Joanna Harries & Jong Sun Woo: Nightingale
Friday 02 May 2025
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
“And the king in the cool of the moon
Hearkened to the nightingale’s sorrowfulness,
Till all his own was gone.”
Walter de la Mare / Herbert Howells – King David
Mezzo-soprano Joanna Harries (“emotional force” – The Times) and pianist Jong Sun Woo (“poetic and characterful” – The Guardian) explore what it means to listen and be heard, in this programme inspired by the spellbinding nature of birdsong.
Mirroring Herbert Howell’s beautiful song King David, in which a king recognises his own melancholy in the song of a nightingale, the programme travels from brokenness to hope, as we listen to the birds and let them teach us how to sing.
We take flight with music from Johannes Brahms to Judith Weir, including Muriel Herbert’s rhapsodic The Lost Nightingale, Fumio Hayasaka’s haunting Uguisu (Nightingale) for unaccompanied voice, and Steven Sondheim’s chirpy Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird from Sweeney Todd.
Hope
Emily Dickinson Hope Is The Thing With Feathers
Listen
Matthew Emery For Broken And Tired Am I (Three Songs)
Olivier Messiaen Pourquoi? (Trois Melodies)
Judith Weir Written On Terrestrial Things (The Voice Of Desire)
Sally Beamish Nightingale (4 Songs From Hafez)
Herbert Howells King David
Alban Berg Die Nachtigall (Sieben Frühe Lieder)
Fumio Hayasaka Uguisu [For Unaccompanied Voice]
John Ireland Earth’s Call
Imogen Holst Weathers
Amy Beach The Blackbird
Sing
Ivor Gurney Everyone Sang
Antonin Dvorak Vy Vroucí Písně Spějte (Cypriše)
Muriel Herbert The Lost Nightingale
Doo-Nam Cho 새타령 (Sae Taryeong) / Bird Song
Francis Poulenc Georges Braque (Le Travail Du Peintre)
Stephen Sondheim Green Finch and Linnet Bird, Nightingale, Blackbird (Sweeney Todd)
Johannes Brahms Lerchengesang Op.70 No.2
Joanna Harries mezzo-soprano
Jong Sun Woo piano
Praised for her “stylish” singing (Opera Magazine) and the “emotional force” of her performances (The Times), mezzo-soprano Joanna Harries enjoys a varied career in opera, concert and recital.
Born in New Zealand and raised in Wales, Joanna recently finished as a young artist at the National Opera Studio in London. Last season she made her debut with Opera Rara and the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican as mezzo soloist for Paul Rissmann’s Through the Looking Glass Suite, and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall as mezzo soloist for Mozart’s Requiem.
A keen recitalist, recent performances include Scandinavian song at the Elgar Concert Hall, Birmingham, a lunchtime recital at the Royal Opera House, and Russian song at Pushkin House. Joanna has also given recitals as a 2022 Britten Pears Young Artist, 2021-2023 Opera Prelude Young Artist and 2017-2018 Handel House Talent Artist. Her debut song album Letters from Scandinavia with pianist Sholto Kynoch will be released in 2025 with CRD Records.
Recent opera roles include Medoro Orlando with the Liberata Collective (Buxton International Festival), Prince/Stepmother Cinderella (Opera North) Little Listeners, Lucinda La forza dell’amor paterno (The Barber Opera), Contessa Ceprano Rigoletto (Opera Holland Park), Deborah Robinson Crusoe (West Green House Opera) and Tweedle-Dee Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (IF Opera).
She is co-founder with Jess Dandy of SongPath, bringing together music and mental health through nature, and working with festivals including Oxford International Song Festival, Leeds Lieder festival, Ulverston International Music Festival and Beverley Early Music Festival.
www.joannaharries.com
Dates, Times & Book
| Fri 02 May | 1:00 PM | £10 | Book |
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