Schwanengesang

Roderick Williams baritone
Ella Taylor soprano
Themba Mvula baritone
Ella O’Neill piano
Ana Manastireanu piano

Mature artistry and thrilling young talent combine for a refreshing take on Schubert’s song cycle Schwanengesang (‘Swan Song’). As part of the new ‘Momentum: our future, now’ collective, in which distinguished performers share their artistry and their concerts with the cream of emerging talent, the great baritone Roderick Williams is joined by soprano Ella Taylor and baritone Themba Mvula to explore the 14 settings of poems by Rellstab and Heine that embrace themes veering from love and nature to bitterness and despair.

Taylor and Mvula will each select one song from Schwanengesang to perform alongside another Schubert lied which they have chosen to complement it. Williams will perform the rest of the cycle, and each of the pianists, Ella O’Neill and Ana Manastireanu, will accompany half of the recital — one performing the Rellstab settings, the other the Heine.

At a critical time for young artists, this unmissable recital is a great way to join established names in supporting our brightest rising stars.