Symphony, Sasha Cooke Sweep Listeners Off Their Feet — and Bring Them Back Down with 'Songs of the Earth'
Feb. 7, 2023
Sasha Cooke (photo by Stephanie Girard)
THE HOUSTON SYMPHONY’S Songs of the Earth festival, a two-week series of concerts exploring the influence of Asian music on the Western canon and vice versa, begins this weekend.
The lineup kicks off with Gustav Mahler’s orchestral song cycle, Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), featuring tenor Clay Hilley and Texas-raised, Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. Cooke wowed audiences as Thirza in the Houston Grand Opera’s October 2022 acclaimed production of The Wreckers, and this weekend is an opportunity to hear her sing in a very different setting. Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha conducts.
The sound of Das Lied von der Erde is intimate and transparent; Mahler uses the voice to express his deepest thoughts and emotions in a chamber music-like landscape, making it one of Cooke’s favorite pieces to sing. “Mahler really relates to the mezzo,” says Cooke. “It often feels like it’s autobiographical, and that his voice is coming through the mezzo.”
The words Mahler chose to set for Das Lied von der Erde come from a collection of classical Chinese poetry, freely translated by German poet Hans Bethge. While the lyrics for the tenor’s three songs are set in what Cooke describes as a “human living space” — with vivid descriptions of being young, wild, and free, as well as drinking to stave off feelings of sadness and existential dread — the mezzo’s songs, especially the cycle’s sixth and final movement “The Farewell,” are more contemplative and nuanced.
For “The Farewell,” a nearly 30-minute meditation on friendship, finality, and fate, Mahler chose to write the very last stanza himself, bringing the work quietly to a close with an unresolved interval and a single repeated word: éwig (eternal). For Cooke, the ending isn’t an expression of resignation, but an affirmation of transcendence, and of how we somehow live on after death, especially in art.
“Because Mahler was in touch with death so much, I think he knew he would live on in his song,” says Cooke. “His song was him. We live on in what we do.”
Born in 1983 in Riverside, Calif., Cooke grew up in College Station and now lives in The Woodlands with her husband baritone Kelly Markgraf and their two daughters, ages 6 and 11. She appreciates the solace of living in a tree-filled community and “the medicine of a deer coming by” the windows when she sings at home. Nature metaphors abound throughout Das Lied von der Erde, and Cooke imagines Mahler drew inspiration from the Dolomite Mountains and the natural landscape that surrounded the hut where he composed the work. (Mahler had just been diagnosed with heart disease, which prevented him from one of his favorite pastimes: walking and bicycling in nature.)
“Mahler puts you in a meditative state,” says Cooke, who admits after performing Das Lied von der Erde it takes a little time for her to come back down to earth.
“You’ve been in another realm,” she says of the time onstage. “You kind of leave yourself, but you’re also really in yourself. You’re more there than ever.”
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Houston Restaurant Weeks Sister Event, Eat Drink HTX, Offers Steep Discounts at Your Fave Casual Spots
Feb. 7, 2023
B.B. Lemon
HERE’S YOUR CHANCE to dine out on a dime and do good next week. Eat Drink HTXreturns beginning Feb. 15, and the 2023 menus are now live. So kick your appetites in gear, take a sneak peek at the discounted meals, and start planning your delish outings for the month.
The second annual Eat Drink HTX is the sister event to Houston Restaurant Weeks (HRW), both produced by The Cleverley Stone Foundation. Diners can visit EatDrinkHTX.com to view a partial list of participants and menus, with additional menus to be added to the website through Feb. 15. The foodie fundraiser runs through Feb. 28, with a new charity partner on board this year.
The two-week long fundraiser was developed for the casual dining category, with a lower price point ($15-$25) for the two-course prix fixe brunch, lunch and dinner menus. This strategy allows more casual and fast-casual eateries the opportunity to participate in the fundraiser to help Houstonians in need. Similar to HRW, participating restaurants will make donations based on their sales.
Eat Drink HTX was one of Cleverley Stone’s final wishes as she saw a need for a boost in sales in restaurants during historically slow periods for area restaurants: HRW takes place in August, of course, but weeks in February after Valentine’s Day and early spring are slow, too. Proceeds from Eat Drink HTX will benefit the Houston Food Bank and Children at Risk, improving the quality of life for Texas children.
A peek at this year’s participants includes BB Lemon, City Cellars HTX, Craft Burger, Craft Pita, da Gama Canteen, Daily Gather, Dak and Bop, El Meson, Eloise Nichols, Fiori, Indianola, Kin Dee Thai Cuisine, La Calle Tacos, Low Tide Kitchen & Bar, NoPo Café, Market & Bar, Phat Eatery, Ribeye & Rye, Roost, Silom Station, The Original Ninfas, Xin Chao and more. At Oporto Foodinghouse & Wine, for example, nosh on cod and potato fritters with piri piri aioli, and move on to London tikka masala or the wild mushroom tartine ($15).
The Original Ninfa's on Navigation
Phat Eatery
Craft Pita
“Children at Risk is honored to be partnering with Eat Drink HTX and is grateful to be a recipient of the proceeds from this initiative,” said Bob Sanborn, President and CEO. “Every dollar donated to Children at Risk helps drive evidence-based change by speaking out on behalf of children to help ensure every child can reach their full potential.”
“My mother and I have been impressed with the work of Children at Risk,” said Kate Stone, President of the Cleverley Stone Foundation. “They focus on the many issues facing children, parents and caretakers. From family education, K-12 grade education, parenting and health and nutrition, raising funds for them through Eat Drink HTX is a wonderful way for my mother’s legacy to continue and for more area residents to fund their mission and educate Houstonians of its cause.”
And for his part, Brian Greene, President and CEO of the Houston Food Bank, expressed gratitude for being included once again. “The proceeds from this event will help to provide food for better lives to thousands of our neighbors right here in the Houston area.”
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