February 2nd 2008 Celebrity Concert £14
tickets only

Mark Padmore

Simon Lepper

tenor

piano

photo photo

The evening will take the form of an illustrated talk on the famous song cycle, "Die Schöne Müllerin", followed by an interval, then a complete performance of the work.


Mark Padmore was born in London and grew up in Canterbury. After beginning his musical studies on the clarinet he gained a choral scholarship to King's College, Cambridge and graduated with an honours degree in music. He has established a flourishing career in opera, concert and recital.

In the opera house he has worked with such theatrically-minded directors as Peter Brook, Katie Mitchell, Mark Morris and Deborah Warner. Recent work includes Les Troyens at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and Handel's Jephtha at WNO and ENO. He also played Peter Quint in an acclaimed BBC TV production of Turn of the Screw. Plans include the Evangelist in a staging of St Matthew Passion at Glyndebourne, Lukas in a staging of Die Jahreszeiten in Brussels and Berlin and Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky's Rakes Progress at La Monnaie. He recently recorded the title role in La Clemenza di Tito with René Jacobs for Harmonia Mundi.

In concert he has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the LSO and BBCSO. He makes regular appearances with the OAE, with whom he conceived a project exploring Bach's John Passion which took place in Aldeburgh and London in 2005 and that will be given further performances on tour in 2008. In 2007 he will make his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Rattle.

He has given recitals in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Milan, Moscow, New York and Paris. He appears frequently at the Wigmore Hall in London, where he has been invited to perform the three Schubert song cycles in May 2008.

Simon Lepper comes from Kent and studied at King's College, Cambridge. At the Royal Academy he studied with Dussek. He has appeared as soloist or accompanist at all the major London venues. He is frequently to be heard on BBC3 and Classic FM. He is an official accompanist for the BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff.