Online-Oxford Lieder Festival:The West-Eastern Divan: Ian Bostridge/Julius Drake

We are thrilled that Ian Bostridge, one of the world’s foremost tenors, will be our artist in residence this year, giving two concerts, an interview and a masterclass. Tonight, he appears with long-standing duo partner and accompanist-par-excellence Julius Drake in a programme that builds on today’s exploration of Hafez and his influence on later song composers. They include the Eastern-inspired poetry of Friedrich Rückert in songs by Schubert and Mahler, and selections of Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan set by Hugo Wolf. They also perform selections of Hans Werner Henze’s Songs from the Arabian, a masterpiece of the modern song repertoire, written for Ian Bostridge in 1996.

Emerging artist: Fleur Barron
Every evening recital this year will begin with 15 minutes of 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 a temporary setback. Tonight, we hear the exceptional mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, described by the Boston Globe as a ‘charismatic star’ and by the Times as a ‘knockout performer’.

Q&A
After a short break at the end of the concert, there will be a Q&A with the artists. Please email any questions you have during the interval or at the end of the concert (songconnections@oxfordlieder.co.uk) or post them on social media (#OLF2020), and the artists will answer as many as time allows.

This concert will be streamed completely live from the Holywell Music Room. Shortly afterwards, it will also be available to watch again (using the same ticket and link) until 1 November 2020. Click here for further information on how tickets will work this year.