Jack DesBois, bass, and Mal Chase, piano, present a delightful program of songs from Shakespeare’s plays. The Bard of Avon knew the dramatic power of music and wielded it skillfully throughout his works. However, virtually no scores or indications of his songs’ settings survive, leaving posterity to guess at the tunes he intended for his words — or to write new tunes altogether. Actor, singer and Shakespeare enthusiast Jack DesBois will offer some of his favorite songs from the plays in their conjectured original settings alongside re-workings of the same texts by the masters of 19th and 20th century art song.
Come this Saturday, Sept. 30, and listen to a delightful hour of Shakespearean art songs by Schubert, Quilter, Finzi, Stanford, Coleridge-Taylor, and the anonymous balladeers of Elizabethan England. The concert will be held in the grand salon of Chateau, at Middlebury College, from 3-4 p.m. Free and open to the public.