&Piano 2024 Song | Shakespeare to Simon Armitage

Featuring:

• Madeleine Dring - Seven Shakespeare Songs
• Madeleine Dring - Five Betjeman Songs
• Madeleine Dring - Four Night Songs
• Alice Beckwith - Five Armitage Songs (world première - a new commission by &Piano)

We finish &Piano 2024 and our celebration of the music of Madeleine Dring by exploring a selection of some of the songs she wrote. Heavily inspired and influenced by variety shows, cabaret and musical theatre, her songs are lively, witty, jazzy and playful - and many still continue to be performed and sung by singers today.

Inspired by this popular collection, and our mission to support a distinctly Northern identity for Classical music, we’re really excited to present the world premiere of our first ever commission of a new piece of music - ‘Five Armitage Songs’, a collection of songs by emerging composer Alice Beckwith, originally from Halifax, setting five poems by current Poet Laureate and Huddersfield native, Simon Armitage.

We’re also very excited to welcome two amazing singers to perform these songs. Award-winning Yorkshire singer Sarah Fox is one of the leading soprano's of her generation - she's performed all over the world, with many of the world's leading orchestras and conductors. She's performed at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Opera North, and in international opera houses. She's also performed as part of the BBC Proms and is a regular performer on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night. 

Performing alongside her is an equally fabulous tenor from the other side of the Pennines, Joe Shovelton. Joe was a Principal Tenor with the New D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, performing at the Savoy Theatre, the Royal Festival Hall and across the USA. He regularly performs at Opera North, most recently in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, Marriage of Figaro, and Kiss Me Kate. Most recently he's appeared in a production of Bernstein's Wonderful Town at the Opéra de Toulon, France. Accompanying them both will be &Piano Artistic Director Christopher Pulleyn.

Join us for this spectacular closing event - brilliantly entertaining music performed by three tremendously talented performers!