The Brel Song Academy
Our first musical visitors arrived on 1 July. The Brel Song Academy, under the direction of pianist Joe Middleton and soprano Amanda Roocroft put nine student musicians through their paces.
They gave a concert on Thursday 7 July.
Amanda Roocroft - soprano, Joseph Middleton - piano
Rose Johnson, Emily Beech - soprano, Hannah Bennett, Daisy Mitchell, Anne-Sofie Søby Jensen - mezzo soprano, Charles Cunliffe, Oscar Simms - baritone, Joseph Cavalli-Price & Daniel Peter Silcock - piano
Hannah Bennett
G. Mahler: from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 2: Ging heut’ Morgen übers Feld
C. Debussy: from Fêtes Galantes 1: Clair de Lune
Rose Johnson
C. Debussy: Beau soir
R. Strauss: Zueignung
Emily Beech
L. Larsen: from My Ántonia 1. Landscape, from the train
2. Ántonia
R. Strauss: Das Rosenband
Daisy Mitchell
R. Schumann: from Frauenliebe und -leben
I: Seit ich ihn gesehen
II: Er, der Herrlichste von allen
VI: Süsser Freund, du blickest
Oscar Simms
R. Strauss: Allerseelen
L. Laitman: No sad songs please
E. Grieg: Ein Traum
Anne-Sofie Søby Jensen
R. Strauss: Ruhe, meine Seele!
G. Mahler: Urlicht
Charles Cunliffe
J. Brahms: Alte Liebe
W. Charles: The Green-eyed Dragon
Keval Shah, Joseph Shiner and Harriet Burns
On 9 July pianist Keval Shah, clarinettist Joseph Shiner and soprano Harriet Burns arrived at Brel to work on some pieces together and they gave a concert on 14 July.
Harriet Burns (soprano), Joseph Shiner (clarinet), Keval Shah (piano)
Franz Schubert
Der Totengräbers Heimwehe D842 - Craigher
Das Zügenglöcklein D871 - Seidl
Nachthymne D687 - Novalis
Samuel Barber - Hermit Songs
At St. Patrick's Purgatory
Church Bell at Night
St. Ita's Vision
The Heavenly Banquet
Crucitixion
Sea-Snatch
Promiscuity
The Monk and His Cat
The Praises of God
The Desire for Hermitage
Franz Schubert - Sonata in D Major D384 (arr. Shiner)
Allegro Molto
Andante
Allegro vivace
Amy Beach - Two Browning Songs
Ah, love, but a day!
The Year's at the Spring
Franz Schubert
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965
Harriet Burns is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including 2nd prize at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. and the Concours Musical International de Montreal.Her collaborators include Graham Johnson, Imogen Cooper, Joseph Middleton and Malcolm Martineau. Future pertormances include Wigmore Hall, Luxembourg Philharmonie and International Lied Festival Zeist.
Joseph Shiner regularly appears at venues and festivals around the United Kingdom and internationally, with recent engagements at Wigmore Hall, Snape Maltings and Barbican Centre. His collaborators include James Baillieu, Bengt Forsberg, and the Allegri, Endellion and Barbican Quartets. In August, Joseph will commence a Doctoral Fellowship at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Keval Shah's recent engagements include recitals at Wigmore Hall, Heidelberger Frühling and OxfordLieder festivals. He is Head of Lieder at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. Future performances include recitals with Karita Mattila and Matthew Rose.
Maksim Stsura, Lea Valiulina and the Trio Kano
At the end of July we were delighted to welcome back pianist Maksim Stura from the Foyle Stsura Duo. Maksim is teaching at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and was joined by pianist Lea Valiulina as well as a young Finnish trio, Trio Kano who have been studying with him in Estonias.
They gave a concert at Brel on Thursday 4 August 2022
Maksim Stsura, Lea Valiulina (pianos) and Trio Kajo - Kaisu Tanskanen (clarinet), Hanna - Viola Miettinen (cello), Eemeli Solehmainen (piano)
Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963)
Excerpts from Ludus Tonalis, for piano
Jeanne - Louise Farrenc (1804 - 1875)
Trio for piano, clarinet, and cello, first movement
Andante - Allegro moderato
Carita Holmstromn (b 1954)
Dreams, for clarinet, cello, and piano
Gabriel Faure (1845 - 1924)
Piano Trio in D Minor, 1st movement, Allegro, ma non troppo
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Variations on a theme of Corelli, for piano
Gabriel Faure
Le jardin de Dolly, from the Dolly Suite for piano duet
Maksim Stsura is an Estonian pianist and educator dividing his time between London and Tallinn, and is part of the Foyle-Stsura violin and piano duo, who played at Brel in 2017
Lea Valiulina îs an award winning Estonian pianist currently working at the Estonian Academy as a collaborative pianist for the woodwind and brass faculties.
Trio Kajo was founded in 2020 by the Kaisu Tanskanen, Hanna-Viola Miettinen and Eemeli Solehmainen and is based in Finland and Estonia.
After his stay at Brel, Maksim met up with violinist Michael Foyle - the other half of the Foyle Stsura Duo to tackle the complete cycles of Beethoven sonatas in 3 concerts in Austria.
Ruisi String Quartet
The Ruisi String Quartet made a return visit to Brel in August and brought with them composer Oliver Leith. The Quartet had some major performances due later in the year and spent their time at Brel working on these future programmes. Oliver worked on the final touches of his new opera Last Days due for a world premiere in October in London.
Their concert at Brel was on Friday 12 August 2022
Alessandro Ruisi, Oliver Cave (violins), Luba Tunnicliffe (viola), Max Ruisi (violoncello)
Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809) - String Quartet in Major 76 No 5
Allegretto; Largo, cantabile e mesto: Menuetto, allegro: Finale, presto
Matthew Locke (d.1677)
Fantasie in F
Oliver Leith (b. 1990)
A different fantasie (after Locke)
Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) - String Quartet No 2
Allegro calmo, senza rigore: Vivace: Chacony, sostenuto
Winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society award for Young British String Players, the Ruisi Quartet has established a reputation as a charismatic and expressive ensemble. Founded in 2012 by half-Sicilian brothers Alessandro and Max, the quartet perform regularly throughout the UK and Europe. Highlights for the upcoming season include concerts in Florence and Perugia this September plus a performance at the Wigmore Hall in November, in which they will give the world premiere of a new work by Thomas Adés. 2023 will also see the commercial release of the Ruisi Quartet’s debut album, featuring works by Haydn, Locke, and Leith, including a new work commissioned for the group by Peter and Veronica Lofthouse. They will also appear on an album of French song alongside soprano Mary Bevan.
Oliver Leith (b.1990) is a British composer, currently composer in residence at the Royal Opera House, which will premiere his opera ‘Last Days’ in October. 2023 will also see premieres and performances of Oliver’s music by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the LA Philharmonic.
Fabien Hyon and Juliette Sabbah
French musicians Fabien Hyon (tenor) and Juliette Sabbah (piano) made a return visit to Brel to work on some new programmes that had been confirmed in their autumn and winter agendas. They gave a concert at Brel on Saturday 27 August 2022
Jules Massenet - Nuit d’Espagne
Richard Strauss - Du meines herzens Krönelein
Reynaldo Hahn - Néère (extrait des Études Latines)
Reynaldo Hahn - À Chloris
Jules Massenet - Instant charmant… En fermant les yeux (extrait de Manon)
Franz Schubert - Nachtstück
R. Wagner/F. Liszt - Romance à l’étoile (extrait de Tannhaüser) - transcription pour piano solo
Franz Schubert - Der Zwerg
Jules Massenet - Poème du souvenir (extraits)
Hugo Wolf - Gebet
Hugo Wolf - Wo find ich Trost
Reynaldo Hahn - L’énamourée
Richard Strauss - Geduld extrait des Lieder op. 10
After the Paris Conservatoire, Fabien Hyon was resident at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. He has performed Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Don José in Carmen and Énée in Didon et Énée, Fabien has been acclaimed in concerts with repertoire such as The Diary of One who disappeared (Janacek) and Das Lied von der Erde (Mahler). Together with Juliette Sabbah he has won the Grand Prix de la Mélodie Française in the Concours International de Toulouse.
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 been invited to be a vocal coach at the Opéra de Rennes (Red Waters) and the Opéra de Montpellier (Ariadne auf Naxos). This season, she will be performing recitals both at the Opéra de Lille and Opéra d’Avignon, and will coach Samson et Dalila at the Opéra d’Avignon and La Vie Parisienne at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège.
Opera at Brel - La Boheme
After the success of our first pocket opera performances of Semele in 2021 Graeme Danby agreed to put together a team of singers to perform Puccini’s La Boheme which was again directed by pianist Stephanie Gurga. They gave a concert of songs and two performances of La Boheme.are coming a little earlier this year and will put on two performances - on Friday 23 September and Saturday 24 September.
Songs at Brel
Thursday 22 September 2022
Camilla Jeppeson, Fae Evelyn Asher (sopranos), Valerie Reid (mezzo-soprano),
Andrew Gavin (tenor), Tom Asher, Ben Noble (baritone), Graeme Danby,
Fionn O hAlmhain (bass), Stephanie Gurga (piano)
Donizetti - from Lucia di Lammermoor - Regnava nel silenzio,
Handel - from Tamerlano - Ciel e terra
Schubert - Der Wanderer
Ireland - Sea Fever
Elgar - Sea Pictures: Sea slumber song/In Haven/Sabbath Morning at Sea/Where Corals lie/The Swimmer
Quilter - Now sleeps the Crimson Petal
Lehar - from The Merry Widow - Vilia
Offenbach - The Gendarmes
Flanders and Swann - The Ostrich
Tom Lehrer - The Hunting Song/I hold your hand in mine
Flanders and Swann - The Armadillo/Misalliance
La Boheme
Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October 2021
Camilla Jeppeson, Fae Evelyn Asher (sopranos), Valerie Reid (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Gavin (tenor), Tom Asher (baritone), Ben Noble (baritone), Fionn O hAlmhain, Graeme Danby (bass),
Stephanie Gurga (piano and musical director)
La Bohéme Acts 1 and 2
Interval
La Bohéme Acts 3 and 4
Cast
Mimi - Fae Evelyn Asher: Musetta - Camilla Jeppeson: Rodolfo - Andrew Gavin: Marcello - Tom Asher: Colline - Fionn O hAlmhain: Schaunard - Ben Noble: Benoit, Alcindoro, Male Chorus - Graeme Danby: Female Chorus - Valerie Reid
