Robert Murray and Christine Rice © Robert Murray/Patricia Taylor Photography
Robert Murray and Christine Rice © Robert Murray/Patricia Taylor Photography
(Sun 8 Oct 2023 3.00pm Little Missenden Church)
Robert Murray tenor Christine Rice mezzo-soprano Lucy Colquhoun, Matthew Fletcher piano
Revised Programme (as of 7 Oct)
Benjamin Britten Folk Songs (The trees they grow so high, At the mid-hour of night, The foggy, foggy dew and O waly, waly);
Canticle 1 (My Beloved is Mine);
Rebecca Clarke Three Songs (The Tiger, June Twilight, The Seal Man)
Leoš Janáček The Diary of One Who Disappeared
Programme Notes (also available free at concert)
Please note that Programme Notes and text below reflect the original programme.
Janáček wrote Diary of One Who Disappeared in 1919, based on verses published in a Brno newspaper a few years earlier which tell of a young village boy falling obsessively in love with a gypsy girl and leaving his family to run away with her. Its 22 sections are part dramatic song cycle and part miniature opera, mostly sung by the tenor, with mezzo and small offstage chorus contributing. An unorthodox, unclassifiable work – but one that shows the composer at his most overtly sensual, and almost certainly reflecting his obsession with the much younger Kamila Stösslová.
Phaedra, written in 1975, was Britten’s last solo vocal work. Cantata-like in form, with recitative and extended vocal passages, the libretto’s based on scenes from Racine’s Phèdre describing the queen’s passion for her stepson Hippolytus, his rejection of her, and her final suicide. Despite its relative brevity, it has all the drama and power of a mini-opera. Once heard, it’s not easily forgotten.
Between 1947 and 1974 Britten wrote five Canticles for performance by Peter Pears. The first, My Beloved is Mine, takes its lyrics from a poem by the metaphysical poet Francis Quarles, itself based on the Song of Solomon and – ostensibly – describing the poet’s ecstatic devotion to God.
Renowned for his intelligent musicianship and incisive dramatic portrayals of a broad operatic, concert, and recital repertoire, Robert Murray is firmly established as one of the most exciting musicians of his generation. He recently made his debut appearances at La Scala Milan, in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest, and at Theater an der Wien, as the title role in their new production of Handel’s Belshazzar. He also sang Essex in ENO’s Gloriana late last year and in June appeared at Garsington in Mozart’s Mitridate.
“a clear voice suffused with brightness, great diction, solid highs, pitching in at maximum expressivity with the most beautiful lilt” Bachtrack
intermusica.com/artist/Robert-Murray
Christine Rice is one of the country’s leading mezzo sopranos and was awarded an MBE in 2022. A regular performer at the major European opera houses including Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Frankfurt Opera, the Teatro Real, Madrid and ENO, she has built a reputation both as a singing actress and a Handelian of the highest order.
Christine Rice inhabits the role completely in a mesmerising performance that demands, and receives, our total attention; a tour de force…” Bachtrack
askonasholt.com/artists/christine-rice
Conductor, répétiteur and pianist Richard Hetherington is Head of Music at The Royal Opera. In demand as an accompanist, he’s performed with some of the world’s pre-eminent singers including Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Mark Padmore, Robert Tear, John Tomlinson, and Roderick Williams. His performances are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
“The performances are terrific. Rice’s Phaedra is powerhouse stuff, with Richard Hetherington urgently propelling Britten’s score forward” The Guardian
Concert sponsored by the Hedges Family in memory of their father and our former Chairman, Alan Hedges
Online booking is managed by TicketSource. This event may be booked from the Tickets link on this page but, when booking for multiple events, it may be more convenient to use our Little Missenden Festival page on TicketSource.
Sun 8 Oct 2023 3.00pm
Little Missenden Church
Online booking is managed by TicketSource. This event may be booked from the Tickets link on this page but, when booking for multiple events, it may be more convenient to use our Little Missenden Festival page on TicketSource.