Artists

Claire Lees soprano
Jong Sun Woo piano

We regret to announce that, due to illness, Felix Gygli is unable to perform his lunchtime recital at Leeds Song Festival on Friday 17 April 2026. We are delighted to announce that Opera North star soprano Claire Lees will instead present the lunchtime recital, accompanied by pianist Jong Sun Woo. Festival Director Joseph Middleton, who recently performed with her at Wigmore Hall, describes her as a superb recitalist.

In 2025/2026 British Soprano Claire Lees returns to Garsington Opera for Minerva/Amore in Il ritorno d’Ulisse, conducted by Laurence Cummings. She will also reprise the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro for Opera North.

Highlights of the 2024/2025 included Pamina in The Magic Flute for Opera North, Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Despina in Così fan tutte for the Nevill Holt Festival- for which she received widespread critical acclaim- ‘She is the star of the evening…. She sparkles on the stage’ (Seen & Heard International).

Her roles for Garsington Opera include Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, La Musica in Orfeo and Naiad in Ariadne auf Naxos. Elsewhere highlights include Lisette in La rondine (Opera North), Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro and Oscar in Un ballo in maschera (Opera Holland Park), Adina in L’elisir d’amore (Iford Opera) and Venus in Venus and Adonis (Blackheath Opera). In 2023 she returned to Glyndebourne Festival Opera to cover the title role in Semele.

Claire is a graduate of both the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is a Samling Artist, winner of the 2019 Wil Keune Mozart Prize at the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition and a recipient of an Opera Awards Foundation bursary. In 2023 she won the Leonard Ingram award at Garsington Opera for her performance as Naiad in Ariadne auf Naxos.

Programme

Gabriel Fauré 1845-1924

Clair de lune
Mandoline
En sourdine

Richard Strauss 1864-1949

Kornblumen
⁠Epheu
Ich wollt’ ein Sträusslein binden
Die Nacht

Benjamin Britten 1913-1976

On This Island

Let the florid music praise
Now the leaves are falling fast
Seascape
Nocturne
As it is, plenty

William Walton 1902-1983

Three Sitwell Songs

Daphne
Through gilded trellises
Old Sir Faulk