Art Song Recital – Songs of Love and Suffering

As part of the Rites of Spring’s program, Opera Days in the Hamptons, join us for a performance by mezzo-soprano Michaela Larsen, horn player Noah Fotis-Larsen, and guitarist Sebastián Molina performing a moving selection of works exploring themes of romance, longing, and heartbreak. French art songs by Gabriel Fauré and Claude Debussy for mezzo-soprano and guitar open the recital, highlighting the elegance and emotional depth of the French mélodie tradition. The program continues with Bruce Adolphe’s Ladino Songs of Love and Suffering, a powerful song cycle for soprano, guitar, and French horn inspired by the historic Ladino musical tradition. Together, these works create an evocative musical journey through love, memory, and human emotion in the intimate setting of the Bridgehampton Museum.

French Songs by Faure and Debussy for mezzo soprano & guitar

Ladino Songs of Love and Suffering by Bruce Adolphe for soprano, guitar, and French horn

I.                     Noches, noches

II.                   Avrix mi galanica

III.                 El mi querido

IV.                 Camini por altas torres

V.                  La rosa enflorece

VI.                 Alta, alta, va la luna

Michaela Larsen, mezzo-soprano

Noah Fotis-Larsen, horn

Sebastián Molina, guitar

Michaela Larsen, mezzo soprano

Heralded by the Brooklyn Discovery, as “visually and vocally another bright ray,” Michaela Larsen’s voice is “plangent [and] coupled with excellent stagecraft”. Originally from Michigan, she completed her undergraduate degree in Music Education at Michigan State University–all while learning the operatic craft through roles such as: Adele, Strauss’s Die Fledermaus; Eurydice, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld; Vitellia, Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito. In 2021, Mrs. Larsen relocated to New York to pursue a Master’s in Vocal Performance, and is currently completing her Doctorate–both degrees from Stony Brook University. Recent credits include: Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) Sunnyside Opera in Tampa, FL, Stony Brook Opera Theatre, and Vienna Summer Music Festival; Hermia (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Chicago Summer Opera; Sāvitri (Gustav Holst’s Sāvitri); Venus (John Blow’s Venus and Adonis) and Nancy (Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring) with Stony Brook Opera Theatre. Mrs. Larsen appears frequently with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera–Recent performances include: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, United States premiere of Aaron Zigman’s Èmigré, and Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. Her Metropolitan Opera debut was in Verdi Requiem in September 2023, and she will return in the 2024-25 season in Beethoven’s Fidelio.