Mahler Festival: Fleur Barron, Laurence Kilsby and Julius Drake in Mahler songs

Fleur Barron and Laurence Kilsby

The Recital Hall is dedicated to Mahler's most beautiful songs during the Mahler Festival. Perhaps today's most important Lieder accompanist, pianist Julius Drake, flanks his favourite vocalists. Today, you hear British mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, praised by critics for her charisma and clarity. You will also hear young tenor Laurence Kilsby, the 2022 winner of the Wigmore Hall's International Song Competition.

Kindertotenlieder

Mahler's moving Kindertotenlieder are set to texts by Friedrich Rückert. This song cycle deals with coping with the death of two of the poet's children. Some years after its completion, Mahler himself lost his daughter. Julius Drake had already regularly performed the Kindertotenlieder with Fleur Barron. 'Fleur has such an extraordinary voice,' he said in Preludium.' A mezzo, but when she sings, you can hear a contra-alt, very special.' Drake also chose several pieces from Des Knaben Wunderhorn for this recital. For these works, Mahler based himself on old German folk song texts. Mahler drew from the same textbook before. Today, Barron and tenor Laurence Kilsby perform the Lieder und Gesänge, a song cycle Mahler wrote in his twenties.