- [Presenter] Support for this program was provided by Gail and Jeff Kodosky.

- Welcome to Austin Opera's presentation of Ryan Speedo Green in concert, filmed live at the new Austin Media Center in Austin, Texas.

We are thrilled to bring you this Grammy award-winning operatic superstar in an intimate recital curated by Speedo himself.

This concert is part of Austin Opera's Opera ATX series, which takes operatic performances beyond the opera house to adventurous locations throughout our city and, thanks to Austin PBS, into your own living room.

We are proud to be part of the vibrant music scene in Austin, Texas and invite you to visit us in person sometime soon.

Thank you for tuning in.

(audience applauding) (audience applauding) - Thank you so much for coming this evening.

We're excited to share our art with you.

- It's such a pleasure to be here with you.

This first set of three songs by Hugo Wolf has a text that is, indeed, written by the famous painter Michelangelo, who actually wrote hundreds of poems.

And in these particular texts, we find a lot of the personal anguish and the inner turmoil of Michelangelo, and I think that that's probably what attracted Wolf to those texts because he was also, at a period at the end of his life, undergoing his own personal anguish.

These are the final three songs that he wrote before he was committed to an insane asylum and eventually died there.

(desolate music) (desolate music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (desolate music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (stirring music) (stirring music) (foreboding music) (foreboding music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (pensive music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (pensive music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (pensive music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (pensive music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (pensive music) (pensive music) (pensive music) (no audio) (bleak music) (bleak music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (bleak music) (bleak music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (bleak music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (plaintive music) (plaintive music) (audience applauding) - As I mentioned before, this is a recital about the many perspectives of death, and so these next four pieces by Mussorgsky are the epitome of that.

(mournful music) (mournful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (mournful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (mournful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (mournful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (wistful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (mournful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (melancholy music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (melancholy music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (melancholy music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (melancholy music) (melancholy music) (melancholy music) (no audio) (suspenseful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (suspenseful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (audience applauding) (audience applauding) (audience applauding) (piano key warbling) (no audio) ♪ Deep river ♪ ♪ My home is over Jordan ♪ ♪ Deep river, Lord ♪ ♪ I want to cross over into campground ♪ ♪ Deep river ♪ ♪ My home is over Jordan ♪ ♪ Deep river, Lord ♪ ♪ I want to cross over into campground ♪ ♪ Oh, don't cha want to go ♪ ♪ To that gospel feast ♪ ♪ That promised land ♪ ♪ Where all is peace ♪ ♪ Deep river ♪ ♪ My home is over Jordan ♪ ♪ Deep river, Lord ♪ ♪ I want to cross over into campground ♪ ♪ Oh, don't cha want to go ♪ ♪ To that gospel feast ♪ ♪ That promised land ♪ ♪ Where all is peace ♪ ♪ Deep river, Lord ♪ ♪ I want to cross over ♪ ♪ Into campground ♪ (audience applauding) (audience applauding) So the first half was, the perspectives on death were pretty unanimously bleak.

(laughs) In the second half, we wanted to give you some other perspectives, and I chose this kind of combination of African American art song and spirituals with the highest form of like classical musical lieder, which is German, German lied.

And I wanted to showcase how, first of all, they're very similar in their text, in their complexity, in their emotion, in their depth.

(Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (pensive music) (pensive music) (pensive music) (pensive music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (pensive music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (pensive music) (pensive music) (melancholy music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (melancholy music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (melancholy music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (stirring music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (melancholy music) (melancholy music) (audience applauding) So the next two pieces, "Der Doppelganger" and "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," are also about death, but thinking about death in the beginning and the end, in multiple lives.

(somber music) (somber music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (somber music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (somber music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (somber music) (somber music) (no audio) (melancholy music) (melancholy music) ♪ I've known rivers ♪ ♪ I've known rivers ♪ ♪ Ancient as the world ♪ ♪ And older than the flow ♪ ♪ Of human blood in human veins ♪ ♪ I've known rivers ♪ ♪ I've known rivers ♪ ♪ Ancient as the world ♪ ♪ And older than the flow ♪ ♪ Of human blood ♪ ♪ In human veins ♪ ♪ And older than the flow ♪ ♪ Of human blood in human veins ♪ ♪ My soul has grown deep ♪ ♪ Like the rivers ♪ (melancholy music) ♪ I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young ♪ ♪ I built my hut near the Congo ♪ ♪ And it lulled me to sleep ♪ ♪ I looked upon the Nile ♪ ♪ And built the pyramids above it ♪ ♪ I heard ♪ ♪ The singing of the Mississippi ♪ ♪ When Abe Lincoln ♪ ♪ Went down to New Orleans ♪ ♪ Went down to New Orleans ♪ (gentle music) ♪ And I've seen its muddy bosom ♪ ♪ Turn all golden in the sunset ♪ ♪ I've known rivers ♪ ♪ Ancient, dusky rivers ♪ ♪ My soul ♪ ♪ Has grown deep ♪ ♪ Like the rivers ♪ (melancholy music) (audience applauding) (stirring music) (stirring music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (stirring music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (stirring music) (suspenseful music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (stirring music) (foreboding music) (foreboding music) (foreboding music) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (Ryan singing in foreign language) (stirring music) (stirring music) - Wow.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) (audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) - [Presenter] Support for this program was provided by Gail and Jeff Kodosky.

(bright music)