James Newby & Joseph Middleton

We are delighted to welcome James Newby and Joseph Middleton back to Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall with a concert of nautical themed songs.  The programme journeys through music from Schubert to Duparc and Britten to Porter.

The Shipping Forecast

Mysteries of the deep

Edward Elgar - Sea Slumber
Franz Schubert - Gruppe aus dem Tartarus
Nikolai Medtner - Meeres Stille
Granville Bantock - Song to the seals
Cheryl Frances Hoad - Rita the Pirate

Invitation to Voyage

Edward Elgar - In Haven
Henri Duparc - L’invitation au voyage
Franz Schubert - Des Fischers Liebesglück
John Ireland - Sea Fever
Charles Ives - The Swimmers

Fearless Bark

Edward Elgar - Sabbath Morning at Sea
Franz Schubert - Der Schiffer
Armstrong Gibbs - Sailing homeward
Johannes Brahms - Verzagen

Interval

Exotic Isles

Edward Elgar - Where Corals Lie
Emmanuel Chabrier - L’ile heureuse
Sergei Rachmaninov - This Island
Franz Schubert - Auf dem wasser zu Singen

Desert Island Discs

Edward Elgar - The Swimmers
Charles Stanford - Drake’s Drum
Benjamin Britten - O waly, waly
Kurt Weill - My Ship
Eric Coates - Sleepy Lagoon

A recipient of the Richard Tauber Prize for best interpretation of a Schubert Lied at the 2015 Wigmore Hall/Kohn International Song Competition, James Newby has since enjoyed a close relationship with the Hall. Appearances there include Mahler Rückert-Lieder in 2023 with Mitsuko Uchida as part of BBT’s 20th anniversary celebrations, Die schöne Müllerin with Simon Lepper and a mixed programme of Dowland, Schubert, Wolf and Liszt with Joseph Middleton.

A member of the Ensemble of the Staatsoper Hannover from 2019 to 2022 he garnered particular praise for his debut as Eddy in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek. Other important role debuts in Hannover included Guglielmo Così fan tutte and the title role in Eugene Onegin.

James has since appeared at Opéra national du Rhin; Theater an der Wien; made his Garsington Opera debut in 2024 as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and returned to Hannover, as a guest, for Eugene Onegin. This season James will appear as Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Opera North and at Opéra de Lausanne in a Laurent Pelly production, as well as Guglielmo for Norwegian National Opera, making his house debut in all three venues. The 2024/25 season also includes an important new commission for baritone by Michael Zev Gordon with the Britten Sinfonia; The Poet in Otto Ketting’s Ithaka Symphony for solo baritone with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra; and recitals at the Oxford Song Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Past concert performances include Haydn The Creation with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bart Van Reyn; Handel’s Messiah with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen; Berlioz with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Mozart with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also performed baroque repertoire with conductors David Bates, Jonathan Cohen and John Butt and toured in Europe with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.

Recordings remain an important part of his schedule and his 2020 debut solo album I Wonder as I Wander (BIS) with pianist Joseph Middleton met with worldwide acclaim and was awarded the Diapason d’Or Découverte.

James studies with Robert Dean.

Pianist Joseph Middleton specialises in the art of song accompaniment and chamber music and has been internationally acclaimed within this field. Described in the BBC Music Magazine as “one of the brightest stars in the world of song and Lieder”, he has also been labelled “the cream of the new generation” by The Times and “a perfect accompanist” by Opera Now.

Joseph enjoys fruitful partnerships with internationally established singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Louise Alder, Mary Bevan, Ian Bostridge, Allan Clayton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Marianne Crebassa, Iestyn Davies, Fatma Said, Samuel Hasselhorn, Christiane Karg, Katarina Karnéus, Angelika Kirchschlager, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, John Mark Ainsley, Ann Murray, James Newby, Mark Padmore, Mauro Peter, Miah Persson, Carolyn Sampson, and Roderick Williams. He collaborates with rising stars from the younger generation and regularly programmes his own series for BBC Radio 3.

Joseph Middleton is Director of Leeds Lieder, Musician in Residence at, and a Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge and a Professor and Fellow at his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music. He was the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist of the Year Award in 2017.