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Music and Love
A Program of German Song, with Debra Hillabrand and Charles Croissant
Music and Love: a program of German song explores the intersections of music and love through a century’s worth of German Lieder. The program features the music of Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf, and Richard Strauss, set to texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Rochlitz, Klaus Groth, Franz von Schober, Felix Dahn, and John Henry Mackay.
Featuring:
Debra Hillabrand
Mezzo-Soprano
Mezzo-Soprano, Debra Hillabrand holds a BME from the University of Arkansas, and a MM in vocal performance from Washington University in St. Louis. Critically acclaimed for her moving portrayals and vocal beauty, Ms. Hillabrand has worked with Union Avenue Opera, Central City Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Washington University Opera. Roles include Elmire/Tartuffe, Flora/La Traviata, Florence Pike/Albert Herring, Kate/Pirates of Penzance, Lizzie Borden/Lizzie Borden, The Mother/Amahl and The Night Visitors, Mrs. Deakins/Doubt, Mrs. DeRocher/Dead Man Walking, Mrs. Ott/Susannah, Mrs. Noye/Noye’s Fludde, Natalia Petrovna/A Month in the Country, Paulina & Daphnis/Pikovaya Dama, Prince Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus, Rosina/Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Suzuki/Madama Butterfly.
As a concert soloist, Ms. Hillabrand has performed with The Bach Society of St. Louis, Masterworks Chorale, St. Louis Philharmonic, The Gateway Festival Orchestra, The Chamber Project of St. Louis, Washington University, and Southern Illinois University. She was also the Alto Young Artist for the Bach Society of St. Louis for 4 years, for whom she has often been a soloist, including Beethoven’s MASS in C, J.S. Bach’s B MINOR MASS, and Handel’s MESSIAH. Most recently, Ms. Hillabrand was soloist for Duruflé’s REQUIEM with First Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood, where she is currently the Alto section leader.
Charles Croissant
Pianist & Organist
Charles Croissant is a retired librarian who spent most of his career at the main library of Saint Louis University. Before embracing librarianship, Charles studied music at Indiana University, then completed a music performance degree at the Musikhochschule Lübeck in Lübeck, Germany – it was during the years he spent in Germany that he developed his love of the German Lied repertoire. He started playing piano while in grade school and kept with it through adult life. In the 1990’s, he served as organist at the United Church of Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; he later served as Music Director of Parkway United Church of Christ here in St. Louis. Charles has been a member of First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood since 2014 and enjoys singing in the Chancel Choir.