Performing Bellini’s Oh! quante volte, Rossini’s Giusto Ciel, in tal periglio, and the Prologue from Monteverdi’s Orfeo with soprano Melissa Chávez–all beautiful works for harp, and firsts in performance for me!

Here are official details:

The Western Illinois Museum presents an evening of music, Who Knows if the Moon’s a Balloon?, featuring soprano Melissa Chávez on the Museum’s Our Front Porch on Friday, September 4th at 5:30 pm. Doors and bar open at 5:00 pm. A $5 suggested donation at the door supports the Museum’s programming.

Joined by pianist Heidi Brooks and harpist Claire Happel Ashe, Chávez will present a family-friendly evening inspired by Americana, poetry, and the magic of moonlight. Bringing together soprano, piano, and harp, the program moves from the familiar landscapes of American poetry to the dreamlike world of moonlight and stars, with music that is by turns playful, lyrical, and full of wonder.

The evening takes its name from Dominick Argento’s Who Knows if the Moon’s a Balloon?, a setting of the whimsical e.e. cummings poem of the same name. The moon remains a recurring character throughout the program, appearing in Eric Whitacre’s Good Night Moon, inspired by Margaret Wise Brown’s beloved children’s classic; Kurt Weill’s What Good Would the Moon Be? sets poetry by Langston Hughes; Florence Price’s Night; and Osvaldo Golijov’s Lúa Descolorida.

Chávez will also perform works by American composers including Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs and Leonard Bernstein’s I Hate Music: A Cycle of Five Kid Songs, alongside opera favorites by Rossini, Bellini, and Monteverdi.