The memory of a season
23 October 2026, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Louise Alder is one of today’s most exciting sopranos. The Times wrote that ‘she has such a glorious bloom on her soprano voice that you’d think she could simply sing open the gates of heaven’. With pianist Joseph Middleton, she returns to the Festival with a programme that explores the passing of the year, including Helen Grime’s Seasons, written for Louise and Joseph in 2025, and songs of spring, summer, autumn and winter by Schubert, Sibelius, Chaminade, Puccini and others.
Programme
- Reynaldo Hahn (1873 - 1947)
- Le printemps
- Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907)
- Gruss from Sechs Lieder (Six Songs)
- Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903)
- Frühling übers Jahr (1891) from Goethe-Lieder
- Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924)
- La primavera
- Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903)
- Er ist's (1888) no.6 from Mörike-Lieder
*****
- Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)
- Blauer Sommer (1895) Op. 31 no.1
- Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924)
- Sole e amore (1888)
- Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)
- Sommertage (1907) from Sieben frühe Lieder
- Cécile Chaminade (1857 - 1944)
- L'été (Ah, chantez, chantez) (1894)
*****
- Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
- Herbst (1828) D945
- Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)
- Im Zimmer (1907) from Sieben frühe Lieder
- Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)
- Im Herbste (1828) vi–vii.1828 from 11 songs
- Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992)
- Pourquoi? (1930) from Trois Mélodies
- Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
- Les roses (1881) L13
*****
- Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957)
- Våren flyktar hastigt (1891) Op. 13 no.4
- Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)
- Schneeglöckchen (1849) Op. 79 no.27 21.iv–13.v.1849 from Lieder-Album für die Jugend
- Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)
- Weihnachtsgefühl
- Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963)
- Nous voulons une petite sœur from Quatre chansons pour enfants
