Joshua Owen Mills, first up in the new Oxford Lieder/Fairlight Hall season.

Leading tenor kicks off Oxford Lieder season at Fairlight Hall

The second season of the collaboration between Fairlight Hall and the Oxford Lieder Festival gets under way with a recital by tenor Joshua Owen Mills. Dominika Hicks provides an introduction to both the singer and the set-up.

Oxford Lieder Festival is the UK’s biggest and most renowned festival of classical song, and the recipient of a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award. As well as presenting many of the world’s greatest musicians in Oxford each October, Oxford Lieder supports the very brightest artists of the new generation both at the Festival and further afield throughout the year.

Over the course of the year, Oxford Lieder’s artistic director – the pianist Sholto Kynoch – will introduce exceptional emerging professional singers to Fairlight, in a range of programmes designed to appeal to all and to showcase brilliant young voices and glorious music. Sholto will give a spoken introduction to each programme, and there will be a chance to meet the artists informally over coffee after each of the performances – the perfect way to pass a Sunday morning.

The tenor Joshua Owen Mills was a member of the prestigious Opera Studio at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, and is already in great demand and becoming widely known for his Mozart roles and concert repertoire.

In his recital he sings a selection of songs by Beethoven, including some of his settings of Goethe, that give the lie to the idea that Beethoven was not a great song composer. We also hear Fauré’s passionate telling of a one-day love affair, the Poème d’un jour. Songs by Poulenc include Fancy, his single, touching setting of Shakespeare, before the programme concludes with Roger Quilter’s three Shakespeare songs.

All concerts begin at 11am, last approximately one hour and are followed by coffee and cake.

Oxford Lieder at Fairlight Hall: Joshua Owen Mills, tenor Sunday 5 May, 11am, Fairlight Hall, Martineau Lane, Fairlight, Hastings TN35 5DR. Tickets £10 (including coffee and cake).

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