Songs To Fill The Void

This collection of American art song honors two intensely personal yet universal aspects of the human experience: love and loss. The composers featured here each treat a different facet of life -- from earthly joy, to contemplation of the divine, to heady courtship, to the agony of bereavement -- but each provides testament that poetry and music, the fruits of the creative impulse, are death's very antithesis. The centerpiece of this recording, Scott Wheeler's Songs to Fill the Void, is the result of a collaboration between poet-vocalist Robert Barefield and the composer. Barefield's intimate poetry commemorates his beloved partner, Stephen Mazujian, who died in 2014, while they were vacationing in Cambodia. Baritone Robert Barefield has performed as soloist with organizations throughout the U.S. and in Europe. He has appeared with numerous opera companies and with orchestras as an oratorio soloist. An accomplished recitalist, his wide-ranging repertoire includes premiere performances of works by contemporary composers. He is on the faculty at The Hartt School. Pianist Carolyn Hague has been an active member of the musical community in Vienna, Austria for more than 30 years. She currently heads the Master's program in Lied und Oratorio at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien.