Da Camera: Brentano String Quartet February 17, 2009

Kurt Weill Walt Whitman Songs
Lee Hyla Howl for string quartet and recorded voice (Allen Ginsberg)
Schoenberg Ode to Napoleon for string quartet, piano and narrator
Beethoven Grosse Fuge, Op. 133

Leon Williams, baritone; Brentano String Quartet (Mark Steinberg, violin; Serena Canin, violin; Misha Amory, viola; Nina Maria Lee, cello); Rodney Waters, piano; Sarah Rothenberg, piano

This wide-ranging program features unusual settings of poetry and music: Lee Hyla’s Howl incorporates a recording of Allen Ginsberg reading his rapturous, confessional 1956 poem; émigré composer Arnold Schoenberg in America sets a poem by Byron in response to Hitler’s world aggression. Another German émigré, Kurt Weill, shifts from Berlin cabaret to great American poet Walt Whitman. The evening closes with Beethoven’s revolutionary Grosse Fuge.

For information, call 713-524-5050.

Please note: Howl contains strong language that may be offensive to some audience members.

Official Website: http://www.dacamera.com/artist11.html