Hampson is Artistic Director of Heidelberg Lied Academy
Thomas Hampson’s career-long dedication to the art of the song reaches an exciting new milestone today with the opening of the first Heidelberg Lied Academy, which is part of the already well-established Heidelberger Frühling music festival. Under Hampson’s artistic direction, and with the contribution of such prominent artists and fellow song enthusiasts as Barbara Bonney, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christian Gerhaher, and Wolfram Rieger, the Academy will transform the German city for twelve days (March 16-27) into an international meeting point for the Lied (art song). No city could make a more appropriate home for the Academy than Heidelberg, which epitomizes the German Romanticism that produced the greatest flowering of the art form.
Ranging well beyond the confines of the traditional master class, the Academy’s aim is to give young singers a variety of tools for well-informed text-based song interpretation. The credo of the Lied Academy, reflecting Hampson’s passionate belief in the uniquely expressive power of song, is that singers should tell stories, for only then can they really reach their audiences. Thus, in addition to attending daily classes, the eleven visiting fellows (hailing from seven countries) will attend an array of workshops and lectures on the interpretation of poetry and the mysterious ways it is set to music.
A major focus in the Academy’s inaugural year is the setting of texts by the great German poet Heinrich Heine. Another focus is outreach, through new concert formats, to audiences that normally do not attend classical recitals. One such attempt is an event with John Neumeier contemplating the connection between song and dance.
All events of the Lied Academy are open to the public, some offering free admission. For more information, please visit www.heidelberger-fruehling.de.
A list of the Academy’s program highlights follows below.
Wednesday, March 16 – Friday, March 25:
Daily Lied classes with Thomas Hampson and Barbara Bonney
Wednesday, March 16:
Welcome and introductions
Thursday, March 17:
“Between Worlds: Heinrich Heine, a Poet’s Life”: Introductory lecture with Prof. Joseph A. Kruse
Friday, March 18:
“Heine’s Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs)”: Lecture with Prof. Joseph A. Kruse
“Lied Interpretation Today”: Conversation with Thomas Hampson, Christian Gerhaher, and Prof. Dr.
Dieter Borchmeyer
Saturday, March 19:
Interpretation workshop with Prof. Wolfram Rieger and selected Lied Academy participants
Sunday, March 20:
Opening concert with Thomas Hampson and Prof. Wolfram
“I Created Heaven from the Earth – The Lied as Mirror of the World”: Opening conversation with Thomas
Hampson, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Jens Malte Fischer
Monday, March 21:
“Song and Dance”: Conversation with Thomas Hampson und John Neumeier about new presentation
formats for song, followed by performance of “Yondering” (dance set to song) with students from the
Hamburg Ballet – John Neumeier
Comparison of historical song recordings with Thomas Hampson, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Jens
Malte Fischer
“Words and Music: Thoughts on Schumann’s Music for the Voice”: Heine workshop with Dr. Matthias
Wendt
“Difficult Farewells: How Schumann Dismantles a Song Cycle and Creates Dichterliebe”: Heine workshop
with Dr. Matthias Wendt
Tuesday, March 22:
“Love: Heine settings by Clara Schumann, Liszt, and Brahms”: Lieder at Lunchtime performed by
participants of the Lied Academy and introduced by Thomas Hampson
“Laughed and Wept for Joy: How Schumann Conceived and Mapped out his Liederkreis, Op. 24”: Heine
workshop with Dr. Matthias Wendt
Wednesday, March 23:
“The Antagonism of the Modern World: Franz Schubert’s Reception of Heine”: Heine workshop with Dr.
Sonja Gesse-Harm
“Dream: Heine Settings by Schubert, Rachmaninov, Clara Schumann, and Wolf”: Lieder at Lunchtime
performed by participants of the Lied Academy and introduced by Prof. Dr. Helmuth Kiesel
“Schubert’s Doppelgänger, No. 13 of Schwanengesang”: Heine workshop with Dr. Sonja Gesse-Harm
Thursday, March 24:
“Soulful Songs for the Drawing-Room: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Heine settings”: Heine workshop
with Dr. Sonja Gesse-Harm
“Nature: Heine Settings by Schumann, Robert Franz, and Brahms”: Lieder at Lunchtime performed by
participants of the Lied Academy and introduced by Prof. Dr. Paul Kirchhof
“Purity of Sentiment: Heinrich Heine Set by Robert Franz”: Heine workshop with Dr. Sonja Gesse-Harm
Friday, March 25:
“Inventive Role Players: Giacomo Meyerbeer, Johann Vesque von Püttlingen, and their settings of
Heine”: Heine workshop with Dr. Sonja Gesse-Harm
“Pain, Loss, Farewell: Heine Settings by Schumann, Schubert, and Leslie Crabtree”: Lieder at Lunchtime
performed by participants of the Lied Academy and introduced by Dr. Marlene Schwöbel
“Soul-Rending: Franz Liszt’s Heine settings”: Heine workshop with Dr. Sonja Gesse-Harm
Sunday, March 27:
Closing concert with participants of the Lied Academy
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© 21C Media Group, March 2011