Elizabeth Llewellyn is a British opera singer who debuted with the English National Opera in 2010. Known for her vivid portrayals of Puccini heroines and for her full, distinctive voice, Elizabeth has quickly risen through the ranks since making her debut as Mimi/La Boheme in London in 2010, and established herself internationally as a dramatic and vocal artist of distinction.
Join Elizabeth and pianist Simon Lepper and get to know the British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor through the lens of his own songs of devotion, barely-repressed longing, and mercurial tales of love and loss. These songs draw on the rich story-telling traditions of the west coast of Africa and rural Spain, as well as the salons of 19th century London where desire and wit marked the lives of the British literary figures who lived there.
But there were other composers who influenced Coleridge-Taylor – his Irish composition teacher, Charles Villiers Stanford – and those whom Coleridge-Taylor admire; the Italian opera-composer Puccini for his sense of colour and the German composer Brahms, whom he considered to be a modernist. Fascinating too that Coleridge-Taylor has been called ‘the black Mahler’ as they both shared a love of folk-music in their writing.
Join the musical conversation, and enjoy an evening in the company of Coleridge-Taylor and friends. This performance will be followed with an interview with Elizabeth, hosted by Dr Hannah Marie Robbins (Assistant Professor in Popular Music, University of Nottingham).