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Events > 2016

Robert, Clara & Johannes: Aoife Miskelly, Johnny Herford & William Vann

28 October 2016, 13:10

Lunchtime Recital

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Holywell Music Room

Holywell St
Oxford
OX1 3BN

Johannes Brahms burst into the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann in 1853. Clara noted in her diary that "a wonderful person...as if sent straight from God" had appeared in their lives. As Robert declined into his mental illness, Brahms was a rock to Clara, and the two became very close. How close, we will never know, but an extraordinary series of letters between the two survives, and in this recital we hear the letters of Robert, Clara and Johannes threaded among some of the fascinating songs that these three composers wrote during those troubled years.

Please note that this concert also forms part of the study day 'Late Style and Legacy' and is included in the ticket price for the day.

Why not purchase a Lunchtime Pass? This pass gives access to all ten lunchtime recitals, weekdays at 1:10pm, for £100. The price includes a discount and provides access to popular recitals which have sold out, such as Roderick Williams on Monday the 24th of October and Dame Felicity Lott on Wednesday the 26th. Click here to purchase.

See your name (or that of a dedicatee) alongside the Schumann song of your choice and help ensure the future of Oxford Lieder by sponsoring a song from £25. Thank you.

View Programme
Artist Portrait

Aoife Miskelly

Aoife Miskelly

Soprano

Northern Irish soprano Aoife Miskelly studied as a Sickle Foundation Scholar at the Royal Academy Opera under Jennifer Dakin and Audrey Hyland, graduating with the Regency Award in 2012. During her studies, Aoife was a Kathleen Ferrier Awards finalist (2010), won a BBC Northern Ireland Young Artists Platform Award (Arts Council of NI sponsored), and was a Samling Scholar and Britten-Pears Young Artist. During the 2012/14 seasons Aoife was part of the opera studio at Cologne Opera, including singing roles on the main stage such as Gil... Read Full Biography
Artist Portrait

Johnny Herford

Johnny Herford

Baritone

Johnny Herford was the winner of the Song Prize at the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, and of the Jean Meikle Duo Prize at the 2013 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, is a Samling Scholar and an alumnus of the Britten-Pears School, and studied with Thomas Quasthoff at the Verbier Festival. Johnny Herford’s current engagements include his debut at English National Opera and he will create the central role in the World Premiere of Peter Eötvös’s The Golden Dragon for Mu... Read Full Biography
Artist Portrait

William Vann

William Vann

Pianist

Gramophone, reviewing Purer than Pearl, Albion Records’ latest disc of Vaughan Williams song, reserved “a special word of praise for William Vann’s deft pianism”. A multiple-prize winning conductor and accompanist, William performs with a host of major singers and instrumentalists across the world and is the founder and Artistic Director of the London English Song Festival. Born in Bedford, he was a Chorister at King's College, Cambridge and a Music Scholar at Bedford School. He subsequently read law and took u... Read Full Biography
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This event is part of a series:

The Schumann Project

14 October 2016, 08:00 - 29 October 2016, 22:00

The Schumann Project: 14-29 October 2016 The fifteenth Oxford Lieder Festival will be the Schumann Project, a unique survey of Schumann's complete songs. The Schumann Project will explore Schumann's life and times, his friends and contemporaries, his influences and his legacies, and his literary and artistic interests. This two-week feast of song will feature Oxford Lieder's trad...