the gift of his words. These three miniature masterpieces explore, in turn, the ecstasy of infatuation, the unspeakable grief of human loss, and the deep joy of a love which has survived into maturity. Other works by Barber will include “To be sung on the water,” “Sure on this shining night,” and “Agnus Dei,” as well as solo songs and a work by Gian Carlo Menotti, Barber’s lifelong companion.

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Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID.

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Program

Samuel Barber, Reincarnations, Op. 16
     I. "Mary Hynes"

Samuel Barber, Twelve Rounds
   
 I. "A Lament"

Samuel Barber, "Music, When Soft Voices Die"

Samuel Barber, Twelve Rounds
     
II. "To Electra"

Gian Carlo Menotti, "Steal Me, Sweet Thief" from The Old Maid and the Thief

Samuel Barber, Twelve Rounds
     
III. "Not I"

Samuel Barber, "Love's Caution"

Samuel Barber, "Let Down the Bars, O Death"

Samuel Barber, "I Hear an Army"

Samuel Barber, Twelve Rounds
     
IV. "Late, late, so late"

Samuel Barber, "Nocturne"

Samuel Barber, "Heaven-Haven"

Samuel Barber, Twelve Rounds
     
V. "The Moon"

Samuel Barber, excerpt from Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24

Samuel Barber, "Sure on this shining night"

Samuel Barber, "Under the Willow Tree" from Vanessa

Samuel Barber, "Tombeau dans un parc"

Samuel Barber, Hermit Songs, Op. 29
     "The Monk and His Cat"
     "The Crucifixion"

Samuel Barber, Reincarnations, Op. 16
     II. "Anthony O'Daly"

Gian Carlo Menotti, The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore
     Twelfth Madrigal

Samuel Barber, "A Green Lowland of Pianos"

Samuel Barber, "To be sung on the water"

Samuel Barber, "Despite and Still"

Samuel Barber, Reincarnations, Op. 16
     III. "The Coolin'"

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Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall

Address

70 Arts Circle Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
United States

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About

Located in the Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, this 400-seat hall features a 40-foot glass wall offering views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline. Undulating walls of Forest Stewardship Council–certified wood, covered with a thin layer of African moabi wood, provide optimal acoustics, and the hall is equipped with state-of-the-art sound and video equipment for recording.