Opening Concert: Strauss and Schumann

Dvorák Bagatelles, op.47

Grainger Youthful Rapture

Richard Strauss Songs arranged for soprano and string quartet:

Zueignung, Die Nacht and Allerseelen from Gedichte aus Letzte Blätter Zueignung (Poems from Last Leaves)

Richard Strauss Song No.4 from Lieder Opus 27: Morgen! 

Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat major

Johann Strauss II Wein, Weib und Gesang arr. by Alban Berg for piano, harmonium and string quartet

Featuring:

Claire Surman soprano

Viv McLean piano

Benjamin Powell harmonium

String Quartet:

Katie Stillman violin

Owen Cox violin 

Alex Mitchell viola

Jessica Burroughs cello

Our concert opens with stunning pieces by Dvorák and Percy Grainger, before a selection of sublime songs by Richard Strauss arranged for string quartet and soprano performed by the leader of our artistic team and award-winning soprano, Claire Surman, and a quartet led by the newly-appointed leader of the Orchestra of Opera North, Katie Stillman. The songs were written in 1885 and are among Strauss’s most well-known creations for the voice. We then welcome our Vice-President Viv McLean to perform Schumann’s stunning Piano Quintet in E flat which the composer wrote for his beloved wife, Clara Wieck in 1842, alongside the string quartet. The concert concludes with a Johann Strauss II waltz arranged by Berg for piano, harmonium and string quartet.