A Journey of Life and Love – The Seven Ages of Man
including performances of the winning songs of the inaugural Shakespeare in Song Composition Competition
Thursday 19th November, 7pm
Hinde Street Methodist Church, London W1U 2QJ

Katie Bray – mezzo-soprano
Archie Inns – tenor
Nigel Foster – piano

The ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ forms the inspiration for this concert, which describes the journey of a human life; a journey that is, and perhaps always should be, motivated by imagination and longing. The programme, devised by Nigel Foster, features performances of the two prize-winning songs from the inaugural Shakespeare Song Writing Competition and Fischer Fund Prize, which was co-presented by Shakespeare in Music and The London Song Festival.  Alongside these, there will be songs by Britten, Elgar, Frank Bridge, Arthur Somervell, Finzi, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Bloch, Duparc, Nadia Boulanger, and others.

Katie Bray won the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the 2019 Cardiff Singer of the World and has since sung at the Oxford International Song Festival, the Glenarm Festival and the Ryedale Festival. She has sung leading roles for English National Opera, Irish National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, Grange Park Opera, Longborough Festival Opera and Opera Holland Park.
Archie Inns is a 2026 Oxford International Song Young Artist. He is also a Countess of Munster Recital Scheme Artist and winner of the Luxon Amit Folkestone-on-Song Bursary Award and Song Prize, the Mendl-Schrama Prize, the Oxford and Cambridge Club Music Prize, and the Dorothy Richardson English Song Prize. He is currently studying at the Royal College of Music.
Nigel Foster is the Director of the London Song Festival. His career as a collaborative pianist has taken him all over Europe, as well as in Asia (Japan, Malaysia), New Zealand and the Americas (USA, Colombia) as well as London’s Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre, Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Crush Room) and St John Smith Square. He has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM in the UK and on French, Welsh, and Greek television.