ChoralFest: James Platt with Michael Pugh

In this heartfelt midsummer recital, Dartington’s Artistic Director takes centre stage in a programme celebrating the lyric soul of the British Isles — a lovingly curated English Summer Songbook of pastoral charm, nostalgic reflection, and poetic reverie.

Accompanied with warmth and finesse by pianist Michael Pugh, this recital moves from the wistful lyricism of Stanford and Ireland to the haunting simplicity of Elwyn-Edwards and Rasbach. Songs by Vaughan Williams and Britten draw on folk roots and timeless texts, evoking hedgerow, hearth, and high summer skies.

Quilter’s sparkling Shakespeare settings and York Bowen’s gentle and intimate piano solo, Reverie, mark a turn toward the theatrical and the contemplative, paving the way for the emotional heart of the programme: Arthur Somervell’s A Shropshire Lad — a full-length cycle of Housman poems tracing the arc of youth, love, and war with exquisite restraint.

Songs by Ivor Gurney, including the luminous Sleep and the elegiac By a Bierside, deepen the mood, while two Victorian parlour gems — The Volunteer Organist and Sullivan’s immortal The Lost Chord — bring the evening to a close with affectionate sentiment and a twinkle of nostalgia.

7.30pm, Monday 28 July
Great Hall, Dartington
£10

You may also like the following events from Dartington Trust:

• Next Monday, 28th July, 03:00 pm, Dartington ChoralFest 2025 in Totnes
• Next Tuesday, 29th July, 07:30 pm, ChoralFest: Sophie Bevan MBE with Ryan Wigglesworth in Totnes
• Next Wednesday, 30th July, 07:30 pm, ChoralFest: Victoria Simmonds with Lada Valešovà in Totnes

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