Lines Written During a Sleeplesss Night: The Russian Connection Louise Alder & Joseph Middleton

• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943): 6 Songs, Op. 38:
• 1 6 Songs, Op. 38: No. 1, In My Garden at Night 01:52
• 2 6 Songs, Op. 38: No. 2, To Her 02:47
• 3 6 Songs, Op. 38: No. 3, Daisies 02:28
• 4 6 Songs, Op. 38: No. 4, The Rat-Catcher 02:41
• 5 6 Songs, Op. 38: No. 5, A Dream 03:22
• 6 6 Songs, Op. 38: No. 6, A-u! 02:22
• Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957):
• 7 7 Songs, Op. 13: No. 4, Våren flyktar hastigt 01:39
• 8 6 Songs, Op. 36: No. 4, Säv, säv, susa 02:38
• 9 5 Songs, Op. 37 (Excerpts): No. 5, Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte 03:04
• 10 5 Songs, Op. 37 (Excerpts): No. 4, Var det en dröm? 02:11
• Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907): 6 Songs, Op. 48:
• 11 6 Songs, Op. 48: No. 1, Gruß 01:08
• 12 6 Songs, Op. 48: No. 2. Dereinst, Gedanke mein 02:42
• 13 6 Songs, Op. 48: No. 3, Lauf der Welt 01:38
• 14 6 Songs, Op. 48: No. 4, Die verschwiegene Nachtigall 03:34
• 15 6 Songs, Op. 48: No. 5, Zur Rosenzeit 03:00
• 16 6 Songs, Op. 48: No. 6, Ein Traum 02:27
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893): 6 Mélodies, Op. 65, TH 108:
• 17 6 Mélodies, Op. 65, TH 108: No. 1, Sérénade 01:45
• 18 6 Mélodies, Op. 65, TH 108: No. 2, Déception 02:28
• 19 6 Mélodies, Op. 65, TH 108: No. 3, Sérénade 02:11
• 20 6 Mélodies, Op. 65, TH 108: No. 4, Qu'importe que l'hiver 02:30
• 21 6 Mélodies, Op. 65, TH 108: No. 5, Les larmes 03:05
• 22 6 Mélodies, Op. 65, TH 108: No. 6, Rondel 01:11
• Nikolai Medtner (1880 - 1951):
• 23 9 Goethe-Lieder, Op. 6: No. 2, Mailied 01:50
• 24 12 Goethe-Lieder, Op. 15: No. 7, Meeresstille 03:15
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): The Poet's Echo, Op. 76:
• 25 The Poet's Echo, Op. 76: No. 1, Echo 02:58
• 26 The Poet's Echo, Op. 76: No. 2, My Heart 01:33
• 27 The Poet's Echo, Op. 76: No. 3, Angel 02:26
• 28 The Poet's Echo, Op. 76: No. 4, The Nightingale and the Rose 03:51
• 29 The Poet's Echo, Op. 76: No. 5, Epigram 00:52
• 30 The Poet's Echo, Op. 76: No. 6, Lines Written During a Sleepless Night 03:57
• Total Runtime 01:13:25

Info for Lines Written During a Sleeplesss Night: The Russian Connection

The soprano Louise Alder has been described as 'the brightest lyric soprano of the younger generation' (The Arts Desk), 'a born actress' (Opera), and as having 'a voice of sparkling beauty' (Gramophone).

In this her debut recording for Chandos, she and her pianist, Joseph Middleton, have devised an unusual but rewarding programme that explores the works of six contrasting composers. As she writes in her booklet note: ‘When Joseph suggested making a CD of Russian songs, including Russian composers who set poems in other languages, I jumped at the challenge. The more we discussed the repertoire, the more amazed I was to see how well it fitted with my own family history. In 1916 (the same year that Rachmaninoff composed the Opus 38 songs), huge political unrest forced my great-grandparents and family to flee, shutting up the house in Odessa, travelling 1,687 km north by rail to St Petersburg, and then by sleigh into Finland, through Norway, and back to Britain. It is my pleasure to be able to honour my family’s Russian connection with this meandering sleigh ride through Russia, with songs in Russian, French, and German, into Finland, in Swedish, and Norway, in German, back to the UK for a cycle of Britten songs in Russian.’

Louise Alder, soprano
Joseph Middleton, piano

Louise Alder
Future engagements include , the title role in Partenope with San Francisco Opera, The Messiah at the New York Philharmonic, Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) with English National Opera, Anne Trulove (The Rake's Progress) with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, her debut with the Canadian Opera Company, debut at the Vienna Staatsoper and returns to the Royal Opera House and Teatro Real Madrid.

Recent opera engagements include Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at Royal Opera House, Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Marzelline (Fidelio) at Bayerische Staatsoper, title role in La Calisto with Ivor Bolton and Teatro Real Madrid, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) with Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Welsh National Opera, Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) with Garsington Opera, Gilda (Rigoletto), Vixen Sharp Ears (Cunning Little Vixen), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Romilda (Xerxes) with Oper Frankfurt.

Louise won best Young Singer at the International Opera Awards 2017 and represented England in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition 2017, winning the third round and the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize.

Concert highlights include the title role in Semele with John Eliot Gardiner at La Scala Milan, Philharmonie de Paris and Palau de la Música Barcelona, the title role in Theodora at the BBC Proms with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen, Messiah with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester at the Berlin Philharmonie with Robin Ticciati in performances staged by Frederick Wake-Walker, Jessie in Turnage’s The Silver Tassie with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Ryan Wigglesworth, Mozart Arias in Salzburg and Hamburg with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Robin Ticciati, and recitals at the Wigmore Hall with Gary Matthewman and James Baillieu and in Madrid with Roger Vignoles. Her debut recital disc Through Life and Love, a programme of Strauss Songs with pianist Joseph Middleton, was recorded with Orchid Classics and released in July 2017.

Louise was a member of the Oper Frankfurt ensemble 2014-2019, other roles performed there include Monica (The Medium), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Musetta (La Bohème), Despina (Cosi fan Tutte), Frasquita (Carmen), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Silandra (L'Orontea), Atalanta (Xerxes), Lisa (La Sonnambula), Juliette Vermont (Der Graf von Luxemburg) and Sophie (Werther). Elsewhere she has sung Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with Glyndebourne, Ilia (Idomeneo) for Garsington Opera, Eurydice in Rossi's Orpheus at the Wanamaker Globe for The Royal Opera, Rapunzel (Into the Woods) with Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Soprano 1 in Mozart's C Minor Mass with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Ilan Volkov and Marzelline (Fidelio) with BBC Philharmonic (both BBC Proms), Semele with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Christoph Rousset in Vienna and London, Rossini arias with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Richard Egarr in Antwerp and Gent, Anne Truelove (Rake's Progress) with National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Alexander Liebreich in Warsaw, at the BBC Proms, the title role of Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea) with Academy of Ancient Music/Richard Egarr in the Enescu Festival, Bucharest, Il Delirio Amoroso with Dunedin Consort/John Butt (Edinburgh International Festival) and Arcangelo Ensemble/Jonathan Cohen in Bruges, Zélidie (Zaïs by Rameau) with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Coronation Gala at Buckingham Palace for Her Majesty the Queen.

Louise is also a passionate recitalist and has performed in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Graz Musikverein, Oper Frankfurt, Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall (Southbank Centre), Cadogan Hall, Holywell Music Room Oxford and Queen's Hall Edinburgh with pianists Gary Matthewman, James Baillieu, Helmut Deutsch and Joseph Middleton.

Louise won the inaugural British Young Soloists' Competition at the Wigmore Hall in 2015, the 2014 Glyndebourne Festival Opera John Christie Award and the 2013 Glyndebourne on Tour Donald Albert Anderson Award. Also in 2013, Louise won second prize in Kathleen Ferrier Award and an INDEPENDENT OPERA fellowship and became a Classical Opera Associate Artist. Other prizes include first prize and a Miriam Licette Award in the 2012 Maggie Teyte French Song Competition, and numerous prizes at the Royal College of Music including the 2013 Tagore Gold Medal awarded every year to two graduating students for outstanding representation of the RCM. Louise is a 2013 Samling Scholar and a Britten-Pears young artist almuni.

Louise was born in London into a family of musicians and graduated with First Class Honours from the University of Edinburgh in 2010 where she studied singing with Patricia MacMahon. The same year she joined the Royal College of Music, graduating in 2013 from the International Opera School as the inaugural Kiri te Kanawa scholar. She continues to study with Dinah Harris.

Booklet for Lines Written During a Sleeplesss Night: The Russian Connection