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Details
St Michael's Church
High Street
Chagford
Devon
TQ13 8BN
England
Tickets
Prices: £20, £8, free
Book Tickets
Programme
Robert Schumann – Dichterliebe, Op.48
Francesco Paolo Tosti – Marechiare
Roelof Temmingh – Birthday Letter
Robert Schumann – Vogel als Prophet, Op.82 no.7
Judith Weir – The Voices of Desire: ‘Written on Terrestrial Things’, ‘Sweet Little Red Feet'
John Ireland – The Trellis
Ivor Gurney – The Apple Orchard
Frank Bridge – Love Went a-Riding, H.114
Performers
Matthew McKinney – tenor
Roelof Temmingh – Piano
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
Matthew McKinney is quickly establishing himself as a rising star of the UK's opera and recital scene. After winning first prize at the renowned Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 2024, and since his brief appearance at the Whiddon Autumn Festival last year, Matthew has made his debut at New York's Carnegie Hall as a Song Studio Artist, and returned to Glyndebourne as a Jerwood Artist for their 2025 summer festival. Later this year, Matthew will make his role debut at Glyndebourne as Peter in the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s new opera The Railway Children.
'Finding Freedom' is Matthew's ongoing recital project with South African pianist Roelof Temmingh, and this performance will include Matthew's first ever live performance of Dichterliebe by Robert Schumann. Setting a collection of poems by German Romantic poet Heinrich Heine, Dichterliebe is one of the most iconic song cycles of the Lieder tradition, and one of Schumann's most loved works.
The second half of the programme explores the theme of 'Finding Freedom' through a carefully curated selection of 20th century and contemporary songs. Featuring music by Ivor Gurney, Judith Weir, Frank Bridge and John Ireland, Matthew and Roelof chart a course through some of the greatest exponents of English Song. Towards the end of the concert, a traditional Scottish song is interwoven with Roelof's own poignant setting of a beautiful letter in Afrikaans, written by his grandfather to his grandmother at the end of her life.
The final item in the programme is the dramatic and highly virtuosic Marechiare by Paolo Tosti, a song in the Neapolitan language, and a true showstopper of the Italian bel canto tradition.
