Christoph Prégardien (tenor); Michael Gees (piano) May 6, 2009

Program:
Schumann: Dichterliebe, Op. 48; Wolf: Die Nacht; Wolf: Der Musikant; Wolf: Ständchen; Wolf: Verschwiegene Liebe; Wolf: Nachtzauber; Wolf: Der Scholar; Wolf: Der Soldat II; Mahler: Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen; Mahler: Revelge; Mahler: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

"Fine and intrepid artistry" (The New York Times on Christoph Prégardien)

Joining PCMS on Wednesday, May 6 at the Perelman Theater, Christoph Prégardien (tenor) and Michael Gees (piano) will perform Schumann, Wolf, and Mahler. Prégardien's career began as a choirboy in Germany, spiraling upwards to include a Grammy nomination for "Best Opera Recording" and acclaimed recitals with pianist Michael Gees in New York (Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall), San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto, Montreal, Santa Fe, Charlottesville, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh. Widely regarded as among the foremost lyric tenors in both the concert and art song realms, his vast repertoire includes the great oratorios and Passions of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, as well as music from the 17th century (Monteverdi, Schütz and Purcell) and 20th century (Britten, Stravinsky, Killmayer and Rihm).

Pianist Michael Gees made his concert debut in 1963 in Bielefeld and his first recordings appeared in the early 1980s, some featuring his own compositions including a commissioned work Festliche Sonate Op. 12, given its premiere at Bad Godesberg in 1982. Other commissions followed, including the Große Sonate for Hannover Radio, Die Jahreszeiten for chamber orchestra and Paintings by Wolfgang Tiemann, premiered in the Bomann Museum, Celle, in 1986. The same year he appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival as composer, solo pianist, and accompanist, founded the Gees Projekt for improvised chamber music, and made his first visit to Japan. In 1987 he founded the Gees Piano Trio and wrote KAI, a music drama for mime, first performed the following year at the Revier Theater, Gelsenkirchen. In 1989 he began work on Gelebte Zeit - Lebenszeit, a cycle for large orchestra, and continued to compose including a commission for Mozart Year 1991 Variationen über ein Lebensgefühl, and works such as Echt Brecht and Kassandra for the Theater-Forum Lünen, and a reworking of KAI for dance theatre, which also toured in the United States.

For more information on the musicians, please visit:
Christoph Prégardien: www.pregardien.com
Michael Gees: http://www.eclassical.com/pdf/GEES_Michael.pdf

For more information on the composers, please visit:
Schumann: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Schumann
Wolf:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Wolf
Mahler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler

Buy Tickets!
www.pcmsconcerts.org or 215.569.8080
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Get to Know Christoph Prégardien!

Watch: In this short clip, Prégardien teaches a master class:


Listen and Connect: Listen to sample music clips on Last.fm:
http://www.last.fm/music/Christoph+Pregardien