Sunday 20th May at 2.30pm

Since her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2013, French soprano Laetitia Grimaldi has sung in many renowned halls, opera stages and festivals worldwide. Born in France, she began vocal studies with Teresa Berganza, continuing in the US at the Manhattan School of Music and the prestigious Juilliard School. Born in Israel and raised in South Africa, pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz drew international attention in 2013 as the first recipient of the newly inaugurated Richard Wagner Prize. He has received top awards at numerous competitions including the International Schubert Competition, the International Johannes Brahms Competition, and both the pianist prize and the Schubert prize at the 2013 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. As one of the last private students of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, he was invited in 2011 by Fischer-Dieskau to accompany his masterclasses at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade in Austria.

The programme will include works by Fauré, Massenet and Gounod. The songs are settings of some of the greatest French poetry of Verlaine, Baudelaire and Victor Hugo, with translations and explanations by the artists. There will also be piano solos of Franz Liszt, including his atmospheric Jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este (the fountains of the Ville d’Este).