‘Reinoud Van Mechelen & Anthony Romaniuk’

The Protestant Chapel provides the perfect backdrop for a selection of songs to be performed by the young Belgian tenor Reinoud Van Mechelen and the Australian piano player Anthony Romaniuk. Three eminent poets feature in this musical celebration, via compositions by Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann. The Hungarian virtuoso enjoyed reading Francesco Petrarca with Marie Agoult during their time in Italy. He transcribed three sonnets from Rime Sparse that were dedicated to Laura, Petrarch’s muse. Liszt expressed lifelong admiration for the romantic poet Victor Hugo, setting several of his stanzas to music. Schumann, meanwhile, was inspired by Heinrich Heine’s evocative poetry for the composition of his first Liederkreis. The chapel’s intimate setting emphasises the intense and intimate emotions of these compositions, in which text and music are beautifully combined and accompanied by the delicate sound of the fortepiano.

Listen to the playlist "Early Music" on Spotify