Ian Bostridge, tenor

Songs featuring the poetry of Shakespeare by Dowland, Finzi, Schubert, Haydn, Britten, & Korngold.

Ian Bostridge’s extraordinary international career has taken him to the foremost concert halls, orchestras and opera houses in the world. Synonymous with the works of Schubert and Britten, his recital career has taken him to the Salzburg, Edinburgh, Munich, Vienna, Aldeburgh and Schwarzenberg Schubertiade festivals and to the main stages of Carnegie Hall, the Bayerische Staatsoper, La Monnaie and Teatro alla Scala. In opera, Ian has received particular praise for his interpretation of Aschenbach (Death in Venice) at the Deutsche Oper and Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw) for Teatro alla Scala. His recordings have won all the major international record prizes and have been nominated for 15 Grammys.

Highlights of the 2023/24 season include artistic residencies for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and as Duo Artist in Residence at LIED Basel with Julius Drake. His plans include Les nuits d’été with Orchestre de Chambre du Luxembourg conducted by Corinna Niemeyer, St Matthew Passion with Musikkollegium Winterthur conducted by Roberto González-Monjas, with Capella Cracoviensis and with Wrocław Baroque Orchestra conducted by Jarosław Thiel, Les Illuminations with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gergely Madaras, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León with Christoph Koncz and Evangelist (St John Passion) with Orchestre national d’Auvergne and Henri Chalet, alongside performances with Camerata Bern, the Oberon Trio at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Les Talens Lyriques with Christophe Rousset at Trifolion Echternach and Compagnia di Punto at the Elbphilharmonie.

Elsewhere, Ian undertakes a Japanese concert tour with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra and Matthias Bamert, a Korean concert tour of Les Illuminations with the Sejong Soloists and repeats his Tormento d’amore programme on tour with Capella Neapolitana. Recitals for this season include appearances at the Wigmore Hall with Andreas Haefliger & Dame Imogen Cooper, the Fundação Centro Cultural de Belém with Luís Duarte, the Herbst Theatre and Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa with Wenwen Du, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Juliusz Sowacki Theatre Krakow & the Beethovenhaus Bonn with Saskia Giorgini, the Settimane Musicali di Ascona Festival with Dame Imogen Cooper, as well as the Stadtkirch Brugg, Theatre Royal Bath, Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti Rome, LIED Basel & on tour in Japan with long-time collaborator, Julius Drake.

The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. His passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for Wigmore Hall, London; The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; 92nd St Y, New York; and the Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin. He curates an annual series of song recitals – Julius Drake and Friends – in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London. Julius Drake is a Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and he is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide.
Julius Drake’s many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion Records, of which ‘Song by Samuel Barber’, ‘Schumann: Dichterliebe & other Heine Settings’ and ‘Britten: Songs & Proverbs of William Blake’ won the 2007, 2009 and 2011 Gramophone Awards; recordings with Ian Bostridge and Alice Coote for EMI; with Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Matthew Polenzani for Wigmore Live; and with Anna Prohaska for Alpha. His recordings of Janáček’s ‘The Diary of One Who Disappeared’, with tenor Nicky Spence and mezzo soprano Václava Housková for Hyperion Records, won both the Gramophone and the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2020.
Concerts this season include recitals at La Scala, Milan and the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid, with Ludovic Tézier; return visits to the Boulez Saal Berlin for the series ‘Lied und Lyrik’; a recital tour in the USA with Ian Bostridge; the complete Mahler songs in five recitals in the Mahler Festival at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; return visits to the Chamber Music Festivals of Santa Fe, West Cork and Oxford; concerts in Berlin and the Aldeburgh Festival with Andrè Schuen; piano duet recitals with Elisabeth Leonskaja in Austria, including at the Schubertiade Festival; recitals in the USA and Europe with Fleur Barron, Mercedes Gancedo, Christoph Prégardien, Julia Kleiter, Anna Prohaska and Roderick Williams; and at Wigmore Hall, London the Seasoning Opening concert celebrating the Fauré Anniversary, as well as recitals with Alice Coote, Stuart Jackson, Sofia Fomina and Brindley Sherratt.

Photo of Julius Drake by Marco Borggreve.