Following his festival debut last year, baritone Benedict Nelson returns to investigate how mental and emotional distress have affected the work of composers from Robert Schumann to Francis Poulenc. Prepare for an evening by turns surprising and enlightening.

Robert Schumann - Six Lenau Lieder
Hugo Wolf, Peter Warlock and Ivor Gurney - song selections
Samuel Barber - Dover Beach Op. 3
Samuel Barber - Adagio from String Quartet Op. 11
Malcolm Arnold - String Quartet No. 2 (first movement)
Francis Poulenc - La Bestiare
Francis Poulenc - Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon

Benedict Nelson, baritone
Berkeley Ensemble

Tickets: £15 / free for under-26s supported by CAVATINA
See the Candlelit Recital with Laura Snowden at 9.30pm too and save £5 with a Friday Pass ticket.

About the artists

Benedict Nelson

Having attracted comparisons to Simon Keenlyside and Gerald Finley, Benedict Nelson has established himself as one of the UK’s most exciting young baritones. A Ferrier Award and Wigmore Song Prize-winner, he was one of the first Harewood Artists at English National Opera. Praised for his musicality, sensitivity and ease on stage, Nelson is equally at home on the recital and concert platform as he is in the operatic spotlight.

Berkeley Ensemble

Hailed as ‘an instinctive collective’ (The Strad) the Berkeley Ensemble takes its name from two British composers of the last hundred years, father and son Sir Lennox and Michael Berkeley. It was formed in 2008 by members of Southbank Sinfonia, Britain’s young professional orchestra, with the aim of exploring the wealth of little-known twentieth and twenty-first century British chamber music alongside more established repertoire. It now enjoys a busy concert schedule performing throughout the UK and abroad, and is also much in demand for its inspiring work in education.

The ensemble’s flexible configuration and collaborative spirit has led to performances with leading musicians including Sir Thomas Allen, Richard Sisson, Gabriel Prokofiev and Nicholas Daniel. The group enthusiastically champions new music and has worked with composers John Casken and Robin Holloway. It was proud to premiere its first commission, Michael Berkeley’s Clarion Call and Gallop, in 2013 and featured the piece on its debut recording. Released in March 2014, the album was praised by Gramophone for ‘the vibrancy of the Berkeley Ensemble’s performance even compared with Dennis Brain and friends in [the Ferguson Octet’s] first recording.’

The ensemble is rapidly building a reputation for innovative and thought-provoking programming and in spring 2014 received official recognition with a Help Musicians UK Emerging Excellence award.  Equally at home on the summer festival circuit and in the concert hall, the group has performed at the Latitude and Greenbelt festivals.

Taking its music to new audiences, most importantly through education work, is central to the ensemble’s activities. Its work in this area includes self-directed projects in addition to collaborations with Southbank Sinfonia, Merton Music Foundation and Pan Concerts for Children. The ensemble regularly coaches students in chamber performance at the University of York, is ensemble-in-residence at Queen Elizabeth School in Cumbria and Ibstock Place School in London and runs an annual residential chamber music course in Somerset.

Main photo: Nigel Luckhurst