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The London Song Festival:
Small Performing Arts Event of the Year 2023.
(seventh annual Greater London Awards)
The LSF's mission is to "fly the flag" for the wonderful art-form of song, collating recitals with repertoire ranging from Schubert to Britten and beyond. It is a unique joining together of music and poetry that is capable of expressing great beauty and emotional depth in ways that can equal or even surpass any other genre.
The 2024 London Song Festival Autumn Season:
“Class of 1874”
1st November – 6th December 2024
LSF Director Nigel Foster writes:
The theme of the Autumn Season of the 2024 London Song Festival is composers, poets, and a singer born 150 years ago, in 1874. This 'class of 1874' is certainly a varied bunch!
We begin with a concert devoted to Erich Wolff - who, you may ask? Well indeed - he is, in my view, a Lieder composer who can stand in the company of Schumann, Brahms, (Hugo) Wolf, Richard Strauss, yes even Schubert, but who today is almost totally unknown. The complete suppression of his work by the Nazis has meant that from the 1930s to today, he has languished in obscurity - I hope this concert will mark something of a come-back for him! I should mention that he is very close to my heart as he was known as a superb and sensitive accompanist, every Lieder singer wanted him to play for them, and he died in New York at the tragically early age of 38 following surgery, midway through a concert tour playing for the great Elena Gerhardt. For this concert his songs will be sung by multiple-prizewinning young singers Eleen Pearson and Sebastian Hill.
The second concert pairs up the early (tonal and luscious!) songs of Schönberg with those of Charles Ives, written at about the same time but on opposite sides of the Atlantic - the contrast between Ives' American directness and Schönberg's Germanic gorgeous neo-romanticism will I think make for a fascinating concert. The singers for this concert are the fantastic Claire Booth, (who is deep into the world of early Schönberg, having recorded 2 CDs of Schönberg songs this year alone) and Jack Holton, who has recently completed his studies at the National Opera Studio. The final composer featured in this series is Gustav Holst, in a programme threaded through and united by readings from his letters (read by BBC Radio3 presenter Martin Handley), showing his humour, kindness and generosity of spirit, which also comes through in his songs, sung by the superb pair of singers Katie Bray and Hugo Brady. This programme features 2 unpublished songs by Holst, including a canon he wrote for his friend the conductor Adrian Boult when he got married in 1933.
Three important American poets were born in 1874: Robert Frost, Amy Lowell and Gertrude Stein. Robert Frost has a concert to himself. The programme for that includes a World Premiere - Juliana Hall's three 'Frost Bites', which were written earlier this year and are dedicated to me! For this concert I am joined by the brilliant baritone Benson Wilson, mezzo Kezia Bienek, and American actor James Crutcher, who incidentally was born in San Francisco, the same city as Frost.
Amy Lowell and Gertrude Stein share a concert, with a programme focussing on poems they wrote to and about their respective life-partners - this is a tribute to these two female poets and to same-sex love. The programme for this concert features three World Premieres: a song by Errollyn Wallen, commissioned by the London Song Festival, a song by the trans activist, composer and educator CN Lester, and 'Nine Steins', a series of quotations by Gertrude Stein set to music by Juliana Hall. For this concert I am joined by LSF regular Lotte Betts-Dean, and the brilliant soprano Harriet Burns.
The final member of the class of 1874 is the soprano Mary Garden, Debussy's favourite singer and the first Mélisande. She was quite a character, a charismatic stage presence whose 'Dance of the Seven Veils' in Strauss' Salome was notorious, a star of the opera stages of France and America, and a shameless self-publicist who never lost an opportunity to brief the press on some juicy titbit about her life. This programme comprises songs that she sang - lots of Debussy of course, and some fun English ballad-y stuff, sung by Ruby Hughes, with actress Jan Carey speaking Garden's own words from her autobiography.
The seventh concert of this series is the annual AESS showcase concert, featuring the winners of all five of the AESS's competitions.
All the concerts are at the LSF’s usual venue of Hinde Street church in the heart of London’s West End. Tickets are now available to buy on the Concerts Page of this website, where you will find details of the seven concerts. Tickets are priced at £20, £15 (usual concessions*) and a special price for students at £5.
See you there!
*Ticket concessions are available to those under 18, students, over 65, registered unemployed or registered disabled.
Testimonies from past attendees:
"Superbly organised and executed. World class singers – Thank you"
Our Founder:
Nigel Foster was born in London and studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Graham Johnson, and also privately with Roger Vignoles. At both the Academy and the Guildhall he won every prize and award available for piano accompaniment, and has been appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.
Nigel enjoys a busy schedule performing on the concert platform. He has played for artists including the late Philip Langridge, Sarah Walker, Ian Partridge, Roderick Williams, Neil Jenkins, Yvonne Kenny, Jeremy Huw Williams, Maire Flavin, Anna Devin, Ruby Hughes, Gillian Keith, Nicky Spence, Jane Manning, Marcus Farnsworth, Benedict Nelson and violinist Madeleine Mitchell, as well as many of Britain's leading young singers. He performs at major venues including the Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre, St John Smith Square and Royal Opera House (Crush Room) in London, and St David's Hall in Cardiff.
In his formative years Nigel played for Graham Johnson's Songmakers Almanac, the Park Lane Group and several opera companies including Glyndebourne. Nigel has worked with John Eliot Gardiner CBE, and he has happy memories of his time as a rehearsal pianist for the late Georg Solti, playing for singers including Renee Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna. Nigel worked closely with Sarah Walker in the Vocal Department at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Nigel's CD recordings include several discs of contemporary music and anthologies of songs of Alun Hoddinott and Mansel Thomas with baritone Jeremy Huw Williams for the Sain label. He features on the soundtrack of the French film L'Homme est une Femme Comme les Autres.
Nigel performs extensively abroad. He has played all over Europe, Asia (Japan, Malaysia), New Zealand and the Americas (USA, Canada, Colombia) and has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and on French, Welsh and Greek television.
