On Wings of Song: Leeds Lieder celebrates 20 years of song in Leeds

After a year which included both a potentially catastrophic funding crisis (thanks to Arts Council England) and a record number of first time concert attendees, Leeds Lieder plans to celebrate its 20th anniversary in style in 2024. 

Running from 13 to 21 April 2024, the main recital venues will be Opera North’s Howard Assembly Room and Leeds Conservatoire’s The Venue, but there will also be events at Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds Sikh Centre, Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds Minster and, for the culmination concerts of the award-winning education projects, Pudsey Civic Hall.

A strong line-up of performers includes Roderick Williams, Benjamin Appl, Carolyn Sampson, Fleur Barron, James Gilchrist, Nikola Hillebrand, Ema Nikolovska, James Newby, Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson and festival director Joseph Middleton, whilst Dame Felicity Lott and Sir Thomas Allen lead the Young Artist masterclasses. 

Festival highlights include a Schubertiade 20th Anniversary Gala, concerts building on the success of last year's Leeds Songbook by bringing together 10 Leeds poets with 10 postgraduate composers to write relevant responses to everyday life in Leeds, a community-led performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria in Leeds Minster, an evening recital in Leeds iconic Hyde Park Book Club promoted alongside Through the Noise; and a musical walking trail in the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey. 

Leeds Lieder commissions in 2024 include world premières of a new collection of miniatures by Cheryl Frances Hoad setting Punjabi proverbs to be performed in Leeds Sikh Centre by Nina Kanter, faculty member at Chennai Music Conservatory, Oscar Castellino, British-Indian pianist, Keval Shah, and Tansy Davies’s Thunder: Perfect Mind written for Ema Nikolovska and Joseph Middleton. 

Full details from the Leeds Lieder website.