Curated Projects

Temple Song

Artistic Director

Middle Temple Hall, the setting for a first-rate concert series, is one of those London spaces that would make a tourist swoon. With its suits of armour and coats-of-arms it seems the perfect setting for stirring songs of martial derring-do. “

Ivan Hewitt, The Daily Telegraph 2015


Over the last few years, since the inauguration of Temple Song in 2006, I have performed in the glorious Middle Temple Hall with an array of the best singers in the world, most of them discovering the hall for the first time.

Olaf Bär, Thomas Allen, Felicity Lott, Christoph Pregardien, Ian Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside, Sergei Leiferkus, Gerald Finley, Willard White, Robert Holl, Danielle De Niese, Ann Sofie Von Otter – they all say it is one of the very best acoustics for song they know, a wonderful place to sing.

Julius Drake
Artistic Director Temple Song

May 2nd 2023

Kate Royal soprano

Christine Rice mezzo-soprano

Julius Drake piano

Opera stars Kate Royal and Christine Rice combine forces with one of the world’s pre-eminent collaborative pianists for an enchanting ensemble concert. From Brahms’ vibrant Zigeunerlieder cycle, through ravishing duets by Schumann and Brahms, the programme culminates with gems of music theatre by Kurt Weill including settings of Hammerstein and Brecht.

Johannes Brahms
Zigeunerlieder (solo version)
Die Schwestern
Die Meere
Phänomen
Walpurgisnacht

Robert Schumann
Herbstlied
Erste Begegnung
Sommerruh
In der Nacht

Kurt Weill
Berlin im Licht
Youkali
Nanna’s Lied
Buddy on the Night Shift
Es regnet
Je ne t’aime pas
Alabama Song

 

Duration: approximately 70 minutes (no interval)       https://www.templemusic.org/concerts/kate-royal-christine-rice

 

June 17th 2023

Jamie Barton mezzo-soprano

Julius Drake piano

American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is one of the world’s most celebrated singers. Winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and possessing “a once-in-a-generation voice” (Opera Magazine), this sensation of the classical music world joins Julius Drake in the Elizabethan splendour of Middle Temple Hall, presenting a stunning selection of songs.

Dvorak: Cigánské Melodie
Duparc: four songs
L’Invitation au Voyage
Extase
La vie anterieure
Phydilé
Sibelius: five songs

Svarta rosor
Säv, säv, susa
Flickan kom
Marssnön
Var det en dröm?
Charles Ives: five songs
The Things Our Father Loved
Grantchester
Religion
The Cage
The Housatonic at Stockbridge
A selection of songs from the Great American Songbook

 

Duration: approximately 90 minutes (including interval)     https://www.templemusic.org/concerts/jamie-barton

 

The Concertgebouw Amsterdam

Three recitals with brilliant young artists

 

 

Concert 1 December 21 2022

Feride Buyukdenktas

Mezzo-soprano Feride Büyükdenktas in a recital with top pianist Julius Drake. Featuring songs from her motherland Turkey combined with composers from her new habitat: Schumann and Schubert.

 

Concert 2 February 16 2023

Axelle Fanyo

The outstanding young French soprano sings a wonderful programme from her homeland of Aubert, Ravel, Poulenc as well as cabaret songs by Weill, Schoenberg and Bolcom. A programme that juxtaposes poetry and music by Eastern and Western creators around the interconnected motifs of home/homeland, childhood and dreams.

https://www.concertgebouw.nl/en/concerts/1556315-axelle-fanyo-and-julius-drake 

 

Concert 3 April 29  2023

Fleur Barron 

One of the most charismatic performers of her generation presents programme that juxtaposes poetry and music by Eastern and Western creators around the interconnected motifs of home/homeland, childhood and dreams.

https://www.concertgebouw.nl/en/concerts/1623908-fleur-barron-and-julius-drake

 

Lied & Lyric at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal 

 

The poet and the many facets of their imagination are at the centre of this Lied und Lyric series curated by Julius Drake.

 

October 10 2021

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

Christoph Prégardien, tenor  

Udo Samel, reader 

Julius Drake, piano         

Poems of Goethe and settings by Beethoven, Schubert, Loewe, Schumann Liszt, Wolf and Grieg. 

 

 

March 18 2022

Bertold Brecht

Hanns Eisler

The Hollywood Songbook

 

Holger Falk, Bariton 

Burghart Klaußner, Sprecher 

Julius Drake, Klavier 

Bertolt Brecht: Flucht

Bertolt Brecht: Hollywood

             

 

May 24 2022

John Donne and Thomas Hardy

 

Mark Padmore 

Paul Rhys, reader 

Julius Drake 

Britten The Holy Sonnets of John Donne

Britten Winter Words

 

 

December 7 2022

Heinrich Heine

                  

Julia Kleiter, soprano

Felix Kammerer, reader

Julius Drake, piano

Poems of Heine and settings by Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Hensel, Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Charles Ives.

 

 

March 9 2023 

Joseph von Eichendorff

 

Konstantin Krimmel, Bariton

Burghart Klaußner, Sprecher

Julius Drake, Klavier

Poems of Eichendorff and settings by Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Korngold, Zemlinsky, Pfizner and Reimann.

 

https://www.boulezsaal.de/en/event/konstantin-krimmel-julius-drake-104179

 

 

May 13 2023

Friedrich Rückert

 

Ian Bostridge, Tenor

Martina Gedeck, Reader

Julius Drake, Piano

Poems of Rückert and settings by Schubert, Schumann, Mahler and Henze.

 

https://www.boulezsaal.de/en/event/ian-bostridge-julius-drake-104224

Dec 20 2023

Walt Whitman

Claron Mcfaddon, Soprano

Julius Drake, Piano

Bernstein, Crumb, Ives, Knussen, Vaughan Williams & Weill.

 

https://www.boulezsaal.de/en/event/lied-und-lyrik-walt-whitman-216811

 

Jan 9 2024

T.S. Eliot

Alan Clayton, Tenor

Julius Drake, Piano

Britten

The Five Canticles:

My beloved is mine for tenor and piano

Abraham & Isaac for tenor, counter tenor and piano

Still falls the rain for tenor and horn

The journey of the Magi for tenor, counter tenor, baritone and piano

The death of Saint Narcissus for tenor and harp

https://www.boulezsaal.de/en/event/lied-und-lyrik-britten-the-canticles-216795

May 19 2024

Heine

André Schuen, Baritone

Martina Gedeck, Reader

Julius Drake, Piano

Schumann Dichterliebe, Liederkreis op 24 and other Heine settings.

https://www.boulezsaal.de/en/event/lied-und-lyrik-heinrich-heine-216775

 

 

 

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