Brenda Rae presents one of Schubert's highest songs

THE SONGBIRD: Brenda Rae was born and raised in Wisconsin. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2005, and with a Masters degree from Juilliard in 2008. Rae joined the ensemble of Oper Frankfurt, where she was a core company member until 2017 with roles including Aithra, Amina, Vivaldi's Angelica, Anne Trulove, Cleopatra, Elvira in "Puritani," Fiordiligi, Gilda, Konstanze, Lucia, Maria Stuarda, Musetta, Olympia, Pamina, Servillia, Violetta, Zdenka, and Zerbinetta. She made her U.S. professional operatic stage debut at Santa Fe Opera as Violetta and has returned there as Norina, Mme. Herz, Cunegonde, and Lucia. Other notable engagements among many include Handel's Armida at Glyndebourne (2011), Zerbinetta in Bordeaux (2011), Konstanze in Munich (2012), Lucia in Vienna (2012), Amenaide in Philadelphia (2017), Donna Anna in Madrid (2020), Queen of the Night in Salzburg (2020), and her debut at The Met in 2020 as Poppea in Handel's "Agrippina."
This selection was part of a radio preview of Rae's Wigmore Hall recital in April 2023. Jonathan Ware is at the piano.
THE MUSIC: Franz Schubert wrote "2 Szenen aus dem Schauspiel 'Lacrimas', D.857 in 1825, three years before his death at the age of 31. The two songs are "Florio" and "Delphine," the later of which is much better known. Though it starts with a modest vocal line over a light-textured rippling accompaniment, it gradually becomes almost operatic in nature with dramatic vocal leaps including one to a held High C (it's quite rare to find notes that high in Schubert's lieder).