Wednesday 5 March 2025
6pm
Milton Court Concert Hall
Graham Johnson's Song Guild
If my verses had wings
Graham Johnson director
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Milton Court
Eating is not permitted in the auditorium. Drinks are allowed inside the auditorium in polycarbonates.
Filming or recording of the performance is not permitted.
Latecomers will be able to enter the auditorium at a suitable break in the performance.
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Founded in 1880 by the City of London Corporation
Chair of the Board of Governors
The Hon. Emily Benn
Principal
Professor Jonathan Vaughan
Vice-Principal & Director of Music
Armin Zanner
If My Verses Had Wings:
Reynaldo Hahn at 150
Ona Černiauskaitė soprano
Maud Niklas soprano
Sholto Biscoe-Taylor tenor
Max Robbins tenor
Roei Shafrir countertenor
Max Catalano baritone
Zany Denyer piano
Alicia Hernández Huebra piano
Natalia Medina Levin piano
Julia Metzmacher piano
Hugh Rowlands piano
All works by Reynaldo Hahn unless otherwise noted:
JEUNESSE
Los Enamorados (piano solo)
Tango-habenera from Une Revue
Alicia Hernández Huebra piano
C’est à Paris (Albert Willemetz)
from the film La Dame aux camélias
Ona Černiauskaitė soprano
Zany Denyer piano
Gounod Maid of Athens (George Gordon Byron)
Max Robbins tenor
Zany Denyer piano
Si mes vers avaient des ailes (Victor Hugo)
Max Catalano baritone
Natalia Medina Levin piano
LES GRANDS POÈTES, LES GRANDS SALONS
Infidélité (Théophile Gautier)
Sholto Biscoe-Taylor tenor
Hugh Rowlands piano
Offrande (Paul Verlaine)
Roei Shafrir countertenor
Hugh Rowlands piano
L’Heure exquise (Verlaine)
from 7 Chansons Grises
Maud Niklas soprano
Natalia Medina Levin piano
En sourdine (Verlaine)
from 7 Chansons Grises
Max Catalano baritone
Zany Denyer piano
Chanson d’automne (Verlaine)
from 7 Chansons Grises
Ona Černiauskaitė soprano
Julia Metzmacher piano
Fêtes galantes (Verlaine)
Sholto Biscoe-Taylor tenor
Hugh Rowlands piano
UN REGRET IRRÉMÉDIABLE
La Délaissée (Augustine-Malvina Souville Blanchecotte)
Maud Niklas soprano
Alicia Hernández Huebra piano
Fauré Le Parfum impérissable (Leconte de Lisle)
Ona Černiauskaitė soprano
Zany Denyer piano
D’une Prison (Verlaine)
Max Robbins tenor
Natalia Medina Levin piano
Reprise: Los Enamorados (piano solo)
Tango-habenera from Une Revue
Alicia Hernández Huebra piano
INTERVAL
DE BEAUX VOYAGES
Nous avons fait un beau voyage (Flers and Croisset)
from Ciboulette
Ona Černiauskaitė soprano
Max Catalano baritone
Zany Denyer piano
Quand je fus pris au pavillon (Charles d’Orléans)
Maud Niklas soprano
Alicia Hernández Huebra piano
À Chloris (Théophile de Viau)
Max Catalano baritone
Natalia Medina Levin piano
Les Étoiles (Théodore Faullin de Banville)
from 12 Rondels
Ona Černiauskaitė soprano
Julia Metzmacher piano
Gardez le trait de la fenêtre (d’Orléans)
from 12 Rondels
Maud Niklas soprano
Roei Shafrir countertenor
Sholto Biscoe-Taylor tenor
Max Catalano baritone
Hugh Rowlands piano
Le Printemps (Banville)
from 12 Rondels
Maud Niklas soprano
Alicia Hernández Huebra piano
LONDRES:
The Swing (Robert Louis Stevenson)
from 5 Little Songs
Max Robbins tenor
Zany Denyer piano
ROME:
Tyndaris (Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle)
from Études latines
Roei Shafrir countertenor
Natalia Medina Levin piano
VENISE:
La Barcheta (Pietro Buratti)
from Venezia
Sholto Biscoe-Taylor tenor
Hugh Rowlands piano
APRÈS LE BAL
Ma Jeunesse (Elena Vacarescu)
Ona Černiauskaitė soprano
Julia Metzmacher piano
Air de la lettre (Sacha Guitry)
from Mozart
Ona Černiauskaitė soprano
Zany Denyer piano
Le Souvenir d’avoir chanté (Catulle Mendès)
Sholto Biscoe-Taylor tenor
Hugh Rowlands piano
La Dernière valse (Donnay and Duvernois)
from La Revue
Maud Niklas soprano
Ensemble
Alicia Hernández Huebra piano
The Paul Hamburger Prize for Voice and Piano
Paul Hamburger left Vienna in 1939 and came to England, making London his home until his death in 2004. His first marriage was to singer Esther Salaman and their children, Nina and Peter Hamburger, have made a generous donation to Guildhall School, which will commemorate their father’s name through a new annual prize for voice and piano duos.
Paul Hamburger joined the staff at Guildhall School in 1981, working with both singers and accompanists. His knowledge and understanding of the repertoire was legendary. He had been an opera coach for English National Opera and Glyndebourne, as well as being a staff pianist and then producer at the BBC. Young pianists borrowing music from the BBC library were advised to ask for Paul’s scores, and to take advantage of his meticulously notated fingering. His regular partners included Thomas Hemsley, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Laura Sarti & Janet Baker and, given his love of words and poetry, it was perhaps inevitable that Paul would become an expert in the song repertoire, delighting equally in French mélodies, German Lieder and English song.
Coachings with Paul demanded all your concentration, but also included a great deal of laughter. Every phrase would be studied to find its sense of direction, shown by the small arrows still to be found in many of Guildhall’s song collections, and a few well-chosen words from Paul could change your thinking about a song. But alongside the detailed work went constant encouragement and Paul’s reports, which seldom awarded any student less than 90, were a reflection of the genuine belief he had in all his students.
This will be the fourteenth year of the prize and it will be awarded to the best singer and pianist, not necessarily working together, in Graham Johnson’s Song Guild recitals.
Forthcoming Events
19 March 2025
Milton Court Concert Hall
This project explores some of the great composers and lyricists of the twentieth-century American Songbook like Berlin and Porter, alongside the work of their British counterparts such as Noel Gay, Noel Coward and Lionel Bart.
26 March 2025
Milton Court Concert Hall
Outstanding vocal students from Guildhall School present a captivating selection of opera scenes, with music direction by Alexander Ingram and stage direction by Guido Martin-Brandis.
08 May 2025
Barbican Hall
Join for Guildhall School's most prestigious music prize and see three exceptional soloists from the School’s Vocal and Opera departments perform with piano accompaniment and with Guildhall Symphony Orchestra.
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