Leeds Song

14/11/2025

Join us for a very special weekend as internationally acclaimed Irish soprano Ailish Tynan visits Leeds for two unmissable events.

Start your weekend with an atmospheric and richly coloured programme performed by Ailish and pianist Joseph Middleton. From the sensual world of Ravel’s Shéhérazade to the elegance of Debussy, this promises to be an evening of world-class artistry.

📅 Fri 14 Nov 2025, 7.30–9.30pm
📍 Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, University of Leeds
🎟️ https://www.leedssong.com/whats-on/ailish-tynan-and-joseph-middleton/

On Saturday afternoon, Ailish generously extends her visit to lead a masterclass with talented students from the RNCM - Royal Northern College of Music and Leeds Song Young Artists.

📅 Sat 15 Nov 2025, 2.00–4.00pm
📍 Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, University of Leeds
🎟️ https://www.leedssong.com/whats-on/masterclass-dame-felicity-lott/

Irish soprano Ailish Tynan came to prominence when she won the 2003 Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. She was part of the Vilar Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and a BBC New Generation Artist, where she actively recorded and performed wi...

11/11/2025

The Best of British voices open Leeds Song Festival ✨

Soprano Louise Alder and baritone Huw Montague Rendall — two of the brightest stars in opera and song — return to Leeds fresh from acclaimed performances at the BBC Proms and Glyndebourne, joining their longtime collaborator Joseph Middleton for an unforgettable evening.

From Purcell’s joyful elegance and Romantic treasures by Schumann and Brahms to French gems and showstopping classics, this opening recital promises charm, wit, and pure musical delight.

📅 Sat 11 Apr | 7:30pm
🏛️ Howard Assembly Room
🎟️ https://www.leedssong.com/whats-on/louise-alder-huw-montague-rendall-joseph-middleton-evening-opening-recital/

06/11/2025

Leeds Song is opening a call for Visual Artists to partake in their celebrated "A Leeds Songbook" project, collaborating on an interdisciplinary arts project telling the stories and people of Leeds in Poetry, Music and Art, working alongside composers and poets.

The Leeds Songbook project is a unique creative collaboration bringing together local-to-Leeds poets, student composers, and visual artists to tell the real-life stories of Leeds people through words, music, and art.

For the past three years, Leeds Song’s long-established Composers & Poets Forum has brought together student composers and Yorkshire-based poets to create new songs, performed during the annual Leeds Song Festival by Young Artists from the Leeds Song Young Artists Programme. These works, telling the stories of Leeds people through words and music, are collected in A Leeds Songbook.

For the 2026 Festival (11–18 April 2026), the project will expand to include a visual art component. Student/recent graduate artists will produce artworks responding to the subjects and themes of the new poems and songs written about the lives of Leeds residents. These stories may be ordinary or extraordinary — reflecting the city’s diversity and character and will be presented as part of an exhibition at Leeds City Museum, alongside a performance showcase of the new songs at Brodrick Hall. The exhibition forms part of Music Leeds Us: Celebrating 60 Years of Music in Leeds, a special exhibition at Leeds City Museum (10 October 2025 – 28 June 2026), marking six decades of Leeds Conservatoire, one of our key partners.

Full details about the project can be found here:

Leeds Song is opening a call for Visual Artists to partake in their celebrated "A Leeds Songbook" project, collaborating on an interdisciplinary arts project telling the stories and people of Leeds in Poetry, Music and Art, working alongside composers and poets. About the Project The Leeds Songbook....

31/10/2025

We’re thrilled to welcome mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa to Leeds for her first UK recital outside London. Accompanied by pianist Joseph Middleton, the duo will perform a sumptuous and stirring programme of French song by Debussy, Mompou, Ravel, and Mahler’s poignant Kindertotenlieder.

📅 Sunday 12 April 2026
🕢 7.30pm
📍 Leeds Conservatoire

Marianne Crebassa and Joseph Middleton bring a stirring programme of French song including works by Debussy, Mompou and Ravel.

23/10/2025

The wait is over - general booking for Leeds Song Festival 2026 is now open to all audiences. We’re thrilled to invite you to explore the programme and secure your seats for an unforgettable celebration of song.

From internationally acclaimed artists to rising stars, this year’s Festival brings the world of song to Yorkshire in a series of intimate, world-class performances ✨

Book now to join us from 11-18 April: https://www.leedssong.com/leeds-song-festival-2026/

19/09/2025

A season opener with Huw Montague Rendall & Joseph Middleton ✨

Leeds Song launches its 2025–26 concert season with one of the greatest song cycles ever written – Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin.

Fresh from winning the 2024 Oper! Award for Best Newcomer, baritone Huw Montague Rendall returns to Leeds Song alongside acclaimed pianist Joseph Middleton. Together, they will bring new insight and nuance to this beloved journey of love, loss, and longing.

📅 Sunday 28 September, 3:00pm
🏛️ Leeds Conservatoire

Don’t miss this chance to experience Schubert’s masterpiece: https://www.leedssong.com/whats-on/die-schone-mullerin-huw-montague-rendall-and-joseph-middleton/

24/07/2025

At the mid-way point of this year’s Festival, we were treated to something quite extraordinary.

Freddie Ballentine and Kunal Lahiry gave a powerful, fearless, and deeply personal performance of George by William Bolcom — a searing portrait of identity, struggle, and self-possession.

Uncompromising and unforgettable, this recital will live long in the memory as a big highlight of the festival week.

🎥 Apple and Biscuit Recordings
📍 The Attic
🎹 Thanks to Kawai Pianos and Empire Pianos

11/07/2025

The Erda Ensemble joined us at this year's festival in the most unexpected of venues as they gave a programme to celebrate women in music and the brewing industry.

Rosy Wertheim’s Les Deux Flûtes sparkled in the space – witty, elegant, and totally at home among the alternative setting of Springwell Brewery 🍺🎶

04/07/2025

✨ A moment of beauty from the 2025 Leeds Song Festival ✨

Katarina Konradi and Joseph Middleton perform Del Cabello más sutil by Fernando Obradors — a gem of the Spanish song repertoire, captured in all its intimacy and elegance. 🌹🎶

🎥 Watch here:

Del Cabello más sutil by Fernando Obradors, performed by Katarina Konradi and Joseph Middleton and the 2025 Leeds Song Festival. Filmed live at the Howard As...