In this Young Artists Showcase episode, we’re featuring highlights from a Lunar New Year celebration in The Greene Space by Manhattan School of Music vocalists. Beginning as a small settlement music school, Manhattan School of Music has become a renowned conservatory over its 100 years of music education. The school boasts an undergraduate and graduate program consisting of 1,000 students from all around the world. The Manhattan School of Music’s students were brought to The Greene Space by The Gerda Lissner Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing young singers support to pursue excellence in their craft.
In this program, Myra Huang, a piano faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music, and Anthony Roth Costanzo, one of Manhattan School of Music’s most distinguished graduates, curated a night of music and poetry based on the theme of home and migration inspired by the Lunar New Year. The evening begins with a poem by Cambodian American poet and librettist Sokunthary Svay and is followed by a performance of Tzu’s Homesickness by bass-baritone Le Bu and pianist Ye In Kwak. Wrapping up the program is “O patria, o cara patria… O Tu Palermo” from Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani, sung by bass-baritone Le Bu and accompanied by pianist Marco Rizzello.