Songs for Tenor and Piano

Tenor Benjamin Butterfield and collaborative pianist Robert Holliston return by popular request to present Robert Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe Op. 48, and Winter Words Op. 52 by Benjamin Britten

Hugo Wolf - Fussreise
Franz Lizst - Ihr Glocken von Marling
Richard Strauss - Ständchen
Robert Schumann - Dichterliebe Op. 48

I. Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
II. Aus meinen Tränen spriessen III. Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne IV. Wenn ich in deine Augen seh’
V. Ich will meine Seele tauchen VI. Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome
VII. Ich grolle nicht VIII. Und wüssten’s die Blumen IX. Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen X. Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen XI. Ein Jüngling liebt ein Madchen XII. Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen XIII. Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet XIV. Allnächtlich im Traume seh’ ich dich XV. Aus alten Märchen winkt es XVI. Die alten bösen Lieder

Benjamin Britten - Winter Words Op. 52

1. At Day-Close in November
2. Midnight on the Great Western (or, The Journeying Boy)
3. Wagtail and Baby (A Satire)
4. The Little Old Table
5. The Choirmaster’s Burial (or, The Tenor Man’s Story)
6. Proud Songsters (Thrushes, Finches, and Nightingales)
7. At the Railway Station, Upway (or, The Convict and Boy with the Violin)
8. Before Life and After

William Denis Browne - Isle of Lost Dreams
Charles Palmer - Orpheus and his Lute
Benjamin Britten - The Foggy, Foggy Dew

Praised by The New York Times as, “clarion-voiced and vibrant”, Benjamin Butterfield is known for his performances throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He has performed with many of the world’s leading conductors including Nicholas McGegan, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Bramwell Tovey, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Thierry Fischer, Trevor Pinnock, Bruno Weil, Marc Minkowski and Hans Graf.

Butterfield’s 2016/17 season featured engagements with the Calgary Philharmonic and the Utah, Kansas City, Newfoundland, and Victoria Symphonies. Overseas, he performed in Yevhen Stankovych’s ‘Kaddysh‘ Requiem under Oksana Lyniv with the Hamburg Philharmonic at the Kyiv Opera House. Other performances have included Haydn’s Creation at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Mozart Arias and Duets at Lincoln Center with the American Classical Orchestra as well as concerts with the San Diego Symphony and Orchèstre Symphonique de Québec.

Opera roles have included Mime in Das Rheingold and Grimoaldo in Handel’s Rodelinda with Pacific Opera, Frère Massée in Messiaen’s St. François d’Assise with the Montreal Symphony, Magic Flute with the Toronto Symphony, and Don Giovanni with Calgary Opera. As a stage director Mr. Butterfield recently teamed up with conductor Bruce Stasyna and the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi for the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival performing in Naples, Lauro and Maiori.

A prolific recording artist, Butterfield has recorded for Analekta, Dorian, CBC Records, Koch International, and Timpani (France) and is heard regularly on CBC Radio including episodes of “This is my music”.

The 2017/18 season will see Mr. Butterfield performing in St. Louis, Baltimore, Bethlehem PA, Vancouver and Calgary as well as in Toronto and Montreal.

Professor Butterfield is head of voice and co-head of performance for the School of Music at the University of Victoria.

Robert Holliston studied at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and at the University of British Columbia. He has performed and recorded a wide variety of repertoire throughout Canada and the USA, England, New Zealand and Australia, and has been heard frequently on CBC-Radio. In collaboration with many of Canada’s leading singers and instrumentalists and as a member of the popular salon group Viveza, Robert has participated in such festivals as Juneau Jazz and Classics, Parry Sound, Caraquette, Adelaide (Australia), and the Ottawa, Sitka and Orcas Island Chamber Music festivals. He is currently Head of the Keyboard Department at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, where he also teaches music history and serves as chamber music coach.

A popular public speaker, Robert has given pre-performance lectures for Pacific Opera Victoria since 1993 and, through UVic’s Continuing Studies program, has led several cultural tours to New York, Santa Fe, and Newfoundland. He is also POV’s Curator of Public Engagement and the host of the company’s new outreach series INSIDE OPERA. During the past couple of decades Robert has given many concerto performances with the Sidney Classical Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Victoria, and Victoria Symphony, with which he also appears frequently as orchestral keyboard player.

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