Curated Projects
Temple Song, London
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
Mahler Festival 2025 – Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
May 9 – Catriona Morison and James Newby
Pianist Julius Drake accompanies mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison and baritone James Newby in the Rückert-Lieder and the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
10 May – Ema Nikolovska and Jusung Gabriel Park
Julius Drake chose mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska and bass-baritone Jusung Gabriel Park as soloists in Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Together and apart, they perform these intense, sometimes fairytale-like songs.
May 14 – Feride Büyükdenktaş and Stuart Jackson
Pianist Julius Drake accompanies two top vocalists in the ‘small’ but no less stirring version of Das Lied von der Erde. Mezzo-soprano Feride Büyükdenktaş and tenor Stuart Jackson in songs about farewell and new beginnings.
May 15 – Fleur Barron and Laurence Kilsby
Pianist Julius Drake accompanies mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and tenor Laurence Kilsby in songs by Mahler. Including: the Kindertotenlieder and parts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn.
May 17 – Axelle Fanyo and Raoul Steffani
The late-romantic, often melancholic songs of Alma Mahler will be heard alongside works by close friends such as Krenek, Berg and Schoenberg. Julius Drake accompanies soprano Axelle Fanyo and baritone Raoul Steffani.
Lied & Lyrik – Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin
The Lied & Lyrik series at the Pierre Boulez Saal, curated by Julius Drake, celebrated the profound connection between poetry and music. Established in 2021, this series showcases an array of renowned poets and composers, brought to life by distinguished performers.
Future Performances:
December 5, 2024: William Shakespeare
Roderick Williams (Baritone) and Julius Drake (piano) performed settings by Haydn, Schubert, Chausson, Wolf, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, Korngold, Porter, and Dring.
For more information please follow this link
May 27, 2025: Friedrich Hölderlin
Katrīna Paula Felsberga (Soprano) and Julius Drake (piano) perform settings by Peter Cornelius, Hans Pfitzner, Paul Hindemith, Hanns Eisler, Viktor Ullmann, Benjamin Britten.
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Previous Highlights included:
October 10, 2021: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Christoph Prégardien (tenor), Udo Samel (reader), and Julius Drake (piano) performed settings by Beethoven, Schubert, Loewe, Schumann, Liszt, Wolf, and Grieg.
March 18, 2022: Bertolt Brecht
Holger Falk (baritone) and Burghart Klaußner (speaker) presented Hanns Eisler’s The Hollywood Songbook, including texts “Flucht” and “Hollywood”.
May 24, 2022: John Donne and Thomas Hardy
Mark Padmore (tenor), Paul Rhys (reader), and Julius Drake (piano) performed Britten’s The Holy Sonnets of John Donne and Winter Words.
December 7, 2022: Heinrich Heine
Julia Kleiter (soprano) and Felix Kammerer (reader) presented settings by Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Hensel, Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and Charles Ives.
March 9, 2023: Joseph von Eichendorff
Konstantin Krimmel (baritone) and Burghart Klaußner (speaker) performed settings by Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Korngold, Zemlinsky, Pfitzner, and Reimann.
May 13, 2023: Friedrich Rückert
Ian Bostridge (tenor) and Martina Gedeck (reader) presented settings by Schubert, Schumann, Mahler, and Henze.
December 20, 2023: Walt Whitman
Claron McFaddon (soprano) performed settings by Bernstein, Crumb, Ives, Knussen, Vaughan Williams, and Weill.
January 9, 2024: T.S. Eliot
Alan Clayton (tenor), Christopher Lowrey (countertenor), George Humphreys (baritone), Ben Goldscheider (French horn), Aline Khouri (harp), and Dame Harriet Walter (speaker) performed Britten’s The Five Canticles.
May 19, 2024: Heinrich Heine
André Schuen (baritone) and Martina Gedeck (reader) presented Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Liederkreis op 24, and other Heine settings.