ISU, BSU collaborate to present vocal recitals in Pocatello, Boise

Baritone Lynn Berg of Boise State University will join mezzo-soprano Kathleen Lane of the Idaho State University music department in a recital of songs by Elgar, Brahms, Schubert and Quilter on Thursday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the Joseph C. and Cheryl H. Jensen Grand Concert Hall in the L.E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center.

General admission is $6 for the public, $3 for ISU faculty and staff and free to ISU students showing a current Bengal card.

Berg will present a group of German art songs by Franz Schubert, as well as selections by 20th-century English composer Roger Quilter. Lane will present Sir Edward Elgar’s song-cycle “Sea-Pictures, Op. 37.”  The singers will conclude their program with “Four Duets, Op. 28” by Johannes Brahms. Both artists will be accompanied by well-known pianist Mark Neiwirth of the ISU piano faculty.

Berg and Lane will repeat their program at BSU at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, in the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts. This represents the first collaboration between the BSU and ISU vocal/choral programs since at least the early 1990s, Lane stated recently.

“Lynn and I sang Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in Idaho Falls and Sun Valley last year, and we started to wonder why we hadn’t gotten together earlier,” she explained. “Idaho is so full of wide-open spaces that it’s easy to drift apart.”

Guest artist Berg has been a member of the BSU faculty since 1984. He formerly taught at the State University College in Fredonia, N.Y., and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Berg has performed with Boise Opera, the Boise Philharmonic and the Master Chorale.

Lane joined the ISU voice faculty in 1993, after teaching voice for five years at the Yale University School of Drama. Since arriving in Idaho, she has promoted the great song-cycles, including works by Argento, Berlioz, Copland, Mahler, Schumann and Wagner. Along with a busy regional performance schedule, Lane serves as general director of Opera ISU. She founded and directs the ISU Women’s Choir.

One of Idaho’s most sought-after performers, Neiwirth has served as an ISU adjunct professor of piano since 2005. Recently, Neiwirth was named a Steinway Distinguished Artist. Neiwirth founded and is president of Musicians West.

For more information, contact Kathleen Lane at (208) 282-2423, or lanekath@isu.edu.