News Archives - 2008

Augsburg music faculty perform at Guthrie Theater

Augsburg adjunct faculty Bradley Greenwald, baritone and Sonja Thompson, piano will perform Schumann's "Dichterliebe" (Poet's Love), the song cycle at the heart of Theater Latte Da's "Old Wicked Songs." Greenwald and Thompson will perform at the Guthrie Theater on Sept. 21, Sept. 28, and Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. in the Dowling Studio.

Bradley Greenwald performs opera, theater, music-theater, concert and recital repertoire with several Twin Cities' arts organizations, including Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Guthrie Theater, Children's Theatre Company, Jungle Theater, Nautilus Music-Theater, Minnesota Dance Theatre, VocalEssence, Minnesota Orchestra, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, 10,000 Things, Skylark Opera, and Ballet of the Dolls. Thompson is the recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship in music, the McKnight Fellowship for Theater Artists, and a 2006 Ivey Award.

Sonja Thompson is active as a performer, educator and coach. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she has appeared locally and nationally in a wide variety of performance settings. Thompson resides in Minneapolis where she a freelance performer, and 2008-09 marks her fifteenth year at Augsburg College where she is assistant professor of music. She also keeps busy as assistant music director to Philip Brunelle at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. Thompson received a BM in composition from the University of Minnesota, and a MM in accompanying from The Juilliard School.

Nominated for the 1996 Pulitzer Prize in drama, "Old Wicked Songs" tells the story of a prodigious young pianist suffering an artistic block and the aging musician who helps re-ignite his inspiration. A third "character" in the play is the music of Robert Schumann, whose song cycle the "Dichterliebe" echoes throughout the work -- its structure and themes mirrored in the events on stage.