German and Mexican Song - Concert and public masterclass free of charge

On Saturday 2 July 2011, the German Embassy in collaboration with The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) and the Mexican Embassy, will proudly host a free concert of German Lieder (Songs), Chamber Music and Mexican Music. Internationally renowned German Baritone Christian Immler and Mexican / Canadian pianist Silvia Fraser are visiting Port-of-Spain and in addition to the weekend concert, will also give a masterclass, free of charge to the public, featuring vocal students currently studying at UTT’s Academy for the Performing Arts on Thursday 30 June, 2011.

German Lieder is the musical setting of German poetry. The term typically refers to the Lieder written throughout the nineteenth century and in particular the Lieder written by ‘Romantic Era’ composers (1850-1900) when the form was developed significantly. Typically they are arranged for a singer and a piano. Trinidad and Tobago’s biennial music festival usually contains a ‘Lieder section’. Christian Immler and Silvia Fraser will stage one of the most famous and beautiful of all Lieder song cycles, Robert Schumann’s ‘Dichterliebe’ or ‘Poet’s Love’. In addition, Mr Immler will perform “Michelangelo Lieder” by Austrian Composer Hugo Wolf, accompanied by UTT’s string quartet, led by violinist Jonathan Storer. The string quartet will also perform Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, a beautiful, vivacious and youthful work On the Mexican component of the concert, three works by one of the most renowned Mexican composer Manuel Ponce (1882 - 1948) will be performed by Mr Immler and Ms Fraser. Ponce famously took the folk music traditions of Mexico and placed them upon the Art Music stage. The works will include the hugely popular song ‘Estrallita’ (Little Star). Ms Fraser will perform a solo piece by Consuelo Velázquez (1916 – 2005). Ms. Velázquez, performed in Frankfurt (1984) and many other places; she gave the world many musical hits, one of them, “Bésame mucho” becoming a timeless classic of romantic music.

Silvia Fraser completed her Masters of Music in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music. During her time there she was twice honoured with the school’s Excellence in Accompanying Award. She has performed internationally visiting over 10 countries and is currently a pianist and coach at the Lausanne Conservatoire. She and baritone Christian Immler gave a Paris recital debut as part of the 1 Vienna and New York recital debuts together, the last hailed by the New York Times as “Harmonious Conversation between a Baritone and a Pianist”. Christian Immler was trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Since winning the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris in 2001, he has worked as a soloist with major orchestras and conductors all over the world. He is a professor of voice at the Conservatoire of Music in Lausanne /Fribourg.

The public masterclass will take place on Thursday, 30 June, 2011 at the UTT Campus @ NAPA, Theatre 2, Keate Street (Walk-in Entrance) Port-of-Spain, at 5.30 p.m. and will include music by Bach and Schubert. Members of the public are welcomed to attend and there will be no fee charged. The following concert will take place on Saturday 2 July, 2011 at 6.00 p.m. at the UTT Campus @ NAPA, Theatre 1 and will also be free of charge. Seating is limited. Doors will be open from 5.30 p.m. For more information, please contact the German Embassy at 628 1630 / www.port-of-spain.diplo.de or the Méxican Embassy at 622 1422 / mexico%27%tt,info .

We are looking forward to two evenings of Song with your company.st prize in the Nadia et Lili Boulanger International Competition. They made their