A much anticipated reschedule from January, Source Song Festival co-hosts the 8th Annual SongSLAM with Sparks and Wiry Cries, at Icehouse. Doors open at 5PM and show starts at 6PM. Come vote for your favorite song where we’ll give away $1500 in cash prizes to composer and performer teams! Tickets on sale soon through Icehouse!
Considered the expert in Lieder study, scholarship, and tradition, Susan Youens will join us in a discussion about the songs of Hugo Wolf. Free and open to the public, Meisel Room!
OpenSource will return on Monday, August 3, 2026, with a focus on two cycles: Sifting Through the Ruins by Libby Larsen to honor the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Source alumna Martha Helen Schmidt’s Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death, on the poetry of the late Minnesotan, Bill Holm. Throughout the evening we’ll hear songs in Swedish and English on the poetry of Tomas Tranströmer, US premieres by Fredrik Jakobsson and the late Håkan Parkman. Performers will be Alan Dunbar, Casey Rafn, Clara Osowski, and violist Daniel Orsen.
MNScholar Lecture: What Can String, Woodwind, and Brass Instruments Teach Singers About the Voice?
Singers in undergraduate music programs are generally trained to sing with piano. This makes sense: solo vocal literature is normally written for voice and piano. The piano is a very helpful instrument for singers because it is one of the few instruments that can offer full harmonic context for a piece of music. It also has a large range and various articulation possibilities, which can lead to a wide variety of sounds. However, like any instrument, it has its limitations. If vocalists perform only with the sound of the piano, singers may be consciously or unconsciously restricting their own possible tonal outcomes by what they hear (or, by what they do not hear). To teach singers to learn about their own voice and the art of collaboration, it would be wise to create spaces in collegiate music programs for singers to collaborate with instruments other than piano. What might singers learn about their own voices when they begin to sing with string, woodwind, or brass instruments?
The presentation will begin with a discussion on the limitations of singing with piano,followed by three sections: singing with strings, singing with woodwinds, and singing with brass. Each section covers both the various types of onsets and the general timbral properties of the discussed instrument, and how they compare with the tendencies of the singing voice. It concludes with possible models regarding how undergraduate music programs may create structures to allow for singers and instrumentalists to collaborate in meaningful ways.
This presentation offers new and innovative tools for singers and voice teachers to explore the voice in a new light: by discovering how the voice is similar and different to string, woodwind, and brass instruments, singers can unlock even more expressive potential from and through their vocal instrument. It also offers exciting ideas for those who work in undergraduate music schools to foster a sense of community and collaboration between their vocal and instrumental programs, encouraging students to become autonomous artists and confident twenty-first century musicians.
Arlene Shrut works with the eight MNDuo programs on the Hugo Wolf Italienisches Liederbuch. Free and open to the public, Chapel of Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Tenor Dan Dressen discusses Nordic song repertoire, the resources, and the history of the literature. Free and open to the public, Meisel Room.
Margo Garrett coaches the eight MNDuos in the repertoire of French mélodie. Margo is our legacy link to the teachings of Pierre Bernac, and we are thrilled to feature her at Source Song Festival in the beautiful Westminster Hall.
Kathleen Roland-Silverstein leads a panel of experts on Nordic Song. This masterclass will feature the eight MNDuos singing exclusively Swedish song repertoire. Free and open to the public, Sanctuary.
Sponsored by the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota, Soprano Alisa Jordheim and pianist Eric McEnaney present an entire Nordic program featuring the composers Grieg, Alfvén, Sibelius, Larsson, Schnelzer, Nielsen, Alnæs, and Backer Grøndahl.
Alisa Jordheim leads a panel of experts on Nordic Song. This masterclass will feature the eight MNDuos singing exclusively Norwegian song repertoire. Free and open to the public, Sanctuary.
MNSong Participants Kristen Baum, Victor Cui, and Ben Morris premiere three new song cycles , featuring Shari Feldman, soprano, Casey Rafn, piano, Clara Osowski, mezzo-soprano, and guests Piffaro: The Renaissance Band.
Javier Arrebola leads a panel of experts on Nordic Song. This masterclass will feature the eight MNDuos singing exclusively Finnish song repertoire. Free and open to the public, Sanctuary.
The final concert of the festival is the culmination of MNDuo’s efforts, lead by Arlene Shrut on the complete performance (all 48 songs) of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch. Performers include the eight MNDuo teams, Shari Feldman, Juan Carlos Mendoza, Stephen Swanson, and Clara Osowski.
