Recital of Living American Composers

Friday, November 21, 2008
Carnegie Hall

Baritone Andrew Garland, just starting his career as a classical singer, has a unique program of classical songs that he’s presenting all over the country.
“This is not your grandmother’s song recital,” says the 31-year old baritone. The theme of the program, created along with his accompanist Donna Loewy, is living American composers. “It’s not music by dead white European guys, and it’s not far-out atonal music either. The songs are melodic, include a variety of subjects and styles, and you can understand the words.”

Donna Loewy, Garland’s former professor from the top-ranking Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, has rich 30-year performing career and this program will show the tremendous range of her pianistic skills.

Included in this season’s program are songs about snakes, maraschino cherries, refrigerators, the devil, politics and more. The composers may not be household names yet – Laitman, Kohn, Hoiby, Paulus, Cipullo – but their songs are highly inventive.

Andrew says his program is unique and entertaining, but you don’t have to take his word for it. The New York Times’ hard-to-please Anne Midgette calls him a “distinctly American presence,” San Francisco Classical Voice says Garland has a “gorgeous, rich baritone voice, with an even, well-produced tone…beauteous sound…passionate.” When he gave his recital at Art Song of Williamsburg the Virginia Gazette waxed poetic for a long paragraph about his performing style: “Garland was a total artist, bringing to the stage impressive vocal skills, presence and a strong sense of theater. When he sang, you were willingly swept into his world of song and poetry, so expertly blended…and on and on in glorious art song style.”

Audiences also have something to say about Garland’s Living American Composers program. “Everywhere I go someone comes up to me after a concert and says ‘My friend dragged me here. I thought a recital was going to be really boring. I didn’t expect it to be so exciting!’”