Details

Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall
University of York
York
YO10 5DD
England

Wednesday 25th March 2026
7:30 PM

Programme

Robert Schumann – 12 Gedichte 'Kerner Leider', Op.35
Franz Schubert – Die Mutter Erde, D.788
Reynaldo Hahn – A Chloris
Johann Sebastian Bach – Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54
Claudio Monteverdi – Si Dolce e'l Tormento, SV 332

Performers

Helen Charlston – mezzo-soprano
Sholto Kynoch – piano

Other concerts in this Cycle ▼

Programme Note

Notes of Old

So often, we find ourselves struck by musical echoes between pieces separated by history, style or instrumentation. Nevertheless, we hear the connections and find ourselves drawn in by musical earworms replayed across history. This programme explores the unexpected ways in which works by Bach, Monteverdi and Charpentier resonate with songs by Schubert, Pauline Viardot and Anna Semple, celebrating music as a recurring motif in human experience.

Following a playlist-esque first half full of songs ruminating on love, our place in the world and music itself, the second half of this programme is dedicated to Schumann's extraordinary Kerner Lieder, which are also imbued with these ideas. Whether in joyful storms of lust or in the serenity of silent adoration, old melodies remain, heralding music as the ultimate partner in life.

'Charlston's voice is little short of miraculous …. Kynoch at the keyboard was not that of a mere accompanist but of a true collaborator' (Evening Standard)