The sound of music:15th annual Vocal Artistry Art Song Festival comes to Keller Hall

The voices of the 15th annual Vocal Artistry Art Song Festival will fill Keller Hall with the music of Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms and more on Friday, Nov. 1, through Sunday, Nov. 3. Opening night features lyric baritone Jonathan Retzlaff of the Eastman School of Music accompanied by pianist Jennifer McGuire from Vanderbilt University. Student performances will fill the air on Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2, with musicians from around the state. Participation has grown from 85 last year to 107 this year, said Jacqueline Zander-Wall, founding artistic director.

The sound of music:15th annual Vocal Artistry Art Song Festival comes to Keller Hall on Nov. 1-3

This year is devoted to German lieder. “Every year we have a different language,” Zander-Wall said. “There’s a wealth of German lieder. Schubert wrote 600 songs. “The poetry is so important,” she continued. “Goethe is steeped in a lot of these songs.” Art songs combine poetry and melody, Zander-Wall said. “The singer is just the medium.” Each student is required to sing two songs. They come from state middle schools, high schools, New Mexico State University, University of New Mexico and Eastern New Mexico University, she added. Many of the high school students have been part of the Santa Fe Opera Young Voices program. On Saturday, Boston Conservatory mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal will perform the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach with pianist Nancy Granert. “He was the precursor to the Romantic lieder,” Zander-Wall said. Zander-Wall launched the festival in 2008 with about 50 participants. “We were at the Academy and now we’re back at the university,” she said, “So we’ve come full circle. They feel the wonder of it. “People are willing to support the singers, so we have over $12,500 in scholarship awards, which is more than we’ve ever had. We educate the kids, the adults and the people who come to listen to it.” Admission is free. Zander-Wall’s recital credits include the Stuttgart Hugo Wolf Gesellschaft, the Hamburg Mahler Verein, the Villa Lobos Ensemble, the Goethe Institute in Moscow and Boston, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She has performed chamber music at the New York Skaneateles Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival in Vermont and throughout Germany. A proponent of new music, Zander-Wall has sung with Lart pour l’art in Frankfurt, Chaosmas in Moscow and Boston and Hamburg’s improvisatory Scala Theater.