PaTRAM Institute™ presents a concert to support Osanna Chamber Ensemble’s 2023 season:

John Arlievsky, Osanna’s artistic director, partners with pianist Akiko Hosaki in a recital of art song by Robert Schumann and Sergei Rachmaninoff, centering around Schumann’s celebrated song cycle Dichterliebe.

The concert will be at the Synod of Bishops on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and will be followed by a home-infused vodka tasting reception in the courtyard, weather permitting. Tickets are available online and at the door, and all proceeds will go toward making Osanna’s planned projects a reality.

2023 marks 150 years since the birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff - our recital presents a selection of 5 of his songs on themes of Spring and nature, several of which are rarely performed.

Together, these songs represent the great variety and breadth of Rachmaninoff's artistic perception.

A deep sensitivity to both nature's quietest stillness and most resounding movements are expressed in "Островок - Little Island" and "Весенние Воды - Spring Waters", respectively. In "Уж ты, нива моя - O You, My Grain Field", the chant-like weaving and flow of the melody describes an endless grain field, as if in humble marvel of God’s creation. Finally, the poet’s deepest passion is translated into deceptive harmonic ambiguities in “В молчаньи ночи тайной - In the Silence of the Mysterious Night" and "Ночь печальна - Night is Sorrowful''. From innermost sensitivity to overwhelming rapture, the full range of Rachmaninoff’s artistry is displayed in his songs for voice and piano. -John Arlievsky

The story of Dichterliebe ( “a poet's love”) follows a naïve dreamer's path from the blossoming of a love, through devastation at its loss, which comes despite spring's blissful promise. Growing out of resentment and into forgiveness, our hero is ultimately consoled and renewed by summer's full bloom - which is Spring's very death and completion.

Robert Schumann's musical setting enriches this narrative and grounds its metaphors by wrapping the audience in the realism of emotional experience. Schumann's celebrated retelling of Heine's poetry is, in our interpretation, presented as one of healing and growth. -John Arlievsky

A Solo Performance by John Arlievsky