By Leora Zeitlin
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/krwg/local-krwg-1000592.mp3
Las Cruces – When American composer Tobias Picker -- hailed as America's "finest composer for the lyric stage" -- first heard mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chavez sing his music, he gave her one of the most welcome compliments a composer can give a performer. She tells the story -- and reveals the comment -- in this interview with Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin and pianist Paolo Andre Gualdi. Chavez and Gualdi were in town to perform a concert of Spanish songs, and the two discuss the difficulties and delights of the music of Tobias Picker, as well as that of De Falla, Montsalvatge and Rodrigo.