BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts at London Symphony Orchestra St Luke’s

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Schubert Songs accompanied by Roger Vignoles

‘The true successor to Beethoven is not Mendelssohn, whose artistic cultivation was quite incomparable, also not Schumann, but Schubert. It is unbelievable, the music he put in his songs.’ Johannes Brahms

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime concerts take place at 1pm on Thursdays at LSO St Luke’s and feature the finest chamber music performances by established artists and emerging soloists and groups on BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists Scheme. During spring 2009 BBC Radio 3 has programmed a series focusing on the renowned vocal works of Schubert.

Schubert had a short but prolific career, writing over 1,000 works, a remarkable 600 of which are songs. Tragically Schubert died at the age of just 31 at the height of his artistic career, as poet Franz Grillparzer wrote in his epitaph: “Here music has buried a treasure, but even fairer hopes”. In 1897 upon the 100th anniversary of Schubert’s birth, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph gave a speech recognizing him as the creator of the art of song. This exciting series of concerts will explore and exalt the beautiful songs for which Schubert will always be remembered.

All the recitals in this series will be accompanied by British pianist Roger Vignoles, one of the world’s most distinguished piano accompanists and musicians of today. Vignoles has partnered some of the world's finest singers including performances with Dame Margaret Price, Barbara Bonney, and Andreas Schmidt.

"...with Roger Vignoles at the piano, extraordinary things can happen". The Times (London)

Alongside Roger Vignoles these concerts will showcase the vocal talents of an array of world-class singers.

The tenor John Mark Ainsley was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Singer Award and has performed internationally with orchestras such as the Boston Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Florian Boesch is an acclaimed singer of Lieder and has appeared at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts.

The internationally active mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus has enjoyed great acclaim as a winner of the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and the Christine Nielsen Award. Following these successes Katarina has toured as both a concert and recital singer, and her engagements have included the BBC Proms, and the Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals.

The final performer of the series, the Irish soprano Ailish Tynan has also received an admirable array of accolades including the Rosenblatt Recital Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and the RTE Millennium Singer of the Future award. Ailish Tynan was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist from 2003 to 2005.

The Schubert series will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 throughout May 2009.

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