Tenor Ben Bliss and pianist Christopher Allen launch our season with a program of irresistible breadth and warmth, drawing on the very finest of German and French song. The first half of the evening moves through the Romantic landscape with an assured and generous hand, offering Lieder by Schumann, Liszt, and Strauss — music that encompasses the intimacy of the salon, the grand sweep of Romantic longing, and the opulent, golden-voiced lyricism for which Strauss's songs in particular have made tenors rejoice for well over a century. Bliss brings to this repertoire a voice of exceptional beauty — bright, focused, and capable of extraordinary refinement — along with a musician's instinct for text and phrase that elevates every song he touches.

The program's second half crosses the Rhine into France, where Reynaldo Hahn's elegant mélodie, Lili Boulanger's luminous writing, and the impressionist magic of Debussy await — songs in which charm, sensuality, and poetic nuance reign supreme. Woven throughout the evening are beloved song and aria favorites that showcase Bliss at his most radiant and communicative, reminding us why audiences and critics alike have placed him among the outstanding tenors of his generation. With Christopher Allen — a collaborative pianist and conductor of rare gifts and long experience at the highest levels of the art form — at his side, this is an opening night to savor and to celebrate.