Patrons :
Philip Langridge CBE
Sarah Walker CBE
Yvonne Kenny AM
Graham Johnson OBE
Roger Vignoles

Artistic Director : Nigel Foster
Festival Administrator : Harry Lee

 


 NOVEMBER 4th - 25th 2008

ST JOHN SMITH SQUARE and ST GEORGE HANOVER SQUARE, LONDON

The London Song Festival, now in its second year, is dedicated to promoting the Song Repertoire, still under-valued and unappreciated in the vocal music world that is so dominated by opera.

The 2008 London Song Festival is devoted to Russian and English Song, exploring the musical and cultural links beween the two countries, a theme that is very prominent this year with the major exhibition of paintings from Russia at the Royal Academy. The seven concerts will contain performances of Russian texts set by English composers (Britten's Poet's Echo) and translations of British texts set by Russian composers including Shostakovich and Kabalevsky.

There is a fantastic lineup of singers, headed by the distinguished Russian baritone Sergei Leiferkus, and also including Roderick Williams, Katarina Javanovic, Stephan Loges, Katherine Broderick, Karin Thyselius, Giles Davies, Ilona Domnich and Howard Wong.

The 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) will be celebrated with performances of all his original solo voice and piano songs. The centenary of the death of Rimsky Korsakov (1844-1908) will also be marked with performances of his finest songs and song-cycles, many of them rarely heard outside Russia. A concert will be devoted to the life of Rachmaninov illustrated through his songs, presented by Michael White, voted 'least boring critic' by listeners of Classic FM.

The 2008 London Song Festival master-classes, for young singers and pianists, will be given by ROGER VIGNOLES. Auditions will be held in June and July, details to follow.

The 2007 programme may be downloaded as a PDF here.

Nigel Foster

   

The London Song Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of;

The Batty Charitable Trust
The Bryan Guinness Charitable Trust
The Charles Godwin Charitable Trust
The RVW Society
Mrs Marcia Elton
Dr R D Hawkins