Axelle Fanyo and Kunal Lahiry

Hear one, choose one: Axelle Fanyo invites the audience to curate the perfect programme, from enchanting French music to American song cycles that set your imagination free.

Composers from France and America go head-to-head to win the audience’s affections. The strength of the applause dictates what comes next – will it be music from 20th-century America by Aaron Copland, Edward MacDowell, Florence Price and William Bolcom, or a selection of delightful French songs by André Caplet, Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc?

Praised by Renée Fleming for her ‘star quality’, Axelle Fanyo is making her mark on both the opera world and in concert halls as a recitalist. With multiple accolades under her belt including the 2021 Nadia and Lili Boulanger Competition grand prize and the prestigious Kaleidoscope prize, Fanyo is without a doubt an artist on the rise. Tonight she shows us why, as she’s joined by pianist Kunal Lahiry in an audience-led programme featuring a new ECHO commission from Greek composer Sofia Avramidou.

Tagged with: Classical music Barbican Presents ECHO Rising Stars

This performance will finish at approximately 7.45pm, with no interval

Nominated by the Paris Philharmonie, Auditorium de Lyon and the Guilbenkian Foundation

Produced by the Barbican

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If Copland prefered by the audience, go to Option 1; if Caplet, go to Option 2 (according to applauses)

Option 1:

Aaron Copland 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson
There Came a wind like a bugle
Why do they shut me out of Heaven?
The world feels Dusty
Heart, we will forget him
(piano solo) Edward MacDowell exc. From New England Idyls op. 62 III - Midwinter
Dear March, come in!
Sleep is supposed to be
When they come back
I felt a funeral in my brain
(piano solo) Edward MacDowell exc. New England Idyls op. 62 – IV Sweet With Lavender
I’ve heard an organ talk sometimes
Going to Heaven
The Chariot

Option 2:

André Caplet Trois fables de Jean dela Fontaine
La Cigale et la Fourmi
Le Loup et L’Agneau
Maurice Ravel Les Histoires Naturelles
Le Paon
Le Grillon
Le Cygne
Le Martin Pêcheur
La Pintade

Sofia Avramidou commission piece
Francis Poulenc from Banalités Hôtel
William Bolcom from Cabaret Songs Toothbrush Time

If Poulenc prefered by the audience, go to Option 1; if Bolcom, go to Option 2 (according to applauses)

Option 1:
Francis Poulenc Deux Poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire
Montparnasse
Hyde Park

Francis Poulenc
Les Chemins de l’amour
La Dame de Monte-Carlo

Option 2:

Negro Spiritual Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Florence Beatrice Price Song to the Dark Virgin
Willam Bolcom Cabaret Songs
Song of Black Max
Amor
George