Curated by Julien Van Mellaerts and Dylan Perez, the Opera in Song series returns with an expanded programme of six recitals to include a portrait of Carmen in song, a celebration of female composers and librettists, a survey of classic and classical American songs, and three programmes of Schubert song cycles given fresh contexts in poetry and music. Artists include Lauren Fagan, James Baillieu, Rihab Chaieb, Francesca Chiejina, Kunal Lahiry, Simon Lepper, Gary Matthewman, Ema Nikolovska, Ella O’Neill, Alex Otterburn and Roderick Williams.
Opera in Song
Carmen in Song
Tuesday 28 June, 7.30pm
Rihab Chaieb will now be stepping in for Adèle Charvet at our Carmen in Song recital which kicks off our Opera in Song series on Tuesday 28 June alongside baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and pianist, Simon Lepper. They will retell the story of Carmen through the music of Bizet, Ravel, Poulenc, Granados, Ginastera, and traditional Arabic Song.
Fresh off the stages of The Metropolitan Opera, New York, Tunisian/Canadian mezzo-soprano, Rihab Chaieb was a a former Lindemann Programme Young Artist at the Met and a prize winner at some of the most prestigious competitions around the world, we are incredibly excited to have Rihab with us.
Unsung Heroines
Wednesday 29 June, 7.30pm
Soprano Lauren Fagan, the Opera Holland Park Young Artists and pianist Gary Matthewman celebrate the work of female composers including Clara Schumann, Ilse Weber, Stefania Turkewich and Graciane Finzi. The recital will be held in support of Solace Women’s Aid.
We’re Solace. For more than 45 years we’ve supported women and children in London to build safe and strong lives. Futures free from male abuse and violence. We know that women across London are experiencing domestic and sexual violence right now. Whatever form violence comes in, from rape and trafficking to relationships based on psychological or financial control, we work to end it. But we know escaping violence can be the hardest thing to ever do. That’s why it’s so important we’re here. We find creative and innovative ways to support over 23,000 women and children each year. Stand with us to end violence and abuse now.
America in Song
Sunday 3 July, 7.30pm
Soprano Francesca Chiejina, mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately, tenor Frederick Jones, baritone Alex Otterburn and pianist Dylan Perez explore American song from art song to Broadway.
Schubertiade
Winter Journey
1 July, 7.30pm
Baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Ella O’Neill perform Winterreise in Jeremy Sams’s English translation, Winter Journey.
Die schöne Müllerin
2 July, 7.30pm
As part of the Schubertiade recitals, British baritone, Christopher Purves will be joining Julien Van Mellaerts and James Baillieu as the speaker to present the three great Schubert cycles, Die schöne Müllerin as Müllerin wrote it, including the prologue, epilogue and additional poems that Schubert did not set to music, in a fantastic modern English translation by Bryan Benner.
The miller-lad’s story is simple. A boy leaves home for the first time, seeks work at a mill, falls in love with the muller’s daughter, until it unravels when a huntsman arrives ending in suicide.
The story is as relevant now as it was then. In a fresh look from both the protagonist and speaker, we see two versions of the same story. One finds a way out, the other does not.
Schwanengesang and Errollyn Wallen
3 July, 3pm
BBC New Generation Artists Ema Nikolovska and Kunal Lahiry present Schwanengesang alongside the world premiere of The Lake, composed by Errollyn Wallen as a reflection and response to Schubert’s final collection of songs.
