Oxford Lieder Festival: 'listening to someone pouring their heart out'

When the Oxford Lieder Festival was launched by pianist Sholto Kynoch (pictured below) in 2001, few people could have imagined that it would grow into a substantial annual programme that is now the UK’s largest art song festival, this year running 14–29 October and including more than 70 events. Kynoch admits that he didn’t expect it to become so huge, but when he looks back at the brochures for the first couple of festivals, he is struck by the fact that the original mission statement still stands. Now, as then, Oxford Lieder aims to re-establish an appreciation of song, by presenting the highest quality of performance from world-leading artists and the best emerging talent, with diverse and imaginative programming and a strong educational strand, in a friendly, informal and welcoming environment.

Oxford does lend itself to song recitals, Kynoch says, citing the number of intimate, historic venues dotted around the city. Last year, as the virtual event necessitated by the pandemic in 2020 gave way to a complex hybrid of streamed performances with distanced audiences, just two venues were used: the Jacqueline du Pré Music Room in St Hilda’s College, which was very well set up for filming talks and discussions as well as concerts; and St John the Evangelist Church (SJE) not far away in Iffley Road.

This year the festival will pop up in college chapels, in the Sheldonian Theatre, Freud restaurant and The Mad Hatter bar (where musical nightcaps will be offered); SJE will host evening recitals in the second week by internationally renowned soloists such as Camilla Tilling with pianist Paul Rivinius, Dorothea Röschmann with Malcolm Martineau and Werner Güra with Christoph Berner; contralto Jess Dandy will again lead small groups on an immersive outdoor SongPath through the Botanic Gardens (this was hugely popular last year); and the atmospheric Holywell Music Room (pictured below) will return to use as the main location for daytime events. ‘We’re really looking forward to that – everyone missed the Holywell so much last year,’ says Kynoch.

Over the past five or six years, the festival has been developing its links with the university and all that it can offer as a centre of learning, he adds, drawing on the academic specialisms of its staff to set repertoire in context through Song Connections discussions and illustrated lectures. Members of the public can also attend the second week’s Mastercourse classes, which offer students from Oxford Lieder’s Young Artist Programme the opportunity to work with artist in residence Mark Padmore and guest tutors. Commissioning new work and performing the music of living composers is an important strand of the festival’s activity; Alex Ho, associate composer for 2022-23, is writing two major new song cycles and this year also sees world premieres of works by William Harmer, Elena Langer and Ian Venables.

The success of events such as Oxford Lieder, Leeds Lieder and the Ludlow English Song Festival suggests that Kynoch’s original aims may have been fulfilled, but he says that it is still not easy to sell song recitals, especially when the performers are less well known in the UK than on the continent, or when repertoire is not in English. ‘Our marketing team works very hard at experimenting with different options for translations and programme notes – digital or paper, low cost or free – and at persuading people to come to several concerts and get used to the experience of sitting listening to someone pouring their heart out.’ Research shows that this is a ‘slow burn’ art form which can be baffling at first… then people tend to have a sudden epiphany and become addicted.

With such a vast repertoire to choose from, ideas for themes for each festival percolate in Kynoch’s mind for a long time. This year’s is ‘Friendship in Song’, marking Oxford Lieder’s 21st birthday by putting intimacy and conviviality at the centre of the programme and offering endless scope for exploring professional relationships between composers and performers, or composers and poets, and famous musical friendships. Of course, the festival has its own friends – in particular the generous donors who stepped up to ensure that it could survive and thrive through the pandemic. ’We have a really devoted core group of supporters,’ says Kynoch, ‘They have been amazing.’

Oxford Lieder Festival runs from 14–29 October this year. You can find more information, including tickets here.