Secrets of Ferns, a Song Cycle for Voice and Piano | Ana Guigui, mezzo-soprano Neil Olmstead, piano

Mezzo-soprano Ana Guigui makes her Longy faculty debut, singing Neil Olmstead’s new song cycle Secrets of Ferns with the composer accompanying. Working from texts by southern poets Sara Pirkle Hughes and Anya Silver, as well as text written by Olmstead himself, the work germinated while the composer was in residency at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia. The five pieces depict the beauty, passion, love and suffering of human life and its relation to nature, blending jazz harmonic colors with traditional bel-canto voice. The tonal inferences are abstracted in a way to compel thoughtful reflection of our natural world while leading us toward inner contemplation of the suffering and beauty of our personal lives.