Kevin McMillan and Gabriel Dobner will perform an intense program of German song, featuring Frank Martin’s unique Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann and settings by Robert Schumann of poetry by Heinrich Heine—including his great song cycle, Dichterliebe.

Kevin McMillan is one of the most respected lyric baritones and vocal pedagogues of his generation. Critics have praised his “elegant voice” and “singularly remarkable interpretive skills” in appearances with almost every major North American orchestra under conductors such as Norrington, Blomstedt, Davis, Järvi, Dutoit, Rilling, and the late Robert Shaw, Kurt Masur, Jesús Lopez-Cobos, Pierre Boulez, and Frühbeck de Burgos. His Carmina Burana recording with Herbert Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony received a Grammy Award. After schooling in Canada at the University of Guelph and Western University, McMillan attained a master’s degree from The Juilliard School. He currently serves as Professor of Voice in the School of Music at James Madison University where he teaches a full studio of undergraduate and graduate voice students. He also teaches Undergraduate and Graduate Vocal Pedagogy, coaches the JMU Bach Aria Group, and serves as the Voice Area Auditions & Admissions Coordinator.

Pianist Gabriel Dobner has played for such notable singers as Kevin McMillan, Gerhard Siegel, Rod Gilfry, Cornelia Kallisch and René Kollo. He has recorded for Haenssler Classic and MDG in Germany, as well as Ottavo in Holland. Following his first CD with Cornelia Kallisch for MDG, Dobner was referred to as a “master among Lieder pianists” by West German Radio in Cologne. Broadcast recordings include those for the Bavarian State Radio, West German Radio, North German Radio, Nippon Broadcasting Corporation in Japan, as well as for Saint Paul Sunday in the United States. He has performed in many of the world’s leading venues including those in Vienna, Dresden, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Zürich, Budapest, Barcelona, Tokyo, Nagoya and Seoul. Dobner joined the piano faculty at JMU in 2001, and has also been on the faculty of AIMS in Graz since 2017.