EIF 26: Lawrence Brownlee & Iain Burnside

American tenor Lawrence Brownlee and Scottish pianist Iain Burnside reunite for a fascinating recital of Italian and American songs.

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee has won international acclaim for his ‘sweet tone, fastidious pitch and poetic phrasing’ (New Yorker). He returns to the Festival with Scottish pianist and broadcaster Iain Burnside, following their 2019 Queen’s Hall recital, after which ‘no one left the hall without a smile on their face’, according to The Arts Desk.

In the Italian-themed first half, enjoy lyrical love songs by Gaetano Donizetti and Ottorino Respighi, romantic numbers by popular songwriters Luigi Denza and Gabriele Sibella, and Franz Liszt’s impassioned Tre sonetti di Petrarca (Three Petrarch Sonnets), inspired by the composer’s travels in Italy.

Brownlee then turns his focus to American music. Dominick Argento’s tuneful tributes to Tudor poetry pave the way for songs from Genuis Child, Ricky Ian Gordon’s moving setting of poems by Langston Hughes. The concert concludes with songs from Brownlee’s own Rising project, in which he has commissioned leading Black American composers to set powerful poetry from the Harlem Renaissance.   

Presented by Edinburgh International Festival