English Song with Mark Padmore

Celebrated tenor and regular Britten Sinfonia collaborator Mark Padmore performs with the orchestra in a programme of some of the most beautiful English music for strings and voice. The centrepiece of the concert is Gerald Finzi’s Dies natalis. Modelled on Bach’s cantatas it contains a spirit and sweetness that reflects the joy and wonder of a child’s innocent perspective of the world. Padmore also sings Purcell songs as realised by Tippett, whose baroque-inspired Little Music is also featured. Walton’s virtuosic and passionate Sonata for Strings provides a thrilling climax to this journey through English music. 

“Britten Sinfonia’s performance of Benjamin Britten's Les Illuminations with tenor Mark Padmore was a triumph; completely alive in every bar, the opening chords placed with the precision of a dancer and yet weightily massive. I've rarely heard the intoxicated revelry of Rimbaud's poetry so completely embodied in a performance.” Telegraph