Wigmore Hall presents

Imogen & Gustav Holst

Elizabeth Watts soprano; Julius Drake piano

The leading soprano and her collaborative pianist partner focus on two composers — father and daughter — with the accent on the latter, whose realisations of works by Baroque predecessors complement her own compositions and some folksong arrangements made in 1938 but previously unperformed.

Elizabeth Watts, soprano

With a voice described by International Record Review as “one of the most beautiful Britain has produced in a generation” Elizabeth Watts is “now established as one of Britain’s leading sopranos” (The Guardian). Her debut recording of Schubert Lieder for  SONY Red Seal, a Gramophone magazine’s ‘Editor’s Choice’, was hailed for its “milky timbre & interpretative maturity” (FT) “technical mastery” (Gramophone) and “radiant delivery” (BBC Music).  Elizabeth was made an honorary Doctor of Music by Sheffield University in 2013 and a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 2017.

Julius Drake, piano

The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. The New Yorker has described him as the “collaborative pianist nonpareil”. He appears regularly at all the major music centres and festivals: the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich, Schubertiade, and Salzburg Music Festivals; Carnegie Halland Lincoln Center New York; The Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and Philharmonie, Berlin; the Châteletand Musée du Louvre Paris; La Scala, Milan and Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid; Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Vienna; and Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms London. Director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000 -2003, Julius Drake was also musical director of Deborah Warner’s staging of Janáček’s Diary of One Who Vanished, touring to Munich, London, Dublin, Amsterdam and New York. Since 2009 he has been Artistic Director of the Machynlleth Festival in Wales.

Julius Drake holds a Professorship at Graz University for Music and the Performing Arts in Austria, where he has a class for song pianists, and is Professor of collaborative piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He is regularly invited to give master classes worldwide; recently in Aldeburgh, Brussels, Utrecht, Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Vienna, and at the Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien.

Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Calm is the morn Op. 16 No. 1
Persephone Op. 48 No. 1
Betelgeuse Op. 48 No. 12
The heart worships
The Floral Bandit Op. 48 No. 6

Imogen Holst (1907-1984)
Weathers
4 Songs from Tottel’s MiscellanyShall I thus ever long
As lawrell leaves
10 Appalachian Folk SongsMy dearest dear (world première)
The brisk young lover (world première)
I must and I will get married (world première)

Gustav Holst
Hymns from the Rig Veda Op. 24

Monday, January 3, 2022
Live stream starts at 8:00am EST
The video will be available on demand for 30 days after the date of the broadcast.

To enjoy this concert visit: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk

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