🎟 Tickets: £5 on the door (card payment only) or Free for students
Public Masterclass – Sir Thomas Allen, baritone
With the Cambridge University Lieder Scheme Students
📅 Friday 6 Feb 2026, 2-5pm
Come and observe the legendary baritone Sir Thomas Allen working with the students of the Cambridge University Lieder Scheme.
Experience Deutsche Grammophon artist Hera Hyesang Park—praised for her “radiant, seemingly effortless singing” (The Times)—in her Bliss Series debut with “perfect accompanist” Joseph Middleton, in a spellbinding recital of global song, lyrical beauty, and dramatic flair.
Hera Hyesang Park, soprano
Joseph Middleton, piano
📅 Thursday 12 Feb 2026, 7.30pm
6.45pm: Pre-concert In Conversation with Joseph Middleton and Professor Polly Blakesley, Master of Pembroke College, discussing the significance of Lieder within Pembroke College’s musical life.
Programme: This captivating programme journeys from the elegance of Italian art song in works by Donaudy and Tosti to the vibrant colours of Spain, with music by Albéniz and Montsalvatge. After the interval, the recital expands into a rich international tapestry, featuring Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Latin American repertoire. Highlights include Granados’s evocative La maja y el ruiseñor, Fauré’s Clair de lune, and a passionate finale of Spanish-language classics by Grever, Velázquez, and Gardel.
Full programme
Stefano Donaudy (1879–1925)
Amorosi miei giorni
Vaghissima sembianza
O del mio amato ben
Paolo Tosti (1846–1916)
Non t’amo più
L’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra
Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909)
Recuerdos de viaje, Op. 71
Rumores de la Caleta (Malagueña)
(Piano solo)
Xavier Montsalvatge (1912–2002)
Cinco canciones negras
-Interval-
Antón García Abril (1933–2021)
María Soliña
Namdu Cho (b. 1984)
Bird Song
On the Way to You (Traditional Korean song)
Enrique Granados (1867–1916)
La maja y el ruiseñor (from Goyescas)
Ernesto Halffter (1905–1989)
Ay, che linda moça
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Clair de lune
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Estampes
La soirée dans Grenade
(Piano solo)
Franz Lehár (1870–1948)
Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß (from Giuditta)
María Grever (1885–1951)
Te quiero, dijiste
Consuelo Velázquez (1916–2005)
Bésame mucho
Carlos Gardel (1890–1935)
El día que me quiera
British countertenor Hugh Cutting—former choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, first countertenor to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award and a BBC New Generation Artist (2022–25)—returns to the city for a highly anticipated recital with acclaimed pianist Joseph Middleton, hailed by the New York Times as “the perfect accompanist.”
Hugh Cutting, countertenor
Joseph Middleton, piano
📅 Thursday 5 March 2026, 7.30pm
6.45pm: Pre-concert talk with Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Distinguished Affiliate Scholar of Pembroke College
Programme: ‘Morpheus’
In Morpheus, a programme shaped by dreams, night, and the blurred edges of reality, Cutting brings together an inspired mix of composers including Purcell, Cavalli, Strozzi, Schubert, Britten, Bolcom, Hahn, Errollyn Wallen, and more.
Full programme
Burgon – This Lunar Beauty
Cavalli – Erme solinghe e cime
Purcell – One Charming Night
Britten – I Know a Bank
Schubert – Erlkönig
Rodney Bennett – Baby, Naughty Baby
Purcell – From Rosy Bow’rs
Bolcom – Song of Black Max
Weill – Lost in the Stars
Strozzi – Amor Dormiglione
Hahn – L’Enamourée
Colin Hay – Overkill
Barber – Sure on This Shining Night
Traditional, arranged Piers Connor Kennedy – Sweet Nightingale
Errollyn Wallen – About Here
Traditional, arranged Anna Semple – She Moved Through the Fair
Cambridge University Lieder Scheme Showcase Recital
📅 Friday 8 May 2026, 7.30pm
This special event features our four talented singer-pianist duos from the University of Cambridge Lieder Scheme, performing a diverse programme of art songs. Each duo has been coached by Joseph Middleton throughout the academic year.
🎟️ Admission: £5 (card payment only, at the door) or Free for students
One of Britain’s most beloved baritones, Roderick Williams OBE returns to the Bliss Song Series for an evening of song with renowned pianist Joseph Middleton.
Roderick Williams OBE, baritone
Joseph Middleton, piano
📅 Tuesday 16 June 2026, 7.30pm
6.45pm: Pre-concert talk with Lord Chris Smith, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and former Master of Pembroke
Programme: “Love flows as the brook flows…”
Full programme
Franz Schubert – Das Wandern / Somewhere
George Butterworth – Loveliest of Trees
Joan Trimble – Green Rain
Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Vagabond
Franz Schubert – Wohin? / Where now?
Ina Boyle – A Song of Enchantment
Ivor Gurney – Severn Meadows
Franz Schubert – Der Neugierige / Curiosity
Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Water Mill
Rebecca Clarke – Down by the Salley Gardens
Franz Schubert – Ungeduld / Impatience
Michael Head – Tewkesbury Road
Franz Schubert – Mein! / Mine!
-Interval-
Franz Schubert – Mit dem grünen Lautenbande / The Green Ribbon
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Silent Noon
Roger Quilter – Brown is My Love
Franz Schubert – Der Jäger / The Huntsman
Gerald Finzi – He Abjures Love
Franz Schubert – Die liebe Farbe / Her Favourite Colour
John Ireland – We’ll to the Woods No More
Roger Quilter – By a Fountainside
Herbert Howells – The Sorrow of Love
Benjamin Britten – O Waly, Waly
Franz Schubert – Des Baches Wiegenlied / The Brook Sings a Lullaby
Recent Events
Don’t miss Dame Sarah Connolly—one of the finest Mahlerians of our time and 2023 recipient of The King’s Medal for Music—in recital with “perfect accompanist” Joseph Middleton.
Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano
Joseph Middleton, piano
📅 Sunday 30 Nov 2025, 3pm
2.15pm: Pre-concert talk by Richard Stokes, MA, Hon RAM, Professor of Lieder at the Royal Academy of Music
Programme: Songs by Brahms, Mahler, Debussy, Errollyn Wallen & Kurt Weill
Full programme
Brahms
Von waldbekränzter Höhe
Es träumte mir
Unbewegte laue Luft
Verzagen
Von ewiger Liebe
Mahler – Rückert-Lieder
-Interval-
Debussy – Chansons de Bilitis
Errollyn Wallen – Night Thoughts
Kurt Weill
My Ship
Speak Low
Trouble Man
Je ne t’aime pas
Don’t miss this unforgettable recital by Grammy Award-winning soprano.
Dorothea Röschmann, soprano
Joseph Middleton, piano
📅 Saturday 1 Nov 2025, 7.30pm
6.45pm: Pre-concert talk by Dr Jane Hines, specialist in German romantic music
Programme: Songs by Schubert, Brahms, Schönberg & K.Weill
Full programme
Franz Schubert
Rosamunde D797 Romanze zum Drama Rosamunde
Des Mädchens Klage D191
Auf dem Wasser zu singen D774
Der Tod und das Mädchen D531
Die junge Nonne D828
Nachtstück D672
Nacht und Träume D827
Der Zwerg D771
Brahms Vier ernste Gesänge
-Interval-
Arnold Schönberg
Galathea
Gigerlette
Der genugsame Liebhaber
Mahnung
Arie aus dem Spiegel von Arkaien / Seit ich so viele Weiber sah
Kurt Weill
Berlin im Licht
Je ne t‘aime pas
Klops Lied
Nana‘ s Lied
Youkali
