‘THE ART OF BRITISH SONG’. A SONG RECITAL BY TENOR JAMES GILCHRIST AND PIANIST NATHAN WILLIAMSON.

James and Nathan will present an evening of British song from the past 100 years, including works by Savilian composers, as part of ‘The Art of British Song’ Salon Recital Series, taking place throughout Spring 2022.

‘The Art of British Song’ (TABS) is a new venture that reflects the wealth of song by British composers both past and present, celebrated and unknown. Through performance, education and recordings, TABS brings this varied and vivid repertoire to much greater prominence.

The catalyst for this new venture was a commission from SOMM Recordings for Nathan and James to record three CDs celebrating ‘100 Years of British Song’. In reviewing the first two volumes, John France of MusicWeb International stated …. ‘It is redundant to declare that this is a superlative CD. Considering the two performers and the imaginative and wide-ranging programme, it could be nothing else’. The third volume will be released in January 2022. 

Since the launch of ‘TABS’ in September 2021, James and Nathan given recital of British song at Snape Maltings, the Alwyn Music Festival, the English Music Festival and at the University of Surrey’s symposium on song.  Further information can be found at theartofbritishsong.co.uk, which includes a short video of James and Nathan talking about ‘The Art of British Song.’

NATHAN WILLIAMSON has performed at many of the world’s leading venues and festivals as soloist and chamber musician, and collaborated on new compositions with a wide variety of artists both at home and abroad.

Recent highlights include the release of a three CD project on SOMM Recordings, ‘100 Years of British Song’, with tenor James Gilchrist, the complete Beethoven Concertos with the Prometheus Orchestra, recording Sonatas and Nocturnes by Malcolm Lipkin for Lyrita, the premiere of Christopher Brown’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, and international tours with the renowned new music ensemble Piano Circus. During lockdown Nathan gave online recitals for City Music Live, as well as streaming regular live music into schools and care homes.

Nathan’s own work includes the piano quartet Crystal, premiered in October 2021 by the Rossetti Ensemble, a substantial Sonata for cello and piano premiered in 2018 by Charles Watt, as well as new songs for James Gilchrist. Other recent commissions include Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Endymion, NOW Ensemble, Bury St. Edmund’s Cathedral and Pushkin House.

Nathan’s first CD for SOMM, Great American Sonatas (2017), was hailed by Musical Opinion as “a landmark in recordings of American piano music” and Colour and Light (2019), of British 20th century piano repertoire, was chosen as Album of the Month in International Piano Quarterly. His debut, Brahms and Schubert: Late Piano Works, was reviewed by Donald Sturrock as ‘a truly electrifying debut from a musician with a rare marriage of thoughtfulness and passion’.

Tenor James Gilchrist began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time music career in 1996. His extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world with renowned conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Bernard Labadie, Harry Christophers, Harry Bicket, Masaaki Suzuki and Richard Hickox. A master of English music, he has performed Britten’s Church Parables in St Petersburg, in London and at the Aldeburgh Festival, Nocturne with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and War Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony and the National Youth Orchestra of Germany.  Highlights have included singing the role of Rev. Adams in Britten’s Peter Grimes with Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner with performances at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Royal Festival Hall, Grieghallen and Den Norske Opera, as well as Haydn’s Creation for a staged production with Garsington Opera and Ballet Rambert, and later with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Elijah with Goteborgs Symfoniker and Masaaki Suzuki, and a return to King’s College, Cambridge to perform St Matthew Passion as part of Stephen Cleobury’s final Easter week as Director of Music. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and the St John and St Matthew Passion feature prominently in his schedule, and he is celebrated as perhaps the finest Evangelist of his generation; as one review noted, “he hasn’t become a one-man Evangelist industry by chance”. 

James’ impressive discography includes recordings of Albert Herring (title role) and Vaughan Williams’ A Poisoned Kiss, Songs of Travel and solo disc Solitude with pianist and long-time collaborator Anna Tilbrook, including a new work by Jonathan Dove, all for Chandos Records. St John Passion with the AAM, the Finzi song cycle Oh Fair To See, Elizabethan Lute Songs When Laura Smiles with Matthew Wadsworth, Leighton Earth Sweet Earth, a disc of Schumann song cycles, Vaughan Williams On Wenlock Edge, Finzi songs and Britten’s Winter Words for Linn Records, and the critically-acclaimed recordings of Schubert’s song cycles for Orchid Classics.