Artists

Ian Bostridge tenor
Joseph Middleton piano 

Tenor Ian Bostridge CBE joins Leeds Song Director Joseph Middleton to open our 2026–27 season with a programme of rare intensity and insight.

Long‑established as one of the most compelling interpreters of Schubert and Britten, Bostridge brings his unmistakable intellectual depth and emotional immediacy to a recital that pairs selected Schubert songs with Britten’s searing The Holy Sonnets of John Donne.

Bostridge is one of the world’s leading tenors, with an international career that spans major concert halls, opera houses and festivals. His recital appearances have taken him to Salzburg, Edinburgh, Munich, Vienna, Aldeburgh and the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, as well as Carnegie Hall, the Bayerische Staatsoper, La Monnaie and Teatro alla Scala. On the operatic stage he has earned particular acclaim for roles such as Aschenbach (Death in Venice) at the Deutsche Oper and Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw) at La Scala.

His extensive discography has won all major international recording prizes and received fifteen Grammy nominations.

Programme

Franz Schubert
Im Frühling D882
Über Wildemann D884
Der liebliche Stern D861
Tiefes Lied (Im Jänner 1871) D876
Auf der Brücke D853
Aus Heliopolis I D753
Aus Heliopolis II D754
Abendbilder D650
Ins stille Land D403
Totengräbers Heimweh D842 

[INTERVAL] 

Benjamin Britten 
The Holy Sonnets of John Donne