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This Fragile Beauty: April Fredrick and Eric McElroy in Recital
WWI wartime experience of composers Ivor Gurney, George Butterworth, Arthur Bliss, and Ralph Vaughan Williams
Part of the Elgar Festival 2026
Add to my Calendar 26-05-2026 14:00 26-05-2026 16:00 36 This Fragile Beauty: April Fredrick and Eric McElroy in Recital How does war affect creatives? What keeps them going, then and after? This Fragile Beauty, for soprano, piano, violin and narrator, explores the WWI wartime experience of composers Ivor Gurney, George Butterworth, Arthur Bliss, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, with settings of war-poets by Ireland and Elgar’s evocative A Voice in the Desert from the Belgian perspective. A rich tapestry of longing and loss, it also features poems and letters by Gurney and others that emerged from their time in the trenches and the collective grief, processing and change that followed it. Discover further concerts at this year's Elgar Festival on Classical Events. The Firs - Elgar's Birthplace, Worcester DD/MM/YYYYDetails
The Firs - Elgar's Birthplace
Crown East Lane
Lower Broadheath
Worcester
Worcestershire
WR2 6RH
England
Tickets
Programme
Edward Elgar – Une voix dans le désert, Op.77
Arthur Bliss – Selected Songs
Ivor Gurney – Selected Songs
John Ireland – Selected Songs
George Butterworth – Selected songs
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Along the Field
Performers
April Fredrick – soprano
Eric McElroy – piano
Grace Shepherd – violin
Joseph Campbell Powell – Narrator
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
How does war affect creatives? What keeps them going, then and after? This Fragile Beauty, for soprano, piano, violin and narrator, explores the WWI wartime experience of composers Ivor Gurney, George Butterworth, Arthur Bliss, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, with settings of war-poets by Ireland and Elgar’s evocative A Voice in the Desert from the Belgian perspective.
A rich tapestry of longing and loss, it also features poems and letters by Gurney and others that emerged from their time in the trenches and the collective grief, processing and change that followed it.
Discover further concerts at this year's Elgar Festival on Classical Events.
