Songs Of Orpheus Kelley O'Connor & Robert Spano

• Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918): Chansons De Bilitis:
• 1 Debussy: Chansons De Bilitis: I. La flûte de Pan 02:57
• 2 Debussy: Chansons De Bilitis: II. La chevelure 04:02
• 3 Debussy: Chansons De Bilitis: III. Les tombeau des Naïades 03:24
• Robert Spano (b. 1972): Sonnets to Orpheus:
• 4 Spano: Sonnets to Orpheus: I. Da stieg ein Baum 05:38
• 5 Spano: Sonnets to Orpheus: II. Ein Gott vermags 03:45
• 6 Spano: Sonnets to Orpheus: III. Atmen, du unsichtbares Gedicht 06:22
• 7 Spano: Sonnets to Orpheus: IV. Heil dem Geist, der uns verbinden mag 04:35
• 8 Spano: Sonnets to Orpheus: V. Stiller Freund der vielen Fernen 05:54
• George Crumb (1929 - 2022): Three Early Songs:
• 9 Crumb: Three Early Songs: I. Night 03:02
• 10 Crumb: Three Early Songs: II. Let It Be Forgotten 03:24
• 11 Crumb: Three Early Songs: III. Wind Elegy 02:29
• Edward Grieg (1843 - 1907): Haugtussa, op. 67:
• 12 Grieg: Haugtussa, op. 67: I. Det syng 03:43
• 13 Grieg: Haugtussa, op. 67: II. Veslemøy 02:57
• 14 Grieg: Haugtussa, op. 67: III. Bläbær-Li 03:45
• 15 Grieg: Haugtussa, op. 67: IV. Møte 04:43
• 16 Grieg: Haugtussa, op. 67: V. Elsk 02:56
• 17 Grieg: Haugtussa, op. 67: VI. Killingdans 01:55
• 18 Grieg: Haugtussa, op. 67: VII. Vond Dag 02:51
• 19 Grieg: Haugtussa, op. 67: VIII. Bed Gjætle-Bekken 07:12
• Total Runtime 01:15:34

Info for Songs Of Orpheus

At once sensual and existential, this collection of songs—composed across 125 years—meditates on nature and nostalgia, sex and love, the ephemerality of the human spirit, and the eternal, transformative power of art. These song cycles of Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy, George Crumb, and Robert Spano coalesce into a testament to the limitless potency and fragility of love—both its resplendent joys and its tender sorrows. Despite love’s transience and riskiness, the album compels us to ruminate on Rilke’s witticism that “for one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks…’’

Each of the cycles presents us with existential questions of life and death, love and loss, but the album is structured in couplets. Debussy and Spano draw upon Ancient Greece, Grieg and Crumb draw upon enchantments of nature, the temporality of love, life, and memory. Claude Debussy’s ethereal Chansons de Bilitis (1899) evokes a lusty, Grecian fever dream where the tumescence of love and desire comes to the fore. Robert Spano’s Sonnets to Orpheus (2020) lends voice to Rilke’s enigmatic eponymous poetry. Spano’s setting of the songs—the intimate conversation between piano and soprano—“draws one voice out of two separate strings.” Meanwhile, George Crumb’s Three Early Songs (1947) emerge as whispered secrets, darkly-hued odes to impermanent nature—night, a flower, and wind. The songs lead us to ponder the difference between the actual and the seeming.

Kelley O'Connor, soprano
Robert Spano, piano

Kelley O'Connor
The Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling vocal artists of her generation. She is known for a commanding intensity on stage, a velvet vocal tone, and the ability to create sheer magic in her interpretations. O’Connor performs and inhabits a broad selection of repertoire, from Beethoven, Mahler and Brahms to Dessner, Corigliano and Adams; she is sought after by many of today’s most accomplished composers. She performs with leading orchestras and conductors around the world, with preeminent artists in recitals and chamber music, and with highly acclaimed opera companies in the U.S. and abroad.

In the 2024–2025 season, Kelley O’Connor premieres an extended version of Thomas Adès’s America (A Prophecy), first in her debut with the Gewandhaus Orchester under Andris Nelsons, and later with The Cleveland Orchestra and The Hallé, both conducted by the composer. Other highlights of the season include Verdi’s Requiem with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and appearances with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under Stéphane Denève and the New Jersey Symphony, under Xian Zhang. O’Connor makes her debut with the Seattle Opera, as Anna in a concert version of Berlioz’s Les Troyens. Shealso gives a recital at Chamber Music Detroit with Robert Spano, which will be recorded for future release; the program features Spano’s Sonnets to Orpheus alongside works by Debussy, Crumb, and Grieg.

Recently, O’Connor has performed Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and his Third Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony; John Adams’s El Niño with the Houston Symphony; and a gala performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.

Sought after by many of the most heralded composers of the modern day, Kelley O’Connor has recently premiered works by John Corigliano, Kareem Roustom, Joby Talbot, and Bryce Dessner. John Adams wrote the title role of The Gospel According to the Other Mary for O’Connor and she has performed the work, both in concert and in the Peter Sellars fully staged production, under the batons of John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson. She continues to be the eminent living interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, having performed this moving set of songs with orchestras around the world. She also created the role of Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, for which she has received unanimous critical acclaim.

Operatic highlights include the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia presented by Boston Lyric Opera in a new production by Broadway theater director Sarna Lapine, Carmen with Los Angeles Opera, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madama Butterfly in a new production by Lillian Groag at the Boston Lyric Opera and at the Cincinnati Opera, Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at Opera Boston, Falstaff with the Santa Fe Opera, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Canadian Opera Company.

For her debut with the Atlanta Symphony in Ainadamar, Kelley O’Connor joined Robert Spano for performances and a Grammy® Award-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording. Her recording catalogue also includes Mahler’s Third Symphony with Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs and Michael Kurth’s Everything Lasts Forever with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Robert Spano
conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher, is known worldwide for the intensity of his artistry and distinctive communicative abilities, creating a sense of inclusion and warmth among musicians and audiences that is unique among American orchestras. Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) since August 2022 Spano will continue there through July 2031, shaping the artistic direction of the orchestra and driving its continued growth. This season, Spano also steps into the role of Music Director of the Washington National Opera (WNO) for a three-year term. An avid mentor to rising artists, he is responsible for nurturing the careers of numerous celebrated composers, conductors, and performers. As Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2011, he oversees the programming of more than 300 events and educational programs for 630 students and young performers; he also directs the Aspen Conducting Academy, which offers participants unparalleled training and valuable podium experience. After twenty seasons as Music Director with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO), he now serves as its Music Director Laureate. He also becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School this season, where he previously served as Principal Conductor.

In his fourth season as music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Spano leads more than six symphonic programs, including a world premiere by Michael Gandolfi. Spano leads two productions at Washington National Opera in 2025-20226: the company’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and a new production of Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award®–winning opera The Crucible. Other highlights of the season include a return to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for two programs celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s independence and guest conducting appearances with the Louisville Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Spano’s newest recording as a pianist and composer is a collaboration with mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, “Songs of Orpheus,” a series of song cycles by Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy, George Crumb, and Spano himself, on Sono Luminus (August 22, 2025).

Robert Spano made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2019, leading the US premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie. Recent concert highlights include several world-premiere performances, including The Sacrifice of Isaac by Jonathan Leshnoff with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Steven Mackey’s Aluminum Flowers and James Ra’s Te Deum with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra; Jake Heggie’s Earth 2.0 with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; a new production of Fidelio with the Washington National Opera; Of Earth and Sky: Tales From the Motherland by Brian Raphael Nabors with the FWSO and Rhode Island Philharmonic; and Voy a Dormir by Bryce Dessner at Carnegie Hall, with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor.

With a discography of critically acclaimed recordings for Telarc, Deutsche Grammophon, and ASO Media, Robert Spano has garnered four Grammy™ Awards and eight nominations with the Atlanta Symphony. Spano is on faculty at Oberlin Conservatory and has received honorary doctorates from Bowling Green State University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, and Oberlin. Maestro Spano is a recipient of the Georgia Governor's Award for the Arts and Humanities and is one of two classical musicians inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

“Mr. Spano drew a glowing, spacious performance of this Brahms masterwork from the orchestra, marking a great return visit for both him and this essential ensemble.” – The New York Times

“The festival's music director, Robert Spano, caught both the broadest and finest strokes of tempo, dynamics and critical orchestral balances. He drew the best playing in the quiet, subtle moments of the score and long buildups to big climaxes.” – Aspen Times

“The sonics of the CD are excellent, and the presence of both Rivera and Spano well-suited. It is a fine presentation of both Rivera’s voice and Spano’s collaborative capabilities at the piano, as well as his insight into his skills as a composer.” – ArtsATL

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