TLC series - Reynaldo Hahn's Venezia

Thanks for joining us today for this live-streamed concert as part of our Tuesday Lunchtime Concert Series at Heath Street Baptist Church, Hampstead, London.

Join tenor Davide Basso on a journey through the Venetian canals, followed by some of his most beloved arias, Italian romanze and German Lieder.

“The Venetian dialect is enchanting. Above all, it’s youthful. We hear a young man’s voice: it’s an old man speaking. A veritable language of love, it retains an eternal adolescence; the constantly returning inflection gives it a charming flexibility and mobility.” In his Notes, journal d’un musicien (1933), Hahn set down his impressions of Venice, which he had discovered as a young man in spring 1900, when he had travelled there to join Marcel Proust. His fascination with the local dialect led him to compose a cycle of six songs to texts by various Italian poets. But the local colour goes beyond the choice of language: it permeates the music of the whole set, now adopting the barcarolle, now the tarantella, and borrowing for the piano modes of accompaniment from the guitar.

DAVIDE BASSO is a London based Italian tenor. Originally from Vicenza, he studied singing in London at Middlesex University, and is currently under the guidance of Marcus Van Den Akker. He has performed regularly both in the UK (Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Hall, Cadogan Hall) and Italy (Teatro Verdi in Padova, Teatro Comunale in Vicenza, Teatro Cilea in Reggio Calabria, Teatro Malibran in Venice) with Opéra de Baugé, Dockland Sinfonia, Ormond Opera, Silver Symphony Orchestra, Casanova Venice Ensemble.

MICHAEL PUGH came to international prominence by being the first British Pianist in its history to win the XVIth Aarau International Piano Competition in Switzerland.
As a soloist he has captivated audiences in the UK and abroad from London to Osaka Japan, collaborating with conductors such as: Sir Simon Rattle, Mikael Strinmann, Marin Allsop, Mariss Jansens, Alexander Briger, Alexander Walker and Edward Gardner.

Michael also holds the title of vocal coach, and in 2012 was asked to join the staff at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he was recently awarded an HEA fellowship for his work in the vocal faculty.