Oxford audiences, it seems, can’t get enough of the Oxford Lieder Festival. So if you have been suffering from lieder withdrawal symptoms since the close of last year’s song fest, the forthcoming Spring Weekend of Song should be the perfect panacea.

“It’s a bit like a mini-festival, where we have lots of stuff going on, with events during the day and recitals in the evening,” explains Sholto Kynoch, who founded the main Lieder Festival in 2002.

“We’ve got a similar format to last year, but we’ve put a bit more in, which seems to be our habit from year to year!”

The focus of this mini-festival is very much on bringing together stars of today and tomorrow, so there will be recitals by soprano Susan Gritton and mezzo Kitty Whately – daughter of Lewis actor Kevin Whately – as well as a study day, a composition workshop with the Faculty of Music and public auditions for this year’s Young Artists Platform.

“The Young Artists Platform is becoming more important to the festival, and as we become more successful we’re attracting a higher calibre of singers,” Sholto says.

“Applicants have to be either currently at a conservatoire or to have graduated within a year, so they’re generally early- to mid-20s and already embarking on their careers.

“They’re all people who have made the decision to keep song in their repertoire, rather than just focusing on opera.”

Sholto has had to sift through 40 applications this year, which he had to whittle down to six – a daunting challenge.

“Out of those 40 applications there’s nobody who I haven’t wanted to hear,” he explains.

“The conservatoire scene is so committed to song, which means the standard goes up and up.”

The middle day of the three-day festival is devoted to the auditions, in which six hopeful young duos give 40-minute recitals, adjudicated by Susan Gritton and pianist Eugene Asti. Sholto says: “The idea is they get a really great experience.

“They come to Oxford for the weekend, they hear the other recitals and they get to give a recital in a performance setting and also show their skills as programmers, so they get a really good performance platform. We also give them a master class on the Sunday.”

The winning duo give a series of 14 recitals throughout the year at venues across the country, and in effect become ambassadors for the Oxford Lieder Festival.

“From our point of view it’s spreading the word about the festival and what we’re doing further afield.

“We’re still trying to get people to engage with song, and to push that out to the rest of the country, so the winning recitalists are good advocates for that.”

As if to prove just how high the standard is, the closing recital will be given by last year’s winners, baritone Josep-Ramon Olivé and pianist Ben-San Lau, who will be performing Schumann’s Dichterliebe and songs by Ravel.

“Because of their other commitments they weren’t able to do a concert at the main festival last year, so they’re doing this instead,” says Sholto. “Their careers are really taking off. The Dichterliebe is a nice way to finish the Spring Weekend as we look forward to The Schumann Project in the autumn.”

Where and when
Oxford Lieder Spring Song Weekend, Holywell Music Room & other venues, March 4-6
oxfordlieder.co.uk 01865 305305