The premiere of Dark Spring will take place on April 21 Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 4:30 pm at the Salone of the Galleria Nazionale Palazzo Spinola di Pelliceria in the Centro Storico of Genoa, Italy. Fondazione Spinola will host the concert, which features British tenor Chris Elliott and Austrian pianist Bernadette Bartos. The cycle is comprised of four songs setting the Motets of Eugenio Montale, as translated by Dana Gioia.
The theme of the concert is “Il Golfo dei Poeti”/”The Gulf of Poets” — with songs by Strauss, Wolf, Mendelssohn, Quilter, Britten, Ireland, Sibelius, Respighi, Parry, Tosti, and Laitman. The concert examines the influence of Liguria upon poetry and composition and thus all the poets of the song texts all have links to this famous region of Liguria.