ARTS & CULTURE
THE CAMBRIDGE SONG FESTIVAL The Cambridge Song Festival takes to the stage for the first time this month with three recitals celebrating the meeting of words, music, voice and instrument. Directed by pianist Ceri Owen, the programme features both acclaimed and up-and-coming singers and pianists in song recitals across three colleges. “Through words and music, we’ll be telling stories, creating characters and exploring a huge range of human emotion and experience,” explains Ceri. It launches on 15 February with A Cambridge Songbook , in the atmospheric chapel at Jesus College. Award-winning young singers Jess Dandy, James Way and Jennifer Witton will perform songs by composers with ties to the city, from Ralph Vaughan Williams to leading contemporary composers Richard Causton, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Graham Ross. Internationally acclaimed tenor Robert Murray and pianist AndrewWest perform Schubert’s Winter Journey on 16 February at St John’s College Old Divinity School. The 24-song cycle is interspersed with extracts from Captain Scott’s Antarctic diaries, read by actor and poet, Seán Street. Closing the festival is Folklore and Fairytales , featuring two Jette Parker Young Artists at the Royal Opera House – Dominic Sedgwick (baritone) and Jacquelyn Stucker (soprano, pictured right) – who join Ceri Owen to perform songs from Hugo Wolf’s Italian Songbook and from George Butterworth, Alban Berg and Claude Debussy on 17 February at Sidney Sussex College Chapel. Tickets £5 for students and under 35s, other tickets from £10. cambridgesongfestival.co.uk
BEANS ON TOAST Beans on Toast is something of a cult national treasure on the alt-folk scene. What seemed a throwaway festival act in the mid-noughties has evolved into a voice of truth and honesty. For his tenth album, Beans – real name Jay McAllister, who comes from Braintree – has gone back to the man who produced his first offering, Ben Lovett, of Mumford & Sons. At the time, Mumford & Sons were recording their own album at Paul Epworth’s The Church Studios, where Bob Dylan, Radiohead and Adele have recorded. During the band’s days off, or in between their sessions, Beans and Ben snuck into the studio to create A Bird in the Hand . The album is a celebration of love, life, family and the world we live in. Expect the show to provide the same ethos. Catch Beans on Toast at the Junction on 4 February. Tickets £17. junction.co.uk
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