mainstage live series
SPA Trio
February 12, 2024, 7:30PM
PNC Theatre, 350 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15222
IMPORTANT UPDATE (2/11/24):
Unfortunately, soprano Susanna Phillip has tested positive for COVID. While we wish her a speedy recovery and send her our best wishes, we understand the importance of prioritizing everyone’s health and safety.
The rest of our trio, featuring Paul Neubauer on viola and Anne-Marie McDermott on piano, is determined to bring you a memorable evening of music. The updated reperoire is as follows:
Dmitri Shostakovich Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 147
Robert Schumann Märchenbilder for viola and piano, Op. 113
Schumann/Liszt Widmung for solo piano S.566
Benjamin Dale Romance for viola and piano
Hermann Schulenberg Puszta-Märchen (Gypsy Romance and
Czardas)
Anonymous The Canary
Three renowned artists combine for a shimmering salon-style concert
S – Susanna Phillips, soprano
P – Paul Neubauer, viola
A – Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Historic recordings of some of the great singers of yesteryear include numerous performances of salon type songs that included an obbligato instrument. Some of these pairings included Enrico Caruso with Mischa Elman, John McCormack with Fritz Kreisler, Marian Anderson with William Primrose, Alma Gluck with her husband Efrem Zimbalist, as well as Bing Crosby and Jascha Heifetz! Susanna Phillips, Paul Neubauer and Anne-Marie McDermott continue this tradition with SPA. This trio of stellar artists first performed together in 2011 in Curacao, in the Netherlands Antilles, and have enjoyed exploring and performing songs that include an obbligato instrument. Zachary Lewis at The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) sums it up: “But it wasn’t just the lineup, which included the remarkable pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, that made the evening so special. Also unique was the repertoire itself, a fetching blend of art and parlor songs from all over 19th- and 20th-century Europe. Phillips herself required zero assistance. A singer known for starring roles at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, she proved a singular authority, brandishing a golden, powerful instrument and treating each song to generous servings of eloquence and feeling. But how much better to hear Phillips in tandem with Neubauer, a former principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, and witness the gorgeous dovetailing of the viola’s warm, expressive tone with that of the human voice, its closest musical relation. At times, the two were almost indistinguishable.”