Recital: William Smith – tenor Simon Bate – piano

The Programme

William Smith – tenor
Simon Bate – piano

Am See
An die Musik
Nacht und Träume
An die Leier
Auflösung

O World, O Life, O Time
Bright Star
Good night
There be none of beauty’s daughters

The Gifting of Trees
Emmanuel
The Wishing Steps

The Artists

William Smith graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire of Music where he studied with Christine Cairns and Henry Herford. He continued his studies in Paris with Glenn Chambers and is now based in London and studying with David Pollard.

Previous operatic roles include Le Dancaïre in Bizet’s ‘Carmen’, Belmonte in Mozart’s ‘Die Entführung aus dem Serail’ and Mozart in Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Mozart and Salieri’. William enjoys singing a wide range of oratorio and concert works around the country and he regularly appears on the song recital platform with his duo partner Simon.
www.williamsmithtenor.com

Simon Bate graduated in Music from Clare College, Cambridge in 2011. During this time, he performed with most of the university’s major ensembles, as well as developing strong academic interests in medieval music and English song. He then pursued postgraduate studies at Cambridge and King’s College London.

William and Simon formed their song duo in 2020 and perform regularly throughout the U.K. They were finalists of the Sing Finzi 2021 competition.

In 2021 William and Simon founded The Marches Songbook CIC (community interest company) to create new songs through collaborative partnerships between poets and composers living in the English and Welsh counties along the border. Today’s program features three song settings created for The Marches Songbook by the Chester Cathedral Poet in Residence Julia McGuinness and composer Michael Williams. The Marches Songbook will be launched fully in Autumn 2022 with a series of concerts. Further details about The Marches Songbook and upcoming concerts can be found online at:
www.themarchessongbook.co.uk