2009 Lieder Festival - Opening Concert (Berger / Hellier / Kynoch)

Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Songs by Mahler, Schumann, Brahms and Sinding

Supported by The Bishopsdown Trust

A collection of idealised folk poetry, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The youth’s magic horn”) was compiled and edited by the poets Clemens Brentano and and Achim von Arnem and was declared by Goethe to have “its place in every household”. Its beautiful texts have inspired hundreds of settings by many composers, with Mahler’s many songs perhaps the best known. Tonight we hear the set of 12 Mahler songs published in 1899 as “Humouresques”, as well as settings by Brahms, Schumann and the rarely-heard and unjustly-neglected Norwegian composer Christian Sinding.

Baritone William Berger last appeared at the Oxford Lieder Festival in an acclaimed performance of Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch in 2006. He has since sung at English National Opera and many other prestigious platforms the world over. Mezzo-soprano Rowan Hellier recently made her debuts with both Welsh National Opera and Glyndebourne Opera, and last year impressed the Oxford Lieder Festival when she stepped in for Lisa Milne at short notice. They are joined by Oxford Lieder’s artistic director Sholto Kynoch.

This promises to be an uplifting and inspiring start to the 2009 Oxford Lieder Festival.