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| SongEasel’s 2020 undertaking, MiniWinterreise with Nigerian soprano, Francesca Chiejina |
Pianist Jocelyn Freeman’s SongEasel, tag-line ‘Bringing music to South East London’, is celebrating its fifth anniversary (and the achievement of charitable standing) with Quintessential Music, a sequence that presents seven recitals throughout South East London. Quintessential Music is launched by baritone Stephan Loges and pianist Jocelyn Freeman on 22 April 2023 at Blackheath Halls the place they are going to be performing Brahms, Robert & Clara Schuman, plus Marie von Kehler and Ethel Smyth. Additionally at Blackheath Halls, soprano Lorena Paz Lieto and pianist Sholto Kynoch shall be performing songs by Walton, Poulenc and Ginastera.
Britten’s Canticles are being carried out at lunchtime live shows at St Laurence’s Church, Catford, the place SongEasel first started. Stuart Jackson (tenor) shall be joined by George Strivens (horn) and Jocelyn Freeman (piano) for Canticle I & III, Ben Johnson (tenor), Theo Platt (baritone), Tim Morgan (countertenor) and Keval Shah (piano) carry out Canticle II & IV, and Aoife Miskelly (soprano) and Anne Denholm (harp) carry out Canticle V as a part of a recital for voice and harp.
And celebrating the anniversary correct, a bigger ensemble gathers at St Catherine’s Church, Hatcham, when James Newby (baritone), Leon Bosch (double bass), the Piatti Quartet and Jocelyn Freeman (piano) will carry out Schubert’s Trout Quintet alongside songs by Schubert and Finzi.
As at all times, SongEasel programmes recitals in tandem with schooling and outreach tasks that interact the area people. This sequence features a faculties programme exploring songs from around the globe, exploring Britten Pears Arts’ Friday Afternoons library. Shakespeare’s Full Fathom 5 from The Tempest is the inspiration for a Younger Artist Programme at Blackheath Halls themed across the sea in all its energy and selection, with English settings alongside Brahms and a few watery Chinese language songs.
SongEasel additionally gives an off-the-cuff Fringe Programme, which Freeman conceived in the course of the first 12 months of the pandemic as a method of combatting isolation. ‘I wished to recreate the normality of the musical café tradition of Nineteenth-century Paris, the place buddies might collect for drinks and revel in gentle leisure: mainly the musical equal of happening the pub to the footy! We launched the programme final 12 months and the response has been superb.’
SongEasel’s Quintessential Music runs from 22 April to 2 July 2023, additional data from their web site.
