When I opened the brochure for this year’s Oxford Lieder Festival, one name instantly jumped out at me — that of Sir Willard White. The legendary Jamaican-born bass is making a welcome return to the festival with his wife, soprano Sylvia Kevorkian, and regular accompanist Eugene Asti, and their programme of Brahms, Schubert, Quilter, Liszt and Berlioz at the Church of St John the Evangelist is undoubtedly one of the festival’s must-see concerts.

But there are plenty of other starry names in a festival that is jam-packed with musical delights.

Popular baritone Roderick Williams, a graduate of Magdalen College, will be singing Schumann’s Dichterliebe alongside the world premiere of an Oxford Lieder commission, Time and the Seasons, written by Worcester College Music Fellow Robert Saxton.

“This is a setting of his own poetry,” explains Sholto Kynoch, the festival’s founder and artistic director. “Roddy [Williams] sang the lead in Robert’s opera The Wandering Jew a few years ago, so he was an obvious choice for this new commission.”

Internationally acclaimed soprano Kate Royal is back after several years, having first appeared at the festival as a rising star. “Kate last sang at the Lieder Festival before she won the Kathleen Ferrier award,” recalls Sholto. “We’ve been trying to get her back since then but she’s been incredibly busy. But we finally got a date!”

The major event of the festival is the Britten weekend, which celebrates the composer’s centenary with all of the published songs plus some of his lesser-known material. “I’m really looking forward to the Francoise-Green Piano Duo, who have spent some time in Bali and will be playing some Britten piano works as well as some amazing arrangements of Balinese gamelan music on two pianos,” says Sholto. “They’re really unusual, so that’s something a bit different for our audience.

“James Bowman is going to talk about his experiences of working with Britten, which will be interesting. So I think it will be a really good weekend.”

Another themed event is the Frozen Landscapes and Winter Journeys Day, which was inspired by two ill-fated polar expeditions — that of Captain Scott in 1912, and the lesser-known attempt by Salomon Andrée to reach the North Pole by hot air balloon in 1897. Concerts include baritone Mark Stone singing Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel, while tenor Robert Murray and Andrew West perform Schubert’s famous Winterreise interspersed with readings from Scott’s diaries by Seán Street. There will also be a slide show of the Andrée Expedition at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

“Again, it’s a bit unusual, slightly off-the-wall for us, but it’s something I hope will appeal,” says Sholto. “It’s going to be a really interesting day.”

Other highlights include the return of the popular family concerts with Dominic Harlan, a masterclass for adult amateur singers led by acclaimed mezzo-soprano Sarah Walker, the festival debut of renowned pianist Imogen Cooper and the conclusion of the Wolf programme, which has seen the performance and recording of Wolf’s entire song collection. “It’s a personal milestone,” says Sholto. “It’s taken three years to get through the whole lot. We’ve got an all-star line-up for our final concerts, including Jonathan Lemalu, Adrian Thompson and Roddy Williams, so that’s a satisfying conclusion to our Wolf project.”

Oxford Lieder Festival
Various venues
October 11–26
Tickets: ticketsoxford.com
Visit oxfordlieder.co.uk for full details