Reason in madness
11 October 2026, 7:30pm - 9:15pm
Love drives people to distraction! This ingenious programme from the wondrous soprano Carolyn Sampson and her longtime duo partner Joseph Middleton shows just how far such powerful feelings can go. From the obsessive character of Gretchen, who is inexorably drawn to Faust despite the downfall his kiss will bring, to Shakespeare’s Ophelia, to Jean Cocteau’s Lady of Monte Carlo, this unmissable evening is full of extreme emotions, from passion to desire to despair. In the hands of two such esteemed artists, this is set to be a captivating and devastatingly powerful concert.
Programme
- Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
- Gretchen am Spinnrade (1814) D118
- Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
- Mädchenlied (1886) Op. 107 no.5 from Fünf Lieder
- Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)
- Die Spinnerin (1852) Op. 107 no.4 8.i.1852 from Sechs Gesänge
- Herzeleid (1851) Op. 107 no.1 21–23.i.1851 from Sechs Gesänge
- Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
- Ophelia-Lieder WoO 22
- Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)
- Drei Lieder der Ophelia (1918) Op. 67
- Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903)
- Mignon I (1889) no.5 from Goethe-Lieder
- Mignon II (1889) no.6 from Goethe-Lieder
- Mignon III (1889) no.7 from Goethe-Lieder
- Mignon (Kennst du das Land) (1891) from Goethe-Lieder
~~~ Interval ~~~
- Henri Duparc (1848 - 1933)
- Romance de Mignon (1869)
- Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950)
- Hymne à Astarté Op. 39 from Chansons de Bilitis
- Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
- Chansons de Bilitis (1897) 1897-1898
- Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950)
- Épitaphe de Bilitis Op. 39 from Chansons de Bilitis
- Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921)
- La mort d'Ophélie (1857) Op. 18 no.2
- Ernest Chausson (1855 - 1899)
- Chanson d'Ophélie (1910)
- Henri Duparc (1848 - 1933)
- Au pays où se fait la guerre (1877)
- Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963)
- La dame de Monte Carlo (1961) FP 180
