On Sunday, November 7, the Oxford Lieder concert series presents James Atkinson, baritone, with Sholto Kynoch, piano at Fairlight Hall.
Our song series, in collaboration with Oxford Lieder, resumes with the outstanding young baritone James Atkinson. At Oxford Lieder’s online spring weekend in February 2021, The Times wrote of James: ‘This young man is still in his final year at the Royal College of Music, but so confident was his stage manner and command of Schubert’s music, that he proclaimed himself a natural lieder singer and linguist, savouring the words almost as idiomatically as a native German speaker, his lovely lyric baritone responding to the words with invigorating warmth. As a recitalist he is clearly a name to watch.’
FULL PROGRAMME
Robert Schumann: Liederkreis Op.39
Madeleine Dring: Three Shakespeare Songs
Maurice Ravel: Histoires Naturelles
James and Oxford Lieder’s artistic director Sholto Kynoch begin their programme with one of Schumann’s most popular song cycles -Liederkreis. In many ways, it is the epitome of the Romantic song cycle, full of love, longing and nature. They follow that with three settings of Shakespeare by the composer – and actor – Madeleine Dring. These wonderful songs are by turns exciting and poignant, with a film score feel as one might expect for a composer who also wrote for the theatre and screen. Their programme concludes with Maurice Ravel’s Histoires Naturelles, five colourful and joyously irreverent songs that deliver a brilliant commentary on familiar personalities, via the strutting peacock, the vain swan and the belligerent guinea fowl.
Tickets cost £15 and include coffee and cake. Gates open at 10:30am and the concert starts at 11am
About the Oxford Lieder festival
Oxford Lieder festival is the UK’s biggest and most renowned festival of classical song, and the recipient of a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society award. As well as presenting many of the world’s greatest musicians in Oxford each October, Oxford Lieder supports the very brightest artists of the new generation both at the festival and further afield throughout the year. Over the course of the year, Oxford Lieder’s artistic director – the pianist Sholto Kynoch – will introduce exceptional emerging professional singers to Fairlight Hall, in a range of programmes designed to appeal to all and to showcase brilliant young voices and glorious music. Sholto will give a spoken introduction to each programme, and there will be a chance to meet the artists informally over coffee after each of the performances.
Image Credits: Oxford Lieder concerts .