Miah Persson and Joseph Middleton

Wednesday 15 February 2023

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Internationally renowned Swedish soprano Miah Persson is joined by Leeds Lieder director Joseph Middleton for her first recital in Leeds since her brilliant Festival debut in 2019.

The first half of the evening’s programme explores Persson’s Scandinavian roots, with works by Grieg, Nystroem and Sibelius before culminating in Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs).

Originally scored for soprano and orchestra to poems by Herman Hesse and Joseph Eichendorff, Four Last Songs were Strauss’s final completed works, first published and performed posthumously, and saw the composer return to the romanticism of his youth whilst considering themes of farewell – both to life and to art. With their near perfect unity of poetry and music, the songs are rightly considered masterpieces of the form.

“Persson’s bright and beautiful soprano sounds as young as she looks…and her artistry deepens with her every appearance. Leeds can consider itself lucky to have experienced this lovely artist at the peak of her powers.”
— The Sunday Times

Presented in partnership with Leeds Lieder.

Price

£14 - £22

Doors
6.30pm

Start
7.15pm

About Miah Persson

Miah Persson’s 2022 season included Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at the Semperoper Dresden as well as the same role in a new production at the Opéra national de Paris. On the concert platform, she performed Mozart’s Mass in C minor with both the LA Philharmonic and at Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin; Mahler 2 with Orchestre National de Lyon and Stockholm Swedish Radio Orchestra and Mahler 4 with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and at the BBC Proms 2022 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Programme

Grieg Six Songs, Op. 48
Nystroem ‘Själ och landskap’
Sibelius ‘Våren flyktar hastigt’
‘Den första kyssen’
‘Säv, säv, susa’
‘Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte’
‘Var det en dröm’

INTERVAL

Strauss ‘Ständchen’
‘Waldseligkeit’
‘Freundliche vision’
‘Ich schwebe’
Vier Letzte Lieder