The next West Wight Arts Association concert will be on Saturday February 9th in the Memorial Hall, Freshwater starting at 7pm and will be given by Anna Huntley, mezzo soprano and Julius Drake, pianist.

The theme will be ‘Across the Divide’ as the songs will celebrate two close friendships, the first between the British composer Delius and the Norwegian Grieg and the second between Benjamin Britten and the French composer Poulenc.

Described by The Guardian as a ‘fast-rising British talent’, award-winning mezzo-soprano Anna Huntley sings on concert, opera and recital stages in the UK and internationally. The “collaborative pianist nonpareil” (The New Yorker) Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc.

They will perform four songs from Delius’ Norwegian song settings and Grieg’s eight Haugtussa songs. The second half will start with Poulenc’s Quatre poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire and end with a selection from Britten’s settings of Folk Songs and his Cabaret Songs to words by Auden including “Stop all the Clocks”.

Tickets are available from www.westwightarts.co.uk or 756028