Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin – James Baillieu, Julien Van Mellaerts, Christopher Purves – Opera in Music at Opera Holland Park, 2022

Opera in Music, curated by baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and pianist Dylan Perez, has returned to Opera Holland Park for the fourth season. Final month there was a masterclass for Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and a gala live performance to rejoice her eightieth birthday. This week there are three recitals on 18, 20 and 21 July. An thrilling programme options a mixture of new faces and returning figures. New are mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, baritone Benjamin Appl, soprano Harriet Burns and pianist Ian Burnside, returning are Julien Van Mellaerts, Dylan Perez and tenor Nicky Spence, together with this years crop of Opera Holland Park Younger Artists. The consequence does precisely what Julien Van Mellaerts and Dylan Perez supposed from the start, pairing established artists with up and coming expertise.

Thursday’s recital (18 July 2024) has the title Ballads and Legends and Julien Van Mellaerts sees it very a lot as an exploration of opera as track. Helen Charlston and Julien Van Mellaerts with Dylan Perez shall be performing music by Charles Stanford, Rebecca Clarke, Carl Loewe, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Paolo Tosti, together with Haydn’s dramatic scena, Arianna a Naxos. 

The night will characteristic the premiere of Oded Zehavi’s Songs of the Sea, a sequence of songs commissioned by Julien Van Mellaerts, with lyrics by the poets Invoice Manhire, Laura Attridge, and Claire Simon, respectively from New Zealand, Britain and France, referencing Julien Van Mellaerts three international locations of origin. Composer Oded Zehavi is from Tel Aviv, and the ocean is one thing that runs by Julien Van Mellaerts household. The cycle tells three totally different tales of the seas, presenting three very totally different variations of the ocean.

Saturday’s recital (20 July 2024) is an exploration of Frauenliebe und -Leben, with Benjamin Appl, Harriet Burns and Ian Tindale. The efficiency of Schumann’s song-cycle exploring a girl’s life and love (albeit written by a male poet and a male composer) shall be expanded and interleaved with songs by Franz Schubert, Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Liza Lehmann, Rebecca Clarke, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Nico Muhly and others that use the narrative to discover issues from a extra twenty first century viewpoint. 

On Sunday (21 July 2024) the ultimate recital options Nicky Spence and Dylan Perez internet hosting a Comedy and Cabaret recital with the Opera Holland Park Younger Artists that includes music by Stephen Sondheim, Tom Lehrer, Kurt Weill, Jonathan Dove, William Bolcom, Gilbert & Sullivan, Noel Coward, Victoria Wooden and extra.

With the introduction of a piano into the auditorium, bringing the singers and pianist nearer to the viewers, Julien Van Mellaerts finds this closeness to the viewers brings a shocking immediacy and intimacy to the performances.

The Opera in Music recitals at Opera Holland Park have proved fashionable previously, with their mixture of established artists and younger expertise. Julien Van Mellaerts and Dylan Perez hope that this yr’s fascinating combine will proceed that, interesting to an opera viewers with track repertoire.

Full particulars from the Opera Holland Park web site.