Name: Gerald Finley bass-baritone; Julius Drake piano
Start: 2026-12-10T19:30:00
Location: Wigmore Hall

Julius Drake

Gerald Finley

Wigmore Hall

Patricia Brennan’s septet brings the vibrant sonic world of Breaking Stretch to the stage, weaving rhythmic invention with taut ensemble interplay. A milestone recording, Breaking Stretch was named the 2025 Downbeat Critics Poll Album of the Year, comprising detailed compositions shaped by Caribbean and Latin inflections, textured horns and dynamic percussion.

Patricia Brennan Septet

Steven Isserlis’s programme recalls the musical powerhouse of Leipzig in the mid-1800s. Mendelssohn, so impressed by the works of William Sterndale Bennett, invited the young English composer to the German city, where he met and became friends with Robert Schumann. Bennett’s gift for melodic invention shines in his Sonata Duo, written in 1852 for the virtuoso cellist, Antonio Piatti, as does Mendelssohn’s in his Bach-inspired Second Cello Sonata of 1842.

Steven Isserlis cello; Connie Shih piano

Mariam Batsashvili’s interpretations of the great landmarks of the piano repertoire, in the concert hall and on record, have garnered rave reviews, as has her ability to construct revelatory combinations of works. The charismatic Georgian pianist prefaces Liszt’s monumental Sonata in B minor with the exuberance of Haydn’s Piano Sonata in D. Her post-interval programme dives headlong into an alluring stream of free-flowing fantasy pieces.

Mariam Batsashvili piano

Lara Downes is a devoted champion of classical music by women composers and Black Americans, and an equally unequivocal advocate for the cause of democracy and freedom. Her programme today stems from her Pentatone release Love at Last, a collection of works that span generations, continents and cultures, united in a stubborn belief in the possibility of humanity, brotherhood, peace, compassion and the everlasting power of love. The inspiration comes from a poem by the 19th-century Odessa-born poet Shaul Tchernichovsky.

Lara Downes piano

Daring virtuosity and a gloriously free spirit are among the attributes with which Chloe Chua has won critical plaudits and audience ovations. The Singaporean violinist, not yet 20, speaks through her instrument with striking maturity and wisdom, whether connecting with listeners in the concert hall or online. Her lunchtime programme frames Beethoven’s gripping A minor Violin Sonata with two mighty showpieces, Tartini’s fiendishly difficult ‘Devil’s Trill’ Sonata and the heart-warming Carmen Fantasie by Franz Waxman, among the greatest composers of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Chloe Chua violin; Julien Quentin piano

The Renaissance saw Europe regularly convulsed by war, as neighbours and rivals jostled for territory and power, Catholics and Protestants clashed over religious principle, and Christian nations contended with the threat of the Ottoman Turks. But it was also a time of great alliances, when peace treaties were celebrated with lavish diplomatic displays, and hostile nations were bound together through dynastic marriages. This fascinating programme explores the responses of composers to these turbulent times, drawing on almost two centuries of music from Dufay to Schütz. Along the way we experience the sounds of battle in Jannequin’s remarkable chanson La guerre, encounter plangent laments for fallen cities and lost generations, and savour serene motets welcoming longed-for peace.

Stile Antico

As a violin duo, these gifted New York-born sisters bring their shared artistry to the stage, their playing revealing a profound connection shaped by lifelong collaboration, honest artistic dialogue, and complementary interpretations.

Hina & Fiona violin duo

Pianist and composer Nicolas Namoradze made his career breakthrough in 2018 as winner of the triennial Honens International Piano Competition. His eloquent pianism, open-hearted and seemingly infinite in expressive nuance, is matched by his ability to create thoroughly idiomatic arrangements for his instrument. The latter are on display this evening in Namoradze’s thrilling transcriptions of works by Beethoven and Ravel, noble companions to his choice of original compositions.

Nicolas Namoradze piano

It is the fate of myths to be taken up and reworked across the centuries, every time permeated by the ever-changing human Zeitgeist. The myth of Ariadne – universal in its interplay of love, oppression, political cunning, salvation and the alternation of deceptive joy and pain – has repeatedly inspired musicians in some of their finest creations, from Claudio Monteverdi to Richard Strauss.

Josè Maria Lo Monaco mezzo-soprano; Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri; Giulio Prandi conductor

Over My Head is world-renowned countertenor John Holiday’s first full-length solo album release. Having graced the world’s top stages and establishing himself as ‘one of the finest countertenors of his generation’ (Los Angeles Times), this programme, based on the album, offers a glimpse into Mr Holiday’s personal musical interests and inspirations. From spirituals and standards with John accompanying himself on the piano, to song cycles by Robert L Morris, H Leslie Adams, songs by Theo Morrison featuring Kevin Miller on piano, and first-ever recordings of songs by Carlos Simon, today’s repertoire showcases the vocalist’s broad musical palate and kaleidoscopic vocal talents.

John Holiday countertenor; Kevin Miller piano

The first half of the last century saw a remarkable flowering of new music for viola, inspired in part by the influence of the great violist Lionel Tertis, in part by composer-performers such as Cecil Forsyth and Paul Hindemith. The Passacaglia from the latter’s expressionist Sonata for solo viola Op. 11 No. 5 provides a powerful contrast to the gentle lyricism and sparky energy of York Bowen’s two Duos and radiant beauty of his Romance in A. Timothy Ridout includes the rhapsodic eloquence of Forsyth’s Chanson Celtique and the Lament that Frank Bridge first performed at Wigmore Hall with Tertis in 1912.

Timothy Ridout viola; Hélène Clément viola; Ting-Ru Lai viola; Matthew Lipman viola; Georgy Kovalev viola; James Baillieu piano

Timothy Ridout’s Viola Day opens with the classical refinement of the Duo in F by Alessandro Rolla, best known today as Paganini’s teacher, and continues with a delightful arrangement for three violas of Beethoven’s Trio in C Op. 87 by the legendary violist Lionel Tertis, a work conceived for two oboes and cor anglais. Alan Shulman’s reflective Theme and Variations signals a change of mood as does the arrangement of Dvořák’s Czech Suite by Sancho Egnaño, described by Grove’s Dictionary of Music as the amateur viola-playing son of a Spanish ‘bull maintenance technician’.

Timothy Ridout viola; Hélène Clément viola; Ting-Ru Lai viola; Matthew Lipman viola; Eivind Ringstad viola; Georgy Kovalev viola; James Baillieu piano

Gerald Finley makes a welcome return to Wigmore Hall after an absence of almost five years with a fabulous programme built around Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe and a handful of Edvard Grieg’s finest songs. The illustrious Canadian bass-baritone, recently awarded the prestigious title of Kammersänger of the Bavarian State Opera, crowns his recital with Samuel Barber’s spellbinding settings of poems from James Joyce’s Chamber Music and a selection of songs infused with pre-Christmas spirit.