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Song of America 2009

Thomas Hampson’s 2009 “Song of America” Project, in Collaboration with the Library of Congress, Celebrates the 250th Anniversary of the First American Song

Hampson Gives Twelve “Song of America” Recitals between July 2009 and February 2010 and Sings Orchestral Concerts with American Songs at Summer Festivals and with the New York Philharmonic

On July 9, 2009 Thomas Hampson resumes the enthusiastically acclaimed “Song of America” project he developed with the Library of Congress and introduced in the 2005-06 season.  This season’s national celebration additionally commemorates the 250th anniversary of what is recognized to be the first song written by an “American” (“My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free”, composed in 1759 by Philadelphian Francis Hopkinson). Drawing on the unparalleled collection of American songs housed at the Library of Congress, Hampson will present a unique series of recitals, educational activities, exhibitions, recordings, cybercasts and interactive online resources. Some recital venues will have lobby exhibitions of facsimiles from music archives of the Library, and joint efforts with local academic and cultural partners are planned to give a wide range of listeners access to America's history as told through its rich array of song.  A dedicated web site that will develop into a large-scale database of American composers, poets/writers, their songs, texts, and links to deeper resources will be launched in conjunction with the tour dates.

Hampson’s first two “Song of America” recitals this summer are in the heartland of Minnesota and Wisconsin (Winona, MN on July 9 and Williams Bay, WI on July 12), and then he continues to two festivals: Ravinia (July 16) and Tanglewood (July 22).  Other stops on his recital itinerary are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Santa Barbara, Boulder, Princeton and Atlanta. In separate stand-alone concerts at Tanglewood and the Grand Teton Music Festival, Hampson will perform orchestral songs by Virgil Thomson, Samuel Barber and John Adams that augment the “Song of America” tour without being directly linked to it.

Thomas Hampson comments: 

"The ‘Song of America’ project has become a thrilling dream come true for me: criss-crossing our country singing the songs born of our life experiences as Americans in the language of our hearts and minds. These songs - our songs - say everything about the culture we call American. And when we sing our own songs, when we see through the eyes of our poets and hear with the ears of our composers the diary of our land, those who hear us will experience the best of what freedom of thought and purpose can achieve in the creation of great art.  We need these songs in our cultural landscape."

Critical and public reaction to Hampson’s first “Song of America” tour in 2005-06 was extremely enthusiastic and included an appearance on ABC-TV’s Good Morning America.  The New York Times wrote about his performance at Carnegie Hall:

“Mr. Hampson conveys the idea of an oral tradition that it is his mission to pass on, with the closed-eyed intensity of a blind poet when he is singing, and the zeal of an evangelist when he is addressing the audience about its cultural heritage.” 

The Philadelphia Inquirer called Hampson’s concert at the Kimmel Center “a thoroughly exceptional recital,” noting, “No recitalist is more charming. Hampson singing in his native language almost guarantees an extra zing. … The concert was a rare chance to hear his keen intelligence articulated at close range.”

Last year Hampson was appointed special advisor to the Library of Congress for his work in American song.  He is especially interested in promulgating the ways American song continues to communicate the story of the country – its history and its spiritual inner life – through texts wedded to music. 

It is significant that Hampson’s “Song of America” project also acknowledges the 250th anniversary of the first song composed in America, by Francis Hopkinson, one of the first American composers.  He wrote "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free" in 1759; it was published in 1788 in a collection of songs dedicated to George Washington, a friend of the patriot author.  Hopkinson, also a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as a lawyer, poet, inventor, painter, and judge, was not a dilettante, but rather a highly educated and cultivated man typical of the 18th century’s Age of Enlightenment.

Thomas Hampson was raised in Washington state.  One of the most celebrated singers on the stage today, he has recorded dozens of America’s songs, presented a PBS special, and given master classes on American song (as he will on the coming tour) – all the while maintaining his position as a preeminent singer of opera and art songs in many languages, and as an expert on and editor of Gustav Mahler’s songs in particular.  He was educated in the U.S. before moving to Europe to broaden his singing career, and has recently taken up residence in his home country once again. In the 2009-10 season, Hampson will be the New York Philharmonic’s first Artist in Residence. During the season, Alan Gilbert’s first as Music Director, Hampson will be guest soloist in three programs, tour with the orchestra to six European cities, and give a recital in Alice Tully Hall. He will also give master classes at the Juilliard School, and deliver three lectures entitled “Listening to Thought” in the orchestra’s Insight series.

Critical acclaim for Hampson’s “Song of America” tour in 2005-06 and complete tour dates for the 2009-10 tour follow. 

 

Critical acclaim for Hampson’s inaugural “Song of America” tour in 2005-06

"This country doesn't just undervalue its artists. In the case of the vast American concert-song literature, hardly any attention is paid at all. … Hampson delivered one gem after another by composers such as Charles Griffes, William McDowell, Virgil Thomson (the famous 'Tiger! Tiger!'), Samuel Barber, Charles Ives … and Henry T. Burleigh.”

• - Minneapolis Star Tribune  

"Though Thomas Hampson is one of the world's great baritones, he's so generous with his voice and time that you can take him for granted. If you miss this Philadelphia concert, you'll catch the next. … But those who missed this one should be sorry.”

• - Philadelphia Inquirer

“Hampson was…a font of emotion, smooth and supple in delivery, pure in tone. It was clear that he's more than America's best baritone: Right now, he's one of the world's greatest singers in any style.”

• - Pioneer Press  

“Hampson's narrative powers were perhaps the chief glory of the evening…There are very few areas of the opera and concert repertory that this industrious singer isn't willing to investigate, but singing songs seems to be the one thing he loves to do most of all. Besides, how many other singers today could fill Carnegie Hall with a program exclusively devoted to a celebration of American song?”

• - Musical America

“Mr. Hampson’s baritone, all oiled walnut, is one of the loveliest around, and he can croon exquisitely. The audience ate him up.”

• - Dallas Morning News

“Tall, charismatic and as square-jawed as the Marlboro man, Thomas Hampson is in many ways an ideal representative of American song. [Hampson] is a recitalist and opera star of international renown, and his recital Saturday of more than two dozen American songs showed off the full range of his vocal and histrionic skills.”

• - Kansas City Star

"When Hampson's voice reached the California Theatre's beautifully restored rafters, as it did in 'Shenandoah,' the effect was electrifying. … Hampson indulged in four curtain calls, ranging from Jerome Kern's 'All the Things You Are' to the Mozart aria 'Deh vieni alla finestra' – all to the audience's delight.”

• - San Jose Mercury-News

“Singing spokesman Thomas Hampson [is] versatile, personable and communicative, [and] a perfect choice for the job. … The baritone’s singing was as varied and well-matched as his program. His informal manner and asides to the audience belied subtle interpretive skills. These ranged from stern, sepulchral narrative in Griffes’s ‘Zwei Könige’ to dreamy longing in Ives’s version of ‘Feldeinsamkeit.’ There was quiet, touching radiance in Arthur Farwell’s setting of an Omaha Indian love call, chatty humor in Ives’s ;Memories: A. Very Pleasant.’ Though easy and down-home in style and tone, Hampson’s singing drew strength from a concealed weapon — the tight-knit line of classical bel canto, both in dramatic declamation and in soft lyric flow. Similar security lay in the inner structural vitality, careful phrasing and discerning keyboard detail of Wolfram Rieger, a German teacher of lieder repertory, who seemed to enjoy this foray into a fresh field. And it was a credit to both partners that they kept the piano lid wide open—a feature of all too few recitals.”
– Opera News