It’s never too late for love songs. At least that’s what the people behind the Westminster Concert Series think. Their next concert, “The Dance of Love,” is a post-Valentine celebration of the many aspects of love.
Featuring mezzo-soprano Aubrey Adams-McMillan and baritone Michael Chipman from the Westminster College voice faculty and Utopia Early Music, next week’s concert is a wide ranging exploration of love songs that will take the audience from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to Schubert, Brahms and the early 20th century.
Christopher LeCluyse
“The program starts with pieces dealing with longing and moves through songs dealing with consummation, then abandonment, before finally coming to celebration,” said Utopia co-founder, tenor Christopher LeCluyse.
These different stages are seen through the eyes of a number of composers over several hundred years, and these pieces are mixed together and not separated by musical eras. “There is no overarching chronological order to the program,” LeCluyse said. “We do a chunk of pieces according to the theme, depending on what the story is,” said Utopia’s other co-founder, soprano Emily Nelson. “It works really well.”
Each year Utopia presents a concert on the Westminster Concert Series, and they’ve always invited a guest ensemble to join them. This year, however, they decided to do things a little differently. “We wanted to collaborate with the music faculty at Westminster,” said LeCluyse, who besides being a singer is also a professor of English at the school and the director of the Westminster College Writing Center. “So I sat down with Michael [Chipman] and talked about the program. Michael wanted to do Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, and we talked about what [Emily and I] could do.”
Emily Nelson
Originally, Chipman and McMillan were going to do the later songs and LeCluyse and Nelson would sing early music. “But we eventually decided to blend things together, and all of us would sing a full range of works,” LeCluyse said. “All stylistic periods are mixed up,” Nelson said. “But we end each half of the program with Brahms.”
LeCluyse believes doing the program in this way puts all of the music in a better perspective. “Early music sensibility can enlighten later works,” he said, adding that it gives the concert a wonderful sense of continuity. “And we’re having fun. We like singing with each other.”
In addition to the Liebeslieder Waltzes, there will also be four-part songs by Schubert, early 20th century French chansons, music by the 14th century composer Guillaume de Machaut and the 16th century English lutenist/composer John Dowland.
Joining the singers will be guest lutenist David Walker, with whom LeCluyse and Nelson have collaborated numerous times on Utopia concerts, and Westminster pianists Emily Williams and Kimi Kawashima.
“We’re grateful to Westminster to have us,” LeCluyse said. “It’s a wonderful hall, and we’re excited to work with the other singers and with the pianists.”
- CONCERT DETAILS
- What: Westminster Concert Series, “The Dance of Love,”
- Venue: Vieve Gore Concert Hall, Westminster College
- Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23
- Tickets: $15 general, free for students and Westminster faculty/staff with I.D.
- Phone: 801-832-2457
- Web: www.westminstercollege.edu/culturalevents