Patrons : Sarah Walker CBE, Yvonne Kenny AM, Graham Johnson OBE, Roger Vignoles, Sir Vernon Ellis
Artistic Director : Nigel Foster
The London Song Festival is a registered charity number 1120046
The London Song Festival was founded in 2007 by the pianist Nigel Foster. It is dedicated to promoting the
The London Song Festival has three
principal aims and ambitions:
1) To ‘fly the flag’ for the Song repertoire.
Song is still the Cinderella of the vocal music world and the London Song Festival seeks to follow in the
footsteps of pianists Graham Johnson and Roger Vignoles (both Patrons of the
Festival) in bringing this fantastic art form with its unique blending of music
and poetry to an ever-wider audience. Each year the Festival takes a different
them and uses exciting and innovative programming
that combines rare and well-known material to present the repertoire in new and
accessible ways.
2) The London Song Festival also acts as a major showcase for young singers, giving them a platform at the beginning of their careers and encouraging them to explore and perform the highways and byways of the Song repertoire. Singers who have performed at the Festival include Marcus Farnsworth (Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and Kathleen Ferrier Song Prize), Anna Devin (Maggie Teyte Prize and a Jette Parker Young Artist), Benedict Nelson, (a Samling Scholar, protégé of Sir Thomas Allen and Best Newcomer’ in The Daily Telegraph’s Opera Highlights of 2009), Jonathan Sells (Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize), Elizabeth Llewellyn, Nicky Spence, Sara Gonzales and many others.
The London Song Festival gives audiences an opportunity to hear not only these very exciting young up-and-coming singers, but also internationally known artists, at low ticket prices and in the intimate setting of a small scale venue, generally the church of St George Hanover Square, rather than the large impersonal spaces of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden or English National Opera, where they normally perform. Singers in this category have included Roderick Williams, Sergei Leiferkus, Louise Winter and James Gilchrist
3) The educational part of the London Song Festival takes the form of master-classes. These have been given by Ann Murray, Sarah Walker, Roger Vignoles and Loise Winter. Singers are selected by audition to take part in one of two classes: a junior class for GCSE and A-Level students and a senior class for those at music college level.
______________________________The 2012 Festival_________________________________
Singers taking part in the 2012 Festival include international
names such as Yvonne Kenny and Roderick Williams, together with the cream of
young singers working in the UK today including Ruby Hughes who has been
appointed a New Generation Artist for BBC Radio 3 for 2012/13, Anna Devin who
has already sung Papageno (Die Zauberflote) and Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) at
Covent Garden and is taking time off from singing Susanna (La Nozze di Figaro)
there to take part in the Festival, Jonathan McGovern winner of the Royal
Overseas League Competiton 2010 and described as “an instantly winning and
communicative personality” by Rupert Christiansen in The Daily Telegraph, Maire
Flavin the young Irish mezzo who made such an impression in the Song Prize at
Cardiff Singer of the World 2011, and Andrew Glover an exciting young New
Zealand tenor.
Highlights include:
A performance of Debussy’s complete Vasnier Songbook, including
some unpublished material. Debussy wrote these songs for the married soprano
Marie-Blanche Vasnier with whom he had an affair from 1880 to 1887.
A celebration of the life and work of Frederick Delius, putting
his songs into the context of his times and the work of his friends and
colleagues.
Songs by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an Anglo-African composer who
died in 1912 aged 37, having fought racism, found fame as the composer of
Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, and since sunk into unjustified neglect.
The songs of John Ireland including 'Land of Lost Content' and
'Songs of a Wayfarer'
The continuation of the London Song Festival’s tradition of
uncovering many unknown gems of the Song repertoire with undiscovered delights
by composers including Arnold Bax, Granville Bantock and C W Orr.
A concert of English and American comedy songs.
The 2012 London Song Festival Masterclasses
will be taken by Simon Keenlyside.
All the concerts and master-classes will take place at the Church of St Paul Covent Garden (The Actors’ Church) London WC2E 8NA. Tickets at £15 and £10 on sale from May from www.seetickets.com or by phone on 0871 220 0260.
The London Song Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of the following:Association of English Singers and Speakers
