Leading mezzo-soprano performs January 16 at Center for the Arts
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ? Internationally regarded mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink will perform at the Middlebury College Kevin P. Mahaney ‘84 Center for the Arts Concert Hall on Friday, Jan. 16, at 8 p.m. Pianist Anthony Spiri will accompany Fink, and their program will include several selections from Schubert and Dvorák.
Fink was born in Argentina to Slovenian parents, and studied at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She won first prize at the Nuevas Voces Líricas competition in 1985 and moved to Europe.
She has performed with leading orchestras including the Philharmonics of Vienna and London, Orchestre National de France, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, English Baroque Players and Musica Antiqua Köln. She has appeared in the opera houses of Geneva, Prague, Montpellier, Salzburg, Barcelona, Innsbruck, Buenos Aires and Amsterdam, and has sung at the Salzburg, Vienna, Prague, Tokyo, Montreux and BBC festivals, as well as the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Vienna Konzerthaus.
Of her recording of Berlioz’s cycle “Nuits d’été,” noted reviewer David Hurwitz wrote, “She perfectly captures the subdued passion, demonstrating exactly how a touch of restraint at the climaxes creates greater emotion through the power of suggestion.”
She currently lives in the southern Austrian province of Carinthia and is married to the Austrian Ambassador to Slovenia, Valentin Inzko.
Anthony Spiri is one of the most highly esteemed and versatile pianists of the present day. Born in the United States, he received his musical training in Cleveland and Boston before furthering his artistic development in Europe and graduating from the Mozarteum in Salzburg with special mention.
He has performed as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Michael Tilson-Thomas; the Camerata Academica of Salzburg under Sandor Végh; the Basel Chamber Orchestra under Christopher Hogwood; the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg; and numerous other orchestras.
He has a vast repertoire, from Early Baroque to works of the 21st century, and has accompanied such renowned singers as Marjana Lipovsek, Peter Schreier and Edith Mathis, as well as Fink. Among his chamber music partners are many of today’s most prominent instrumentalists and strings quartets.
He is actively involved with contemporary music and has premiered works by Rihm, Gubaidulina, Krenek, Rainer Bischof and Nikolai Kapustin. His interest in lesser known composers has led him to rediscover the works of Brahms’ teacher Eduard Marxsen and many French composers contemporary with Gabriel Fauré. He has dedicated himself particularly to the works of Bach’s sons Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian and is one of today’s chief exponents of their works on the modern piano.
The performance is sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. The Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall is located on South Main Street (Route 30). Reserved seating tickets are $20 for general admission and $15 for seniors. For tickets, contact the Middlebury College Box Office at 802-443-6433 or www.middlebury.edu/arts.