Will Ferguson, tenor, and Steven Philcox, piano
Saturday, January 31, 2026
4:30 p.m.
Sam Lloyd Forum in Hamilton Hall (the School of Theology)
Franz Schubert, the first great songwriter (he wrote around 700 songs), composed the song cycle Winterreise (Winter’s Journey) about observing winter scenes and their symbolism of his failure to find and hold on to love. One of the cycle’s 24 songs reads, “I search the snow in vain/For the trace of her steps,/Where she, arm in arm with me,/Crossed the green meadow.” Schubert knew about love and loss; he died within a year of writing the cycle—he was barely 30 years old.
Songs by Schubert are standard fare in voice recitals, but the opportunity to hear an entire cycle like this may come along once in a lifetime. The artists involved are first rate. Will Ferguson, who has sung opera internationally, teaches voice at the Universities of Virginia and Richmond. He is accompanied by Steven Philcox, who is a professor and director of Collaborative Piano at the University of Toronto.
