CRITICAL ACCLAIM

CLASSICAL VOICE NORTH AMERICA

“…Phan, who won a 2025 Grammy Award for best opera recording for his role in Kaijo Saariaho’s Adriana Mater with the San Francisco Symphony, is the heart and soul of Art Song Chicago both onstage and off. In his role as founding artistic director, he chose the line-ups for this latest edition of the festival with the care and intelligence he always brings to the organization’s programming. While Art Song Chicago has never ignored the pillars of the repertoire, it has tended to emphasize less widely known works and composers from the past and introduce new songs, and that was the case here.

The two programs were simply titled, respectively, War and Peace, with the first, the one reviewed here, using art song to examine the horrendous impact of conflict on soldiers and their families as well as civilians caught in the violence. ‘In a moment when multiple wars range across the globe and claim untold innocent lives,’ Phan wrote in his program essay, ‘this year’s theme feels both urgent and necessary. In an age when we are increasingly drawn into the online realm, song offers a space for real-world communion.’