Harmony Music Series – Art Song Afternoon

NEW! for this winter and spring, join an array of special musical guests for live music at Heritage Hill. Visitors will enjoy a series of curated musical interludes representative of the diverse cultures that Northeast Wisconsin communities have enjoyed for centuries. Held in the historic 1852 Moravian Church, this is a special opportunity to enter a historic Greek Revival building that is rarely open to the public.

On Saturday, March 25, join us for an afternoon of art songs, musical compositions written for one voice and one piano. While popular music consists of sung lyrics, routinely collaborated upon by a composer and a lyricist working closely together from start to finish, an art song is born of poetry, meaning that the text of the music has a self-contained life of its own before a composer is inspired to set it to music. It is up to the vocalist to give the musical setting life and perform the material in a way that resonates with the audience in a lasting and meaningful way.

Haley Steele, soprano, is an artist, educator, researcher, and advocate for the arts whose voice has been praised for “an ethereal grace and impressive intensity that delights and captivates.” Haley has performed and premiered numerous works, with notable engagements including Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Nanetta (Falstaff), Le feu (L’enfant et les sortilèges), and Worried (Now Boarding). Notable concert credits include soloist engagements for Poulenc’s Gloria, Faure’s Requiem, art song recitals, and as a chorus member with the Kansas City Symphony for a 2015 album recording of Holst’s The Planets. Haley’s research projects have earned top academic prizes, including graduate research on pedagogue Estelle Liebling (2017) and McNair internship research on the National Schools of Singing (2015), completed during a semester abroad in Florence, Italy. She currently resides in Green Bay where she maintains a private voice studio.

A pianist from Thailand, Sopon Suwannakit is a doctoral student in jazz studies at the University of Northern Colorado and is currently working on his dissertation in Green Bay. His academic experience includes successful positions at UNC and Western Oregon University. In 2015, Sopon earned his master’s degree from the University of North Texas where he studied both jazz and classical piano simultaneously and intensely. Sopon has presented guest lectures for various university ethnomusicology classes, with particular emphasis on work completed during a research trip to Armenia in 2018. Sopon has performed at countless festivals in the U.S., Thailand, China, Malaysia, and Armenia, with a notable performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with a symphony orchestra in Thailand in 2010 and 2012. His current dissertation work explores Middle Eastern influences in jazz and he can be found locally performing in varied and diverse ensembles.

Tickets are $10/members and $15/general admission and are available in advance at the link above.

Please note that this event is being held in the Moravian Church, approximately a 3-minute walk down a hill from the park entrance. While the pathway will be plowed and salted, there is no tram service available in the winter, so guests should wear appropriate footgear.