Shipston Song 2023

Pianist Ian Tindale's Shipston Song is returning for a second celebration of song in the Cotswolds from 22-24 September. Set in an intimate venue on the edge of the Cotswolds, the festival weekend features recitals and masterclasses from mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, tenor Laurence Kilsby, and baritone Roderick Williams with pianist Ian Tindale. 

Four Shipston Song Rising Stars, soprano Henna Mun, baritone Sam Hird, tenor Dafydd Jones and pianist Francesca Lauri, representing the emerging generation of song interpreters, will be in residence for masterclasses and performances, working alongside the main artists throughout the weekend.

Composers represented during the weekend include Tippett and Rachmaninoff, both of whom have anniversaries this year. The festival has made a commitment in 2023 to programming an equal number of songs by male and female composers, as well as featuring contemporary song in all recitals, commitments which will culminate in the world premiere performance of a new cycle by Anna Semple.

The weekend begins with Laurence Kilsby and Henna Mun in Tippett's Boyhood's End, and songs by Rachmaninoff, Lili and Nadia Boulanger, Purcell arranged by Britten and Tippett, folksongs arranged by Britten and Josephine Stephenson. Helen Charlston and Sam Hird's recital combines Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with songs by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Clara Schumann, Alma Schindler-Mahler, Amy Beach, and Wilhelm Stenhammar, plus songs by Joshua Borin and Richard Barnard from the Isolation Songbook.

Roderick Williams and Dafydd Jones conclude the festival with The Elements featuring Tippett's Songs for Ariel, plus songs by Anna Semple, Gerald Finzi, Ina Boyle, Joan Trimble, Dilys Elwyn-Edwards, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Francis George Scott and Rebecca Clarke.

Full details from the festival website.