NICK OPENS ART SONG CHICAGO’S 16th SEASON WITH 2026 COLLABORATIVE WORKS FESTIVAL
2026 ART SONG FESTIVAL OPENS WITH THE SECRET GARDEN
“Art Song Chicago opened its 2026 Collaborative Works Festival with The Secret Garden, an evening of music from the genre's greatest composers. The singers and pianist brought to life lush, vibrant love songs about visual art, poetry, and nature…Nicholas Phan serves as the artistic director for Art Song Chicago and is a Grammy Award winner. His interpretation…was exquisite, with a rich sound. The program was beautifully curated and presented. The chosen songs beautifully mirrored poetry and art. The lyrics or stanzas were filled with imagery that evoked impressionism, surrealism, and post-impressionism….
The concert was as educational as it was entertaining. My music major days were filled with early art songs by Bach and Purcell. Songs of the Earth widened the repertoire considerably. I look forward to what is ahead for Art Song Chicago. I highly recommend visiting their website to see when concerts are happening...”
– Third Coast Review
ART SONG CHICAGO’S SECOND FESTIVAL PROGRAM TURNS TOWARD A TROUBLED WORLD
“…Saturday reminded me how art songs compress drama into minutes. A few moments of music can hold seduction, grief or a joke that curdles before you realize it. It asks performers to make words and music feel inseparable. Neither treating the voice as a vehicle for the poem or the instruments as its backdrop. Since 2010, Art Song Chicago has created space for that kind of listening in a city not always generous to the genre…
…In a program this varied, standout moments are hard to rank, but the afternoon ultimately hung on Fung’s Lamenting Earth. Saturday marked its Midwest premiere and only the second public performance of the complete cycle…Fung’s music meets the texts with an often abrasive directness. She gives the quartet brittle writing at high registers, unresolved dissonances that sharpen the anger in the texts and low, grumbling figures that anticipate ominous turns. The Jasper players made those contrasts without overwhelming Phan; his lucid, wide-ranging singing kept the words at the center even when the instrumental writing surged. Lamenting Earth is a bold work that deserves many more hearings…”
– Third Coast Review
