Soprano Susanna Phillips, Lyric Opera alum, returns to Chicago to sing at Grant Park fest

Lawrence b. Johnson, Chicago on the Aisle:

She’s just as enthusiastic about the unusual repertoire she’ll be performing, Aaron Copland’s “Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson.” The programming was Kalmar’s idea, but Phillips jumped at the chance. “I love those pieces,” she said. “Emily Dickinson is an incredible poet. The poems have so many layers.” And Copland’s music, in her estimation, enhances the poetry. “He had a sense of grounding in America, and such a sense of color.”