By Kieran Hadfield
Music and poetry unite and collide across centuries, from the Medieval to the Enlightenment to the present day. This year, the Oxford Lieder Festival will present a thrilling and innovative programme comprising more than 40 pre-recorded and live events from special and unusual venues across Oxford over a packed eight days. At the heart of the festival will be a series of high quality live-streamed concerts from world-class artists including Benjamin Appl, Ian Bostridge, Dame Sarah Connolly, and Roderick Williams for audiences to enjoy from the comfort of their own homes. Tickets will also give access to two further weeks of viewing as well as a host of fascinating and informative pre-concert resources.
The 19th year of the Oxford Lieder Festival promises to build on previous successes with Connections Across Time: A Brief History of Song; eight days of world-class music and poetry that will coax out links between Bach and Schubert, Dowland and Britten, and ranges from 14th-century songs by Guillaume de Machaut to freshly-minted works. Many of the perennial favourites of the song repertoire will naturally feature, with concerts devoted to Schubert, Schumann, Fauré and others. The diverse settings of poets will also be explored, looking at the reception of the great Persian poet Hafiz across centuries, and at Thomas Hardy’s approach to the passing of time.
Over the course of the Festival, many of the world’s leading artists will perform songs by the masters of the German Lied, as well as composers including Claudio Monteverdi, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Benjamin Britten. The concerts will be supported by additional events from a wealth and diversity of specialists who can draw connections between music, poetry, art, history, science, and geography. As well as masterclasses and live study events with musical illustrations, every concert will have a host of resources provided, from pre-recorded talks and interviews to curated playlists and listening notes, available to ticket holders from two weeks before the Festival.
Through the digital streaming of Connections Across Time, the Oxford Lieder Festival will continue to focus on presenting the highest quality of performances at affordable ticket prices. This year, a flexible range of prices will enable the Festival to offer individual concert tickets priced between £3 and £12. Festival Passes are priced at £90. Passes give access to all 40 of the Festival’s events, completely live and for two weeks after the Festival, as well as all associated resources; notes, translations, interviews, talks, and more.
The digital streaming of the Oxford Lieder Festival also allows for people to enjoy new experiences. A host of special study events include Francesca Leoni, Assistant Keeper and Curator of Islamic Art at the Ashmolean Museum, showcasing several objects from the Museum’s collection, adding another layer to the cultural backdrop of medieval Persia. There is also a virtual visit to the Bodleian Libraries which house one of two major collections of Felix Mendelssohn’s manuscripts, the other being in Berlin. Martin Holmes, Alfred Brendel Curator of Music at the Bodleian, introduces some of these important scores, letters, and paintings, and tells the story of how they ended up in Oxford.
A wider than ever range of venues are being used for this year’s events, meaning that the Festival truly inhabits the city. Oxford and its many wonderful venues are an integral part of the Festival and will remain so. In addition to the usual range of venues at the Festival, this year’s events will take audiences into some stunning spaces that would not usually be accessible. A combination of the intimate art form of Lieder, these magical places, and carefully crafted filming will create a different but special atmosphere and keep the Festival rooted in the fabric of the city. Venues include Merton College Chapel, Trinity College, Broughton Castle, the Holywell Music Room (Europe’s oldest concert hall), the Botanic Garden, the Bodleian Library and the Natural History and Ashmolean Museums.
Some of the artists coming to Oxford to perform this year include Dame Sarah Connolly and Eugene Asti who will give the opening recital on Saturday 10 October. Other world-leading singers appearing at the Festival include Ian Bostridge (11 and 14 Oct), Roderick Williams (16 Oct), Carolyn Sampson (13 Oct), Lucy Crowe (12 Oct), Christoph Prégardien (17 Oct), Benjamin Appl (14 Oct), James Gilchrist (13 Oct) and Kitty Whateley (15 Oct).
Emerging stars performing include the outstanding bass William Thomas, who is already being hailed as one of the bright stars of the song world, and who won the 2018 Kathleen Ferrier Award. Every evening recital this year will begin with Schubert songs performed by singers who have arguably been hardest hit by the current crisis: artists who are already forging careers but not yet at a stage where they can view current circumstances as only a temporary setback.
A lunchtime series at the Holywell Music Room includes concerts of Austrian, English and American songs. Chamber music will be performed by The Hermes Experiment and The Orlando Consort.
Sholto Kynoch, Artistic Director of Oxford Lieder Festival, said: “There was never any doubt in my mind that we needed to proceed with a Festival this year, and I was eager to explore and exploit the opportunities to be found in an online format. With this bold undertaking, we can continue to champion song and engage our audience, and we can ensure vital work for our wonderful artists at an otherwise uncertain time. I’m excited by the creative possibilities that are opened up, and especially by the possibility of reaching a new audience both nationally and internationally.
I am delighted that such an amazing array of artists are involved in this unique eight days of exuberant, spine-tingling music and poetry. Our theme this year offers a rich array of possibilities and our fantastically wide-ranging additional resources are designed to give audiences a genuine insight into the music and poetry we will be showcasing from across many centuries and countries.
This year’s opening night concert in the intimate surroundings of Oxford’s Holywell Music Room launches a star-studded season, during which performances take place all over the city. Online music making can never replace in-person attendance at concerts and the unique buzz that it brings, but we are planning with confidence and are focussed on the strengths of being online. And of course, we are already looking ahead to next year and our 20th anniversary, by which time I’m sure we will all be back together, and the celebration will be all the greater.”
Book tickets online at www.oxfordlieder.co.uk or phone the Box Office on 01865 591276.