Oxford Lieder Series: Café Bazar

Olivia Boen soprano
Sholto Kynoch piano

The Café Bazar in Salzburg was an extraordinary meeting place of composers and writers in the 1920s and was the launchpad for the International Society of Contemporary Music one hundred years ago. Today’s programme celebrates some of the most important figures from the early days of the ISCM, including Debussy, Strauss, Ethel Smyth, Manuel de Falla and others.

Bringing this glorious music to life is the soprano Olivia Boen, praised for her “full-bodied, sparkling tone” (ClevelandClassical.com). Olivia is a recent graduate of the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. This past season, she was a member of the Wigmore Hall French Song Exchange led by Dame Felicity Lott and François le Roux, covered Donna Anna at Nevill Holt Opera, and premiered at the London Song Festival in a recital of unknown works by Ivor Gurney. She was also a finalist in the 2021 Gold Medal Prize at the Guildhall School hosted by the Barbican.