Portland Mezzo-Soprano & Composer Dr. Lisa Neher launches Pacific Art Song (pacificartsong.com), a concert series dedicated to Western Classical Art Song, with a program titled Summer Nights. A celebration of French song, the program transports audiences to the era of intimate salons, where friends gathered in living rooms to enjoy music shared up close. The centerpiece of the program, Hector Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été (Summer Nights), explores longing, loss, and love across five songs that set vibrant poetry with closely interwoven parts for the voice and the piano. The work is the first major song cycle written by a French composer. Complimenting Berlioz’s groundbreaking piece are masterworks by Pauline Viardot and protégé Lili Boulanger, brilliant French women composers long marginalized due to their gender.Completing the program are two world premieres composed by Neher herself. Chanson d’automne (Song of Autumn) and L’heure du berger (The Hour of the Shepherd) set poetry of Paul Verlaine. Dubbed “Prince of Poets” by his peers, Verlaine’s name is synonymous with French song. Why art song now? “We’re living in an era of 15 second Tiktok videos and the constant dopamine rush of notifications on our devices,” says Neher. “But what we’re all longing for is something real and embodied. This concert is an invitation to slow down and connect with your senses, to hear and see and feel the music in a community.” PERFORMERSDr. Lisa Neher, mezzo-soprano & composerHannah Early, pianoS