‘Between Two Worlds’: women’s stories and songs
St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye HR3 5EB. Doors open 6.30pm. Bar.
Tickets £20 / under 25s £10. Box office opens shortly.
Programme
‘Between two Worlds’: women’s stories and songs
Fanny Mendelssohn: There be none of beauty's daughters; Suleika; Mignon
Libby Larsen: Jane Seymour (from the cycle: Try Me Good King)
Rebecca Clarke: Infant Joy
Amy Beech: In the Twilight; Cradle Song of the Lonely Mother (piano solo)
Kaija Saariaho: Sua katselen (from Leino songs)
Judith Weir: Breasts!! Song of the Innocent Wild-Child (from woman.life.song)
Libby Larson: Marriage…Divorce (from Me (Brenda Ueland)); When I am an Old Woman
Clara Schumann: Das Veilchen; Lorelei; Die stille Lotosblume
Judith Weir: The Mothership: When a Good Mother Sails From This World (from woman.life.song)
Emma Ruth-Richards: World premiere of song cycle to words by Kate Wakeling. The composer will be present.
Rebecca Clarke: One That is Ever Kind
Winner of the 2018 Critics’ Circle Emerging Talent Award, British soprano Jennifer France was described in WhatsOnStage as the "living jewel in opera’s crown."
2025/26 sees Jennifer sing Tytania in Peter Hall's production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Glyndebourne’s Autumn season. Jennifer will also return to the Royal Opera House, London to sing First Niece in Deborah Warner’s production of Peter Grimes and to Garsington to sing Cecily Cardew in Gerry Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest. On the concert stage, Jennifer joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Ed Gardner conducting Hans Abrahamsen’s Let me tell you, sings Ligeti’s Requiem firstly with Esa Pekka Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris and then at the Berwaldhallen and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Jennifer will also celebrate New Year’s concerts with Nil Venditti and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
A prolific contemporary artist, she has sung Gerald Barry’s The Eternal Recurrence with the Britten Sinfonia, which was recorded for Signum, and in the world premiere of Brett Dean’s In This Brief Moment with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Nick Collon. She made her BBC Proms debut in 2017 and Salzburg Festival debut in 2019 singing Pascal Dusapin’s Medeamaterial with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Last season, she made her debut at the Edinburgh International Festival with Hans Abrahamsen’s Let me tell you conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth and returned to the BBC Proms with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner for Ligeti’s Requiem. Contemporary opera includes the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen for Opera Holland Park, Alice in Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, First Niece Peter Grimes, and Lessons in Love and Violence for The Royal Opera House, La Princesse in Philip Glass’ Orphée for English National Opera, and Ophelia in Brett Dean’s Hamlet for Glyndebourne On Tour.
Lana Bode is an American-British pianist, educator and artist producer, whose performances have been hailed as “expertly calibrated” (BBC Music Magazine) and “deeply examined” (Gramophone). She has shared the stage with singers and instrumentalists of the highest calibre, including Nadine Benjamin, Robert Cohen, Ellie Consta, Jess Dandy, Marcus Farnsworth, Alessandro Fisher, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, Emma Halnan, Anna Harvey, Robert Murray, Mark Padmore, Lucy Schaufer and James Turnbull.
An acclaimed and in-demand recitalist, Lana has performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Barbican Hall, Kings Place, Opera Holland Park, Purcell Room, Snape Proms and Wigmore Hall. International engagements have taken her to the USA, France and Germany, and she is also frequently heard on BBC Radio 3. A champion of new music, she has performed the world premieres of works by many prominent composers and has also collaborated with many more.
As pianist and musical director for operatic productions, Lana has appeared in Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park (Hampstead Garden Opera), Generation (HERA), Scott Eyerly’s My Life Online (Edinburgh Festival) and Warten auf Gertrude (FMK, Berlin). Her discography includes her highly-acclaimed debut album I and Silence with mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons (Delphian Records), dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices with soprano Samantha Crawford (Delphian Records), There are things to be said with the Tailleferre Ensemble (Ulysses Arts), Le Vase Brisé with tenor Thomas Elwin (Voces8 Records), and upcoming release Album Z (NMC Recordings).
Lana holds a BMus with High Distinction from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and an MMus with Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she was awarded the coveted Concert Recital Diploma. She was the inaugural winner of the Viola Tunnard Young Artist award, resulting in a year-long residency at Snape Maltings under the mentorship of Roger Vignoles. She is co-founder and Artistic Director of the Virginia Woolf and Music concert project, and a member of faculty at Eltham College and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Lana’s work is supported by Arts Council England, Arts and Humanities Research Council, British Council, Hinrichsen Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust and Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust.