Name: Sir Simon Keenlyside baritone; Malcolm Martineau piano
Start: 2026-07-05T19:30:00
Location: Wigmore Hall

Simon Keenlyside

Malcolm Martineau

Wigmore Hall

A towering figure in classical music, Sir András Schiff returns to Wigmore Hall this summer. Renowned for his profound interpretations and elegant touch, Schiff never announces his programmes in advance – inviting audiences instead into a world of spontaneity, surprise, and deep musical insight. Expect nothing less than masterful artistry.

Sir András Schiff

Folk roots and the joys of virtuosity belong to this delightful programme from Xuefei Yang and Ning Feng. They open with a Paganini rarity, the Sonata concertata, a scintillating showpiece packed with delightful melodies, and voyage into Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, written originally for a bowed guitar. Xuefei Yang’s spellbinding arrangement of a beloved Chinese folk song prepares the way for the sparky rhythms of Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances.

Xuefei Yang guitar; Ning Feng violin

Musician and broadcaster Jess Gillam has worked wonders to break down the barriers that so often prevent people from exploring unfamiliar music. Her recital crosses genres and centuries with ease to create a delectable lunchtime menu, complete with Nadia Boulanger’s gorgeous Cantique, the fizzing energy of Graham Fitkin’s Gate and the seductive charm of Sidney Bechet’s enduring hit Petite Fleur.

Jess Gillam saxophone; Sam Becker double bass; Zeynep Özsuca piano

Musical modernism in the 20th Century, contrary to views expressed by conservative critics, came in an arresting diversity of styles, as Hugo Ticciati and Pierre-Laurent Aimard confirm with their choice of recital repertoire. Messiaen’s yearning Theme and Variations raises the curtain on the rhapsodic intensity of Schoenberg’s last instrumental work and Janáček’s impassioned Sonata, before the programme turns to music by three gloriously individual American moderns.

Hugo Ticciati violin; Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano

Roman Borisov was First Prize-winner at both the Krainev Youth Competition 2019 and the Kissinger KlavierOlymp 2022. Now a seasoned concert performer living in Berlin, the young pianist presents a Wigmore Hall programme which includes a selection of Preludes from the 'ultramodernist' American composer and musicologist Ruth Crawford Seeger.

Roman Borisov

Thomas Dunford’s Jupiter Ensemble and French-Italian soprano Lea Desandre step into the thick of Handel’s oratorios and other works for London to embrace some of the composer’s most expressive arias, none more affecting than 'With darkness deep, as is my woe' from Theodora and the sublime 'Guardian angels, oh, protect me', a ravishing number from the 1757 version of The Triumph of Time and Truth. They conclude with the vocal pyrotechnics of 'No, no! I'll take no less', the mortal Semele’s command to the god Jupiter!

Lea Desandre mezzo-soprano; Thomas Dunford director, lute; Jupiter Ensemble

We are delighted to provide those who give at Benefactor Friends level and above the opportunity to attend two open rehearsals per season as selected by the Director. This open rehearsal allows an audience to see Lea Desandre, Thomas Dunford & the Jupiter Ensemble live in action as they prepare for their recital later that evening.

Members' Open Rehearsal: Lea Desandre, Thomas Dunford & the Jupiter Ensemble

Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien complete their multi-season survey of Beethoven’s violin sonatas with three contrasting works. They set the high spirits of Op. 30 No. 3 ahead of the composer’s last essay in the genre. ‘Interpreters must be able to dream, to enthuse,’ noted the great violinist Carl Flesch about Beethoven’s Op. 96. ‘The flower must blossom in their souls.’ The same could be said for the ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata, with its heroic writing for both instruments.

Alina Ibragimova violin; Cédric Tiberghien fortepiano

Songs old and new occupy Andrè Schuen and Daniel Heide. They turn the clock back to the world of ancient Greek myth, as so vividly imagined by Schubert, and show its eternal relevance. The baritone from the South Tyrol, commended by Gramophone as the owner of a ‘free-ranging voice, used with taste and invariable sensitivity to the text’, is joined by his regular duo partner in Unerzählt, Thomas Larcher’s intimate cycle of songs to poetry by the great German writer WG Sebald.

Andrè Schuen baritone; Daniel Heide piano

Join musicians from the Royal Academy of Music for a concert experience created especially for parents or carers and babies under 1. Enjoy live music together in an interactive and welcoming environment – move and groove to the music or sit back and unwind. Parents-to-be are also warmly welcomed.

For Crying Out Loud!

A relaxed and interactive drum workshop with acclaimed percussionist Richard Olatunde Baker, an experienced workshop leader specialising in African percussion and the Yoruba talking drum. This free workshop is suitable for anyone aged 7+. Spaces are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

The African Concert Series: African Rhythms Drum Workshop

Mandela Tales is a production by composer Shirley J Thompson, inspired by the book Nelson Mandela's Favourite African Folktales (WW Norton & Company, 2002) with music by Thompson, designed to appeal to families and young people.

The African Concert Series

'Where other children would have nursery rhymes, I’d go to bed to the sounds of Haydn, Mozart and Schubert,' recalls Sir Simon Keenlyside, whose father and grandfather were both professional violinists. Those priceless formative years continued when he became a boy chorister, then a choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, and set rock-solid foundations for his subsequent career as a wonderfully perceptive concert singer, one of the most exciting operatic performers of modern times.