Our summer season at Brel had started to be planned when lockdown arrived. We had four or 5 groups pencilled in but once we were locked down we waited to see what would happen. We just did not know whether travel would be allowed, groups would be allowed or indeed whether any possibly musicians would find paid work which would be more attractive after months of not working.
In the end we’ve had two groups - the other groups couldn’t make it. We checked rules and regulations and things are more relaxed for a private house and a private concert. We checked with our audience. While some people admitted that they weren’t going out at all for the time being, others got excited about the possibllity of a concert but asked that everyone should wear masks. We socially distanced the chairs and thought that we could accommodate around 60 - half our normal maximum.
Our audience, spaced out for social distancing and masked.
Keval Shah, Bethan Langford, Joe Shiner and Piran Legg
Bethan Langford (mezzo soprano), Piran Legg (baritone), Joseph Shiner (clarinet), Keval Shah (piano)
Mezzo-soprano Bethan Langford is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio, and made her solo recital debut at Wigmore Hall in March 2020. She has sung roles at the Royal Opera House, and at Verbier and Glyndebourne. Future engagements include English National Opera and the Edinburgh International Festival.
Piran Legg is a bass-baritone from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama: he has performed in concert and opera around the UK and abroad. As a soloist, Piran has performed with Scottish Opera, at Garsington and with the London Symphony Orchestra. Alongside his performance schedule, Piran runs a vocal studio from his home in Shropshire.
Joseph Shiner is an award-winning clarinettist, active in recital internationally. He has given recitals at venues including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Barbican Centre and KKL Luzern, with artists including the Allegri Quartet, Sholto Kynoch, Keval Shah, and Somi Kim. His debut disc of Brahms’ complete clarinet chamber music was released to critical acclaim in 2019, and he looks forward to recording his second CD this autumn.
Keval Shah is a pianist specialising in song accompaniment and chamber music. He is head of Lieder at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and performs regularly at major concert halls and festivals across Europe. Recent highlights include recitals at Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival and the Heidelberger Frühling. Keval studied at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, graduating from both institutions with distinction.
The musicians gave a first concert at Brel on Sunday 2 August 2020
First Encounters Paul Jeanjean
Clair matin Franz Schubert
An Sylvia Olivier Messiaen
Vocalise-Étude W. A. Mozart
Requited Love Cecile Chaminade
Viens, mon bien-aimé! Maurice Ravel
Pièce en forme de Habañera Arr. Hamilton Harty
My Lagan Love Gabriel Fauré
Clair de lune Johannes Brahms
Heartbreak and Remembrance arr. Benjamin Britten
The trees they grow so high Tom Bowling
Let it be forgotten George Crumb
Wind Elegy Franz Schubert
A second concert was held at Brel on Monday 3 August 2020
From Arianna a Naxos - Joseph Haydn Recitativo: Teseo, mio ben!…Aria: Dove sei, mio bel tesoro Recitativo: Ma, a chi parlo? Aria: Ah, che morir vorrei… Misera abbandonata
Sea Fever - John Ireland
Tom Bowling - arr. Benjamin Britten
O Waly Waly - arr. Benjamin Britten
The trees they grow so high - arr. Benjamin Britten
My Lagan Love - arr. Hamilton Harty
Sonata for clarinet and piano - Francis Poulenc Allegro tristamente/Romanza/Allegro con fuoco
Juliette Sabbah and Fabien Hyon
Fabien Hyon (tenor), Juliette Sabbah (piano)
After the Paris Conservatoire, Fabien Hyon was resident at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. He has performed in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Chorégies d'Orange, Wigmore Hall and Snape Maltings. He will soon make his debuts as Dickson in Boieldieu's La Dame Blanche on tour in many opera houses in France, and Normanno in Donizetti's Lucia di Lamermoor at Angers-Nantes Opéra.
Pianist and vocal coach Juliette Sabbah graduated from the Royal Academy of Music. A laureate of the Oxford Lieder Mastercourse and the Fondation Royaumont, she has performed at the Limoges Opéra, the Abbaye de Royaumont, and Salle Wagram. She has been the vocal coach for Pelléas et Mélisande, Die Zauberflöte, and Le Nozze di Figaro. This season, she will be working with the Orchestre Régional de Normandie on Philip Glass's La Belle et la Bête at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris. Fabien and Juliette will be recording their first CD with the program Paris Vagabond in collaboration with the label Passavant in September 2020.
Juliette and Fabien gave two concerts at Brel on Saturday 29 August 2020 and Monday 31 August 2020
Paris Vagabonde Joseph Kosma - Chanson de la Seine /Le Cancre (Jacques Prévert)
Reynaldo Hahn - Le marchand de marrons
Francis Poulenc - Ce doux petit visage (Paul Éluard)
Kosma - Chasse à l’enfant (Prévert)/Les enfants qui s'aiment (Prévert)/Jardin (Prévert)/ Paris at night (Prévert)
Albert Roussel - Jazz dans la nuit
Poulenc - Banalités (Guillaume Apollinaire)
Hahn - Encore sur le pavé
Kosma - À la belle étoile (Prévert)
Poulenc - Cinq poèmes de Paul Éluard
Kosma - La Grasse matinée (Prévert)
Déodat de Séverac - Le ciel est par-dessus le toit Kosma - Les oiseaux du soucis (Prévert) - Compagnons des mauvais jours (Prévert)