You won’t want to miss this musical event at the Brooklyn Library. TODAY at 4 p.m. although I may have to miss it because OSFO has a piano recital at 2 p.m across the street at the Senior Center.

Amy Burton, along with the Brooklyn Philharmonic will be performing Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man, based on seven songs/poems by Bob Dylan.

Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan was a commission by The Carnegie Hall Corporation for Sylvia McNair and was premiered at her Carnegie Hall recital given March 15, 2002 with Martin Katz at the piano. Corigliano, who had never encountered Dylan’s own musical settings of the chosen poems, has given us new musical settings of icons of American folk music from the 1960s

Prelude: Mr. Tamborine Man (Corigliano)
Clothes LIne (Corigliano)
Blowin’ in the Wind (Corigliano)
Masters of War (Corigliano)
All Along the Watchtower (Corigliano)
Chimes of Freedom (Corigliano)
Postlude: Forever Young (Corigliano)

Audacious, yes. Rewriting the music to some of Bob Dylan’s best loved songs. Interesting, too that he’d never encountered Dylan’s own musical settings of these songs (he calls them poems).

But I love audacity. And I am dying to hear what Corigliano and the Brooklyn Philarmonic do with some of my favorite songs.

John Corigliano is considered one of the finest and most widely recognized American composers. Among the dozens of citations, doctorates, and other honors he has received are included all of the most important music awards — several Grammy’s, a Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 2 (2001), a Grawemeyer for his Symphony No. 1 (1991), and an Academy Award for his score to Francois Girard’s 1997 film “The Red Violin.” One of the few living composers to have a string quartet named after him, Corigliano’s work has been performed by some of the most visible orchestras, soloists and chamber musicians in the world, and recorded on the Sony, RCA, BMG, Telarc, Erato, Ondine, New World, and CRI labels.

Amy Burton is no slouch either. A personal friend of mine, she has a busy and diverse career of opera, concert, and recital appearances throughout the United States and Europe. Recently she appeared in Kurt Weil’s Mahogonny at Opera Boston written about here on OTBKB.

Ms. Burton regularly appears on the stages of leading opera houses, including The Metropolitan Opera, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Atlanta Opera, as well as international houses including L’Opéra de Nice, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Opernhaus Zürich. She has also performed with some of the world’s finest conductors, including Marin Alsop, James Conlon, Christoph Eshenbach, John Mauceri, Gerard Schwartz and Robert Spano. In the 2007-08 season, Ms. Burton can be heard in recital in Kansas City as well as in performance of Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man with the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the 2006-07 season, Ms. Burton appeared as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Boston Baroque and as Jenny in Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny with Opera Boston. Ms Burton returned to the San Francisco Symphony for performances of Handel’s Messiah and also performed the Governess in The Turn of the Screw with Opera Cleveland. Amy Burton returned to the Metropolitan Opera in the spring of 2006 to sing Marzelline in Fidelio. Other highlights of her 2005-06 season included her return to the Eugene Symphony in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem and a performance with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. A regular at New York City Opera, her roles have included Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, both Susanna and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice, and Alice Ford in Falstaff, in addition to several Handel roles.