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
February 22nd 2023
Allan Clayton tenor
Julius Drake piano
Christopher Lowrey countertenor
George Humphreys baritone
Olivia Jageurs harp
Richard Watkins french horn
Dame Harriet Walter speaker
The five Canticles span more than a quarter century of Benjamin Britten’s life. These marvellously vivid, intensely dramatic works are based on a wide range of literary sources that held deep spiritual and religious meaning for the composer. An extraordinary ensemble of musicians present all five works, in words and music.
Canticle I: My Beloved Is Mine and I Am His
Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac
Canticle III: Still Falls the Rain
Canticle IV: The Journey of the Magi
Canticle V: The Death of Saint Narcissus
Duration: approximately 70 minutes (no interval) https://www.templemusic.org/concerts/kate-royal-christine-rice
June 17th 2023
Axelle Fanyo soprano
Julius Drake piano
Louis Aubert
from Six Arabic Poems:
Le mirage
Le sommeil des colombes
L’adieu
Maurice Ravel
Shéhérazade:
Asie
La flûte enchantée
L’étranger
Francis Poulenc
Montparnasse
Hyde Park
Hotel
Voyage à Paris
Les Chemins de l’Amour
La Dame de Monte-Carlo
Kurt Weil
Trois chansons:
La Complainte de la Seine
Je ne t’aime pas
Youkali
William Bolcom
from Cabaret songs:
Song of Black Max
Amor
George
Duration: approximately 90 minutes (including interval) https://www.templemusic.org/concerts/
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
Christopher Lowrey, Countertenor
George Humphreys, Baritone
Ben Goldscheider, French Horn
Aline Khouri, Harp
Dame Harriet Walter, Speaker
Benjamin 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
Heinrich 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