The program’s most exciting element is the posthumous premiere of two extraordinary unpublished songs by composer, pianist, teacher, and mid-twentieth-century progressive activist Margaret A. Bonds (1913-72). “I Know My Mind” and “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed” are settings of feminist texts by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. The songs were unearthed by musicologist John Michael Cooper (Southwestern University) as part of his ongoing research dedicated to reviving the unknown music of Bonds and her teacher and friend Florence B. Price.

The program also includes the regional premiere of Petite rêve, a four-song cycle with original words and music by Los Angeles based composer Genevieve Vincent (b. 1987). Petite rêve revels in the beauty of ordinary moments. It explores the poetry in light, color, movement, and sound through meditative day dreams and vignettes.

In addition to these premieres, listeners will experience songs by sister composers Nadia and Lili Boulanger and by nineteenth-century opera star/composer/pedagogue Pauline Viardot-García. The audience will also be treated to works by Alma Schindler Mahler, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Cécile Chaminade, and living American composers Lori Laitman and Libby Larsen.

Please join us and discover your new favorite art songs!