Opening Night: A Serenade to Music
12 October 2018, 19:30
Concert
St Aldate's
Oxford
OX1 1BX
Generously supported by Freeths Solicitors
A wonderful gala concert opens this year’s Festival. In the grand setting of Oxford's Town Hall, an exceptional team of four world-renowned soloists perform songs and ensembles by Schubert, Schumann, Saint-Saëns and others. Schola Cantorum of Oxford is Oxford’s leading chamber choir and we are delighted that they will join us to conclude the concert with Ralph Vaughan Williams’s extraordinary Serenade to Music, setting words from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, which famously reduced Rachmaninov to tears at its premiere.
Watch Artistic Director Sholto Kynoch introduce the gala concert:
This concert is presented in association with Music at Oxford, promoters of prestigious orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout the year. For details of their season see www.musicatoxford.com
Click here to buy your programme pass for all evening concerts (12 - 27 October 2018) for just £40.
All programme passes will be available to collect from the Friends of Oxford Lieder Desk at all concerts.
Programme
-
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
An Silvia (D891) - Der Tanz (D826)
- Auf Der Bruck „Auf Der Brücke“ (D853)
- Licht und Liebe (D352)
-
Louis Spohr (1784 - 1859)
Erlkönig (Op. 154) -
Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869)
Erlkönig (Op. 1 no.3) - Tränen und Lächeln (Op. 4)
-
Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)
Zwei Venetianische Lieder I „Leis’ rudern hier!“ (Op. 25 no.17) from Myrthen - Zwei Venetianische Lieder II „Wenn durch die Piazzetta“ (Op. 25 no.18) from Myrthen
-
Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
Des Liebsten Schwur (Op. 69 no.4) - Liebestreu (Op. 3 no.1) from Sechs Gesänge
- Es glänzt der Mond nieder (Op. 31) from Drei Quartette
-
Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)
Heimliche Aufforderung (Op. 27 no.3) - Morgen! (Op. 27 no.4)
- ~~~ Interval ~~~
-
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)
Les Djinns (Op. 12) - L'absent (Op. 5 no.3)
Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
Deux Romances (L65)
- Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison (L139)
Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
Trois Chansons de Charles d'Orléans (L99)
-
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921)
Violons dans le soir -
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
Serenade to Music
Sophie Bevan
Sophie Bevan
Soprano
Sophie Bevan studied at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School where she was awarded the Queen Mother Rose Bowl Award. Her operatic roles include Polissena Radamisto, Yum Yum Mikado, Télaïre in Rameau’s Castor & Pollux, the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen and Ninetta La gazza ladra. Sophie made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as the Woodbird in Wagner’s Siegfried and returned as Pamina, Ilia, Susanna, Antigone Oedipe and Sophie in a new production of Der Rosenkavalier. She sang... Read Full Biography
Kitty Whately
Kitty Whately
Mezzo-soprano
Kitty Whately trained at Chetham’s School of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal College of Music International Opera School. She won both the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the 59th Royal Overseas League Award in the same year, and was part of the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy where she appeared as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Kitty was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013-15, during which time she recorded her debut solo album This Other Eden, made recordings w... Read Full Biography
James Gilchrist
James Gilchrist
Tenor
James Gilchrist began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time career in music in 1996. His musical interest was fired at a young age, singing first as a chorister in the choir of New College, Oxford, and later as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. James’ extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Bernard Labadie, Harry Christophers, Harry Bicket, Masaaki Suzuki and the late Richard H... Read Full Biography
Marcus Farnsworth
Marcus Farnsworth
Baritone
Marcus Farnsworth was awarded first prize in the 2009 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Song Prize at the 2011 Kathleen Ferrier Competition. He has appeared in recital at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, La Monnaie, Brussels with Julius Drake; on a UK tour of Schubert Winterreise with James Baillieu; for Leeds Lieder with Graham Johnson and at Opéra de Lille with Simon Lepper. He has appeared many times at the Wigmore Hall with Malcolm Martineau, Julius Drake and Graham Johnson, the Myrthen Ensemble and Joseph Middleton... Read Full Biography
Jonathan Stone
Jonathan Stone
Violinist
British violinist Jonathan Stone is an internationally acclaimed chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster and director. As soloist and chamber musician, highlights of this season include appearances at the Larzac, North Norfolk, Battle, Ironstone and Marryat Players chamber music festivals, as well as the Oxford Lieder Festival. In May 2019, he appears as a guest artist with the Nash Ensemble to record Fanny Mendelssohn’s string quartet, and in January 2020 he returns to Wigmore Hall as violinist of the Phoenix Piano Trio. Jonath... Read Full Biography
Sholto Kynoch
Sholto Kynoch
Pianist
Sholto Kynoch is a sought-after pianist who specialises in song and chamber music. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Oxford Lieder Festival, which won a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2015, cited for its ‘breadth, depth and audacity’ of programming. In July 2018, Sholto was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in the RAM Honours. Recent recitals have taken him to Wigmore Hall, Heidelberger Frühling in Germany, the Zeist International Lied Festival in Holland, the LIFE Victoria festi... Read Full Biography
Schola Cantorum of Oxford
Schola Cantorum of Oxford
Choir
Schola Cantorum of Oxford is one of the longest established and most widely known chamber choirs in the UK. Founded by conductor László Heltay in 1960 as Collegium Musicum Oxoniense, Schola Cantorum has worked with many highly respected musicians, including former patrons Sir Michael Tippett and Yehudi Menuhin, as well as Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Leonhardt, John Nelson, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Mark Elder, and Sir Neville Marriner. Schola Cantorum comprises around thirty singers, most of whom are students at Oxford University. ... Read Full Biography
Steven Grahl
Steven Grahl
Conductor
Steven Grahl is a sought-after conductor and keyboard player. He was appointed Director of Music at Peterborough Cathedral in September 2014, where he is responsible for directing the Cathedral Choir, and for the recently re-pitched Hill Organ. Prior to this, he spent seven years as Assistant Organist at New College, Oxford, accompanying the chapel choir in services, concerts, broadcasts, webcasts and recordings. In conjunction with this post, he held the position of Organist & Director of Music at St Marylebone Parish Church, London fro... Read Full BiographyHave you also considered...
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The Grand Tour – A European Journey in Song
The 17th Oxford Lieder Festival will celebrate a rich tapestry of music, words and performance in European song. Our Grand Tour of song will showcase the pinnacles of the repertoire while exploring wider cultural and geographical influences. International stars, prize-winning young artists and a wide range of concerts and other related events will take us on this beguiling journey. View the ...