Wildflower Songbook: Anna Stéphany & Sholto Kynoch

Anna Stéphany mezzo-soprano
Sholto Kynoch piano

Tonight's commission is generously supported by The Nicholas John Trust

Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany joins Festival director Sholto Kynoch for the world premiere of a new work by Rhian Samuel: a cycle of songs entitled Wildflower Songbook, setting poems by Anne Stevenson, who will introduce the cycle with a reading of her poetry earlier in the day. Also included in the programme are Haydn's cantata Arianna a Naxos, settings of mythological poems by Schubert, and works by Fauré, Gounod, Head and Sibelius. 

PROGRAMME:

Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809)

Arianna a Naxos (anon.)

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren (Johann Mayrhofer: 1787-1836)
Fragment aus dem Aeschylus (Johann Mayrhofer)
Memnon (Johann Mayrhofer)
Der Musensohn (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:1749-1832)

INTERVAL    

Rhian Samuel (b.1944)

A Wildflower Songbook (Anne Stevenson: b.1933)
A world premiere, commissioned by Oxford Lieder with the generous support of The Nicholas John Trust

1. Naming the flowers
2. Rosebay Ballad
3. Digitalis

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Svarta rosor (‘Black roses’), Op. 36, no. 1 (Ernst Josephson: 1851-1906)
Marssnön (‘March snow’), Op. 36, no. 5 (Josef Julius Wecksell: 1838-1907)
Demanten på marssnön (‘The diamond on the March snow’), Op. 36, no. 6 (Josef Julius Wecksell)

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Envoi de fleur (Émile Augier: 1820-1889)

Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)

Les Papillons (Théophile Gautier: 1811-1872)

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Le Papillon et la fleur (Victor Hugo: 1802-1885)

Michael Head (1900-1976)

Foxgloves (Mary Webb: 1881-1927)
Sweet chance (William Henry Davies: 1871-1940)