Chamber Music Quad Cities: “Poem to Song,” March 19

Saturday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.

Asbury United Methodist Church, 1809 Mississippi Boulevard, Bettendorf IA

Numerous works by Quad Cities-area poets will be treating to exciting, brand-new interpretations at Bettendorf's Asbury United Methodist Church on March 19, when Chamber Music Quad Cities presents its springtime concert Poem to Song, a special event performed by acclaimed soprano and Quad Cities native Lily Arbisser accompanied by noted area pianist Thomas Sauer.

With its roster of composers from the Quad Cities and beyond boasting Jacob Bancks, Brian Baxter, William Campbell, Patrick Castillo, Monica Gil, Robinson McClellan, Thomas Sauer, Nathan Shields, and Suzanne Sorkin, Poem to Song will treat audience members to a beautiful collection of scored poems by Audra Kerr Brown, Joe Chambers, Therese Guise, Carl Herzig, Farah Marklevits, Beth Roberts, and Johnnie Woods. Bringing these songs to vocal life is Lily Arbisser, an “individual-timbred soprano” (according to Opera News) whose voice, Feast of Music reported, “floats effortlessly” over the orchestra. A graduate of Davenport Central High School, Arbisser graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with a Bachelor of the Arts in Art and Archaeology and a Certificate in Vocal Performance, and she holds a Master of Music degree from Mannes College.

Highlights of the artist's recent seasons include joining Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute in Chicago as a vocal fellow, winning first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs’ (NFMC) Biennial Young Artist Competition, being a semi-finalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation’s prestigious Lotte Lenya Competition, and debuting at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as Suzu in Riyoichi Saito’s chamber opera Dojoji. After a pandemic-caused delay in her touring schedule, Arbisser's return to in-person performances in 2022 will, following Poem to Song, include numerous solo opportunities in Iowa and in the New York City area. Select performances include singing the role of Anne Frank in James Whitbourn’s oratorio Annelies with Princeton Pro Musica in Princeton, New Jersey, and a solo recital for the Iowa Federation of Music Clubs as the state’s first Iowa-born winner of the NFMC’s Young Artist competition.

Accompanying Arbisser on piano, Chamber Music Quad Cities co- founder and -artistic director Thomas Sauer is highly sought after as a soloist and chamber musician in a wide range of repertoire. Recent appearances include Carnegie Hall, St. John’s College, Oxford, and the Chamber Music Societies of Lincoln Center, Boston, and Philadelphia. With his long-time duo partner Colin Carr, Sauer has appeared at the Wigmore Hall (London), the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston), and Da Camera (Houston); has performed with members of the Juilliard String Quartet at the Library of Congress; and has given numerous concerts with the Brentano String Quartet. Sauer’s varied discography, meanwhile, includes recordings of Beethoven and Haydn piano sonatas; with Carr, the complete cello and piano works of Mendelssohn and Beethoven; music of Hindemith with violist Misha Amory; music of Britten and Schnittke with cellist Wilhelmina Smith; music of Ross Lee Finney with violinist Miranda Cuckson; and music of James Matheson.

Chamber Music Quad Cities' Poem to Song will be performed at the Asbury United Methodist Church at 7:30 p.m. on March 19, admission is $5-20, and more information on the event is available by visiting ChamberMusicQC.org.