Goethe Institut Collaborations
WORLD WAR I
Christmas Truce 1914
Kindra Scharich, mezzo-soprano
Kirk Eichelberger, bass
Simona Snitkovskaya, piano
December 11, 2014
St John’s Episcopal Church, 1661 15th St, San Francisco [map]
St John’s Episcopal Church, 1661 15th St, San Francisco [map]
GUSTAV MAHLER — Lieder eines Fahrenden gesellen, Rückert-Lieder
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTMAS MUSIC
Previous Collaborations
ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG’S MUSIC
Expressionism and the Turbulence of WWI
Lecture-Performance October 9, 2014
Salle Music Salon 1632 C Market Street San Francisco [map]
Salle Music Salon 1632 C Market Street San Francisco [map]
Dr. Axel Ster, assistant professor at the Musikhochschule Lübeck will give a lecture-performance on Arnold Schönberg’s music and his influence on the expressionist movement of German poetry and art. Ster will collaborate with mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich in Lied der Waldtaube from Arnold Schönberg’s Gurrelieder, and Träume from Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder.
More Information
More Information
KATHLEEN FERRIER March 2013
The film Kathleen Ferrier (2012), celebrating the centennial of her birth, was introduced by Kindra Scharich, our radiant young mezzo-soprano, and Paul Yarbrough, the wonderful violist of the renowned Alexander String Quartet. Together, they also graced us with a brief musical tribute to Kathleen Ferrier.
The English contralto Kathleen Ferrier had a voice like no other. We continued her centennial celebration on film, in tribute to her life in music. Beginning her life in music as a pianist, she came to singing only as a result of winning a singing competition on a dare. Her letters and diaries further reveal the delightful fun-loving, witty woman behind the dignity of her singing. From 1947, the great German-born conductor, Bruno Walter inspired and personally coached her in the art of German Lieder, leading to an invaluable recording partnership, including their seminal version of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and even accompanying her himself at the piano in Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben at the world-renowned Edinburgh Festival. Just a single phrase of Ferrier’s singing reveals a voice of unearthly warmth and beauty coupled with an innate simplicity of expression. Bruno Walter said after her untimely death from breast cancer in 1953 at age of just 41, that “The greatest thing in music in my life has been to know Kathleen Ferrier and Gustav Mahler—in that order.”
Ingmar Bergman's film version of Mozart's The Magic Flute with guest artist Swedish baritone Håkan Hagegård, interviewed by San Francisco Performances' Ruth Felt.
Reception and interview followed by film
Goethe-Institut Auditorium und ART-Lounge
Goethe-Institut Auditorium und ART-Lounge
The Goethe institute and LIEDER ALIVE! were delighted to screen Ingmar Bergman’s famous 1975 Film adaptation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute as part of the Goethe lnstitut film and exhibition series. Hailed by many as the ‘finest screen version of an opera ever produced,’ Ingmar Bergman puts his indelible stamp on Mozart’s exquisite opera in this sublime rendering of one of the composer's best-loved works: a celebration of love, forgiveness, and the brotherhood of man. Swedish baritone Håkan Hagegård, who was catapulted to world renown playing Papageno in this Bergman film, was present for an onstage interview with Ruth Felt, Founder and President of San Francisco Performances, prior to the screening.