Here are three more don’t-miss events in the opening week of the fifth annual Tucson Desert Song Festival.
Doing triple duty
Soprano Heidi Stober has come a long way to participate in the Tucson song festival, and boy is she getting a workout.
The German-based vocalist will do triple duty:
- She has a solo role in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s Brahms “A German Requiem” on Friday, Jan. 20, and Sunday, Jan. 22.
• At 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, she’s leading a masterclass at Tucson Symphony Center, 2175 N. Sixth Ave. Admission is free and it’s open to the public.
• On Thursday, Jan. 26, she joins pianist Allen Perriello to perform a recital with Arizona Opera.
“I’m excited that I get to do all these different artistically and personally fulfilling things in a week in a half,” she said, calling from Houston, where she spent last week working with a former teacher.
The recital program opens with German lieders from Mozart, songs about motherhood and parenting from Strauss and works by Debussy.
“For me there’s so much fantastic French repertoire out there, but Debussy has always spoken to me because when I was a pianist, which is how I started off, Debussy was my favorite composer to play,” she said.
The recital will end with American composer Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville, Summer of 1915.”
“I think Barber set this so beautifully,” Stober said. “It’s a very moving piece for me and one that I definitely, in a couple points, have to fight back tears. It makes me think a lot about life in America. I didn’t grow up in the South; I grew up in the Midwest, but the word painting, descriptive quality in this piece and talking about family and parents and loss. For me it’s just a very special piece that I thought about ending the evening.”
The Jan. 26 recital begins at 7 p.m. at Holsclaw Hall, North Park Avenue and East Speedway at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music. Tickets are $25, $15 students through azopera.org
Double duty
Tenor Rufus Müller also is pulling dual roles at the festival, starting with a free masterclass for the UA Fred Fox School of Music at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at Holsclaw Hall.
On Sunday, Jan. 22, he teams up with Arizona Early Music Society and lutenist Daniel Swenberg for a recital at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St. Tickets are $25 through azearlymusic.org
Tucson’s own gets spotlight
Tucson’s own mezzo-soprano Kristin Dauphinais hosts “New Directions in Art Song” lecture and recital at noon Thursday, Jan. 26, at Holsclaw Hall. Admission is free.
