MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Schubert: Lieder Vol 1

"The way he makes the ideas in the German text tell is not just studied, but has a naturalness and ease that catch one up into the little dramas from which so many of the Schubert classic songs in this latest CD are moulded. Julius Drake, his pianist, is unfailingly sensitive, witty, and responsive."
Classic CD (August 1998)

"Ian Bostridge indulges us with a thrillingly programmed recital of 22 of Schubert's best known songs."

"The more you listen to this disc, the more you will hear - for a long time."
BBC Music Magazine (August 1998)

"Bostridge's growing band of devoted admirers are sure to be satisfied by this selection from Schubert's most popular songs. They will once more wonder at his famed engagement with the text in hand and his innate ability both to sing each piece in an entirely natural manner and at the same time to search out its inner meaning."
Gramophone (July 1998)

"One of the foremost interpreters of art-song. ...this is a superlative addition to the Schubert song discography."

"...it confirms all the qualities that mark out this outstanding young singer as one of the foremost interpreters of art-song."
The Sunday Times (June 1998)

"...he establishes his own credentials by imaginatively rethinking each song through the mind of the poet as much as that of the composer."
The Daily Telegraph (June 1998)

Ian Bostridge studied both philosophy and history at Cambridge and Oxford universities respectively, receiving his doctorate from the latter in 1990. Having won the 1991 National Federation of Music Societies / Esso Award and gained support from the Young Concert Artists Trust he embarked on a full-time career as a singer in 1995.

He made his Wigmore Hall debut in 1993; his Purcell Room debut (an acclaimed Winterreise) and his Aldeburgh Festival debut in 1994; in 1995 he gave his first solo recital in the Wigmore Hall (winning the Royal Philharmonic Society's debut award); in 1996 he gave recitals in Lyon, Cologne, London and at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham and Edinburgh Festivals and in 1997 at the Alte Opera, Frankfurt. On the concert platform, he has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Welser-Möst, with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis and Rostropovich, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras and the City of Birmingham Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle.

He is an exclusive EMI Classics artist, his first solo disc for them was a disc of Schumann: Liederkreis / Dichterliebe, accompanied by the pianist Julius Drake as the first in a series of recitals for EMI Classics, released in February 1998. This was followed in May 1998 with a solo Schubert recital: Popular Lieder, also accompanied by Julius Drake. In September 1998 he released Britten's Our Hunting Fathers with Daniel Harding and the Britten Sinfonia, as part of the British Composers Series. A special compilation of the vocal works from the original issue of Our Hunting Fathers was coupled with Britten's Serenade for Horn, Tenor and Strings, which itself had been released by EMI Germany a few years previously. In January 1999, he released Vaughan Williams' On Wenlock Edge with Bernard Haitink and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and this was followed by an album of English songs entitled The English Songbook with Julius Drake released in October 1999. In September and October 2000 he released two discs on Virgin Classics; Handel's L'Allegro and a recording of arias from Bach cantatas respectively.

He made his operatic debut in 1994 as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Australian Opera at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1996 he made his acclaimed debut with the English National Opera, singing his first Tamino. In 1997 he sang Quint in Deborah Warner's new production of The Turn of the Screw under Sir Colin Davis for the Royal Opera.

In 1997 he made a film of Winterreise for Channel 4 directed by David Alden, and his book Witchcraft and its Transformations 1650-1750 was published by Oxford University Press. He has written on music for the Times Literary Supplement, Opernwelt, BBC Music Magazine, Opera Now and the Independent.

Ian Bostridge's 1999 season included recitals in Paris, London, Stockholm, Lisbon, Brussels, Amsterdam and the Vienna Konzerthaus. In North America he has appeared in recitals in New York at the Frick Collection, the Alice Tully Hall with outstanding critical acclaim, and made his Carnegie Hall debut under Sir Neville Marriner. In 1998 he sang Vasek in a new production of The Bartered Bride under Bernard Haitink for the Royal Opera and made his debut at the Munich Festival as Nerone (L'Incoronazione di Poppea) and in recital (Winterreise at the Cuvilléstheater). In November 1999 he performed in Deborah Warner's new production of Janácek's The Diary of One Who Vanished, which will tour to Munich and New York during the year. In March 2000 Bostridge performed Britten's War Requiem in America at Carnegie Hall, New York and in Boston with Seiji Ozawa and is due to perform it in Los Angeles with Antonio Pappano in October 2000. Other events include the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland and the Edinburgh Festival in August, as well as Norway's Risor Festival in July where he performed with pianist, and fellow EMI artist, Leif Ove Andsnes. In October 2000 he tours the USA, and early in 2001 he will undertake a European recital tour performing with both Leif Ove Andsnes and Julius Drake.

Awards for his recordings so far include a 1996 Gramophone Solo Vocal Award for his Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin, a 1998 Gramophone Award for Best Solo Vocal Recording for his Schumann: Dichterliebe disc, the prestigious Le Monde de la Musique - Choc de l'Annee for his Britten: Our Hunting Fathers and Classical CD of the Week in the Guardian, the Polish magazine Studio Album of the Year 1998 for the Schubert: Lieder disc, as well as BBC Music Magazine August Pick of the Month in the Choral category for August 1998. The English Songbook has received CD of the Week in The Independent, CD Choice in The Evening Standard and Classical CD of the Week in The Observer and in May 2000 the disc won the Critics' Choice Classical Brit Award. In December 1999 Ian Bostridge was awarded the Time Out Classical Music Award.

September 2000