The day after Valentine’s Day 2018 brings together four singers and two pianists for a recital of romantic love songs. The Valentine Ensemble recently gave the first performance of Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzer in Istanbul for 33 years, and Rhiannon Llewellyn, Sarah Champion, Bradley Smith, Nicholas Merryweather, Edwige Herchenroder and William Vann, our own Artistic Director, will reunite to perform a sumptuous programme of songs, duets and quartets by Brahms and Schumann.
Rhiannon's recent recital highlights include programmes at The Royal Opera House' Crush Room, Madrid's Real Academia de Belles Artes, St. John's Smith Square, Gower Music Festival, Cardiff Music Festival, Gloucester Cathedral, Colston Hall, Hay-on-Wye Festival and in Istanbul.
Canadian mezzo Sarah studied trumpet and voice at McGill University and trained at the Royal College of Music. Formerly a soprano, she now specialises in the Zwischenfach repertoire ("a vocalist who possesses the weight and colour of a dramatic soprano but the range of a dramatic mezzo-soprano".) Equally at home on the concert platform and opera stage, Sarah enjoys performing a varied repertoire from early opera to song and the creation of new work.
Bradley "…warm and believable as the timid Albert (Herring)…some really excellent singing, giving Britten's satire the weight of something real and human…." Spectator
Nicholas "…balances a gorgeous legato with a daring range of vocal colours…" New Statesman
French pianist Edwige graduated from Ecole Normale de musique de Paris and Conservatoire de Paris (CRR) studying with Eric Vidonne before completing her postgraduate program with Malcolm Martineau and Audrey Hyland at the London Royal Academy of Music. She performs with singers in recital and in opera.
Will is a multiple prize-winning accompanist and accomplished choral and operatic conductor, and also the Artistic Director of the London English Song Festival and Director of Music at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
"…already towering accomplishment… very at home with this intense Brahmsian warmth…" Cumberland News