The third and final song evening of this Trade Fair season pays tribute to one of the most striking figures in American music history. For many, Leonard Bernstein, who died in 1990, was primarily a conductor of the most diverse classical works, from Bach to Copland. The composer in him betrayed much more clearly his great affinity with slightly lighter music - entire bites from 'West Side Story', 'Candide' or 'Trouble in Tahiti' are etched in many memories. However, the program is just as much an anthology of more serious works such as 'the Great Mass' or the 'Chichester Psalms'. The much sought-after keyboard accompanist Reinild Mees invited soprano Claron McFadden, known among others for 'the woman who walked into doors' by Kris Defoort. But mezzo Tania Kross, tenor Pascal Pittie and our very own Guido Segers - once a soloist under Celibidache in Munich - will also come along. Small delicacies such as 'La bonne cuisine: four recipes for voice and piano' or the children's cycle 'I hate music!' may become discoveries for many and make it crystal clear that Bernstein, just like Brahms or Poulenc, was a song man through and through.
