Ben Johnson embarks on a tour with guitarist Sean Shibe
Tenor Ben Johnson and guitarist Sean Shibe are set to perform at the Hampstead Arts Festival and to undertake a national tour of Ireland this November.
The duo first worked together in 2013 when they were asked by the BBC New Generation Artists scheme, of which they are both alumni, to perform at a special concert at the Aldeburgh Festival, marking composer Benjamin Britten’s centenary.
On Saturday, 16 November, at 19:30, the duo will perform at Rosslyn Hill Chapel as part of the Hampstead Arts Festival. The programme includes:
J. S. Bach, Lute Suite BWV 996
William Walton, Anon in Love
and songs by Dowland, Schubert, Beethoven
Following this concert, they perform in six venues across Ireland in a Music Network tour featuring a programme of love songs spanning five centuries, including Elizabethan lute songs, works by Beethoven and Schubert, Walton’s ‘Anon in Love’, and a new commission by Irish composer Brian Bolger.
One aspect of Music Network tours in recent years has been the championing of new Irish music, and this tour will feature the premiere of ‘Lawra’, a piece for voice and guitar by Crash Ensemble guitarist Brian Bolger.
Clearly this material offers something special for both players, as Ben puts it: “One of the things I enjoy is the difference to singing with a piano, and the opportunity to find new colours. I can’t sing quite as loudly as I might with a piano—the guitar has a different soundworld, and I have to slot into that, and that’s something I love. It’s really fun to find Italian music to do that with, to find that bel canto idea but for this texture.”
Michael Lee - November 2019
Catch Ben and Sean at one of their concerts below:
21 November, 19:30, The Edmund Rice Chapel (Waterford)
22 November, 20:00, Siamsa Tíre (Tralee)
23 November, 19:30, Royal College of Physicians (Dublin)
24 November, 16:00, The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle (Kilkenny)
26 November, 20:00, All Saints Church (Castleconnell)
27 November, 20:00, Station House Theatre (Clifden)
Click here to read Ben and Sean’s interview for GoldenPlec Music Magazine!