Three Singing Masters
Manny Laureano, Music Director & Conductor
Sofia Ardalan, soprano
Sunday, October 5, 2014 at 3 p.m.
St. Michael’s Lutheran Church
9201 Normandale Blvd., Bloomington
All great composers have as part of their inspirational lineage, other great composers who inspired them to create their own language. Richard Wagner’s overture to his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg serves to whet our appetites for works that occurred at opposite ends of the careers of two composers who were profoundly influenced by him. Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony gives us an idea of the way this then-youthful composer would portray optimism, nature, wit, and sheer drama to deliver what has become a cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire. At the other end is this very late set of works, The Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss. Eminently poetic and bittersweet, the BSO is proud to introduce soprano Sofia Ardalan as she interprets these songs for you.