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Opening Night: A Serenade to Music

12 October 2018, 19:30

Concert

Evening

Thumbnail of Town Hall

Town Hall

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.

View Programme
Artist Portrait

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
Artist Portrait

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... Read Full Biography
Artist Portrait

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 Richar... Read Full Biography
Artist Portrait

Marcus Farnsworth

Marcus Farnsworth

Bass

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 Middleto... Read Full Biography
Artist Portrait

Jonathan Stone

Jonathan Stone

Violinist

Violinist Jonathan Stone is an internationally acclaimed chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster and director. His love of music has taken him across the world to great concert halls such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Musikverein, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Hamburg Laeiszhalle and, closer to home, regular performances at Wigmore Hall. He has collaborated with artists including John Adams, Nicolas Altstaedt, Jonathan Biss, Andreas Haefliger, Chen Halevi, Alina Ibragimova, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Richard Lester,... Read Full Biography
Artist Portrait

Sholto Kynoch

Sholto Kynoch

Pianist

Sholto Kynoch is a sought-after pianist who specialises in chamber music and song accompaniment. In addition to a busy performance schedule and a fast-growing discography, he is the founder and director of the Oxford Lieder Festival, the UK’s most renowned song festival, which recently won a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award. In recent years he has appeared at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Berliner Konzerthaus, the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, the Opéra de Lille... Read Full Biography
Artist Portrait

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
Artist Portrait

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 Biography
View Programme

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