ALCHEMY PROJECT
Alchemy: American Art Songs
from Classical and Popular Music
Classical mezzo soprano & jazz vocalist, Rebecca Shrimpton, and pianist & composer, Herman Weiss, explore the beautifully blurred line between American classical and popular music. They perform art songs inspired by spirituals, jazz, vaudeville, and Appalachian folk composed by Charles Ives, William Bolcom, Florence Price, and Paul Bowles, interwoven with original arrangements of classically influenced "tone poems" by jazz masters, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingusand Ornette Coleman. Alchemy's first recording, "Passion Flower," will be released in 2026.
Next Performance:
Feb. 9, 2026 7:30 pm David Friend Recital Hall, 921 Boylston St, Boston, Berklee College of Music . Concert info
Program repertoire selected from:
Paul Bowles' "Blue Mountain Ballads":
Heavenly Grass
Lonesome Man
Cabin
Sugar in the Cane
Charles Ives:
At the River
General William Booth Enters Into Heaven
Memories: A. Very Pleasant & B. Rather Sad
Things Our Fathers Loved
Florence Price:
Because
Bewilderment
For My Little Son
Monologue for the Working Class
My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord
William Grant Still: Grief
Charles S. Brown: Song Without Words
Leonard Bernstein: Simple Song (from "Mass")
William Bolcom's "Cabaret Songs":
Black Max
Blue
Radical Sally
Waitin'
Billy Strayhorn:
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing, arr Herman Weiss
Passion Flower/Fleurette Africaine (Ellington), lyrics Rebecca
Shrimpton, arr. Herman Weiss
Duke Ellington:
Hank Cinq (Sonnet 128), arr Herman Weiss
T.G.T.T. (Too Good to Title)
Charles Mingus:
Duke Ellington's Sound of Love
Ornette Coleman:
Lonely Woman
George Russell arr.: All the Things You Are (Kern)
Herman Weiss is an internationally renowned pianist, composer, conductor, and organist. He is co-founder of two chamber music societies and created a Master of Music program in composition at the Longy School of Music at Bard College, where he chaired the department of composition for twelve years. He also co-founded the Boston-based collective, Composers in Red Sneakers. Herman has a PhD in music composition from Brandeis University and studied composition and organ in Paris at Conservatoire National on a Fulbright Fellowship with Olivier Messaien. He also studied composition, piano and conducting at New England Conservatory. His music is published by APNM (BMI) and is recorded on Northeastern Records.
