Schedule of Events
That Time of Evening
Knoxville Summer of 1915 & Nuvoletta
Mezzo-soprano Lauren Cook, soprano Gretchen Crane, and pianist Aric Vyhmeister bring two of Samual Barber’s most important works to life at our first concert of the Festival. Experience the enchanting nostalgia of Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a timeless masterpiece that captures the essence of a bygone era, performed by Crane and Vyhmeister. Cook will perform the whimsical and imaginative Nuvoletta with Vyhmmeister. This performance, like all SCSF Festival Week Concerts, is free and open to the public. Concert will be followed immediately by an Ice Cream Social reception graciously hosted by and at The Roost, 203 N 15th, Ashland, NE.
Ice Cream Social at the Roost
Join us to celebrate the first concert of Festival Week by joining us after the performance at The Roost Bed & Breakfast for an ice cream social. Many thanks to our friends at The Roost for helping us kick off our Festival Week in style!
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform Copland’s Twelve Songs of Emily Dickinson on the night’s concert, When They Come Back.
Many thanks to our friends at The Beanery for sponsoring our pop-up concerts, and for graciously hosting all our coffee chats.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2024 Festival Program.
Open Dress Rehearsal: When They Come Back
Watch the artists prepare for the concert that evening in an open and informal setting.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
When They Come Back
Experience the captivating union of two American artistic giants, Aaron Copland and Emily Dickinson, as mezzo-soprano Lauren Cook brings to life their music and poetry. Delve into Emily Dickinson's poignant texts through Copland's musical settings. Journey through themes of nature, love, and the human experience in this intimate exploration of American song. This performance, like all SCSF Festival Week Concerts, is free and open to the public. Concert will be followed immediately by an Art Song After Hours reception hosted by and at Willow Point Gallery.
Art Song After Hours
After the When They Come Back concludes, head over to Willow Point Gallery for a drink and just a little more music. Genaro Méndez and Alejandro Avila perform will perform some beloved Lieder (German songs) by Franz Schubert, 4 Gesänge aus 'Wilhelm Meister'.
Many thanks to Willow Point Gallery for hosting our Art Song After Hours series, and to Glacial Till for providing beverages.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform Aaron Jay Kernis’s Brilliant Sky, Infinite Sky on the night’s concert of the same name.
Many thanks to our friends at The Beanery for sponsoring our pop-up concerts, and for graciously hosting all our coffee chats.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2024 Festival Program.
Open Dress Rehearsal: Brilliant Sky, Infinite Sky
Watch the artists prepare for the concert that evening in an open and informal setting.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Brilliant Sky, Infinite Sky
Get adventurous with this vocal chamber work by Aaron Jay Kernis, "Brilliant Sky, Infinite Sky," conducted by Clark Potter. This captivating song cycle for baritone (Jared Hiscock), piano (Eva Nikolaidou), violin (Jenna Ferdon), and percussion (Hannah Weaver) comes to life with lush melodies and evocative imagery, exploring the wonders of nature, love, and the human spirit.This performance, like all SCSF Festival Week Concerts, is free and open to the public.
A reception will be held at Postscript immediately following the concert.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform Gregory Spears’ Walden, on that evening’s concert, Life in the Woods.
Many thanks to our friends at The Beanery for sponsoring our pop-up concerts, and for graciously hosting all our coffee chats.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2024 Festival Program.
Open Dress Rehearsal: Life in the Woods
Watch the artists prepare for the concert that evening in an open and informal setting.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Life in the Woods
Based on the writings of Henry David Thoreau, Gregory Spears’s song-cycle,Walden, explores the experience living in solitude, reflecting on nature, society, and the human condition. Returning Salt Creek Song Festival Artist Brandon Bell will perform this song cycle with pianist Philip Daniel. Dance Lab Omaha, choreographed by Katrinka Stayton, will join this intimate performance. This performance, like all SCSF Festival Week Concerts, is free and open to the public. Concert will be followed immediately by an Art Song After Hours reception hosted by and at Willow Point Gallery.
Art Song After Hours
After Life in the Woods concludes, head over to Willow Point Gallery for a drink and just a little more music. Soprano Alyssa Nance and pianist Aric Vyhmeister will perform Samuel Barber’s Mélodies passagères.
Many thanks to Willow Point Gallery for hosting our Art Song After Hours series, and to Glacial Till for providing beverages.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform Cecilia Livingston’s Breath Alone on that evening’s concert of the same name.
Many thanks to our friends at The Beanery for sponsoring our pop-up concerts, and for graciously hosting all our coffee chats.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2024 Festival Program.
Open Dress Rehearsal: Breath Alone
Watch the artists prepare for the concert that evening in an open and informal setting.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Pop-Up Concert
Aleia González and Genaro Méndez perform exciting songs written for classical guitar and tenor featuring a Salt Creek Song Festival commission composed by returning artist Aric Vyhmeister!
Many thanks to The Beanery for sponsoring our Pop-up concerts.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2024 Festival Program.
Breath Alone
Returning Salt Creek Song Festival artists Alyssa Nance and Aric Vyhmeister will give the regional premiere of this new vocal work by Cecilia Livingston, who uses the text of poet and novelist Anne Michaels to tell important stories whose messages are timeless. This performance, like all SCSF Festival Week Concerts, is free and open to the public. A reception will be held immediately following the concert, sponsored and hosted by Chris and Alex Nellis-White.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform the world premier of Philip Daniel’s Song of Myself, on that evening’s concert of the same name.
Many thanks to our friends at The Beanery for sponsoring our pop-up concerts, and for graciously hosting all our coffee chats.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2024 Festival Program.
Open Dress Rehearsal: Song of Myself
Watch the artists prepare for the concert that evening in an open and informal setting.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Pop-Up Concert
Aleia González and Genaro Méndez perform exciting songs written for classical guitar and tenor featuring a Salt Creek Song Festival commission composed by returning artist Aric Vyhmeister!
Many thanks to The Beanery for sponsoring our Pop-up concerts.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2024 Festival Program.
Song of Myself
Salt Creek Song Festival is proud to close out the 2024 Festival Season with another commission making its world premiere, Song of Myself , by Philip Daniel, using text from the beloved Walt Whitman poem of the same name (excerpted by performers Jared Hiscock and Bill Shomos). Scored for three baritones (Brandon Bell, Jared Hiscock, and Bill Shomos) felted piano, grand piano, and electronic components (Philip Daniel), this concert is not one to be missed. This performance, like all SCSF Festival Week Concerts, is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow the concert, sponsored and hosted by Fariner Bakery.
In the Dark Times
St. Mary’s Catholic Church
1625 Adams St, Ashland, NE
“In the dark times, Will there also be singing?"
Our final concert of the 2023 season will be a world premier composed by Charlie Leftridge called In the Dark Times, which uses poetry of all Nebraska poets: Ted Koozer, Marjorie Saiser, Clarissa Bucklin, and Mary K. Stillwell.
This collection of songs, specially crafted soprano and string quartet seeks to answer Bertold Brecht's question: "In the dark times, Will there also be singing?"
All Salt Creek Song Festival events are free and open to the public. Reception to follow.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Many thanks to our sponsors for the evening, Chris Nellis-White with CMG Financial and Alex Nellis-White with Omaha Marriott Regency.
Pop-up Concert
Aleia González and Genaro Méndez perform exciting songs written for guitar and tenor!
Many thanks to The Beanery for sponsoring our Pop-up concerts.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Open Rehearsal: In the Dark Times
Watch the artists prepare for the concert that evening in an open and informal setting.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform on the night’s concert, Let Evening Come.
Home Again
Mezzo-soprano Naomi Brigell and bass-baritone Timothy Madden will each perform works by composers Kurt Knecht and David von Kampen, and will be joined at the piano by none other than the composers themselves!
Enormous thanks to Sidrony Jewelers for generously underwriting this concert, and to Fariner Bakery for sponsoring the evening's reception.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
All SCSF events are free and open to the public.
Pop-up Concert
Aleia González and Genaro Méndez perform exciting songs written for classical guitar and tenor!
Many thanks to The Beanery for sponsoring our Pop-up concerts.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Open Rehearsal: Home Again
Watch the artists prepare for the evening’s concert in an open and informal setting.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform on the night’s concert, Let Evening Come.
Art Song After Hours
After the Here & Gone concert, head over to Willow Point Gallery for a glass of wine or cider and just a little more music. Aric Vyhmeister and Brandon Bell will perform some chanson (French for song).
Many thanks to Willow Point Gallery for hosting and to Glacial Till for providing wine and cider.
Here & Gone
In the song cycle Here and Gone, composer Jake Heggie uses poetry of A.E. Housman and Vachel Linsday to craft a hypthetical conversation between the two poets. Sung by tenor Genaro Méndez and baritone Jared Hiscock, with Alejandro Avila at the piano and string trio made up of Jenna Ferdon, violin, Clark Potter, viola, and Elizabeth Grunin, cello.
Reception to follow, hosted by the Ashland Arts Council. Huge thanks to the Ashland Arts Council for their generous sponsorship of this event.
All Salt Creek Song Festival performances are free and open to the public.
Open Rehearsal: Here & Gone
Watch the artists in action as they prepare for the evening’s show. Open dress rehearsals are informal, free, and open to the public.
For a more complete look at our events, please check out our 2023 Festival Program.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform on the night’s concert, Let Evening Come.
Reception: Mr. Tamborine Man
After the concert, join us for a brief reception graciously hosted by Postscript.
Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan
Mr. Tambourine Man is a song cycle that uses the texts of seven Bob Dylan poems to create something entirely new. Soprano Alyssa Toepfer and pianist Aric Vhymeister will perform this work.
Reception to follow at Postscript.
All Salt Creek Song Festival events are free and open to the public.
Open Rehearsal: Mr. Tambourine Man
Watch the artists in action as they prepare for the evening’s show. Open dress rehearsals are informal, free, and open to the public.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform on the night’s concert, Let Evening Come.
Art Song After Hours
After the Let Evening Come concert, head over to Willow Creek Gallery for a glass of wine or cider and just a little more music. Timothy Madden and Aric Vyhmeister will perform some lieder (German for song).
Many thanks to Willow Point Gallery for hosting and to Glacial Till for providing wine and cider.
Let Evening Come
Baritone Brandon Bell, a current Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist, will perform Harry T. Burleigh's Five Songs of Laurence Hope, a set of songs that each share important stories of love, desire, companionship, and grief.
Fresh off a residency with Nashville Opera, mezzo-soprano Naomi Brigell will sing Late Afternoon, a collection of songs by Ricky Ian Gordon that seek to process, console, and uplift.
Reception to follow.
Open Rehearsal: Let Evening Come
Watch the artists in action as they prepare for the evening’s show. Open dress rehearsals are informal, free, and open to the public.
Coffee Chat
Join us for a coffee and cozy conversation with the artists who will perform on the night’s concert, Let Evening Come.
Americana Lawn Party
Join us on the Historical Society's green space with your favorite lawn chairs, picnic blankets, and summer snacks as we kick off our second season of Salt Creek Song Festival!
Composer & pianist Stacey Barelos and soprano Gracey Manley will premier Barelos' latest work: Americana, commissioned by Salt Creek Song Festival for this special event. Barelos put her own twist on seven iconic American folk songs by rearranging them for soprano and toy piano.
Main stage Salt Creek Song Festival performances are always free and open to the public.