Selected Engagements

Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake, piano

One of the leading mezzo-sopranos of our time is back in Frankfurt, where she thrilled audiences with Sesto (role debut) in La clemenza di Tito, Charlotte inWerther, Marguerite, in a new La damnation de Faust, and Sara in concert performances of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, for this recital with her friend and accompanist Julius Drake, with whom she gave two other unforgettable recitals here. This British artist is a regular guest at leading houses in Europe and the USA, singing roles including Carmen, Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), Ariodante, Xerxes, Agrippina, Ruggiero (Alcina), Dejanira (Hercules), Madame de Croissy, Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites) and Cassandra (Les Troyens). Much sought-after as a Lieder singer she appears regularly in recital at venues including the Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Konzerthaus in Vienna and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam – there are lots of prize-winning recordings to choose from, full of thrilling and profound interpretations of Lieder you love. Alice Coote received an OBE for her services to music in 2018.

Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake, piano

An unprecedented mix of “classical” and “popular” culture’s most powerful and iconic songs side by side. More relaxing than its title suggests, but admittedly rebellious in spirit, Alice Coote and Julius Drake explore songs through the centuries to today, to suggest that what we call ‘classical’ music is, in fact, unforgettably great music that belongs on any stage.

David Bowie, Henry Purcell, Jacques Brel, K.D. Lang, Gustav Mahler, Mozart, Lennon & McCartney; where do you begin or end such a list? For centuries, the greatest of musicians and writers have given us songs that explore and shine light into the hidden corners of our minds, that help us understand the infinite nuance and complexities of what it is to be human. In this fresh and thought-provoking programme that removes the needless walls we’ve built between genres, Alice Coote and Julius Drake present, both in original formats and new arrangements, a poignant journey through a life, as seen through the minds and music of these, and many other significant composers.

Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake, piano

An unprecedented mix of “classical” and “popular” culture’s most powerful and iconic songs side by side. More relaxing than its title suggests, but admittedly rebellious in spirit, Alice Coote and Julius Drake explore songs through the centuries to today, to suggest that what we call ‘classical’ music is, in fact, unforgettably great music that belongs on any stage.

David Bowie, Henry Purcell, Jacques Brel, K.D. Lang, Gustav Mahler, Mozart, Lennon & McCartney; where do you begin or end such a list? For centuries, the greatest of musicians and writers have given us songs that explore and shine light into the hidden corners of our minds, that help us understand the infinite nuance and complexities of what it is to be human. In this fresh and thought-provoking programme that removes the needless walls we’ve built between genres, Alice Coote and Julius Drake present, both in original formats and new arrangements, a poignant journey through a life, as seen through the minds and music of these, and many other significant composers.

Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake, piano

The Rebellious Recital

“Music is the ultimate boundary breaker,” says Alice Coote, “so why are we still performing and experiencing it in tightly sealed genres or categories? Why are we being so divisive with music?” In her recital, for which she is joined by Julius Drake, the mezzo­-soprano explores unexpected paths and presents a kaleidoscopic program highlighting multiple traditions, eras, and styles from Bach to Joni Mitchell. “For this concert, we have tried to juxtapose works that say some of the things that we possibly all feel, irrespective of ‘genre’”.

Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard Wagner, Hugo Wolf, Irving Berlin, Francis Poulenc, Burt Bacharach, Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, and others

Fleur Barron, Mezzo-soprano
Axelle Fanyo, Soprano
Julius Drake, piano

Two powerhouse voices — Grammy Award-winning soprano Axelle Fanyo and electrifying mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron — join internationally acclaimed pianist Julius Drake for a bold and theatrical journey through the Seven Deadly Sins.

From the biting wit of Weill and the sensual charm of Ravel to Broadway flair and the dark drama of Schoenberg, this eclectic programme spans art song, cabaret, and musical theatre. Mahler, Poulenc, Bernstein, Sondheim — and more — performed with fierce artistry and flair.

Seven sins. Countless thrills. One unforgettable evening.

Programme
PRIDE
Gustav Mahler
Lob des hohen Verstands

Kurt Weill
Stoltz

Maurice Ravel
Le paon

Margaret Bonds
I, too

LUST
Kurt Weill
Unzucht

Francis Poulenc
Violon

Cy Coleman
Lost and found

Rita Strohl
La Nuit

Alexander von Zemlinsky
Empfängnis
Entbietung

ENVY
Franz Schubert
An die Laute

Jean Sibelius
Flickan Komm

Charles Ives
Ich grolle nicht

Kurt Weill
Je ne t’aime pas

Johannes Brahms
Die Schwestern

Irving Berlin
Anything you can do, I can do better

Interval

GREED
Cole Porter
Who wants to be a millionaire

Arnold Schoenberg
Aus dem Spiegel von Arkadien

André Messager
J’ai deux Amants

WRATH
Arnold Schoenberg
Warnung

Kurt Weill
Surabaya Johnny

Manuel de Falla
Polo

SLOTH
Stephen Sondheim
The girls of summer

Claude Debussy
C’est l’extase langoureuse

Maurice Ravel
L’Indifférent

Erik Satie
Le chapelier

GLUTTONY
Kurt Weill
Alabama song

Franz Schubert
Trinklied

Leonard Bernstein
Rabbit at top speed

William Bolcom
Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise

Cole Porter
The tale of the oyster

George Gershwin
I got rhythm

Anna Lucia Richter, mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake, piano
Timothy Ridout, viola

Programme
Clara Schumann
Liebst du um Schönheit Op. 12 No. 2
Die stille Lotosblume Op. 13 No. 6
Er ist gekommen Op. 12 No. 1

Robert Schumann
Frauenliebe und -leben Op. 42

Interval

Clara Schumann
Warum willst du and’re fragen Op. 12 No. 3
Am Strande
Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen Op. 13 No. 1

Robert Schumann
Liederkreis Op. 39
Reichardt
Hoffnung

Mendelssohn (Felix)
Schlafloser Augen Leuchte WoO. 4 No. 2

Mendelssohn (Fanny)
Hell soll der Ort der Seele sein

Robert Schumann
An den Mond Op. 95 No. 2

Clara Schumann
3 Romances Op. 11

Bruch
Klosterlied Op. 17 No. 3
Durch die wolkige Maiennacht Op. 97 No. 2

Franz
Ständchen Op. 17 No. 2
Wie des Mondes Abbild zittert Op. 6 No. 2

Liszt
Es muss ein Wunderbares sein S314
Muttergottes-Sträusslein zum Mai-Monate S316:
– Die Schlüsselblumen
Die tote Nachtigall S291

Mahler
Des Knaben Wunderhorn:
– Rheinlegendchen
– Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?
– Lob des hohen Verstandes

Brahms
Regenlied Op. 59 No. 3
Von ewiger Liebe Op. 43 No. 1
Feldeinsamkeit Op. 86 No. 2

Joachim
Hebräische Melodien Op. 9

Brahms
2 Songs with viola Op. 91

Katrīna Paula Felsberga, Soprano
Julius Drake, Piano
Burghart Klaußner, Narrator

Programm

Friedrich Hölderlin
aus Am Tag der Freundschaftsfeier (1788)

Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944)
Zwei Hölderlin-Lieder (1943-44)
I. Sonnenuntergang
II. Der Frühling

Hanns Eisler
aus dem unveröffentlichten Vorwort zum
Hollywooder Liederbuch (1943)

Hanns Eisler (1898-1962)
aus Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente (Hollywooder Liederbuch, 1943)
I. An die Hoffnung
II. Andenken
III. Elegie 1943

Paul Hindemith
an den Lyriker Eduard Reinacher

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Sonnenuntergang
aus Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Hölderlin

Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949)
Abbitte op. 29/1 (1921)

Benjamin Britten
aus dem Vorwort zur Oper The Rape of Lucretia (1946)

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente op. 61 (1958)
I. Menschenbeifall
II. Die Heimat
III. Sokrates und Alcibiades
IV. Die Jugend
V. Hälfte des Lebens
VI. Die Linien des Lebens

– Pause –

Hanns Eisler
aus Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente
IV. Die Heimat

Friedrich Hölderlin
aus Hyperion (1796-98)

Hanns Eisler
zur Vertonung von Gedichten Hölderlins (1961)

V. An eine Stadt
VI. Erinnerung

Hermann Reutter (1900-1985)
aus Drei Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Hölderlin op. 67 (1946-47)
I. Sonnenuntergang
III. Lebenslauf

György Ligeti
über die Vertonung von Hölderlin-Texten (1984)

György Ligeti (1923-2006)
Der Sommer (1989)

Viktor Ullmann
Abendphantasie (1944)

Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake, piano

A passionate advocate for song and programme curation, Jennifer Johnston unveils The Golden Age of Hollywood with pianist Julius Drake this spring. This thoughtfully curated evening tells a remarkable story – how European composers, fleeing their homelands during the turbulent 1930s, transformed exile into opportunity, joining their American counterparts during the ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’. Widely regarded as one of Britain’s most commanding vocal talents, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston has carved out a distinguished career as a consummate interpreter of the monumental works of Mahler, Wagner, Britten, Beethoven, and Elgar, making her the soloist of choice for many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. In 2021, Johnston was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer Award, honouring her “commitment and emotional force” in both performance and education and, beyond the stage, she is a passionate and articulate advocate for the Arts.

Programme
Korngold Sonett für Wien
Weill Youkali
Schoenberg Tauben von Gurre (Gurre-Lieder)
Eisler Hollywood; I Saw Many Friends
Castelnuovo-Tedesco Piccino Piccio; Ninna Nanna
Hermann I Have Dreamt (Wuthering Heights)
Korngold When You Are Gone (Tomorrow); Marietta’s Lied (Die tote Stadt)
—
Rota Speak Softly, Love (The Godfather, unaccompanied)
Waxman A Place in the Sun (film of the same name)
Moross Another Day, Another Sunset (The Big Country)
Tiomkin The Green Leaves of Summer (The Alamo)
Rozsa The Falcon & The Dove (El Cid); Spellbound (film of the same name)
Steiner Devotion (Consolation Marriage); My Own True Love (Gone With The Wind)
Sherman Brothers Feed the Birds (Mary Poppins); Hushabye Mountain (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang); Fain I Know You (Sleeping Beauty); I’ll Be Seeing You (film of the same name); You Can Fly! (Peter Pan)
Washington When You Wish Upon A Star (Pinocchio)

Mark Padmore, tenor
Julius Drake, piano

Clara Schumann // 1819–1896
Auswahl aus: Sechs Lieder op. 13 // 1842
Nr. 1 »Ich stand in dunklen Träumen«
Nr. 2 »Sie liebten sich Beide«
Nr. 4 »Der Mond kommt still gegangen«
»Liebst du um Schönheit« op. 12, Nr. 4
Lorelei // 1843

Robert Schumann // 1810–1856
Auswahl aus: Fünf Lieder op. 40 ›Andersen-Lieder‹ // 1940
    Nr. 1 Märzveilchen
Nr. 2 Muttertraum
Nr. 3 Der Soldat
Nr. 4 Der Spielmann

Rebecca Clarke // 1886–1979
Tiger, Tiger // 1929
Lethe // 1941
Eight O’Clock // 1927
The Seal Man // 1921–22

// Pause //

Benjamin Britten // 1913–1976
Sechs Hölderlin‑Fragmente op. 61 // 1958
Winter Words op. 52 // 1953

Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake, piano

Full programme to be announced.

Sarah Connolly was made a DBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours, having previously been awarded a CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours. In 2020 she was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society in recognition of her outstanding services to music. She has sung at the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg and Tanglewood festivals and the BBC Proms where, in 2009, she was a soloist at the Last Night. Opera engagements have taken her around the world from The Metropolitan Opera to the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opera, La Scala Milan, the Vienna and Munich State Operas and the Bayreuth, Glyndebourne and Aix-en-Provence Festivals.

The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. Recent concerts include a recital at La Scala, Milan with Ludovic Tézier; return visits to the Boulez Saal Berlin for the series ‘Lied und Lyrik’; a recital tour in the USA with Ian Bostridge; the complete Mahler songs in five recitals in the Mahler Festival at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; return visits to the Chamber Music Festivals of Santa Fe, Leeds and Oxford; concets in Berlin and the Aldeburgh Festival with Andrè Schuen; piano duet recitals with Elisabeth Leonskaja including at the Schubertiade Festival; recitals in the USA and Europe with Fleur Barron, Mercedes Gancedo, Christoph Prégardien, Julia Kleiter, Roderick Williams.

Emily Sierra, mezzo-soprano
Julius Drake, piano

The Piano in Song

Beethoven changed the course of music in so many ways but one of his lesser known achievements was writing in 1814/15 the first continuous ‘song cycle’. An die ferne Geliebte (To the distant Beloved) is a set of six songs to poems of Alois Jeitteles. Together they tell a story of yearning and hope and the songs, instead of being separate entities, are linked by the piano part into a musical whole.

After Beethoven’s cycle the flood gates were opened, most famously with Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin (1824) and Winterreise (1828), Schumann’s great cycles of 1840 (Dichterliebe, Liederkreis, Frauenliebe und Leben), Brahms’ Die Schöne Magelone (1865) and the great cycles of Mahler in the early 20th century.

Kieran Carrel, Tenor
Julius Drake piano

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Hans Werner Henze

Kieran Carrel (tenor), Julius Drake (piano)

A very special matinee concludes this season of “Fokus Lied”: The German-British tenor Kieran Carrel, who grew up in Gütersloh, is celebrated at festivals and is now an ensemble member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, pays tribute to the song works of the great Gütersloh composer Hans Werner Henze on the occasion of his 100th birthday on July 1, 2026.

His piano partner is Julius Drake, not only one of the most renowned lieder pianists in the world for many decades, but also the premiere pianist of Henze’s “Songs from Arabic”. The two artists want to surprise us with which selection of songs from the “classical” repertoire they will complement Henze’s works.

Ailyn Perez, soprano
Julius Drake piano

RICHARD STRAUSS
ROBERT SCHUMANN
JOAQUÍN TURINA
XAVIER MONTSALVATGE

Celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, American soprano Ailyn Pérez makes her eagerly awaited debut at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, in the friendly and intimate setting of the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud. Renowned for her stage portrayals of the most beautiful heroines of Mozart, Verdi, Gounod, and Puccini, Ailyn Pérez will make her first appearance before the Aix-en-Provence audience with a recital, a daunting exercise that lays bare the artist and her emotions in a sort of osmosis with the audience. A debut of rare sincerity, with British pianist Julius Drake as her accomplice.