Unveiled: Britten | Tippett | Gipps | Browne | Thomas Elgan Llŷr Thomas, Craig Ogden & Iain Burnside

• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Translated to English by Jeremy Sams):
• 1Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Translated to English by Jeremy Sams): No. 1, Sonetto XVI02:21
• 2Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Translated to English by Jeremy Sams): No. 2, Sonetto XXXI01:42
• 3Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Translated to English by Jeremy Sams): No. 3, Sonetto XXX03:49
• 4Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Translated to English by Jeremy Sams): No. 4, Sonnetto LV01:59
• 5Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Translated to English by Jeremy Sams): No. 5, Sonnetto XXXVIII02:08
• 6Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Translated to English by Jeremy Sams): No. 6, Sonnetto XXXII01:31
• 7Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Translated to English by Jeremy Sams): No. 7, Sonnetto XXIV04:23
• Ruth Gipps (1921 - 1999): Four Songs of Youth:
• 8Gipps: Four Songs of Youth: No. 1, Failure02:37
• 9Gipps: Four Songs of Youth: No. 2, Unfortunate02:44
• 10Gipps: Four Songs of Youth: No. 3, The Dance01:19
• 11Gipps: Four Songs of Youth: No. 4, Peace 191403:07
• William Denis Browne (1888 - 1915): To Gratiana dancing and singing (Pavan):
• 12Browne: To Gratiana dancing and singing (Pavan)03:59
• Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998): Songs for Achilles:
• 13Tippett: Songs for Achilles: No. 1, In the Tent05:15
• 14Tippett: Songs for Achilles: No. 2, Across the Plain03:43
• 15Tippett: Songs for Achilles: No. 3, By the Sea06:37
• Elgan Llŷr Thomas (b. 1990): Swan:
• 16Thomas: Swan: I. the lake is calm tonight02:15
• 17Thomas: Swan: II. my first time in water01:16
• 18Thomas: Swan: III. then the year everything was swan01:26
• 19Thomas: Swan: IV. the black swan of debt01:11
• 20Thomas: Swan: IV. then the year everything was darkness02:11
• 21Thomas: Swan: V. 'sing a swan of sixpence'01:11
• 22Thomas: Swan: VI. [queen]. mother don't eat me03:05
• 23Thomas: Swan: VII. I plucked each feather from myself03:55
• Total Runtime01:03:44

Info zu Unveiled: Britten | Tippett | Gipps | Browne | Thomas

In Jeremy Sams’ new English-language singing version of Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, the passionate sentiments are liberated from the safe historical distance of the Italian Renaissance and unveiled in a way that was not possible in 1940, when Britten wrote the cycle – his first for his partner Peter Pears.

Tenor Elgan Llŷr Thomas presents it alongside Michael Tippett’s equally ardent Songs for Achilles and a short item by W. Denis Browne, a close friend of the poet Rupert Brooke, as well as premiere recordings of four Brooke settings by Ruth Gipps and a new song-cycle by Thomas himself, to poems by Andrew McMillan.

Tackling themes of love, shame, acceptance, war and death, the programme traverses a history of male homosexuality from necessary discretion to the (relatively) liberated present.

“I want to appeal to a new audience [with this album], with people who think ‘it’s not for me’ or that it’s elitist or boring. I want people to know that they can be comfortable at the opera just as they are.” (Elgan Llŷr Thomas)

Elgan Llŷr Thomas, tenor
Craig Ogden, guitar
Iain Burnside, piano

lgan Llŷr Thomas
In the 2022-23 season he made his role debuts as Rinuccio in Sir David McVicar’s new production of Il Trittico at Scottish Opera, his house debut at Opéra Comique as Dr Richardson in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves and his role debut as the Duke of Mantua Rigoletto for Opera Holland Park. He also made his debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Tippett’s A Child of our Time conducted by Martyn Brabbins.

Future engagements include his house and role debut as Prunier La Rondine for Opera North and a return to the role of Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress in a European tour with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Barbara Hannigan.

Recent operatic engagements include his Royal Opera House Covent Garden debut as First Noble of Brabant Lohengrin, Ralph Rackstraw HMS Pinafore for English National Opera, Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Scottish Opera, Gonzalve L’heure Espagnole Cassio Otello and Steuermann Der fliegende Holländer for Grange Park Opera.

Previous engagements include Fenton Falstaff, Nemorino L’elisir d’amore, Dr Richardson in the European premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves, Brighella Ariadne auf Naxos and Titorelli/Flogger/Berthold The Trial (Scottish Opera); Nanki-Poo The Mikado and Normanno Luccia di Lammermoor (English National Opera); Johnny Inkslinger Paul Bunyan (ENO at Wilton’s Music Hall); Prologue/Peter Quint The Turn of the Screw (ENO at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Almaviva Il barbiere di Siviglia (Operá national de Bordeaux and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées); Ernesto Don Pasquale, Lindoro L’italiana in Algeri and Amaviva Il barbiere di Siviglia (Mananan International Festival); Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress (Klarafestival, Brussels, Aldeburgh Festival, and Ojai Festival, California); Brighella Ariadne auf Naxos (Opera Holland Park); Fenton Falstaff (Cambridge Philharmonic Society); cover Lensky Eugene Onegin, cover Binet Vert-vert and cover Selimo Maemetto Secondo (Garsington Opera); and Spoletta Tosca (Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod with the Orchestra of WNO, Sir Bryn Terfel and Kristine Opolais). Roles while studying included Florindo Le donne curiose and Male Chorus The Rape of Lucretia Lampwick The Adventures of Pinocchio (cover) (GSMD); title role Albert Herring and Lampwick (RNCM); and Johnny Inkslinger Paul Bunyan (Welsh National Youth Opera’s Britten Centenary production).

Equally in demand on the concert platform, his recent engagements include Handel’s Messiah (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall); Mozart’s Requiem (Danish National Symphony Orchestra); Orbin in Elgar’s Caractacus (Opera North Orchestra, cond. Martyn Brabbins); Kenkin’s The Armed Man, Mass for Peace (royal Liverpool Philharmonic, cond. Sir Karl Jenkins); Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (Dartington International Summer Festival, condu. Paul McCreesh); a concert with Sir Bryn Terfel at Bangor University and a Gala concert with Xi’an Symphony Orchestra in China.

His discography includes his most recent album Unveiled released on the Delphian label, Orbin in Elgar’s Caractacus for Hyperion (Opera North Orchestra, cond. Martyn Brabbins); songs by Huw Watkins and William Mathias on Taliesin’s Songbook (Tŷ Cerdd); an album of Welsh songs called Llwybrau’n Cân, and songs by Gareth Glyn on Caneuon Gareth Glyn (both for SAIN).

He is the winner of numerous awards, including the 2015 Stuart Burrows International Voice Award; the 2015 Kerry-Keane Prize and Audience Prize at the Les Azuriales Opera Young Artists Programme and has had considerable success at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. He was also a recipient of a 2017/18 Opera Awards Foundation Bursary and was one of the first recipients of a Study Award fromr the Bryn Terfel Foundation.

Craig Ogden
Described by BBC Music Magazine as "A worthy successor to Julian Bream", Australian born guitarist Craig Ogden is one of the most exciting artists of his generation. He studied guitar from the age of seven and percussion from the age of thirteen. In 2004, he became the youngest instrumentalist to receive a Fellowship Award from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. One of the UK’s most recorded guitarists, he has accumulated an acclaimed discography for Chandos, Virgin/EMI, Nimbus, Hyperion, Sony and six chart-topping albums for Classic FM. His most recent recordings are a solo recital disc for Chandos, Craig Ogden in Concert and a new arrangement of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach with violinist David Juritz and cellist Tim Hugh for Nimbus Records.

Craig Ogden has performed concertos with many of the world’s leading orchestras in countries including Latvia, Russia, South Africa, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Germany and Australia. In recent seasons he has performed with the Hallé, BBC Concert Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra (Spain), Darwin Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Spanish Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra (Dublin), London Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. In 2015, Craig was invited to perform a series of concerts on tour with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at major UK concert halls and again in 2016 with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra, both tours receiving critical acclaim. In 2019, Craig presented his own programme of “The Celebration of the Guitar” with Manchester Camerata which showcased the guitar in various styles. This season Craig performs concertos with orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Oulu Symphony Orchestra (Finland) and Ulster Orchestra.

Numerous composers have written works specially for him and in 2017 he gave the world première of a concerto written for him by Andy Scott with the Northern Chamber Orchestra at Stoller Hall, Manchester, followed by the Australian première in Perth. He gave the world première of Il Filo, a double concerto for guitar and accordion by David Gordon with Miloš Milivojević in summer 2019 and gave the world première of a concerto written for him by David Knotts in March 2022 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London with the BBC Concert Orchestra which was recorded for BBC Radio 3, filmed for BBC4 TV and currently available on BBC iPlayer. In July 2022, Craig gave the world première of Isolation Songs (Without Words) a new guitar concerto written for him by William Lovelady with the English Chamber Orchestra for Music in Country Churches with HM The King in attendance. The work received its London première in November 2022 at Cadogan Hall. In January 2023, Craig gave the world première of a guitar concerto by Greg Caffrey with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, recorded for BBC Radio 3.

Iain Burnside
Thanks to prolific careers both as pianist and award-winning broadcaster, Iain is one of the UK’s best known musicians.

Iain has worked with a huge number of international singers, notably Dame Margaret Price, Rosa Feola, Ailish Tynan, Joyce DiDonato, Laurence Brownlee, Roderick Williams, and Bryn Terfel, among many others. He has recorded more than 60 CDs, often created around neglected composers, where his curatorial skills are displayed to the full. He is a great champion of young singers, playing a crucial role in introducing them to a wider audience. This year he has taken on an additional role, as founding member of Trio Balthasar, alongside violinist Michael Foyle and cellist Tim Hugh.

Innovative programme planning has led Iain to expand his concert work into a hybrid form of music theatre, creating staged work around Brahms (Shining Armour), Wagner (The View from the Villa) and Gurney (A Soldier and a Maker). He has broadcast extensively on both radio and TV, notably as host of BBC R3’s acclaimed Voices series. In addition to a long association with London’s Guildhall School, Iain is Visiting International Artist at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. He is Artistic Director of the Ludlow English Song Weekend and Artistic Consultant to Grange Park Opera, Surrey.

Future projects include Ludlow Day and the Rachmaninov Song Series at Wigmore Hall, recitals in Zurich with Rosa Feola and Amsterdam with Roderick Williams, and concerts with Trio Balthasar in Italy and Belgium.

Booklet für Unveiled: Britten | Tippett | Gipps | Browne | Thomas