This second edition features a different cast of characters, with Katz’s inimitable knowledge of the vast song repertoire guiding the evening. Soprano Nicole Cabell, a “faultlessly gleaming soprano” (Financial Times) who also won the 2005 BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff is joined by U-M alumnus and tenor Nicholas Phan, who has “one of the most beautiful young lyric voices around.” (Opera News) Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, a rising star at the Metropolitan, San Francisco, and Santa Fe Opera companies, and John Relyea, a Canadian bass with many local ties and a distinguished international career, round out the quartet of singers.

The program includes music written by Bernstein, Gershwin, Gordon, Sondheim, Schubert, Duparc, Ravel, Britten, Rossini, Bizet, Ginastera, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, Bowles, Warlock, and Dvořák, among others. All foreign language songs will be performed with supertitled translations..