Selected Engagements

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.

Pierre Derhet, tenor
Maxime Melnik, tenor
Julius Drake, piano
Sophie Daneman, staging

Melodies by Vaughan Williams, Britten, Bernstein, Weill

Two artists who are complete opposites take the same road: that of the journey towards the unknown. From the English tradition, carried by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Ivor Gurney and Roger Quilter, to the more eclectic repertoires that extend their echoes, their worlds intersect, confront each other and end up in dialogue.

At the heart of the program, Songs of Travel, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ emblematic cycle on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, becomes the point of convergence of these trajectories. A real initiatory journey unfolds: an inner journey where wandering, memory and the quest for oneself are mixed.

Carried by the complicity of Pierre Derhet and Maxime Melnik — associate artists of the Festivals de Wallonie 2026 — this show comes to life under the fingers of pianist Julius Drake, a major figure in international vocal accompaniment, guest of the greatest stages and partner of many renowned singers. Sophie Daneman’s staging brings a sensitive dimension and a narrative thread.

In resonance with the theme “Travels” of the 2026 season, this program explores the multiple paths—geographical, poetic, and interior—that shape all existence.

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.

Pierre Derhet, tenor
Maxime Melnik, tenor
Julius Drake, piano
Sophie Daneman, staging

Melodies by Vaughan Williams, Britten, Bernstein, Weill

Two artists who are complete opposites take the same road: that of the journey towards the unknown. From the English tradition, carried by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Ivor Gurney and Roger Quilter, to the more eclectic repertoires that extend their echoes, their worlds intersect, confront each other and end up in dialogue.

At the heart of the program, Songs of Travel, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ emblematic cycle on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, becomes the point of convergence of these trajectories. A real initiatory journey unfolds: an inner journey where wandering, memory and the quest for oneself are mixed.

Carried by the complicity of Pierre Derhet and Maxime Melnik — associate artists of the Festivals de Wallonie 2026 — this show comes to life under the fingers of pianist Julius Drake, a major figure in international vocal accompaniment, guest of the greatest stages and partner of many renowned singers. Sophie Daneman’s staging brings a sensitive dimension and a narrative thread.

In resonance with the theme “Travels” of the 2026 season, this program explores the multiple paths—geographical, poetic, and interior—that shape all existence.

Ian Bostridge, tenor
Julius Drake, piano

Schubert, Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake. More recommendation is not really necessary. Or it must be that the pair juxtapose Schubert songs with those of Hugo Wolf, two complete opposites – Wolf is sometimes called the Wagner of the Song – that reinforce each other. And who together show all aspects of the art of song 19th century. A recital to enjoy Schubert and fall in love with Wolf’s songs.
“Julius Drake and Ian Bostridge are a unit,” the music magazine Luister once simply stated with a recording of Schubert songs. Actually, that’s all there is to it. After about fifteen hundred concerts together, the singer and pianist are fully attuned to each other and dare to take risks. The latter in particular contributes to the fact that every recital is a new adventure. P

Program:

Hugo Wolf:
Harfenspieler I-III
Grenzen der Menschheit
Prometheus
Ganymed
Der Rattenfänger
Wandrers Nachtlied
Franz Schubert:
An den Mond
Ganymed
Wandrers Nachtlied I
Gesänge des Harfners I-III
Wandrers Nachtlied II
Der Musensohn
An die Entfernte
Am Flusse
Willkommen und Abschied
An den Mond D296