Songs of Innocence & Experience

Love, loss, deception, obsession, beauty, innocence and understanding; all human life is here

Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, based on the 12th-century romance by Gottfried von Strassburg, is widely considered to be the pinnacle of the operatic repertoire. Its themes of obsessive love, jealousy and deception are miraculously rendered by Wagner’s use of chromaticism, orchestral colour and harmonic audacity. Mahler’s musical debt to Wagner is apparent in his use of vivid orchestration and melodic daring. His collection of songs known as Rückert-Lieder use the words of German poet Johann Michael Friedrich Rückert (1788 – 1866). Although not originally intended as a song cycle, they are however connected by common themes of love, artistic inspiration, isolation, acceptance and understanding.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 seems to encapsulate his distinctive complexion; otherworldly innocence combined with an intuitive knowledge of the human condition. His tragically premature death at the age of thirty-five leaves us continually wondering not only ‘how?’ but ‘what if?’

A star turn at the Coronation of King Charles III, Roddy is one of the most sought-after baritones in the country, a global recitalist and opera singer, and a hugely respected composer.