Thomas Hampson returns to a signature work, Kurt Weill’s Four Walt Whitman Songs, bringing his “phrasing, vocal power, and effortless legato”(Kurt Weill Foundation) to the Milan Symphony Orchestra on June 13 and 15, under the baton of Emmanuel Tjeknavorian.

Hampson has sung Weill’s song to great acclaim all over the world. A live 2001 performance with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies was released in 2023 as part of the album Propheten. Of this performance, Music Web International said, “Thomas Hampson, at the height of his powers, sings them with Weill’s own orchestral accompaniment… ‘Beat! Beat! Drums!’ is almost unbearably intense, and Hampson wrings every drop of drama out of this campaign song. The other three songs are emotional dirges for the victims of the war, and they are sung with deep compassion and warmth.”

Originally for voice and piano, Weill’s songs were later adapted for voice and orchestra by Carlos Surinach and the team of Weill and Irving Schlein. After emigrating from Germany to the United States, these songs were part of Weill’s effort to engage more seriously with American music and poetry, and Whitman’s democratic ideals and expansive vision of America resonated deeply with him.