Simply Schumann: A Lieder Concert

David Behnke (baritone) and David Rhoderick (piano), in conjunction with the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, will be presenting a lieder concert, Simply Schumann, on Saturday, June 6, at 3 p.m. The program consists of Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 24, and his Liederkreis, Op. 39.

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This program represents the culmination of the Davids’ exploration of the great German, nineteenth-century song cycles. Previous concerts have included Schumann’s monumental Dichterliebe, as well as Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise.​

Both of the Liederkreis were written in 1840, a year in which Schumann devoted himself exclusively to song composition and which resulted in all of his major song cycles. Opus 24 was the first composition in this astonishingly creative outburst, and Opus 39, which came toward the end of the period, is considered one of the great masterpieces of the genre. The texts for both song cycles epitomize the Romantic Era’s focus on the natural landscape and its near obsession with the ecstasy of love.

Tickets are available at the door only. A donation of $20 is suggested, with all proceeds going to support the MVCMS’s year-round educational programming. ​

David Behnke is a graduate of the master’s-degree opera program at the Yale School of Music. He subsequently received a fellowship for study at the Paris Conservatory, was a winner of the Boston Opera Company Young Artist Auditions, performed as a resident artist with the Tri Cities Opera Company, and has sung with music festivals throughout New England. After a 30-year hiatus on Wall Street, he has been a frequent performer on Martha's Vineyard, in repertoire spanning opera oratorio, art song, and Broadway. Most recently he was a featured soloist in Ariel Ramirez’s Misa Criolla and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs with the Island Community Chorus.