Soulful tributes to some of the world’s most beloved–and sometimes enigmatic–singers are the artistic specialty of Daphne Alderson. Aptly described as a chanteuse, Alderson far exceeds the simple definition of a cabaret singer. Her knack for recreating the artistic essences of other singers, from Edith Piaf to Marlena Dietrich, dramatically connects their multilingual music to their life stories.

Alderson now embarks on a new concert program revolving around yet another chanteuse in her fifth such cabaret-style concert commissioned for Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s summer season in Shadyside.

The popular contralto will conjure another iconic 20th-century songstress with Lenya in the Light: Daphne sings Weill on Wed., July 17 at First Unitarian Church.

Lotte Lenya (1898-1981) and Kurt Weill (1900-1950) met in post-Weimar Germany when she was in early productions of some of his operas. Lenya, who had first trained in ballet in her native Austria, grew into acting and singing and met Weill in 1924 while pursuing stage work in Germany. The couple fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and continued artistic endeavors in American. Lenya came to represent the resilience of the German between the World Wars.

Unlike the familiar songs and personas she has previously mined for her PFO concerts, “this is all new to me,†Alderson says of Lenya. “I am delving into her presence and legacy. I learned that Kurt Weill said that for everything he wrote he had her voice in mind.â€

Alderson, who has been reading the couple’s letters, admits this might be surprising, given Lenya’s distinctive, yet rather comparatively ordinary voice. “That surprised Lotte and it surprised me.â€

Didn’t Weill love classical and operatic voices? Yes, says Alderson, but she is learning about Weill’s fascination with Lenya’s style and singing. “She said that Weill would always ask her ‘How did you get away with that?’ She never learned to read music, at Weill’s behest. He thought if she did, the music would go away.â€

“She regarded Weill’s pieces as art songs,†Alderson says, while others seems to think of them as cabaret songs.

Weill is perhaps a bridge between music theatre and art songs.

“There’s a soulfulness about his music. Even the happy ones have a bittersweet mournfulness to them,†says Alderson of the magic new and old listeners both discover. “Kurt Weill gives the singer room to breathe and think.â€

When Weill died suddenly of a heart attack in 1950, Alderson says that Lenya “sank into the bottom of the deep ocean.†However, she blossomed as she continued to sing and explore Weill’s legacy while building her own–encouraged by her second husband. She notably performed and recorded Weill’s music for several more decades. Outside of Weill, she won a Tony for creating the role of Frau Schneider in Cabaret and received an Oscar for her supporting role in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone.

“Lotte became a chanteuse because she was singing Weil,†says Alderson of “There’s an innate simplicity in her singing. She was irreverent about herself.â€

“I think she had a genuine modesty but a confidence about her,†Alderson notes, describing Leyna as striking, appealing and focused. “She found the balance of humble confidence.â€

Alderson says Lenya was playwright Bertolt Brecht’s favorite singer but the singer didn’t know that until near the end of her life, working into her 70s.

Lotte Lenya may be new to Alderson, but she appreciates Weill’s attraction to the singer.

“I’m falling for her,†Alderson says. “There was a mirth about her and twinkle in her eye. And I am really grateful and excited about singing Kurt Weill for the first time. I try to remain faithful to both of them as best I can. It’s a big responsibility to these artists who lived to faithful capture the essence of who they were.

Because I’m discovering her, the side of her that I always see is direct, open—there was nothing opaque about Lenya. She had an integrity about her.â€

Alderson notes that Lenya might have sang Weill for a lifetime, making it organic to her at the time it may have intimidated her.

“She had a reverence for Weill’s work. They complement one another in that she was able to step aside and let him be the composer,†Alderson observes. “She could be the interpreter and his champion. She fought alongside him to get his work done.â€

For this 75 minute program, Alderson again collaborates with her chief arranger and most frequent guitarist and banjoist, John Marcinizyn, who also happens to be her husband. Together, they are arranging most of the music for this program.

Frequent ensemble members and collaborators pianist Doug Levine, bassist Jeff Grubbs, and percussionist R.J. Heid.

Expert vintage costumer Richard Parksakian, who assisted with Dietrich costume props last year, is designing Alderson’s look.

As this interview was well in advance of final rehearsals, Alderson is still honing in on selections that will likely number just over a dozen. A wide range of variety of Lenya’s Weill repertoire will be featured. The iconic “Mac the Knife†from Threepenny Opera, which Weill wrote with playwright Bertolt Brecht, is planned with its “very straightforward and spare arrangement,†Alderson notes. Also “Berlinichtâ€, written in 1928 (the year Lenya and Weill met during Threepenny Opera), recounts about a post-World War I blackout and how the lights went back on in the city.

Collaborators whose lyrics are heard included Brechht, Langston Hughes, Maxwell Anderson, and Ogden Nash. She’ll sing “Saga of Jenny†from Lady in the Dark (written with lyricist Ira Gershwin), Lost in the Stars (from the opera of the same name) as well as “September Songâ€, among others. About one-third of the program will be sung in the original German with many songs reflecting the popular English renditions and new arrangements.

And–besides all that research and rehearsal–just what is Alderson’s process for getting from the concept outlined for a commissioned concert to opening night?

“I go out and walk these hills to figure it out,†says this sensitive and impressionable artist who lives and works in Pittsburgh’s East End. “Long walks and praying…â€

Alderson says, “There is such tenderness in these songs. They are all transparent. Each song takes you on a little journey.â€

For PFO alone, Alderson has created four other likewise passionate depictions through performance. She most recently showcased Marlena Dietrich’s work and life in 2018 and Alderson’s first PFO concert in 2016 was a recreation of Edith Piaf’s landmark concert at Carnegie Hall. The songs of Leonard Cohen were central in 2017 following the songwriter’s passing while her very first PFO cabaret featured both Piaf and Cohen.

In between these custom-crafted programs, Alderson teaches, records and continues to develop other programs for a variety of bookings while adding her immense multi-lingual repertoire. Moreover, this trained classical and opera singer has appeared in productions including PFO’s A Little Night Music and the world premiere A New Kind of Fallout, among many other operatic and theatre roles.

Lenya in the Light is on stage for one night only during Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s 41st season. Daphne Alderson and her band perform at Wed., July 17 at 7:30 pm, First Unitarian Church, 605 Morewood Ave. (entrance on Ellsworth) in Shadyside (15213). Details and tickets at pittsburghfestivalopera.org

Read more about Daphne Alderson at her site. From more on Weill and Lenya, visit  The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

Photography Credits: Bill Stabnau (Alderson & Marcinizyn); Elisa Cohanski (Daphne and Dietrich)