Recitals & Lectures

Karen Slack, soprano and Mark Markham, piano

Dream Variations

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 at 7:30pm CST

Galvin Recital Hall

The Trilloquy podcast declares Karen Slack “not only one of the nation’s most celebrated sopranos, but a leading voice in changing and making spaces in classical music.” Recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Slack was named Lyric Unlimited Artist-In-Residence at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024-25 season, and she has performed with major opera companies and symphonies worldwide. Her season highlights include a US tour of her new vocal recital project African Queens, the world premiere of Damien Geter’s Loving v. Virginia with the Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony, and solo appearances with the Fresno Philharmonic. In July 2024, she released a new recording, Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price, with pianist Michelle Cann, which won a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Joining her for this performance is pianist Mark Markham, whose collaborations have included vocalists Jessye Norman, Elizabeth DeShong, J’Nai Bridges, Christine Brewer, and Isabel Leonard. Together they present Dream Variations, a recital including music by Undine Smith Moore, Gustav Mahler, George Gerhswin, and Nina Simone.

Presented in collaboration with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited.

Tickets are $20 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID.

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Program

Undine Smith Moore, "Dream Variation"
Text by Langston Hughes

Gustav Mahler, "Ich atmet einen linden Duft" 
Text by Friedrich Rückert

Alban Berg, "Sommertage"
Text by Paul Hohenberg

Michel LeGrand, "The Summer Knows"
Text by Marilyn and Alan Bergman

Hugo Wolf, "Er ist's"
Text by Eduard Mörike

Hector Berlios, Villanelle
Text by Théophile Gautier

George Gershwin, "Love walked in"
Text by Ira Gershwin

Richard Strauss, "Lob des Leidens"
Text by Adolf Friedrich von Schack

Harold Arlen, "Stormy Weather"
Text by Ted Koehler

Josef Marx, "Und gestern hat er mir Rosen gebracht"
Text by Thekla Lingen

Hugo Wolf, "Bedeckt mich mit Blumen" 
Text by Emanuel von Geibel

Reynaldo Hahn, "L'heure exquise"
Text by Paul Verlaine

Undine Smith Moore, "Lyric for True Love"
Text by Florence Hynes Willette

Johannes Brahms, "Es träumte mir"
Text by Georg Friedrich Daumer

Graham Lyle/Terry Britten, "What's love got to do with it?"

Franz Schubert, "Die Liebe hat gelogen"
Text by August von Platen

David Del Tredici, "Acrostic Song"
Text by Lewis Carroll

Traditional folk song arr. Nina Simone, "Cotton-eyed Joe"

Richard Wagner, "Träume"
Text by Mathilde Wesendonck
 

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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.