Mirror Visions Ensemble (MVE) — an acclaimed vocal chamber ensemble dedicated to exploring the relationship between music and text — premieres its new program It Doesn’t Get Better Than This, at California State University, Fullerton School of Music on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. The concert is the culmination of MVE’s six day residency, from October 5 to 10, during which the MVE musicians will conduct masterclasses and individual coachings with vocal students in the School of Music.

Featuring MVE artists soprano Vira Slywotzky, tenor Scott Murphree, baritone Mischa Bouvier, and composer and pianist Richard Pearson Thomas taking the stage alongside CSU Fullerton students, It Doesn’t Get Better Than This highlights six world premieres of American cabaret songs by Richard Pearson Thomas alongside rich and varied cabaret music from Germany, France, and America — songs that delight, challenge, amuse, and inspire.

Of his six new pieces, composer Richard Pearson Thomas says, “It has been 20 years since I’ve written any new cabaret songs, so I was delighted to have this commission from CSUF for new songs in conjunction with a Mirror Visions program of cabaret songs from Germany, France and America. My previous cabaret songs, in which I wrote both the text and music, are some of my most popular works. To me they are more “theatre” songs than cabaret songs, because they are character-driven, unlike most art songs which are inspired by poetry. I look forward to collaborating with the younger Cal State singers along with the more experienced Mirror Visions Ensemble singers in bringing these pieces to life.”