
From Russia With Love 2019
The inaugural SongEasel recital series, From Russia with Love, featured Russian repertoire in programmes that explored the cultural and political links between the former Soviet Union and Europe.
Freeman brings a full range of colours to her touch, as well as a sensitive response to harmony and terrific control of texture.
The award-winning Welsh collaborative pianist and conductor Jocelyn Freeman is lauded for her artistry, programming and powers of communication. She is an advocate for diversity in a range of artistic endeavours, and a skilled communicator on the concert platform, and in broadcast, recording and social media. Founder-director and curator of SongEasel, an initiative established to provide a platform for song in South East London, Jocelyn has curated extensive concert and recording projects to wide critical acclaim.
Jocelyn’s engagements have taken her to four continents including broadcasts in the UK and Germany; performances in the Wigmore Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre and the Sage, Gateshead; and awards from Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Academie, International Marlow Concerto Competition and Snape Maltings. Notable collaborations feature Jamal Aliyev, Fleur Barron, the Broomwood Ensemble, Stuart Jackson, Gareth Brynmor John, the Lakewood Sinfonia, Stephan Loges, Joseph Shiner, Elin Manahan Thomas and Julien Van Mellaerts.
A prize-winning graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, Jocelyn’s repertoire champions standard song and concerto repertoire alongside lesser-known and contemporary composers. Her discography comprises releases with Kissan Records, Ty Cerdd and Orchid Classics.
Jocelyn is grateful for the support of the Carne Trust, Victor Wood, the Oleg Prokofiev Trust, the Nicholas Boas Foundation and Arts Council England.
… ever-sensitive… exemplary, whether taking the lead or in discreet support.
SongEasel was established in 2018 to fill South East London with song. With threefold-aims to provide a platform for outstanding singers in the area; to bring new repertoire to established audiences; and to introduce standard repertoire to new audiences. Each series holds diversity and inclusivity at the heart of its mission, in harmony with showcasing exceptional musical quality at an international standard.
Our 2022 series Icons & Legends celebrates a notorious dinner meeting in Paris in May 1922 that included Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Diaghilev. Six song recitals in St Laurence Church Catford and Blackheath Halls pay homage to the meeting of minds of these creative luminaries.
SongEasel would like to extend its deepest gratitude to the Arts Council England, Blackheath Halls, the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, the Friends of SongEasel, the Church of St Laurence Catfor, The Leche Trust and the Oleg Prokofiev Trust.
The inaugural SongEasel recital series, From Russia with Love, featured Russian repertoire in programmes that explored the cultural and political links between the former Soviet Union and Europe.
The Wanderlust Series presented songs celebrating both the rewards of roaming in nature and the earnest world of inner, conflicting personal journeys.
Our 2021 mini series celebrated the musical cafe culture of nineteenth-century Paris through song, featuring two 2021 centenary composers: Pauline Viardot and Camille Saint-Saëns.
We have now expanded our programme to include three different opportunities for young song duos.
Our 2022 series, Icons & Legends celebrates a notorious dinner meeting in Paris in May 1922, including Proust, Joyce, Picasso, Stravinsky and Diaghilev.
Join our family of Friends and share our journey of song! We rely on the support of our Friends: without this amazing generosity, our work simply would not be possible.
I perform a recital with star Irish soprano Ailish Tynan as part of SongEasel's 'Icons & Legends' series. Works by Poulenc, Bridge, Barber, John Cage and Copland.
Free admission
12noon, 19th June 2022
St Laurence Church
Catford SE6 2TS
My dear friend Stuart Jackson (tenor) and I head to the iconic Three Choirs Festival in Hereford. In line with this year's Festival theme, many of the English songs in our programme have undergone a significant transformation since original conception.
1pm, 29th July 2022
Holy Trinity Church
Hereford
I return to Oxford Proms for Beethoven's youthful second piano concerto with Catherine Underwood and the Oxford Proms Orchestra. Programme also includes Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony
7pm, 6th August 2022
University Church of St Mary
Oxford
In a solo piano recital for Oxford Proms, including works by Schubert, Liszt, Tomkins and Morfydd Owen, I explore transcendence, culminating in the mighty Dante Sonata.
7pm, 17th August 2022
University Church of St Mary
Oxford
Stuart Jackson and I head to West Wales for a varied programme of song including Mahler's youthful 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' alongside works in Italian and Russian.
7.30pm, 22nd August 2022
Rhosygilwen, Pembrokeshire
Baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and I take an eclectic programme of song to Penkhull Festival of Music and Art, including works by Brahms, Sibelius, Butterworth and Ravel.
7.30pm, 16th September 2022
St Thomas’s Church
Penkhull ST4 5DW
...with heavy, sooty piano chords, deftly shaded by Freeman, fading to a hushed end.
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