Susie Allan, piano
ENGLISH SONG
Music of Butterworth, Vaughan Williams, Finzi, Britten, and more
Roderick Williams encompasses a wide repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, in the opera house, on the concert platform and in recital.
He enjoys relationships with all the major UK opera houses and is particularly associated with the baritone roles of Mozart. He has also sung world premieres of operas by, among others, David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michael van der Aa, Robert Saxton and Alexander Knaifel.
Roderick Williams has sung concert repertoire 
with all the BBC orchestras, and many other ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, Britten Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Academy of Ancient Music, The Sixteen, Le Concert Spirituel, Rias Kammerchor and Bach Collegium Japan. His many festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh and Melbourne.
Recent and future engagements include Oronte in Charpentier’s Medée, Toby Kramer in Van der Aa’s Sunken Garden and Don Alfonso/Così for English National Opera, Van der Aa’s After Life at Melbourne State Theatre, Van der Aa’s Sunken Garden at Opera de Lyon, the title role in Billy Budd for the Nationale Reisopera, a concert performance of Ned Keene/Peter Grimes with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Last Night of the 2014 BBC Proms, as well as concert performances with many of the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles. He is also an accomplished recital artist who can be heard at venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, LSO St Luke’s, the Perth Concert Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival, London Song Festival, the Musikverein, Vienna and on Radio 3, where he has participated on Iain Burnside’s Voices programme.
His numerous recordings include Vaughan Williams, Berkeley and Britten operas for Chandos, Verdi’s Don Carlos (conducted by Bernard Haitink) for Philips, and an extensive repertoire of English song with pianist Iain Burnside for Naxos.
Roderick Williams is also a composer and has had works premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room and live on national radio. He will be the Artistic Director of Leeds Lieder + in April 2016.
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PROGRAM
George Butterworth
Six songs from A Shropshire Lad A E Housman
John Ireland
Great Things Thomas Hardy
Sea Fever John Masefield
In Boyhood A E Housman
Youth’s Spring tribute Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gerald Finzi
From Before & After Summer: Channel Firing Thomas Hardy
Ralph Vaughan Williams
From House of Life: Silent Noon Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Ivor Gurney
Black Stitchel Wilfred Gibson
Lights Out Edward Thomas
Captain Stratton’s Fancy John Masefield
****** Intermission******
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Two Songs from Songs of Travel Robert Louis Stevenson
T
Roger Quilter
Weep you no more, sad fountains Anon
Peter Warlock
Jillian of Berry Anon
E J Moeran
The Pleasant Valley James Joyce
Benjamin Britten
Salley Gardens W B Yeats
The Ploughboy Traditional
Gerald Finzi
Let us Garlands bring W Shakespeare
Come away, come away, Death
Who is Silvia?
Fear no more the heat o’ the sun
O Mistress Mine
It was a lover and his lass