SHIPSTON SONG 2025
CONCERT ONE
A CHARM OF LULLABIES
7.30pm, Friday 19 September 2025
Photo credit: Tim Dunk
Robert Schumann - Frauenliebe und -leben
Dvořák - Songs my Mother Taught Me
Britten - A Charm of Lullabies (excerpts)
Plus songs by Barber, Eisler and Richard Strauss
With snapshots of mother-figures ranging from the over-proud to the sleep-deprived, this carefully curated programme challenges us to re-interpret ‘lullabies’. Katie Bray (Audience Prize, Cardiff Singer of the World, 2019) vividly brings alive an eclectic programme revolving around motherhood, with Robert Schumann’s cycle ‘A Woman’s Love and Life’ at its centre.
Katie Bray mezzo-soprano | Ian Tindale piano
Duration: c.65 minutes
Includes complimentary post-concert refreshments.
CONCERT TWO
WHITHER MUST I WANDER?
7.30pm, Saturday 20 September 2025
Photo credit: Theo Williams
John Ireland - Summer Schemes, The Salley Gardens, Sea Fever
Freya Waley-Cohen - The Moon, the Moss and the Mushrooms (festival commission)
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Songs of Travel (excerpts)
Plus songs by Rebecca Clarke, Michael Head and Charles Wood
The idea of escape has long fascinated English poets and composers, and throughout this evening of Masefield, Stevenson, Yeats and Hardy we paint a picture of an itinerant wanderer, far from the comforts of home. Along the way is a new cycle by Freya Waley-Cohen, newly commissioned by Shipston Song and performed by Roderick Williams OBE, which is embedded in the words and images of Exmoor and Wordsworth country.
Roderick Williams OBE baritone | Ian Tindale piano
Duration: c.65 minutes
Includes complimentary post-concert refreshments.
CONCERT THREE
BRAHMS’ DRAWING ROOM
3.30pm, Sunday 21 September 2025
Photo credit: Carl Mueller (‘Music Room of Johannes Brahms’)
Brahms - Liebeslieder Walzer Op.52
plus a selection of favourite Lieder
This closing concert is a showcase both for Brahms’ charming ‘Lovesong Waltzes’ for vocal quartet and piano duet, and for the talented musicians emerging from conservatoires in the UK. Join us as we celebrate the joy of this collegial music-making, handed down to us from the salons and drawing rooms of the 19th century in music by Schubert, Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann.
Ian Tindale piano with Shipston Song Rising Stars:
Maryam Wocial soprano
Angelina Dorlin-Barlow mezzo-soprano
Philippe Durrant tenor
James Emerson baritone
Matthew Clemmet piano
Duration: c.65 minutes
Includes complimentary post-concert refreshments.
THE VENUE
All our events at this year’s festival will be taking place at the beautifully restored St Kenelm’s Church, Church Enstone, OX7 4NN - just 10 minutes’ drive from Chipping Norton, and 25 minutes from Shipston-on-Stour. The train station at Charlbury is just 12 minutes away by car.
The special acoustics, elegant surroundings, and modern facilities make this venue the perfect location for our first season away from Famington Farm, and we know our audiences will love this peaceful and intimate space. Our e-tickets come with full directions to this beautiful corner of the world, including details of roadside parking available and places to eat and stay while you're in the area.
PAST CONCERTS
SHIPSTON SONG 2024
Beethoven | Ravel | Samuel James Atkinson & Ellen Pearson
Bronsart | Dove | Grieg Bethany Horak-Hallett & Eyra Norman
Fauré | Hahn | Britten | Wallen Ruby Hughes & Redmond Sanders
SHIPSTON SONG 2023
Nadia & Lili Boulanger | Rachmaninoff | Tippett Laurence Kilsby & Henna Mun
Fanny Mendelssohn | Stenhammar | Mahler Helen Charlston & Sam Hird
Finzi | Semple | Boyle Roderick Williams, Dafydd Jones & Francesca Lauri
SHIPSTON SONG 2022
Alberga | Brahms | Schumann | Rodney Bennett Julien Van Mellaerts & Annabel Kennedy
Lang | Brahms | Mendelssohn Harriet Burns & Jess Dandy
Vaughan Williams | Clarke | Hilder Miles James Gilchrist, Daniel Barrett, Ensemble Kopernikus
“We were taken on a wonderful journey through her life and work. Stunningly performed, as we knew it would be, but the music itself was a revelation to us.”
— audience member