Lyric Fest is slowly but surely perfecting the solo voice recital. Their concerts are always well-programmed—thematic and insightful. This past weekend’s concert, “Old City - New Song,” featured works written by composers who have spent some or all of their lives in Philadelphia, ranging from Curtis alumni Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein to the Philadelphia Library’s orchestral music curator Kile Smith. The concert culminated in the world premiere of organist/composer Nicolas White’s The Aim Was Song, featuring soloists and the Pennsylvania Girlchoir. The breadth, depth, and quality of the music featured in this program made me proud to live in a city with such a wonderful musical heritage.

And I haven’t even begun to talk about the musicians. Suzanne DuPlantis, Randi Marazzo, and pianist Laura Ward (Lyric Fest co-founders) continually enlist some of the best singers in the region and around the U.S. for their concert series. I was especially impressed with soprano Jennifer Aylmer. Her sweet timbre and charming stage presence made the nonsense words of James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake come alive in Barber’s "Nuvoletta." Soprano Sally Wolf also conveyed the cryptic nature of Menotti’s "Black Swan" with sweeping legato and rich tones. The highlight for me was mezzo-soprano DuPlantis’ performance of George Crumb’s "The Night in Silence" for voice and amplified piano. I am often skeptical of Crumb—his music, while intense, does not always “speak” to me. "The Night Silence," with many gypsy-inspired flourishes, was a delightful exception. Pianist Laura Ward, one of the world’s leading experts in art song, expertly navigated the accompaniment, at times playing only its strings, evoking haunting dulcimer tones from the piano.

Not to be outdone by the soloists, the Pennsylvania Girlchoir, conducted by Mark Anderson, also performed several pieces, including Randall Thompson’s "A Girl’s Garden," with incredible sensitivity and precision. Nicolas White’s The Aim Was Song, a four-movement work for soloists, girls choir and French Horn with poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Frost, Christina Rossetti, and Alfred Lord Tennyson was a triumphant conclusion to a program devoted to the rich history of Philadelphia’s songs. The expansive opening movement for soprano and mezzo soloists and girl’s choir, "God’s Song" showed the wonderful range of women’s voices of all ages. The final jubilant movement, "The Throstle," with its repeated announcement of "summer is coming," was the perfect send-off for a concert on a spring day.

Photo credit: Aaron Warkov