Each work on this program explores the meaning of loss. Katherine Balch’s poignant reimagining of Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Iranian-born Aida Shirazi’s new reflection on identity, and new works by Matthew Ricketts and Charlotte Bray.
The next generation of classical singers travel from across the country to participate in this two-week immersive experience to take lessons with esteemed professional artists and perform in master classes with world-renowned performers.
This program expands on the question of what it means to sing of oneself: Who are we in relation to those around us? What does it mean to sing of ourselves? What does it mean to be in community with one another? Artists include tenor and artistic director of CAIC Nicholas Phan; baritone Laureano Quant; and mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams.
Brent returns to Miami University for a two-week intensive for some of the most gifted young singers in the country. This will be his fourth summer on faculty.
The first, second, and third-place winners of regional Schmidt Vocal Competitions in the 2022-2023 season are automatically eligible to compete in the Nationals. Brent will support young singers from across the country on the stage of Sarasota Opera as they compete for over $25,000 in awards.
As Music Director of the Furman Lyric Theater, Brent makes his conducting debut in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.
An entire generation of British lives were shattered by the Great War. This program features works by George Butterworth and Ivor Gurney, who wrote their greatest masterpieces in the trenches, as well as modern reflections from Iain Bell and Ian Venables.
Iain Bell The Undying Splendour
George Butterworth A Shropshire Lad
Gerald Finzi Channel Firing
Ivor Gurney Selected Songs
Ian Venables Through These Pale Cold Days Op. 46
Dylan Morrongiello tenor
Steven Eddy, Brian James Myer baritone
Michael Brofman, Brent Funderburk piano
Chieh-Fan Yiu viola
As part of Great Performances’ 50th anniversary season, experience Intimate Apparel featuring music by Ricky Ian Gordon, a libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, this powerful opera is directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher.
Great Performances is available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on PBS.org and the PBS Video App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.
The CoOPERAtive program provides three weeks of intensive training for the young singer. The program is presented in cooperation and consultation with professionals in the field to help young singers build and strengthen their artistic toolbox. Participants receive private voice lessons, music, language and drama coaching, as well as classes in body work, diction, and drama. Our focus is on musical style, performance techniques, dramatic presentation, language, diction, and body awareness.
Serious high school singers from across the country who are ready to take the plunge into this two-week immersive experience will enjoy lessons with esteemed professional artists, master classes with world-renowned performers, and dorm living with like-minded musicians. Located at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Schmidt Vocal Institute (SVI) will helps young musicians become a better artist and gain both confidence and a newfound vision for what it takes to have a career as a professional singer.
In celebration of 25 years of the Schmidt Vocal Competition, SVA alumni soprano Virginia Mims and tenor Aaron Crouch will present a recital of song, arias, and duets with pianist Brent Funderburk. The Finalists for the Schmidt Vocal Competition will be announced at the concert.
INTIMATE APPAREL was three weeks into previews before the performing arts shutdown in March 2020. The show had been bringing audiences to their feet nightly, cheering for the moving performances and for the joy of hearing Lynn Nottage’s story and Ricky Ian Gordon’s music in the intimate Newhouse. Now, Lincoln Center Theater is delighted that INTIMATE APPAREL will return this winter to continue its run!
Directed by Resident Director Bartlett Sher, the show is part of The Met/LCT Opera/Musical Theater Commissioning Program, and it is the first opera to be done at LCT.
INTIMATE APPAREL, set in 1905 in turn of the century New York, tells the story of Esther, a lonely, single African-American woman who makes her living sewing beautiful corsets and ladies’ undergarments. There is warm affection between her and the Orthodox Jewish man who sells fabrics to her, but any relationship between them, even a touch, is completely forbidden. Seeking love and romance, Esther eventually embarks on a letter-writing relationship with a mysterious suitor laboring on the Panama Canal. When he moves to New York they embark on an unhappy marriage, leading Esther to realize that only her self-reliance and certainty of her own worth will see her through life’s challenges.
Two monumental British song cycles explore the fleeting wonder of youth. Brent plays Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel with baritone Joshua Conyers. Also on the program is Gerald Finzi’s A Young Man’s Exhortation, Op. 14 with tenor Dominic Armstrong and pianist Michael Brofman. Pre-concert lecture at 7:00PM by Erik Gray (Columbia University).
Digital release will be available on Monday, November 22, 2021
The CoOPERAtive program provides three weeks of intensive training for young singers. Serving as music director & coach, Brent joins the faculty for his fifth summer.
The program will be held in a virtual format for Summer 2021 for the safety and convenience of all participants.
Located at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, the Schmidt Vocal Institute (SVI) is a two-week intensive for gifted high school singers who look to gain both confidence and a newfound vision for what it takes to have a career as a professional singer.
Watch LIVE on YouTube or Facebook.
Presented by Brooklyn Art Song Society and Bklyn Public Library, Classical Interludes will feature a program that explores two essential musical partnerships with the 20th-century’s greatest literary radical. Hanns Eisler’s Holywooder Liederbuch uses Brecht’s experience as a refugee during World War II to explore the modern condition. Kurt Weill’s Jazz-infused Die Dreigroschenoper acted as Brecht’s Credo, a slap in the face to polite society and conventional drama. Brent will join soprano Justine Aronson for selections by Weill.
A two-week intensive with gifted high school singers from across the country, Schmidt Vocal Institute offers lessons, coachings, and master classes with world-renowned artists to the next generation of classical singers. Brent serves as a pianist and member of the SVI faculty.
INTIMATE APPAREL TO REOPEN IN FALL 2021. The production was forced to suspend performances on March 12 when theaters were closed by Governor Andrew Cuomo as a precaution against the outbreak of Covid-19.
A behind-the-scenes look at the new chamber opera based on Lynn Nottage’s popular play Intimate Apparel, with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by the playwright, and directed by Bartlett Sher. Dramaturg and Director of the Opera Commissioning Program at The Metropolitan Opera Paul Cremo moderates a discussion with Gordon, Nottage, and Sher and cast members perform highlights, ahead of the opera’s opening performance on February 27.
An evening of conversation, commentary, and performance featuring the cast and creative team of Intimate Apparel to celebrate the presence of black theater artists on Broadway, Off-Broadway and beyond.
Presented by Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS)
