Sounds and Sweet Airs: Shakespeare and Music

William Shakespeare stands at the pinnacle of playwrights, not just for his own body of work but for the vast amount of artistic endeavors he has inspired in others. In music, in opera, in literature, in painting and sculpture, in motion pictures, in ballet and modern dance, and in the work of other playwrights—Shakespeare’s influence is heard through thousands of voices.
In music alone, the Shakespearean-inspired composers are too numerous to mention. Well, I suppose I could mention just a few: Verdi, Purcell, Mendelssohn, Korngold, Prokofiev, and… Carlson. That would be Knoxville composer James Carlson, who has organized Sounds & Sweet Airs: Shakespeare & Music, an evening of music, theater, and movement woven into a performance tapestry inspired by the Bard.
A dozen or so instrumentalists and singers will be joined by members of the Wild Thyme Players, Momentum Dance Lab, and Shake Rattle & Role Stage Combat in a blending of Shakespearean scenes with music including Felix Mendelssohn’s Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Erich Korngold’s Much Ado About Nothing Suite, and Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite. Carlson’s own Menacing Spirits: 2 Shakespearean Monologues for contralto and piano will feature University of Tennessee voice faculty member Lorraine de Simone. Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Macbeth will be represented by “Una macchia, e qui tutt’ora” performed by soprano Rebekkah Hilgraves and pianist Mary Hook.
Notable monologues are scattered throughout, including Brandon Daughtry Slocum in “O for a Muse of fire” from Henry V, “If music be the food of love” from Twelfth Night, performed by Ann Lloyd, and “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance” from Hamlet performed by Courtney Woolard.
And don’t miss works by songwriter Rufus Wainwright and Baroque composer Henry Purcell—two names that are not often seen in the same sentence. (Alan Sherrod)