Sheridan College presents Dr. Robert Psurny Voice Recital

The Arts at Sheridan College has announced they will present Director of Choirs and Vocal Studies at Sheridan College, Dr. Robert Psurny, at a recital, 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024.

The concert will feature four complete song cycles spanning nearly 100 years of musical history beginning with Gabriel Fauré’s “Poeme d’un Jour” (or Poem of a Day), written on texts by Charles Grandmougin. According to the college, the short cycle of three songs expresses the poet’s hope at the prospect of meeting a new love, disappointment when the relationship does not work, and finally acceptance of the situation.  

The second work is Robert Schumann’s “Liederkreis, Op. 39,” written in 1840 just months before Schumann’s wedding, which he was clearly looking forward to, as the song cycle includes musical ciphers of his fiancé’s name multiple times. Next on the concert program is “Tel Jour Telle Nuit,” a song cycle by Francis Poulenc, written on surrealist texts by French poet Paul Éluard. 

Poulenc composed these songs in 1937, and the settings portray both the love and the brutality Éluard experienced during the years of World War I. The recital will end with “Five Songs” by Gian Carlo Menotti. Written in 1983, when Menotti was in his seventies, the texts deal mostly with love and mortality, featuring close interplay of voice and piano.

Pianist Bobby Pace will be collaborating on this Faculty Recital. Pace is a former music faculty member at Chadron State College and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Colorado Boulder.

This event is free and open to the public and will be live streamed. View that live stream by clicking here.