Lyric Fest has been hailed in the press as “An irresistible mix of high art and humane feeling… As entertaining as a well-managed party” (Broad Street Review). Founded in 2003 with the goal of celebrating and revitalizing the art song tradition, it is the only performing arts organization in the Mid-Atlantic region with a primary focus on song in all its varied expressions. 

Lyric Fest has produced and presented over 100 distinctly crafted and curated concert programs. Each has featured multiple artists of national and international stature sharing song through theme and story, together with the spoken word. The organization has deemed commissioning new works as an integral part of its mission and programming philosophy. To date, Lyric Fest has commissioned an impressive body of more than 200 new American songs from many of the nation’s preeminent composers. 

Lyric Fest is run by two of its founders, artistic directors Suzanne DuPlantis and Laura Ward. Known for their excellence and innovation in creating rich, thematic, accessible concerts, Lyric Fest performs throughout the Philadelphia region, and has brought programs to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC; Moorestown NJ; Wilmington DE; New Orleans LA; Pittsburgh PA; Brooklyn and New York City NY; and San Jose CA. Learn more about Lyric Fest at lyricfest.org.

Albums

Any of Those Decembers

Release Date: December 13, 2024
Catalog Number: NV6684
21st Century
Holiday
Vocal Music
Flute
String Quartet
Blending vocal and orchestral elements across several movements, cantatas are notoriously difficult to compose. Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg has accepted the challenge with ANY OF THOSE DECEMBERS, setting poems by Jeanne Minahan to music. The result is intimate, aesthetic, and wistful — a tender embrace of lyrics and sound.  Scored for four solo singers with varying accompaniments, ANY OF THOSE DECEMBERS impresses on multiple fronts. But it isn't due to the excellent source material alone: the master performers in Lyric Fest bring both the lyrics and the composition to life. A wonderful collaboration, in which the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts, Wenzelberg’s work is “a cantata to make memories sing.”