On Monday, September 30, 7:30PM, Mirror Visions Ensemble (MVE) presents “Silver Songs” in Merkin Hall at NYC’s Kaufman Music Center.

Classical composers and literary types have long been drawn to Hollywood’s glamour, glitz, grime, and grit. With their newest program, Mirror Visions Ensemble celebrates the influence and inspiration of movies with songs that pay homage to “the silver screen” — a cultural beacon for generations.

The program will premiere MVE’s latest commission, Griffin Candey’s Silver Songs with poetry by Rae Armantrout, Richie Hofmann, Rebecca Hoogs, Jeanne Murray Walker, Kate Northrop, and Frank O’Hara. The program includes a “mirror vision” (the same text set to music by different composers) with Howard Moss’ hilarious poem “Horror Movie” in songs by Chris DeBlasio and William Flanagan. The program gives a glimpse of Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler’s disdain for Hollywood, provides melodic morsels of Erich Korngold’s film scoring, and commemorates Humphrey Bogart, Lana Turner, and other Hollywood royalty.

Abi Levis, mezzo soprano
Daniel McGrew, tenor
Mischa Bouvier, baritone
Grant Wenaus, piano

GRIFFIN CANDEY  –  Silver Songs (world premiere)
WILLIAM FLANAGAN  –  Horror Movie
ERICH KORNGOLD  –  Lieder, Opus 38
JACQUES IBERT  –  Chansons de Don Quichotte
HANNS EISLER  –  Fünf Hollywood-Elegien
CHRIS DEBLASIO  –  Horror Movie
CHRISTOPHER BERG  –  Poem
LIEBER & STOLLER  –  Humphrey Bogart
GENE SCHEER  –  At Howard Hawks’ House