Myths, Miracles and Madness

Featuring Britten’s Folk song arrangements, winners of the Clare College Song Competition, Hugo Williamson and Daniel Blaze, invite you to explore the myths, miracles and madness within the canon of English Song.

Founded in 2010, the biennial Clare College, Cambridge Song Competition celebrates the best solo singing and piano duos at Cambridge University. Many of the former winners have gone on to become Young Artists at both Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera and are now working internationally as successful professional singers and musicians. The young winning duo of this year’s competition, Hugo Williamson and Daniel Blaze, (with Sarah Tynan on the jury) gave a recital celebrating song repertoire – one of the aims of the competition.

Hugo Williamson is in his final year studying music at Robinson College Cambridge, holding a choral scholarship with Gonville and Caius choir while being a current member of Genesis Sixteen. He has studied for two years within the Sir Arthur Bliss Lieder Scheme and has been a member of the University Chamber Choir. Recent recital highlights include Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge, Finzi’s A Young Man’s Exhortation alongside operatic roles such as The Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River, Orpheus in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Prologue/Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Next year Hugo is excited to be joining the Voces8 Scholars programme.

Daniel Blaze is a third-year music student and Senior Organ Scholar at Clare. As Organ Scholar, he has played for two broadcast services and has accompanied the choir in venues in the Netherlands, the United States, and various locations in England. In addition to his organ scholarship, Daniel is an accomplished pianist, having accompanied many of the finest singers and instrumentalists in recitals around Cambridge, and winning a place on the prestigious University Lieder Scheme. An experienced singer, Daniel founded, directs, and sings with Lady Clare’s Consort, a Cambridge based ensemble specialising in renaissance music, as well as performing with the Cambridge University Chamber Choir and Clare College Chapel Choir – when he is not playing the organ!