Latest stories
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Presto Presents... Helen Charlston and Sholto Kynoch
27th May 2026
In the latest episode of Presto Presents, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and pianist Sholto Kynoch perform and discuss music from their new album A Poet's Love, inspired by Schumann's Dichterliebe.
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For Dieter: Hommage à Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
23rd May 2025
Together with his regular recital-partner James Baillieu, Benjamin Appl celebrates the centenary of his mentor's birth with a beautifully-crafted recital charting the various stages of his life - including music which was written 'For Dieter' and world premiere recordings of pieces by family-members.
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For Dieter
Benjamin Appl (baritone), James Baillieu (piano)
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Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch from Carolyn Sampson, Allan Clayton and Joseph Middleton
5th Aug 2022
All three artists are wonderfully attuned to the wit and warmth of Wolf's set of 46 delectable miniatures, with Middleton's characterful postludes proving in a joy in themselves...
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Golda Schultz on This Be Her Verse
26th May 2022
The South African soprano discusses her debut solo recording - a 'love-letter to women in music' featuring songs by Clara Schumann, Emilie Mayer, Rebecca Clarke and Nadia Boulanger, plus a new commission by composer Kathleen Tagg and librettist Lila Palmer.
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This Be Her Verse
Golda Schultz (soprano), Jonathan Ware (piano)
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Joyce DiDonato on EDEN
7th Mar 2022
The American mezzo talks to Katherine about her new album on Erato, and answers some questions submitted by Presto readers along the way...
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EDEN
Joyce DiDonato (mezzo), Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
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Joyce DiDonato's EDEN
25th Feb 2022
Featuring music by composers including Ives, Cavalli, Handel, Gluck and Wagner (plus a ravishing new commission by Rachel Portman), the American mezzo's eclectic new concept-album with Il Pomo d'Oro explores our relationship with 'the grammar of the earth'.
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EDEN
Joyce DiDonato (mezzo), Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
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Benjamin Appl on Winterreise
16th Feb 2022
The German baritone talks to Katherine about his new recording of Schubert's great song-cycle (released on Alpha Classics last Friday) and his relationship with his late mentor Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
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Christmas Recordings from Fretwork and Christiane Karg
3rd Dec 2021
The viol consort is joined by mezzo Helen Charlston for an Elizabethan Christmas, whilst Karg and her regular recital partner Gerold Huber offer a beautifully-plotted programme of Lieder and mélodies with a seasonal theme.
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Episode 24: On Song with The Hermes Experiment
31st Oct 2021
Paul meets the members of The Hermes Experiment, one of the UK's most innovative contemporary music groups, in the week that their second album is released on Delphian Records.
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Philippe Jaroussky & Thibaut Garcia: À sa guitare
22nd Oct 2021
The French countertenor and guitarist join forces for an eclectic, beguiling programme ranging from Dowland to Barbara, whilst Jaroussky's younger label-mate Jakub Józef Orliński dazzles in sacred baroque works with Il Pomo d'Oro.
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Liszt from Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch
17th Sep 2021
The long-term Lieder partners are absolutely in their element on a recital which delivers both drama and delicacy in spades.
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John Brancy and Peter Dugan on The Journey Home
28th May 2021
The American baritone and pianist talk to Katherine about their recital and film-project exploring the aftermath of war, released digitally today to mark Memorial Weekend.
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The Journey Home
John Brancy (baritone), Peter Dugan (piano)
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Joyce DiDonato on Winterreise
27th Apr 2021
The American mezzo talks to Katherine about her new recording with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, which approaches Schubert's great song-cycle from the perspective of the woman whom the narrator leaves behind...
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Lise Davidsen in Beethoven, Wagner and Verdi
2nd Apr 2021
The powerhouse Norwegian soprano is in expansive, radiant voice for Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder and arias from Fidelio, Otello, La forza del destino, Medea, and Cavalleria rusticana with Sir Mark Elder and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Strauss Lieder from Sandrine Piau and Daniel Behle
19th Mar 2021
The French soprano brings an uncommon freshness and flexibility to the Four Last Songs with the Orchestre Victor Hugo Franche-Comté, whilst Behle and his regular recital-partner Oliver Schnyder revel in the composer's coruscating attack on publishers in the rarely-recorded Der Krämerspiegel.
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James Newby on I Wonder as I Wander
9th Mar 2021
The young British baritone talks to Katherine about his career to date, and his debut recording of songs by Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler and Britten on BIS.
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Bertrand Chamayou on Good Night!
9th Dec 2020
The French pianist talks to Katherine about his beguiling collection of lullabies by composers including Lyapunov, Liszt, Alkan and Mel Bonis, released in October on Erato.
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Good Night!
Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
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Elīna Garanča on Schumann and Brahms
18th Nov 2020
The Latvian mezzo talks to Katherine about her first lieder recording (released earlier this month on Deutsche Grammophon, with Malcolm Martineau), and preparing to make her Wagner debut as Kundry...
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Mahler from Christiane Karg, Malcolm Martineau - and Gustav Mahler
23rd Oct 2020
The German soprano and her regular recital-partner beguile in the Rückert-Lieder and songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, whilst the composer himself makes an appearance (via a 1905 piano-roll) for ‘Das himmlische Leben’.
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Bertrand Chamayou and Alexandre Kantorow
16th Oct 2020
Two contrasting recitals from award-winning French pianists - one fuelled by melatonin, the other by adrenaline.
