Last Sunday 3rd April I was invited along with George Todica to attend the Leeds Lieder Festival hosted at the Leeds College of Music. The Leeds Lieder festival is an amazing opportunity for anyone interested in Art song to immerse themselves in this fabulous art form through performances, master-classes and pre –concert talks.
The master class on the Sunday was on between 10:00 am to 13:00 pm, presented by Roderick Williams, a baritone and the Artistic Director of the festival. It featured four duos from UK conservatoires and I thoroughly enjoyed their programmes and the insight provided by Roderick to each of the pieces. The master-class was very thought provoking and left me with plenty to think about for my own performances.
In the afternoon George and I performed alongside four other duos in the Master-class Fringe Concert held in the recital room. It was great opportunity to perform with other students from all over the country in this fabulous festival.
The other duos were :
Andrew Henley ( tenor ) and Conal Bembridge-Sayers ( piano ) from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Emily Gray ( mezzo soprano ) and Francesca Fierro ( piano ) from Trinity Laban.
Adam Gouldin ( baritone ) and Marcus Bingham ( piano ) from Leeds College of Music
Michael Vickers ( baritone ) and Ljubica Stojanovic ( piano ) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
During conversations with members of audience after the concert I got a real sense of the enthusiasm and passion that they had for the event and I was so pleased to have taken part.
If you are in the Leeds area next year between the 21st and the 23rd April then I would encourage you to drop in and listen to what is on offer I can assure you that you won’t be disappointed.
