By Marilou Carlin

Hila Plitmann, a Grammy Award-winning soprano and a champion of new music, will appear in concert with the University Symphony Orchestra (USB) on Friday, March 11 at 8 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. The concert is free, no tickets are required.

Under the direction of USB conductor, Professor Michael Haithcock, Plittman will sing Professor Michael Daugherty’s song cycle Labyrinth of Love. The work will also be recorded for future release. The piece features songs based on the poetry of eight famous women through the centuries, from Sappho (6th century BC) to contemporary poet Anne Carson (b. 1950). Plittman previously performed the world premiere of the wind version of Labyrinth of Love in 2013 with the University of Miami Frost Wind Ensemble.

“It is a great opportunity and honor for SMTD to have one of the world’s greatest performing sopranos on our campus to perform with our extraordinary symphony band and it’s visionary conductor, Michael Haithcock,” said Daugherty. “Labyrinth of Love is a 40-minute tapestry of desire, loneliness, passion, humor and pathos. This dramatic work aptly displays the wide range of vocal talents that have made Plitmann the “go to” singer for contemporary music on the scene today.”

A conversation with Haithcock, Daugherty, and members of the USB will take place at 7:15 p.m. in the lower lobby of Hill Auditorium prior to the March 11 performance.

In addition to appearing in the USB concert, Plittman will also lead a voice master class on Thursday, March 10 at 3 p.m. at the McIntosh Theatre in the E.V. Moore Building. It is open to the public.

Hila Plittman won the Grammy Award in 2009 for Best Classical Vocal Performance for her recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems Of Bob Dylan. The Los Angeles Times has described her as a performer with “tremendous vocal and physical grace,” while Entertainment Today said “Plitmann has a vocal instrument that is simply unreal in its beauty.” Of her extensive soundtrack work as a soloist for the Hollywood blockbuster The DaVinci Code, CNN said: “Plitmann’s glissandi sail above the petty pulpits of earthly doctrine with an ethereal ease that argues for Plitmann’s pairing with [Kathleen] Battle or Dawn Upshaw.”

Plittman is in constant demand as a singer of new and contemporary music and has performed the world premieres of many works including Paul Revere’s Ride with the Atlanta Symphony, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Wing on Wing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of the composer; Mr. Tambourine Man written by Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano with the Minnesota Orchestra; Gerard Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Two Awakenings and a Double Lullaby, a song cycle written for her by Pulitzer Prize-winner Aaron Jay Kernis; Richard Danielpour’s Towards a Season of Peace with Pacific Symphony; and Frank Zappa’s orchestral staged version of the 200 Motels with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.