Festival Orchestra Concerts

Please note: Ms. Susan Graham has had to cancel her appearance this weekend due to unexpected illness. Our sincere thanks to Ms. Michelle DeYoung, who will sing the Berlioz.

For a star-filled Wyoming night, an alluring program of all French music! Debussy’s masterful evocation of the sea will make the concert hall feel as if waves were crashing on the valley outside. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, idolized for her performances in opera houses the world over, joins the Festival Orchestra in Berlioz’s gorgeous song cycle, Les nuits d’été, “Summer Nights.” Ravel’s rapturous La valse, a Frenchman’s take on seductive three-quarter time, caps the evening.

Susan Graham performing in Berlioz’s Les Troyens 

Of Susan's interpretation of Les nuits, the Chicago Tribune wrote:

"The alluring American mezzo-soprano and Berlioz's music are a match made in vocal heaven, and her performance of that composer's song cycle, Les nuits d'été, could only be called exquisite. The six songs demand the qualities that Graham has in abundance - a beautiful voice that can be lightened and darkened with ease and is secure throughout a wide range; a natural command of French vocal style, diction, and nuance; and the ability to project an emotional range from rapturous delight to bitter bereavement."