In the dazzling Regency splendour of the Music Room at Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, two internationally acclaimed and award-winning artists – countertenor Iestyn Davies MBE and harpist Oliver Wass – present a delightful programme that traverses some 400 years of music and song from both the Old and New Worlds, encompassing composers from Monteverdi, Purcell and Handel to Amy Beach, Nico Muhly and Anna Meredith, by way of Schubert, Ravel, Poulenc and Britten.
The leading British countertenor of today, Iestyn Davies is a frequent guest artist at Glyndebourne, where last summer he reprised the starring role of the hero, harpist and future king David in Handel’s oratorio Saul. The Arts Desk praised “the crystalline clarity” of his voice and “white-hot intensity” of his singing, Opera Today declared that his performance was “outstanding in every respect: word, tone, and gesture”, while The Guardian, highlighting the heavenly aria that concludes this Brighton Festival recital, wrote that “time stands still when he sings Oh Lord, Whose Mercies Numberless”.
Currently Professor of Harp at the Royal College of Music in London, and an international performer on both modern and early harps, Oliver Wass was the first harpist ever to win the Guildhall School’s most prestigious prize, the Gold Medal.
