Ian Bostridge comes to LIFE Victoria for the first time, together with Julius Drake, with a recital dedicated to dreams of peace and freedom.
The London tenor Ian Bostridge arrives tomorrow, October 14 at 8:00 PM, at LIFE Victoria for his eagerly awaited debut in the Lied series, accompanied by the renowned pianist Julius Drake. Together they will offer a recital entitled Somnis de pau i llibertat, dedicated to Schubert’s Lieder in the first half, and to The Holy Sonnets of John Donne by Britten in the second. The event will take place at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site.
The well-established duo formed by Bostridge and Drake has offered memorable recitals and landmark recordings. Now, the English artists come to Barcelona’s Lied series to present a programme that anticipates the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death—of whom Bostridge is a leading specialist—and they will perform the cycle The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, composed in 1945 by Britten after witnessing the horrors of the Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. The cycle, centred on death, sin and redemption, was premiered by Peter Pears, Britten’s partner, that same year at London’s Wigmore Hall, and today, 80 years later, it will be heard at LIFE Victoria at a historic moment that invites us to remember the horrors of the past so as not to repeat them in the present.
The recital is completed with a first half devoted to the Lieder of Franz Schubert, which maintain the same atmosphere of introspection and reflection as the sonnets, and which revolve around dreams of peace and freedom.
The evening will open with the now customary presentation of two young talents from the LIFE New Artists programme, who on this occasion will be the soprano Iris Miralles and the pianist Claudia González.
Coinciding with his visit to Barcelona, Ian Bostridge will present today, October 13 at 7:00 PM, his book Think and Sing: Reflections of a Singer on Music and Performance (Acantilado) at Llibreria Finestres in Barcelona, a volume that offers reflections arising from music and in which he analyses Benjamin Britten’s meditations on death. The author will discuss the book with the music critic Jordi Maddaleno.