Having launched Shipston Song last year, you are back for a second instalment. Have you kept the same formula? Largely yes. We have three concerts – one each on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon – which proved very successful. We have, though, expanded in some directions. For instance, we have four Shipston Rising Stars – three singers and a pianist – which is double the number of last year. They are young musicians at various conservatoires and will be with us the whole weekend, taking part in masterclasses with the main performers which will be open to everyone.
You are at the piano for all three concerts. Do you programme the weekend around music that you yourself already know or are, at least, particularly keen to learn?
I have ideas of singers I would like to invite and whose voices and personailties I think would work well in the space – people I’ve worked with before and new performers. Then there’s a great deal of collaboration with them about the repertoire, which often introduces me to a lot of new music. I’ve also made the decision that, from this year onwards, we will present an equal split between male and female composers, which has given us all the challenge of finding music by women through the ages that maybe doesn’t get performed very often. Every concert will also have at least one song written in the last ten years. This year, one of the pieces
