E1. Jennifer France and Lana Bode: Still, I Think, Alive

Friends' Booking from 10 Aug 2026. General Booking from 24 Aug 2026.The Festival is delighted this year to be able to commission a new 20-minute song cycle by the young British composer Emma-Ruth Richards, Still I Think Alive. The five songs, with texts by poet Kate Wakeling, explore modern motherhood in many of its contradictions, moving (as she puts it) 'between moments of wonder, exhaustion, joy, overwhelm and absurdity'. It is a co-commission by the Little Missenden Festival and the Royal Philharmonic Society, with a grant from the RPS Thea Musgrave Fund, and the Marchus Trust, Vaughan Williams Foundation, and Francis Routh Trust.
The many and various songs in the remainder of the programme together constitute a wonderful musical summary of the changes in both society's and women's own attitudes towards what it means to be a woman. Fanny MendelssohnThere be none of Beauty's Daughters
Felix Mendelssohn Suleika op34 no4
Libby LarsenJane Seymour (from Try Me Good King); Marriage...Divorce (from Me [Brenda Ueland]); When I am an Old Woman
Rebecca ClarkeInfant Joy; One That Is Ever Kind
Amy Beach In the Twilight; Cradle Song of the Lonely Mother (piano solo)
Kaija Saariaho Sua katselen (from Leino Songs)
Judith Weir Breasts!! Song of the Innocent Wild Child; The Mothership: When a Good Mother Sails From This World
Diana BurrellLove Song
Robert SchumannEr, der Herrlichste von allen (from Frauenliebe und -leben)
Clara SchumannDie stille Lotosblume
Emma-Ruth Richards'Still I Think Alive' (Festival commission and premiere)A previous Emerging Artist at Scottish Opera, Jennifer Francewas winner of the 2018 Critics' Circle Emerging Talent Award and was described by WhatsOnStage as 'the living jewel in opera's crown'. This year she returns to the Royal Opera House as First Niece in Peter Grimes and to Garsington as Cecily Cardew in Gerald Barry's opera of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Askonasholt.Com/artist/Jennifer-FranceLana Bode is an American-British pianist, educator and artist producer, whose performances have been hailed as 'expertly calibrated' (BBC Music Magazine) and 'deeply examined' (Gramophone). An acclaimed and in-demand recitalist and champion of new music, she's frequently heard on BBC Radio 3.
Lanabode.ComBorn in 1985, Emma-Ruth Richards' deeply expressive and highly charged music has been championed by many ensembles and soloists in the UK and internationally. Her work's been described as "accomplished" (The Times), and "simply beautiful" (Opera North, Bachtrack). Still I Think Alive has also received generous funding from the RPS Thea Musgrave Composer Fund, Marchus Trust, Vaughan Williams Foundation, and Francis Routh Trust as well as from the Festival itself.
Emmaruthrichards.ComMore information and events on our website