Welcome to our 2016-17 Season!
Amongst these events you will find a veritable selection of treats to tempt you along to join the warm, inquisitive and knowledgable audiences at Leeds Lieder as we share together some of the most remarkable poetry and music written. Some of the greatest Lieder singers have been programmed, many making rare appearances in the North of England.
Buoyed up by the success of the 2016 Festival (ticket sales were up 36% on 2013 and the critical reception was nothing short of glowing) we have decided to make the Leeds Lieder Festival an annual event, which this year will take place on 21st-23rd April 2017. To complement the Festival we are thrilled to present another rich series of recitals.
Following on from our exploration of the songs of Strauss last year, this season we turn to Mahler and place his works alongside those of his contemporaries. Ruby Hughes and Jennifer Johnston will be familiar to audiences who tune in to Radio 3 as two of the brightest talents to emerge from the UK in recent years. Thanks to the support of the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, it is with great pleasure that we will also bring two recent winners of the competition, Gemma Lois Summerfield and James Newby, to Leeds for the final concert in this series. This series will be recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast at a later date.
Our successful partnerships with the Howard Assembly Room, Leeds University, Leeds International Concert Series and Leeds College of Music have allowed us to invite legends of the song world to the region. Recitals by Ian Bostridge, Sarah Connolly, Anne Schwanewilms and Malcolm Martineau are red-letter days amongst song aficionados and I’m delighted that they have found space in their diaries share their love of this repertoire with us. As in previous seasons we offer pre-concert talks, masterclasses for students and great deals for young people wanting to experience the visceral thrill of live music. I hope you’ll join us to celebrate this remarkable art-form.
Joseph Middleton – Director