Concert Details

FREE // Piotr Dec (clarinet) & Jennifer Coleman (soprano): Pre-concert Foyer performance - Sunday 19th March, 5:45pm

Spohr Sechs Deutsche Lieder Op. 103
I. Sei still mein Herz
II. Zwiegesang
VI. Wach auf
Bliss Two Nursery Rhymes
I. The Ragwort
II. The Dandelion
Kovács Hommage à Zoltan Kodaly (for solo clarinet)
Trad O can ye sew cushions
Schubert Ganymed, D544
Schoenberg Seit ich so viele Weiber

Spohr, Lachner and Schubert were some of the composers to have written songs for voice and clarinet. ‘Sechs Deutsche Lieder’ are one of them. Although Spohr was primarily interested in composing symphonies, operas, and chamber music, it is the present set of songs with clarinet that have succeeded in claiming themselves a place in the repertoire of today. We will  also present traditional Scottish songs and Nursery Rhymes by an English composer, Arthur Bliss. All the works will be unaccompanied in order to present their unique duo character.

Biography:

Piotr Dec is studying for a Bachelor of Music at the Royal College of Music in London (RCM), where he is an RCM Scholar and studies modern clarinet with Janet Hilton and Barnaby Robson, and classical clarinet with Professor Colin Lawson and Ingrid Pearson. He is supported by the Worshipful Company of Musicians. In May 2016 Piotr made his professional debut performing a solo recital in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall. Together with soprano Jennifer Coleman, Piotr was a finalist in the National English Song Competition (2016), and also performed at the event ‘Summer Sounds’ at the Royal Academy of Arts, where RCM musicians played pieces inspired by the Summer Exhibition. He has performed solo recitals in venues such as St. John’s Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St. James’s Piccadilly Church, the Foundling Museum, the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall at the RCM, Charlottenburg Palace, Wrocław Philharmonic, Wrocław Radio and Television Concert Hall, and many more. He recently premiered Dan Chappell’s After a Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery and was also featured as a solo performer on a recording for Chinese Berita Global television.

Jennifer Coleman is a Theo Max van der Beugel Scholar studying for a Master of Performance in Vocal Performance under the tutelage of Janis Kelly at the Royal College of Music, London. Jennifer has won numerous awards, most recently, a Musical Odessey Prize whilst taking part in masterclasses with the acclaimed British soprano Susan Bullock in Nafplio, Greece. She was awarded commended in the 2016 RCM Lieder competition, and was a finalist in the RCM Brooks-van der Pump Competition. In May this year Jennifer released her first full length album ‘Songs of Love’ following the success of her debut E.P. ‘Simple Gifts’ that she released in 2014. Other recent highlights include 11 different concerts with orchestra as a soloist for the Young Virtuosi Music Festival in the South of France in July 2016.  Royal College of Music.  Future engagements include Fili in Handel’s Acis and Galatea at Aldeburgh with the RCM, the title role in Handel’s Theodora with the RCM Oratorio society in December 2016, and Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute with St. John’s Opera in January 2017.