Pianist David Keep of the Hope College music faculty will explore Robert Schumann’s “Dichterliebe” through a lecture-recital on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 11 a.m. that will be livestreamed at hope.edu/live.

Out of an abundance of caution due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no in-person audience.

Robert Schumann's “Dichterliebe” (“A Poet’s Love”) has generated seemingly endless scholarly and interpretive commentary. This lecture-recital, “Listening to Clara: Intertextuality in ‘Dichterliebe,’” will tackle some of the recurring issues in reception of this song cycle by considering what might be learned from closely studying the music of Robert’s wife, Clara Wieck.

The pieces that will be performed are “Romanze,” by Clara Wieck, and four songs by Robert Schumann from “Dichterliebe, Op. 48,” including “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,” “Aus meinen Tränen sprießen,” “Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen,” and “Die alten bösen Lieder.” Joining Keep will be violinist Mihai Craioveanu and vocalists Sarah VandenBrink and Jung Woo Kim.

Keep is an assistant professor of music at Hope.  As a pianist, he has performed throughout the United States. An active recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, he has won prizes in the Wisconsin MTNA Young Artists Competition, the Miroslav Pansky Memorial Concerto Competition, the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra Piano Concerto Competition, and Wisconsin Public Radio’s Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition. He holds a Ph.D. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.