The Linfield College Music Department will present a faculty lecture and recital featuring baritone Anton Belov and pianist Susan McDaniel.
The lecture and performance, “Pushkin in Exile – A retrospective on the life of a great poet,” will be held Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. in the Richard and Lucille Ice Auditorium in Melrose Hall at Linfield.
This multimedia lecture and recital features the poetry of Alexander Pushkin, revered Russian poet from the early nineteenth century. Pushkin’s poetry inspired hundreds of songs and operas by composers ranging from his own contemporaries to Benjamin Britten. Pushkin’s biography is a colorful one — numerous amorous adventures, dangerous revolutionary activities and an exile to the outskirts of the vast empire. The performance traces Pushkin’s remarkable life, reflected in the art songs of Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Medtner and others.
Belov, a Juilliard-trained baritone and assistant professor of music at Linfield, has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall, Portland Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Detroit Symphony and elsewhere, and has been praised by the New York Times for stealing the show with his “rich, mellifluous voice” and “soulful pathos.” The pathos comes in part from his upbringing. Belov was born in Moscow, Russia, the only child of a poet father who set the stage for Belov’s opera career by infusing him with a love of literature and music.
Belov has appeared with opera companies throughout the United States and has earned critical acclaim for his portrayals of characters as diverse as Count di Luna, Don Giovanni, Escamillo, Count Almaviva, Doctor Malatesta and Eugene Onegin. The first-place winner of eight vocal competitions, he holds a bachelor of music degree from the New England Conservatory, an Artist Diploma and master of music degree from the Juilliard School, and a doctorate of music degree from Boston University.
McDaniel, a soloist, chamber musician and adjunct professor of music at Linfield, has performed around the world in locations such as France, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. She received a bachelor’s degree in music from Linfield College in 1997. McDaniel has been a member of the music staff at Seattle Opera and Utah Festival Opera as well as music director and pianist for the San Diego Opera Ensemble, Off-Center Opera in Seattle and Puget Sound Concert Opera.
Admission is free and the event is open to the public. For more information, call the Linfield Music Department at 503-883-2275.
