Showcases

All four stole the show with a previous performance: soprano Justyna Khil and pianist Rozalia Kierc at the 2025 International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch, mezzo-soprano Ellen Pearson and pianist Francesca Lauri at Oxford International Song Competition. What made their recitals special? They dared to play with the form of a ‘classical’ recital.

Age of Anxiety

In three acts, Justyna and Rozalia created a contemporary, theatrical experience of a liedrecital with stories of war and (a little) peace running through generations. With that title, the Polish-born musicians refer to the poem Age of Anxiety by W.H. Auden: even in peacetime, war can lurk. They therefore chose works by well-known Western composers such as Eisler, Debussy and Britten as well as compositions by Polish and Ukrainian composers. ‘Because,‘ they say, ‘almost eight decades after Auden wrote his poem, our generation of artists is once again experiencing the fear, pain, loss and displacement caused by military conflicts. With this programme, we want to say: this is where we come from. This is what we see, think and feel every day. Do you feel it too?

The four seasons

Nature is a constant: we are nature and surrounded by nature. And at the same time, nature is not constant. Just the changing of the seasons and what that can do to a person makes you feel that. You can feel sadness when the rosebush drops the petals of its last flower, suffer from a winter dip and then rebound in spring and summer when everything blossoms again as if a veil is drawn away, letting you feel the world in all its scents and colours again. But can modern man still surrender to the rhythms of nature?