Thursdays at St Stephen’s, now in its second year, is a series of vocal and chamber music concerts taking place in the beautiful Church of Saint Stephen, Gloucester Road, London, where T. S. Eliot was a churchwarden for many years.
The 2008-9 season promises to be an excellent one: the opening concert is given by the stunning young violinst Florence Cooke, renowned tenor James Gilchrist sings the world premiere of a new song cycle in January and some of the greatest Lieder and chamber music works are performed by brilliant young singers and instrumentalists; these include Kathleen Ferrier prize winners, Britten-Pears young artists and Opera Course students from the Royal Academy of Music the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
New commissions for the festival include works from four composers based in London: Joseph Atkins, Johnny Herford, Martin Eastwood and Graham Ross.
We hope that you will be able to come and support as many of these concerts as possible: price reductions of £1 per ticket are available for early booking! If you feel you are able to contribute more, financially, by helping out with publicity or assisting on the door, so that the series can continue and prosper, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
See you here!
2008-9 Concert Series
All concerts begin at 7.30pm and end by 9.15pm
Tickets are available on the door for £12 (£8 concessions), though discounts of £1 per ticket are available for tickets purchased more than 48 hours in advance i.e. £11 (£7 concessions).
You can order tickets now through the contact section.
Date: 16 October 2008 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): Florence Cooke (Violin), Daniel Tong (Piano)
The opening concert of the 2008-9 Thursdays at St Stephen’s series is given by this accomplished young duo. Florence Cooke was the Leverhulme fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 2006-7 and Daniel Tong is a member of the London Bridge Ensemble. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.
Date: 27 November 2008 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): Kate Symonds-Joy (Mezzo-soprano), Sophie Rivlin (Cello), William Vann (Piano)
This thrilling concert combines the works of three old masters with three new pieces written by young composers working in London. All the new works have been written especially for the occasion and will be world premieres. All three artists are distinguished graduates of the Royal Academy of Music. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.
Date: 15 January 2009 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): James Gilchrist (Tenor), Robert Rice (Baritone), Rebecca Hodgetts (Soprano), William Vann (Piano)
World-renowned tenor James Gilchrist sings the world premiere of Martin Eastwood’s stunning Erotic Fragments, settings of texts from the Song of Songs. He is joined by Robert Rice and Rebecca Hodgetts for a programme of English Song, including works by Dove, Finzi, Quilter and Walton. See Read More on the concerts page for reviews and the full programme. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.
Date: 19 February 2009 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): The Nephele Ensemble: Nicola Smedley (Flute), Samantha Wickramasinghe (Violin), tbc (Viola), Rebecca Hewes (Cello), William Vann (Piano)
Fresh from their St David’s Hall, Cardiff debut in September 2008, the Nephele Ensemble return to St Stephen’s after their stunning concert given in the last season. They kickstart a U.K. mini-tour with a programme that includes Elgar’s Violin Sonata Op. 82 and Brahms’s Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60. See Read More on the concerts page for the full programme. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.
Date: 27 March 2009 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): Caroline MacPhie (Soprano), Thomas Herford (Tenor), Julien Debreuil (Baritone), William Vann (Piano)
The distinctive Lieder and duets of two giants of German composition are performed by graduates and opera course students of the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama: a thrilling exploration of the metamorphosis from Classical to Romantic. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.
Date: 16 April 2009 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): Máire Flavin (Mezzo-soprano), Nicholas Morris (Baritone), William Vann (Piano)
Máire, Nicholas and Will, all members of Aldeburgh Music’s 2007 Strauss and Mahler Lieder course at Snape Maltings, are reunited for this recital of extraordinary music. Includes songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn and the Rückert-Lieder. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.
Date: 07 May 2009 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): Elizabeth Weisberg (Soprano), Kate Symonds-Joy (Mezzo-Soprano), Daniel Joy (Tenor), Philip Tebb (Baritone), William Vann (Piano), Joseph Ramadan (Piano)
Hugo Wolf’s song settings of the poet Eduard Mörike are almost certainly his most vivid - the echoes he found in Mörike’s writing of his own personal struggles brought out a string of Lieder that veer from madness to melancholy, with buckets of poetic and compositional humour. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.
Date: 04 June 2009 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): Celeste Gattai (Soprano), Gavin Roberts (Piano)
This fascinating exploration of songs by the South American composers Villa-Lobos, Mignone and Fernandez is given by Sao Paulo-born Celeste Gattai and Gavin Roberts, her accompanist. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.
Date: 26 June 2009 @ 7:30pm
Artist(s): Elizabeth Franklin-Kitchen (Soprano), Samuel Evans (Bass-baritone), William Vann (Piano)
The 48th Opus numbers of Strauss, Schumann, Grieg and Beethoven each refer to a superb set of songs, including perhaps the most stunning song cycle of all, Schumann’s Dichterliebe. All the artists were runners-up or finalists in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. See Read more for full details of the programme and ticketing.