Joel Brown writes in the Boston Globe about the upcoming premiere of Plain Truths:
…“These seacoast people see the world and learn,’’ the Gothic novelist Harriet Prescott Spofford wrote about Newburyport.
Turns out they hear and learn, too.
The words of Spofford and other writers with ties to the area will be in the air at the 10th annual Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, running Saturday through Aug. 20.
A festival highlight will be the Aug. 20 world premiere of composer Kile Smith’s “Plain Truths’’ for voice and string quartet, featuring the words of Spofford, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, songwriter Henry S. Thompson, and the inimitable local character “Lord’’ Timothy Dexter. The cycle of five songs, bookended by Garrison, is the festival’s gift to the city according to artistic director David Yang.…
“I wanted a composer that I knew and trusted to write something really terrific,’’ Yang said last week. “And second of all, I wanted just someone I liked personally, because the composer comes up, and the thing about the festival is that they’re not only the best musicians we can find in the world, but also people are good human beings that the audience likes and gets to chat with. And lastly I knew Kile has a special experience with text. He’s written for voice a lot.’’… It will be sung by bass baritone Jeremy Galyon, an up-and-comer at the Metropolitan Opera.…
For details and tickets, www.newburyportchambermusic.org.