SECOND STAGE: Min Feng, soprano | Whispers of Nature: Love, Dreams, and the Invisible World | Graduating Student Project

This program explores the subtle boundary between nature, imagination, and intimate human emotion. Across a wide range of musical styles and languages, these works reveal not only the external beauty of the natural world—flowers, streams, snow, and birds—but also the inner landscapes they awaken.

In the songs of Schubert and Haydn, nature appears as both setting and source of joy and reflection. Later composers, such as Chausson, Respighi, and Alma Mahler, deepen this connection, allowing natural imagery to blur into dreamlike and emotional states. In contrast, works by Quilter, Obradors, and Puccini turn inward, expressing delicate and personal forms of love, often inseparable from the natural world that surrounds them.

At the edges of reality, composers like Amy Beach and Liza Lehmann introduce elements of fantasy—fairies, whispers, and unseen presences—suggesting that nature is not only observed, but also imagined. Together, these pieces invite the listener into a world where the visible and invisible coexist, and where nature becomes a mirror of human feeling.

Min Feng is a soprano and a graduate student in Vocal Studies at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where she studies with Jayne West. Her work focuses on developing a free and expressive vocal technique, with a particular interest in art song repertoire across multiple languages and styles.

At Longy, she has performed the role of Lillian in the contemporary opera Quiet as Mice and appeared as a Wood Nymph in scenes from Dvořák’s Rusalka. She has also performed as a soloist in concert settings, including a recital at Steinway House in Shanghai.

Min’s repertoire spans German Lied, French mélodie, Italian song, and English art song. Her recent artistic work explores the connection between breath, movement, and musical expression, particularly in programs centered on themes of nature, imagination, and intimate emotional worlds.