American baritone Thomas Hampson has crafted a special program of American songs to be presented on Oct. 17 in Bailey Hall. The concert, part of the Cornell Concert Series, begins at 8:15 p.m.
Tickets for the concert are on sale at the Lincoln Hall Ticket Office, 105 Lincoln Hall on the Cornell campus. Tickets are $34 to $21; students $27 to $17. Subscription tickets to the concerts in Bailey Hall remain on sale through Oct. 17.
"My commitment to American song is an exploration of my roots, of my American spirituality," Hampson said. "I love a good song for song's sake, and I find a certain naive romanticism in this repertoire that is a very big trademark of my life."
At 40, Hampson is one of the most sought-after baritones in the world and a favorite with audiences in the United States and Europe. The New York Times called Hampson a singer whose "musicianship, interpretive sensitivity and ability to inject new insights into vocal music make him one of the most commanding artists around."
In naming Hampson the 1994 Male Singer of the Year, the Cannes Classical Awards recognized Hampson's breadth of achievement in opera, song, recording, research and pedagogy.
For his concert at Cornell, Hampson has chosen American songs that represent a fusion of "high art" and "folk art." The program will be eclectic, with songs ranging from the cosmopolitan sophistication of Samuel Barber to the affecting simplicity of Shenandoah, to a varied group of songs set to texts by Walt Whitman. "That eclecticism," according to Hampson, "does not imply superficiality," but rather "the rich polycultural heritage in which the repertoire is rooted."
Hampson has won many international awards, which reflect both his wide range of repertoire and the sheer beauty of his voice. His 1989 recital debut recording Das Knaben Wunderhorn garnered four major international awards, while follow-up releases have earned him six Grammy nominations, two Edison prizes, three 1994 Gramophone awards, among others. He also received the 1993 Classical Music Award's Male Singer of the Year and Musical America's 1992 Vocalist of the Year.
At his request, Hampson will present a short symposium on American song on Friday, Oct. 18, from 10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m. in Barnes Hall. In addition to Hampson, panelists William W. Austin, the Givens Foundation Professor of Musicology Emeritus; Nym Cooke, a lecturer at the College of the Holy Cross; Judith Kellock, assistant professor of music; and Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History, will discuss the defining features of and cultural context for American song. Steven Stucky, professor of music and chair of the music department, will moderate. Two Cornell voice students will sing music of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber. The symposium is free and open to the public.