Charlotte Bowden – soprano

Harry Grigg – tenor

Nigel Foster – piano

David Mildon – speaker

Benjamin Britten and W H Auden’s relationship flourished on a musical level, resulting in numerous songs, many of which were written as direct responses to the emotional tensions both men experienced on a personal level. This concert tells their story through Britten’s songs and his own words from his letters and diaries, from their meeting in 1935 when both were working for the GPO Film Unit in London, through their experiences of both Britain and America, to their falling out in the 1940s. The programme incorporates every available voice and piano song they wrote together; On This Island, the Cabaret Songs and numerous individual songs including Fish in the unruffled lakes, Underneath the abject willow, Night covers up the rigid land, To lie flat on the back, When you’re feeling like expressing your affection, What’s in your mind, and The sun shines down, and selections from their other works including Ballad for Heroes, Hymn to St Cecilia, the Spring Symphony and the operetta Paul Bunyan. The programme features an arrangement by Griffin Candey for speaker and piano of one of their first collaborations, Night Mail, commissioned for this concert by the London Song Festival. The performers are soprano Charlotte Bowden (a Britten-Pears Young Artist and Glyndebourne Jerwood Young Artist), tenor Harry Grigg (winner of 2021 Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards), pianist Nigel Foster and speaker David Mildon (‘Son’ in the BAFTA-winning Happy Birthday Grandad, leading roles at Hackney Empire, Meunier Chocolate Factory and Jermyn Street and Soho theatres) reading Britten’s commentaries and reflections on the songs and about his friendship with Auden and life in general.

For tickets and more information please visit: https://www.londonsongfestival.org/concerts-1