OFAM’s first 2005 American Symphonia offering will be two concerts of vocal music featuring the lovely voice of OFAM favorite Maria Jette. This two-concert festival, entitled "The Age of Innocence", will focus on songs, piano music, and small ensemble works that were popular in American and British homes from the mid-19th century until World War I. The first concert will concentrate on American popular music before the war, including favorites from "Danny Boy" and "After the Ball" to the songs of Stephen Foster and the rags of Scott Joplin. The second recital will feature solo and small ensemble vocal works and partsongs by British composers from the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras, including Edward Elgar, Hubert Parry, and Arthur Sullivan. The centerpiece of the concert will be a complete performance of Liza Lehmann’s 1896 song cycle "In a Persian Garden" – a musical setting of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam – that was very popular at the turn of the century.