NEWS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    DATE: 12/05/05

CONTACT: LESLIE SCHALER, COMMUNICATIONS ASST., (413) 545-0162

UMass Amherst Librarian presents free concert

“Songs of Love and the Sea”

Amherst , MA . - Local tenor and UMass Amherst librarian Peter W. Shea , will be presenting a free concert of vocal chamber music entitled Songs of Love and the Sea on Tuesday, December 13 at 8:00 p.m. at the South Congregational Church at Fiddler's Green in Amherst . Shea will be joined by three distinguished pianists, Monica Jakuc, Gretchen Saathoff and Susan Dedell, as well as a string quartet from southern Vermont . A music cataloger at the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst, Shea presents this program as one of the culminations of his sabbatical project on musical settings of the German/Jewish poet, Heinrich Heine.

Songs will be performed for various combinations of voice, piano and strings, each based on one of the twelve poems in Heine's Die Nordsee, Erster Zyklus (The North Sea , First Cycle). The concert will include several world premiere performances of works by area composers, including Willis Bridegam, David Kidwell, Kaeza Fearn and Zeke Hecker. Several selections will be sung in English translation. Full texts and translations will be provided.

The concert will be followed by a reception in celebration of Heine's 208 th birthday, which occurs on the same day. The event is free and open to the public. Free-will donations will be accepted.

For more information, contact Brit Albritton at mailto: brit@camelopardalis.org.