Sister Bay, Wis. – August 18, 2018 – Midsummer’s Music welcomes international mezzo-soprano star Susan Platts, who will perform with the ensemble during the final four concerts of the organization’s 2018 summer season.
Ms. Platts has performed at Covent Garden, Royal Albert Hall, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro di San Carlo, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, as well as with the Philadelphia, Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Montreal, Toronto, American, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore and Houston Symphonies, Les Violons du Roy, Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, and the Los Angeles and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras.
The Washington Post praised her in a review, “Her voice is startling attractive from top to bottom, with a sure and strong upper register descending like honey to the yeasty depths of a contralto. A voice like this – there are not many – is such a pleasure to hear … radiantly persuasive …”
Ms. Platts will sing in two pieces. First is Dover Beach by Samuel Barber. Based on a poem by Matthew Arnold that is deeply pessimistic, Barber used the poem’s rich imagery to create descriptive musical details, such as wavelike movements and rocking figures in the string parts representing shifting light on the sea. The work gradually builds up through shorter and repeated phrases to an impassioned conclusion: “Ah, love, let us be true to one another.”
The second piece to include the mezzo-soprano is an audience favorite – Franz Schubert’s Die Forelle (“The Trout”), D. 55. Composed in 1817, the piece became one of Schubert’s most popular. The original text – published in 1783 by another Schubert – was not just about the catching of a fish, but the danger, as expressed in the final stanzas, for women who might be “reeled” in by unsavory characters. Schubert decided to ignore the poem’s final stanza and its moral in favor of concentrating on the fish and the fisherman. This piece will be performed exclusively for the Midsummer’s Music annual Labor Day Benefit.
The Creative Aquifers program plays at 7:00 August 31 at Birch Creek, 3:00 September 1 at The Clearing Folk School, 3:00 September 2 at Hope United Church of Christ, and 3:00 September 3 at Björklunden for Midsummer’s annual Labor Day Benefit. The Labor Day Benefit includes a pre-concert social time, the concert, a silent auction, a wine pull, and a reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres.
Midsummer’s Music is pleased to be among the organizations that are promoting the Door County Community Foundation’s Celebrate Water initiative. This program is the fourth of the 2018 summer season where music was thoughtfully selected to relate to the initiative.
Tickets for the Creative Aquifers program are now available online at midsummersmusic.com or by calling (920) 854-7088. Tickets are $29 for adults, $10 for students, and free for youth 12 and under, except for the September 3 benefit, when tickets are $95 for adults, $75 for students, and free for youth 12 and under.