By Daniel Buckwalter

Lush drama, a quiet nocturne, fun folk music from across the pond and a stellar performance of an Antonín Dvořák piano quintet filled the air of Eugene First United Methodist Church on June 21, 2026.

The Father’s Day recital — titled Echoes of Folk and Dance — capped another season of the Concerts at First series, and this collaboration of mezzo-soprano Ágnes Vojtkó, pianist Juan Avendaño and the Ducere String Quartet (violinists Sofie Yang and Jingxuan Yang, violists Benjamin Kroeker and cellist Tomas Estigarribia) was a delightful way to usher in the summer.

Vojtkó led off with Chanson Perpétuelle, music by French composer Ernest Chausson, based on the poem of the same name by French poet Charles Cros. To say this piece is mournful and heavy would be a vast understatement.

Chanson Perpétuelle drips with deep sorrow as a woman deals with the personal grief of romantic loss. In the hands of Vojtkó, it is almost haunting.

Since I no longer have my lover,
I shall die in the pond among
The flowers beneath the still water.

Halting on the edge, to the winds
I’ll speak his name, dreaming
That there I often awaited him.

And as if in a golden shroud,
With my flowing hair about me. to the will
Of the water I’ll abandon myself.

The mood lightened when Avendaño took to the piano to play Gabriel Fauré’s Nocturne No. 2 in B Major, an elegant piece that evokes late nights of quiet thoughts composed after years of contemplation.

And the mood lightened even further when Vojtkó returned to the stage, with violinist Sofie Yang, to sing a pair of folk songs composed by the late Rebecca Clarke, a British American composer.

There was the English folk song, The Tailor and His Mouse, and my favorite, the Irish folk piece, As I Was Goin’ to Ballynure. I will have to remember that last song the next I time I buy a bottle of bourbon whiskey.

Ducere String Quartet’s playing of Dvořák’s four-movement Piano Quintet No.2 in A Major, with Avendaño at piano, was spot-on and a fitting end to the afternoon. After a melodic opening sequence featuring the piano and cello, the piece embarks on an invigorating ride that includes soft and delicate moments in the second and third movements.

All in all, a wonderful way to spend Father’s Day.