The Artist at 50 Recording Project
Donation protected
Once upon a time, a singer of songs turned 50 and decided to celebrate with a recital. Not just any old song recital, but one made up entirely of art songs written and/or published in the year the composer celebrated his or her 50th birthday, with texts that beautifully narrate the themes of fifty years of living.
That recital ended up being a treasure trove of engaging, but mostly obscure songs that deserve to live on beyond the few performances the recital will ultimately receive. Some of the works on the recital are not even in print, and some have never been recorded.
That's where you come in. My amazing collaborators and I have the opportunity this summer to record this program in Houston, TX, with a top-flight professional audio engineering and producing team, with the ultimate goal of releasing the CD with a national label and on digital platforms, and we'd love to ask for your help.
We aim to raise $15,000 by the end of April in order to contract all of the personnel, venues, and logistics for recording sessions in June, with an anticipated release date of Summer 2019.
Of course, we would be grateful for any support you choose to give to our project. Besides undying gratitude, however, we would like to offer more tangible tokens of our thanks, so please check out our reward levels!
Below you'll a list of the songs we'll be recording. Hopefully we'll be able to update you will clips from one of the recitals at some point.
We hope you'll find this a project worth your time and support.
Thank you!
Melissa Givens and the Artist at 50 Team
Song List:
Anacrusis (2011) Daron Aric Hagen
On Youth
Das Mädchen, Op. 95, No. 1 (1883) Johannes Brahms
Ne donne pas ton coeur (1892) Jules Massenet
Just-Spring (1949) John Duke
On Dreams
Ständchen (1841) Giacomo Meyerbeer
The Rose in the Wind (1971) Seymour Barab
La statue de bronze (1916) Erik Satie
On Love
Donne-moi cette fleur (1868) Charles Gounod
Dream, Op. 100, No. 6 (1956) Dmitri Shostakovich
Arab Love Song, Op. 25, No. 4 (1927) Roger Quilter
On Loss
Auf dem Meer, Op. 11, No. 5 (1865) Robert Franz
Chanson naïve (1907) Cécile Chaminade
Heart, we will forget him (1950) Aaron Copland
On Perseverance
Im Wasser wogt die Lilie (1865) Josephine Lang
Mit vierzig Jahren (1883) Johannes Brahms
My Soul’s Been Anchored (1937) Florence B. Price
On Time
Let the Rain Kiss You (1998) Ann Rivers Witherspoon
In Blossom Time, Op. 78, No. 3 (1917) Amy Cheney Beach
Chanson à boire ... (1885) Camille Saint-Saëns
On War and Peace
There came a wind like a bugle (1950) Aaron Copland
So Pretty (1968) Leonard Bernstein
He’s Got the Whole World... (1963) Margaret Bonds
That recital ended up being a treasure trove of engaging, but mostly obscure songs that deserve to live on beyond the few performances the recital will ultimately receive. Some of the works on the recital are not even in print, and some have never been recorded.
That's where you come in. My amazing collaborators and I have the opportunity this summer to record this program in Houston, TX, with a top-flight professional audio engineering and producing team, with the ultimate goal of releasing the CD with a national label and on digital platforms, and we'd love to ask for your help.
We aim to raise $15,000 by the end of April in order to contract all of the personnel, venues, and logistics for recording sessions in June, with an anticipated release date of Summer 2019.
Of course, we would be grateful for any support you choose to give to our project. Besides undying gratitude, however, we would like to offer more tangible tokens of our thanks, so please check out our reward levels!
Below you'll a list of the songs we'll be recording. Hopefully we'll be able to update you will clips from one of the recitals at some point.
We hope you'll find this a project worth your time and support.
Thank you!
Melissa Givens and the Artist at 50 Team
Song List:
Anacrusis (2011) Daron Aric Hagen
On Youth
Das Mädchen, Op. 95, No. 1 (1883) Johannes Brahms
Ne donne pas ton coeur (1892) Jules Massenet
Just-Spring (1949) John Duke
On Dreams
Ständchen (1841) Giacomo Meyerbeer
The Rose in the Wind (1971) Seymour Barab
La statue de bronze (1916) Erik Satie
On Love
Donne-moi cette fleur (1868) Charles Gounod
Dream, Op. 100, No. 6 (1956) Dmitri Shostakovich
Arab Love Song, Op. 25, No. 4 (1927) Roger Quilter
On Loss
Auf dem Meer, Op. 11, No. 5 (1865) Robert Franz
Chanson naïve (1907) Cécile Chaminade
Heart, we will forget him (1950) Aaron Copland
On Perseverance
Im Wasser wogt die Lilie (1865) Josephine Lang
Mit vierzig Jahren (1883) Johannes Brahms
My Soul’s Been Anchored (1937) Florence B. Price
On Time
Let the Rain Kiss You (1998) Ann Rivers Witherspoon
In Blossom Time, Op. 78, No. 3 (1917) Amy Cheney Beach
Chanson à boire ... (1885) Camille Saint-Saëns
On War and Peace
There came a wind like a bugle (1950) Aaron Copland
So Pretty (1968) Leonard Bernstein
He’s Got the Whole World... (1963) Margaret Bonds
Organizer
Melissa Givens
Organizer
Claremont, CA