Hugh Cutting & George Ireland

Experience the expansive range of vocal music, from Baroque arias to specially commissioned contemporary works.

Hugh Cutting, the first countertenor to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award, joins celebrated pianist George Ireland for a thrillingly eclectic recital that journeys across countries, genres and centuries. Flexing his voice beyond the baroque era, Cutting surprises at every turn.

Operatic arias, from Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (1643) to George Benjamin’s Written on Skin (2012), mingle with Lieder by Franz Schubert and Hugh Wolf. The French Belle Époque (Beautiful Era) is represented with songs by Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Fauré; while Girolamo Frescobaldi’s Se l’aura tutta vezzosa returns us to 17th-century Italy.

The recital also features lesser-known composers like Betty Roe, alongside new commissions, including Piers Connor Kennedy’s electrifying Rough Rhymes, written for Cutting’s voice.

Sung in English, French, German and Italian with English subtitles

A keepsake freesheet is available at the venue for this performance