One advantage of post-pandemic remote programming is the sudden realization that musicians from all over the world can play for global audiences, without anyone having to leave their hometowns. In this concert we reach across great distances, geographically and historically. In a recital delivered to us from Boston by the incomparable baritone, Dashon Burton, in collaboration with two of VMMF’s East Coast pianists on a 1901 Steinway, we celebrate one of America’s great early 20th-century composers, Harry Burleigh, and his influence on a visiting colleague from afar, Antonín Dvořák. Burleigh, himself a baritone, composed art songs, and was also responsible for bringing the spiritual into the Classical song recital. While attending the National Conservatory of Music in New York in the 1890’s he made the acquaintance of Anton Dvořák, the school’s visiting President. Dvořák, struck by the power of the spirituals he learned from Burleigh, used some of the melodies in his own music. This concert will feature the music of Burleigh, Dvořák, Leoš Janáček and other influential composers of the period.

Dashon Burton, baritone
Renana Gutman, piano
Audrey Vardanega, piano

Virtual: Pre-recorded concert + zoom reception with Festival Musicians!