Iestyn Davies & Oliver Wass
Iestyn Davies countertenor
Oliver Wass harp
This programme includes Purcell, Debussy, Handel, Schubert and much more (full programme below)
In the dazzling Regency splendour of the Music Room at Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, two internationally acclaimed and award-winning artists – countertenor Iestyn Davies MBE and harpist Oliver Wass – present a delightful programme that traverses some 400 years of music and song from both the Old and New Worlds, encompassing composers from Monteverdi, Purcell and Handel to Amy Beach, Nico Muhly and Anna Meredith, by way of Schubert, Ravel, Poulenc and Britten.
The leading British countertenor of today, Iestyn Davies is a frequent guest artist at Glyndebourne, where last summer he reprised the starring role of the hero, harpist and future king David in Handel’s oratorio Saul. The Arts Desk praised “the crystalline clarity” of his voice and “white-hot intensity” of his singing, Opera Today declared that his performance was “outstanding in every respect: word, tone, and gesture”, while The Guardian, highlighting the heavenly aria that concludes this Brighton Festival recital, wrote that “time stands still when he sings Oh Lord, Whose Mercies Numberless”.
Currently Professor of Harp at the Royal College of Music in London, and an international performer on both modern and early harps, Oliver Wass was the first harpist ever to win the Guildhall School’s most prestigious prize, the Gold Medal
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Members Priority Booking: 9am, Thu 19 Feb
Tickets on General Sale: 10am, Thu 26 Feb
About Iestyn Davies
An esteemed Handelian, he has delighted audiences globally with his vocal agility and supreme musicianship in roles such as Bertarido, Orlando, Rinaldo, Ottone Agrippina and David Saul . Committed also to contemporary music, his intelligent and considered interpretations have led to fruitful collaborations with Thomas Adés, George Benjamin and Nico Muhly.
Highlights of the 25/26 season include Orpheus in Orpheus and Eurydice with Laurence Cummings and Opera Australia at the Edinburgh International Festival and in Australia , and with Bernard Labadie and the Canadian Opera Company ; and Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Teatro Real Madrid and Deutsche Oper Berlin. He will return to Santa Fe Opera in the role of Bertarido Rodelinda conducted by Harry Bicket. Recital plans include a weekend residency at London’s Wigmore Hall celebrating John Downland’s 400 th anniversary.
On the opera stage, he has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Teatro alla Scala Milan; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; English National Opera; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Welsh National Opera; Teatro Real Madri d; Salzburg Festival and in Munich, Vienna, and Zurich. Recent appearances include Didymus Theodora and Arsace Partenope in Madrid, David Saul at Glyndebourne, Ottone Agrippina in Hamburg and Munich, Bertarido Rodelinda for the Metropolitan Opera, and Ott one L’incoronazione di Poppea in Versailles.
About Oliver Wass
Oliver Wass is an award-winning soloist and chamber musician, and is Professor of Harp at the Royal College of Music in London.
He has won the Suoni d’Arpa International Competition in Italy, the International Harp Competition of Slovenia, and the Jury Prize at the International Harp Competition in Szeged, Hungary. In May 2016 he became the first harpist ever to win the Guildhall Gold Medal – the Guildhall’s most prestigious prize.
He has performed every major harp concerto, including Lyra Angelica with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with The Mozartists at the Wigmore Hall, the Debussy Danses with 12 Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall, and he has directed the Handel Harp Concerto in the Barbican Hall.
Playing with “verve and polish” (The Times), his flute-viola-harp trio, The Pelléas Ensemble, won the Royal Philarmonic Society Henderson Award and the Elias Fawcett Award for Outstanding Chamber Ensemble at the Royal Overseas League competition. They have also won both the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the St Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition.
Full programme list
Full programme list
Giovanni Maria Trabaci Toccata Seconda & LIgature per l’arpa (Harp solo)
Monteverdi Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius SV 287
Frescobaldi Se l’aura spira F 7.15
Cavalli Delizie contente from Il Giasone
Purcell ‘Strike the Viol’ from Ode on the Birthday of Queen Mary II, Z323
Debussy Clair de Lune from Suite Bergamasque (Harp solo)
Poulenc Le Bestiaire FP 15
Schubert Im frühling Op.101, no.1, D.882
Schubert Seligkeit D.433
Schubert An den Mond Op.57, 3 D.193
Interval
Muhly Traditional Songs Suite
Manuel de FallaSpanish Dance from La Vida Breve (Harp solo)
Amy Beach Ecstasy Op.19, no.2
Anna Meredith Fin like a flower
Purcell Sweeter than Roses
Britten Suite for Harp Op.83 (Harp solo)
Handel Sento amor’ from Partenope
Handel Oh Lord Whose Mercies Numberless from Saul
*There is a £3.50 per order charge for all phone and online bookings (not applicable to Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival members)
**Stage timings are subject to change
