The New Elysians

The New Elysians

Abigail Fischer, Soprano / Susan Ellinger, Piano

Into the Light: Brahms Dedications and Wagner Meditations

"Music is the most romantic of all the arts — for its soul subject is the infinite." -E.T.A. Hoffman

Immerse yourself in the inexpressible longing of purist Johannes Brahms and the yearning towards the infinite in decadent Richard Wagner. Join the New Elysians on a journey into the heart of high romanticism.

PROGRAM

•Johannes Brahms' Op. 118 Klavierstücke woven with Lieder by Brahms and Berg
•Richard Wagner's Wesendonck song cycle in an immersive multimedia production by Belhaven

“SUSAN ELLINGER is one of America’s musical treasures."

Having learned to read music and the alphabet at about the same time, playing classical music was as natural for her as reading a book, riding a bike or swimming in a creek. As a native growing up in Vermont, she balanced her time outside the house playing in the woods and inside the house practicing her Steinway piano.

Praised for her “refined, poised and singular” vision, pianist Susan Ellinger has performed extensively as both a soloist and chamber musician, presenting recitals at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, Caramoor Music Center, Harvard University, Oberlin Conservatory, Tanglewood Music Festival, the Taos School of Music and many more. She has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Peabody Conservatory Orchestra, in regular concerts with The Chelsea Chamber Players in New York City, and as a featured soloist in a series of concerts with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra with conductor Marin Alsop. Susan Ellinger has won top prizes both as a soloist and chamber musician at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Manhattan School of Music and  at age 13 was awarded the National Baldwin Junior Keyboard Achievement Award presenting solo recitals in Washington DC for the Music Teachers Association of America.

Susan currently resides in the small mountain town of Paonia, CO where she curates a concert series, collaborates as a soloist and chamber musician and provides outreach music training in local public schools.

Known for her “serenely captivating” operatic presence “and disarming intimacy,” (NY Times), the versatile soprano ABIGAIL FISCHER has made a vibrant career starring in contemporary operas such as Missy Mazzoli's Song from the Uproar and Du Yun's 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning Angel's Bone, as well as in more classic operas such as the title roles in Carmen and Cenerentola, with companies such as Los Angeles Opera, Chautauqua Opera and Cincinnati Opera.

As a soloist with orchestra, Ms. Fischer has performed with ensembles such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Rhode Island Symphony and Virginia Symphony. As an early music performer, she has worked with the American Bach Soloists, Rebel Baroque, Early Music New York, Boston Baroque and Mercury Houston. In 2017 Ms. Fischer made her Italian stage debut in Bolzano, Italy in Toshio Hosakawa's The Raven, a setting of the Edgar Allan Poe text. She has sung the title role in Britten's Rape of Lucretia with Opera Memphis, Testo in Monteverdi's Il Combattimento with Gotham Chamber Opera, and premiered Lee Hoiby's This is the Rill Speaking with American Opera Projects.

Originally trained as a cellist, Ms. Fischer has worked often as a vocal chamber musician, from the Marlboro Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest, to St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. She has premiered Elliott Carter's Mad Regales and Bernard Rands' Walcott Songs at the Tanglewood Music Festival, numerous John Zorn chamber works all over the world including the Lincoln Center Festival, and Nico Muhly's Elements of Style, also at Lincoln Center. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (MM), Vassar College (BA) and Lorenzo di Medici in Florence, Italy (Certificate in Italian language and literature).