Close Encounters with Music: Nocturne – Night and Dreams

Nuances of the night are explored in this multi-faceted program. Release from the brightness of daylight, from consciousness into sleep and dreaminess, the night’s seductive, mysterious potion-like allure has fascinated artists throughout the ages. Lullabies celebrate repose, the restful charm; serenades celebrate love. Other works mark the fear of darkness, the unseen and what may lurk beneath the veil of night.
Composers from Mozart and Schubert to Borodin and Bernstein have been transfixed, lulled, soothed and aroused. Beethoven evokes the enchantment of the moon in his iconic “Moonlight” Sonata; Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is a perennial favorite and will be performed in its original scoring. Lieder by Schumann, Debussy, Fauré, arias from Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet and selections from favorite musicals (West Side Story and Man of La Mancha) demonstrate the universality of the theme.

To paraphrase Walt Whitman, only the darkness of the night reveals all the stars—in the Heavens and on stage!

Fabio Bidini, piano; John Viscardi, baritone; Kobi Malkin and Grace Park, violin; Luke Fleming, viola; Lizzie Burns, double bass; Yehuda Hanani, cello