Programme for September

Programme:

Greeting - Yun Hakjun (마중 - 허림 시 / 윤학준 작곡)

Longing - Wonju Lee (연 - 김동현 시 / 이원주 작곡)

Songs from Liederkreis Op.39 & Pieces from Waldszenen Op.82 - Robert Schumann

Jagdlied, Waldszenen Op. 82

Waldesgespräch, Liederkreis Op.39

Mondnacht, Liederkreis Op.39

Vogel als Prophet, Waldszenen Op. 82

Freundliche Landschaft, Waldszenen Op.82

Schöne Fremde, Liederkreis Op. 39

Auf einer Burg, Liederkreis Op. 39

Verrufene Stelle, Waldszenen Op. 82

Einsame Blumen, Waldszenen Op.82

Wehmut, Liederkreis Op. 39

Zwielicht, Liederkreis Op. 39

Jäger auf der Lauer, Waldszenen Op. 82

Frühlingsnacht, Liederkreis Op.39

Abschied, Waldszenen Op. 82

Performers:

Holly and JongSun met during their postgraduate studies at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, through their shared love for art song. They both received Distinction and Concert Recital Diploma for outstanding performances in their final recitals in 2020. This programme compares side-by-side a selection of pieces from two of the great works by Robert Schumann: Liederkreis Op.39 and Waldszenen Op. 82. Written eight years apart in 1940 and 1948 respectively, the two pieces capture the essence of the Romantic landscape, both physical and emotional. The mix of sublimity, strangeness, foreboding, melancholy, and sheer rural beauty provides the artists with a large canvas on which to paint.

Jong Sun Woo is a pianist who specialises in song and chamber music. She has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, performed at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room, the Crush Room at the Royal Opera House, and made multiple appearances as a concerto soloist with orchestras in the UK. As a chamber musician, she performed Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano in New York in 2017 and with violinist Eleanor Corr, she gave the Gold Medal-winning performance at the Royal Overseas League’s Annual Music Competition in 2020. In 2021, she was awarded the Pianist’s Prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards, performing with her duo partner Felix Gygli. As a duo, they won the English Song Prize at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and most recently, were selected as Leeds Lieder Young Artist 2022 and won the Leeds Lieder/Schubert Institute UK Song Prize. At Guildhall, she also won the Paul Hamburger Prize for song accompaniment awarded by Graham Johnson for his Poulenc Project. Jong Sun is a scholar at Lied Akademie 2021/22 of Liedzentrum Heidelberger Frühling, mentored by Thomas Hampson and subsequently has performed during Schubert Woche at Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin and will be performing at the Neuland Lied Festival, Heidelberg in 2022. Jong Sun has gained her Masters in Piano Accompaniment with distinction at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating with Concert Recital Diploma awarded for her outstanding final recital. Jong Sun’s studies have been generously supported by Help Musicians Fund.

Holly Brown was born in London and studied for her Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, achieving a distinction in both, as well as a diploma for exceptional performance. In 2020 she was contracted as a chorus member to Grange Park Opera for the cancelled season. She joined them again for their 2021 season. Previous stage and operatic experience includes Clorinda in ‘La Cenerentola’ for British Youth Opera, Donna Anna in ‘Don Giovanni’ for the Oxford Alternative Orchestra, Carolina in ‘Il matrimonio segreto’ for Hampstead Garden Opera, the cover of Miranda in The Enchanted Island for British Youth Opera, the Spirit of the Boy in Curlew River for Opera Xylem and Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Guildhall School. She has worked as a chorus soloist in Die Entführung aus dem Serail for West Green House Festival Opera, and played Elaine in Gershwin’s Crazy for You, alongside members of the Guildhall School’s drama department. Other operatic chorus experience includes ‘Iolanta’ and ‘Dialogues des Carmélites’ for Guildhall Opera, Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom for British Youth Opera and The Monster in the Maze, by Jonathan Dove at Barbican Centre with the LSO and Sir Simon Rattle. On the concert platform, she has performed Lieschen in Bach's ‘Coffee Cantata’ at St Lawrence Jewry Festival, ‘Exsultate, Jubilate’ with the Watford Philharmonic and as a soloist at the Queen Charlotte's Ball for the London Season. Holly is generously supported in her studies at the Alexander Gibson Opera School by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and is a Sybil Tutton Opera Award holder. Holly is very grateful to be receiving a scholarship from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.