Co-presented with Renée Fleming VOICES

Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano

Music from Copland House Ensemble
KENNEDY CENTER DEBUT

PIERRE JALBERT
Crossings

JOHN HARBISON
Selections from Songs America Loves to Sing

RICHARD DANIELPOUR
A Standing Witness
Kennedy Center Commission (Music Accord)

Take a musical journey through America’s rich past with the “beloved and irreplaceable” (Gramophone Magazine) Grammy Award®–winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the “adventurous and superb” (The New Yorker) Music from Copland House ensemble. The centerpiece of the evening highlights a major collaboration between Grammy®-winning composer Richard Danielpour and author and former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove. Specifically written for the talents of Susan Graham and the ensemble, A Standing Witness is a robust song cycle that chronicles our history from the pivotal 1960s to today.

A NOTE FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JOSEPH KALICHSTEIN
Richard Danielpour’s fifteen songs, set to Pulitzer winner Rita Dove’s poetry, serve as a retrospective epic of America over the last half century. Harbison’s tongue-in-cheek yet masterful instrumental take on iconic Americana songs are a perfect antidote.

And, a warm welcome to Susan Graham!