Schedule | lyricbaritone

Upcoming & Recent Events

6 May 2025

Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death

Album Launch Event

6 May 2025 at 7PM

Milkweed Editions, Inc.

1011 Washington Ave S,

Minneapolis, MN 55415

United States

Join friends and colleagues of the late acclaimed poet Bill Holm as they launch their record album of Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death, a musical setting of his namesake poem composed by Minnesota native Martha Helen Schmidt.

The event will feature a screening of the Pioneer PBS documentary about the song cycle which received a 2023 Regional Emmy® Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences - Upper Midwest Chapter. The evening will also include select readings from Holm’s literary oeuvre by friends and acclaimed colleagues and will conclude with a performance of selections of the album by internationally recognized musicians: Pianist Dr, Daniel Rieppel and Lyric Baritone, Dr. Ryan Hugh Ross.

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for more Information

About the piece: Poet Bill Holm was the embodiment of the spirit of Minnesota. His love of the windswept prairie, the glacial Fjords of his ancestral Iceland and the power of music are imbued throughout his impressive oeuvre of poetry. Holm’s masterpiece of prose Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death encapsulates his philosophy of music by drawing on musical metaphors while referencing specific compositions to describe the ultimate human condition - death.

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14 - 18 May 2025

Featuring Viktor Ullmann's

One Act Opera

Der Kaiser von Atlantis!

w/ Ryan Hugh Ross

Kaiser Überall

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for More Information

Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death

2023

Pioneer PBS Documentary

Recipient of Regional Emmy® Award

from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences - Upper Midwest Chapter

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Documentary Film Premiere

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10 May 2023 at 5PM (US Central)

Southwest Minnesota State University

Marshall, MN USA

A Musical Tribute to Minnesota’s Documentary Film!

‘Bard of the Prairie’

Bill Holm

(1943 – 2009)

Bill Holm was the embodiment of the spirit of Minnesota. His love of the windswept prairie, the glacial Fjords of his ancestral Iceland and the power of music are imbued throughout his impressive oeuvre of poetry. Holm’s masterpiece of prose Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death encapsulates his philosophy of music by drawing on musical metaphors while referencing specific compositions to describe the ultimate human condition - death. This has now been set to music in a 15 part song cycle by Minnesota composer Martha Helen Schmidt. It was conceived by two of the late poet's friends - Ryan Hugh Ross- Baritone & Dr. Daniel Rieppel - SMSU Professor of Piano Studies.

Broadcast Schedule

Thursday, May 11 at 7p.m.

Sunday, May 14 at 7 p.m.

Monday, May 15 at 1:30 p.m.

view online at: www.pioneer.org/postcards

and on Postcards’ YouTube page at www.youtube.com/@PostcardsOnPioneerPBS

About the film:

This EMMY NOMINATED Film follows my colleagues Dr. Daniel Rieppel, composer Martha Helen Schmidt and I as we prepare for the Icelandic Premiere of our recent song cycle project. The song cycle is a beautiful setting of prose by our late friend and extraordinary poet, Bill Holm.

The full version of this film can now be viewed on Pioneer PBS's website or via the

Youtube link Here::

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEmqbrYKGmE