Elizabeth Llewellyn & Simon Lepper

in celebration of Dr Keith Howard OBE

Tuesday 28 March 2023

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Following her acclaimed run in Ariadne auf Naxos, soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn MBE is joined by pianist Simon Lepper in a concert of songs by Strauss, Stanford, Brahms, Puccini and Verdi, woven together around works by the Black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Exchanging Opera North’s mainstage for a more intimate recital ahead of their US tour, the first half of their programme focuses on the songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and those composers – Stanford, Brahms, Puccini – who either influenced him or whom he admired. Stanford was his composition teacher at the Royal College of Music; Coleridge-Taylor appreciated Puccini’s sense of colour and regarded Brahms as something of a revolutionary.

The second half of the programme allows us to indulge in the range and expression of Llewellyn’s “rich, opulent voice” (The Times) in works by Strauss and Verdi.

The first concert in celebration of Opera North and the Howard Assembly Room’s major benefactor Dr Keith Howard.

Price

£14 - £22

Doors
6.45pm

Start
7.30pm

Programme

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
from Southern Love Songs, Op.12
‘Minguillo’
‘If thou art sleeping, maiden’
‘Tears’

‘A king there lived in Thule’ (after Goethe’s Faust)

Johannes Brahms
from 5 Lieder, Op.105
‘Wie Melodien zieht es mir’
‘Immer leise wird mein Schlummer’
‘Auf dem Kirchhofe’

Charles Villiers Stanford
from A Sheaf of Songs from Leinster
‘A soft day’
‘The bold, unbiddable child’

Giacomo Puccini ‘Morire?’
‘Sole e amore’
‘Terra e mare’
‘Sogno d’or’
‘E l’uccellino’
‘Canto d’anime’

Coleridge-Taylor
from Six Sorrow Songs, Op. 57
‘Oh, what comes over the sea?’
‘When I am dead, my dearest’
‘Oh, roses for the flush of youth’
‘Unmindful of the roses’

R. Strauss
from 5 Kleine Lieder, Op. 69
‘Einerlei’

from 3 Lieder, Op.29
‘Nachtgang’

from Schlichte Weisen, Op.27
‘Du meines Herzens Kronelein’
‘Ach Lieb, ich muss nun scheiden’

from 6 Lieder, Op17
‘Standchen’

Verdi ‘Stornello’
‘Perduta ho la pace’
‘La zingara’

Go deeper

"The heart of the matter": Meet Elizabeth Llewellyn MBE

“It is so beautiful, so delicate, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the way it’s been scored for piano and voice really does illuminate the text. It’s heartfelt and tender, and for the audience it’s almost as if a window has opened onto someone’s very private thoughts.”

Dr Keith Howard OBE

The late Dr Keith Howard OBE was President of Opera North, and a philanthropist of exceptional vision and generosity. A successful career in academic publishing enabled him to support charities in West Yorkshire in the fields of sport, animal welfare, and performing arts.

Opera North was a foremost recipient of his generosity, and the Howard Assembly Room was named after him in recognition of his major donations to the Transformation project. The Emerald Foundation, the charitable arm of his publishing company, made substantial donations to Opera North’s Future Fund, and continues to support the venue and the work of the Company under its new name, The Keith Howard Foundation.

In 2018 Keith made a personal donation of more than £11 million towards Opera North’s Music Works project, enabling the completion of our major redevelopment. Our newly transformed headquarters was named the Howard Opera Centre in his honour, but sadly Keith passed away in August 2021, only weeks before the opening of the new facilities that he was instrumental in creating.