WEDNESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2008 7.30PM
Youth & Love

WEDNESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2008 7.30PM
Let us Garlands Bring

ST JOHN’S, SMITH SQUARE
LONDON SW1
Box Office: 020 7222 1061

******

Stephen Varcoe, who is widely admired as an exponent of English song, has devised two programmes based around VW’s long and fascinating life. He is joined by James Gilchrist, one of England’s leading tenors, and by pianist and Grainger expert, Penelope Thwaites. They will include songs by some composers seldom heard – Max Bruch, for instance; Michael Mullinar, Gordon Jacob, Elizabeth Maconchy, Denis Browne, Charles Wood, Thomas Dunhill – as well as those great figures of English music, Parry, Stanford and Elgar, and not forgetting Ravel and VW’s great friend Holst. Armstrong Gibbs, Butterworth, Finzi, Ireland and Grainger will also feature.

As for VW himself : there are the two great works On Wenlock Edge and Songs of Travel which form the major focus of the two programmes. There will be folksong settings, some of The House of Life, and songs from the operas. All of this will be knitted together with a narrative about aspects of the great man, and anecdotes from him and his friends. A highly entertaining pair of evenings, giving a picture of the variety and broadness of VW’s achievement.