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Songs of Kurt Weill with Susan Graham and Los Angeles Philharmonic

Oct. 31, 2014

Songs of Kurt Weill with Susan Graham and Los Angeles Philharmonic

On November 6, 7, and 9, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen to perform songs from Weill’s Broadway shows at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Ms. Graham has performed Die sieben Todsünden in concert, but this is her first foray into Weill’s American music, for which she has chosen five beloved standards: “September Song” (Knickerbocker Holiday), “My Ship” and “One Life to Live” (Lady in the Dark), and “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” and “Speak Low” (One Touch of Venus). The full program, entitled “Visions of America,” focuses on émigré composers and embodies the vision of the New World as a place of unlimited artistic freedom. In addition to the Weill songs, Maestro Salonen conducts Bernard Herrmann's Suite from Psycho, his own composition Foreign Bodies, and Edgard Varèse's Amériques accompanied by video designed by media artist Refik Anadol.

In Europe, another major opera star takes on Weill songs; on December 1, soprano Angela Denoke performs her all-Weill program, “Two Lives to Live,” with the Berlin Philharmonic. Accompanied by Tal Balshai on piano and Norbert Nagel on saxophones and flute, Ms. Denoke explores Weill’s German and American works, including such songs as “Die Ballade von der sexuellen Hörigkeit” (Die Dreigroschenoper), “Alabama Song” (Mahagonny), “Surabaya Johnny” (Happy End), “September Song” (Knickerbocker Holiday), “Is It Him Or Is It Me?” (Love Life), and “I’m A Stranger Here Myself” (One Touch of Venus). The same team recorded an album in 2012, Angela Denokesings Kurt Weill (Honigtee Music, HTM 005), with arrangements by Tal Balshai.

Weill’s original orchestrations for individual songs from his stage works are available for licensing and rental from European American Music.

For details on the programs, please visit laphil.com and berliner-philharmoniker.de.

Visit www.kwf.org for more info on Kurt Weill.

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