Francis Poulenc: Priez Pour Paix

Written by Michael Barrett

Associate Artistic Director, NYFOS

In category: Song of the Day

Published October 21, 2019

Just a month ago at the Moab Music Festival we opened the season with a program about war. The original inspiration came from John Brancy and Peter Dugan who toured extensively with a beautiful program celebrating the centenary of the end of WW 1 (the armistice). I borrowed a few of their ideas and included composers they didn’t. Mahler, Blitzstein, Shostakovitch, Bernstein. But the subject matter seems timely, and the sensible idea of the obsolescence of war just hasn’t come into maturity. So the discussion needs to continue. World Peace seems to have become a punchline for things that are unachievable. I’m not so sure.  Let’s start the week with some hope and beauty. Here are Mssrs. Brancy (voice) and Dugan (piano) in Francis Poulenc’s “Priez Pour Paix”. John Brancy will have a leading role in our next NYFOS concert at Merkin Hall on Nov. 19. Music by Marc Blitzstein and Kurt Weill

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Michael Barrett is the co-founder and associate artistic director of New York Festival of Song, as well as the co-founder and music director of the Moab Music Festival in Utah. A conductor and a pianist, Michael was a protégé of Leonard Bernstein and serves as music advisor to the Leonard Bernstein Estate.

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