Christine Rice: Bathed in Golden Light

The luxurious sound-world of viola, mezzo-soprano and piano inspired two of Brahms’s greatest songs, and these are heard alongside three later songs for the same ensemble by Frank Bridge. Also included are songs and viola pieces by Rebecca Clarke, herself a virtuoso violist as well as a widely-admired composer. Haydn’s captivating and highly dramatic mini-cantata Arianna a Naxos completes the programme.

Christine Rice is an artist of ‘incredible intensity’ (The Guardian), who sings regularly at the Royal Opera House and other leading houses around the world. Festival favourite Julius Drake has been described by The New Yorker as the ‘collaborative pianist nonpareil’. They are joined by emerging star violist Timothy Ridout, hailed as ‘that rare kind of musician who could play a cardboard box and make it sing’ (The Guardian).