by Audrey Ladele
On March 6th at 7:30 pm, live-streamed on YouTube, the UNC Department of Music will present the Winterreise Concert, featuring faculty member Marc Callahan, and guest artists Keiko Sekino (piano) and Andrew Myers (art). Since Callahan’s first Winterreise concert with Andrew Myers and Oregon State University, the project has grown immensely, traveled to Japan and England, and had five different collaborating artists and pianists. Callahan met pianist Sekino after she saw one of these Winterreise performances and both knew they wanted to collaborate in the future.
Unlike traditional performances of the Winterreise song cycle, this concert is no ordinary performance; guest artist Andrew Myers will be illustrating the songs of Winterreise in real-time while Callahan and Sekino perform. Professor Callahan created the first Winterreise concert with Myers, inspired by the PBS show Gather ‘Round, which he enjoyed as a child, that would illustrate children’s stories as they were being read. He also strives to make classical music more accessible to wider audiences, having had difficulty getting into this genre initially when he himself was a student.
“I love creating unique performance spaces and always search for ways to engage more directly with the audience. The world of classical music can seem rather cloistered, and I want to open a door for those on the outside.” He noted, “I strive to engage with new audiences through visual reward, contemporary trends in art and design, and interactive theater.”
Additionally, Callahan acknowledged the importance of engagement, especially currently when there’s an unprecedented disconnection between people, caused by the pandemic. He made assurances that not knowing German, the language of the song cycle, shouldn’t hinder the understanding or enjoyment of any audience member, especially with the unique format of the concert.
“At this moment, we are all experiencing a world without human interaction. Something is lost.” Callahan said. “In bringing artists onto the project, I hope that we can remember what our collaborative engagement felt like and share that sense of togetherness and shared creativity with the audience.”
Winterreise begins with a narrator in love with someone of a higher social status. The narrator talks with the person and their family about marriage and the future, but they end up leaving them for someone of higher social and economic standing. This all occurs in the first song, and the remaining twenty-three songs follow the narrator as they leave society and go out into the wilderness alone and get lost in a labyrinth of psychological and natural existence. Ultimately, the narrator runs into a hurdy-gurdy player and asks the musician to accompany his songs. “I have always imagined and interpreted the hurdy-gurdy player as the poet himself. Much like the illusion of the three suns is actually one, the poet and musician are the same person.”
Callahan currently finds himself interpreting the Winterreise more distinctly than years past, as he’s been able to experience a taste of the isolation of the narrator first hand. “After a year of experiencing social isolation, I think that this song cycle will hold an entirely new meaning. One that is much more profound—a lived experience.”
“It has been about a year and a half since my last performance of this cycle, and I know that the pandemic has changed my interpretation since then. It has a quieter, still, and more focused emotional landscape. It’s older and deeper in my body. I’m so curious to see how Keiko and Andrew’s interpretations have shifted when we reunite for the first time on Saturday!”
Professor Callahan and guest artists Keiko Sekino and Andrew Meyers have a lot in store for Winterreise and the exploration of isolation; something all of us can relate to today.