Lunchtime Concert Series

Michael L Roberts – Piano Elizabeth Toye – Soprano

Tuesday 26 July 2011 1.00pm St Martins New Music Series

Suggested donation £3.50

St Martin-in-the-Fields Trafalgar Square London WC2N 4JJ Tel: 020 7766 1100 www.smitf.org

If you are unable to stay for the whole of the concert please leave during the applause. Smoking and the consumption of food and drink are not allowed in this church. Members of the audience are kindly requested to switch off mobile phones and alarms on digital watches. Photography, audio or video recording are not permitted.

Programme The Avocatus Suite: Part 1 Michael L Roberts “I am part of all that I have met.” Tennyson

The variety of my musical and lyrical output is not only the product of my personal journey through the arts; it is the result of contact with loyal, compassionate and talented people who have supported and enhanced the

creative process. From the determination and character of my close family, through a wealth of musical

inspirations, to the contributions of immediate collaborators, each meeting has vitally influenced the compositional process.

This process rings particularly true in an autobiographical work like the Avocatus suite. In 2003 I survived a prolonged and life-threatening illness, and this was preceded and followed by the deaths of close relatives. The

experience has left me with an ethereal outlook, and a sense of humility and the importance of small things.

These are sentiments I have found echoed in the poetry of the 20th century - Neruda, Paz, Rilke, Kerouac, Burroughs, McClure and Gibran all share a sense of transitory humanity.

So while the form springs from the grander themes of the Art Songs and Song-Cycles – Strauss‟ Four Last

Songs, Debussy‟s Songs of Bilitis – lyrically, I wanted to return to detail as a means of understanding scale, to

tackle grand themes of death and resurrection with a quiet acceptance and contemplation.

The songs can be read as an exploration of mortality, and the question of what awaits our spirits on the other

side. It travels from the primarily improvised, dark piano piece The Last Corridor, through the dissolution of

the body‟s earthly presence in The Fall and The Velvet Mantle, to the rediscovery of the memories and concerns of the soul in Deserted Star, Butterfly Sanctuary and Broken Union, and the proud, aspiring

determination of Arrogance, Be My Friend. While it still takes place in the after-life, Avocatus, the final song

of part 1, represents a new beginning for the spirit, in which elements of the soul are reunited by a desire to return to life.

Poulenc wrote that “the musical setting of a poem should be an act of love, never a marriage of convenience”, and I tried to bear this sentiment in mind during composition. Each song is informed, musically and lyrically, by

a distinct emotive theme, and I have tried in every song to marry words and music to these central tropes.

The „voice‟ of the suite, performed by the exquisite soprano Elisabeth Toye, acts throughout as both narrator and protagonist. She imbues the character with her trademark depth and grace on this recording, combining technical

mastery with a desire to explore the possibilities of new music – all delivered with her unique sense of phrasing

and innate musicality.

Her openness to my jazz-oriented language, combined with our shared nationality and her command of the

Welsh language, resulted in an unlikely bonus track for the record, the traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gan, a song that has resonated with me since childhood. I treat the plaintive melody like a jazz ballad, giving myself

improvised solo space and re-harmonising it to avoid a resolution of cadence until the very end. The lyric, about

the comfort found in one‟s mother‟s arms, felt thematically coherent in the context of my descriptions of the solace sought during a descent towards death.

The Avocatus Suite, Part 1 is representative of a journey‟s end, and a new beginning in my life and music. The

songs are a part of me, and a part of all that I have met.

Michael L. Roberts.

(Edited by Michael Winawer)

The Performer Elisabeth Toye graduated with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music, having studied with Beatrice Unsworth and Audrey Hyland on the postgraduate diploma course. She currently studies with Noelle Barker. In competition she has won the 2008 AESS National English Song Prize, and the Audience and Song Prizes at the Stuart Burrows’ International Singing Competition. On the operatic stage, she has sung Cunegonde (Candide) for Welsh National Youth Opera and Megan in Welsh National Opera’s contemporary work WildCat, which was performed on tour throughout Wales and at the Wales Millennium Centre. In 2008 she sang cover Despina at Garsington Opera and as part of the Garsington Chorus in Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress. Other operatic appearances include Madeleine in La Chute de la Maison Usher at the Téte â Téte Festival, and Despina with Opera at St Paul’s and Adina for Bearwood Opera. She is in demand as an oratorio soloist; highlights include Dvorak Te Deum in Birmingham Symphony Hall, Handel Samson at Canterbury Cathedral, Bach St John Passion at Llandaff Cathedral and Elgar The Kingdom Dorchester Abbey. At just 28, Jazz-vocalist Michael L. Roberts has already enjoyed landmark engagements at the top venues on the British jazz and classical scenes, frequent radio airplay and a featured broadcast on BBC Radio 2 of his arrangement of a forgotten and previously unpublished Cole Porter masterpiece, Lecture series on the art of vocalese and scat-singing with, among others, the late, great Sir John Dankworth, sustained and continuing tenures as Head of Jazz studies, jazz-vocal and piano at some of the top private schools in the country, residencies and festival appearances as vocalist/lyricist with Vasilis Xenopoulos’s ‘X-Tet’, and guest performances with legendary and groundbreaking artists across Europe, the U.S. and the Caribbean. Praised by audiences and critics alike, Clive Davis in the Sunday Times writes: “Britain’s answer to Kurt Elling... he delivers a mature and often exhilarating set that puts him in the front rank of this country’s performers... Roberts has technique, to be sure, but he is soulful too... Roberts’s phrasing is immaculate...” His exciting debut record Moving Is Living (released worldwide on the Nota Bene label) is an amalgamation of his already extensive experience as a diverse and creative jazz artist – featuring strikingly fresh originals, hip-reworked standards, hidden-gem ballads, and an award-winning band that includes long-time collaborators Anita Wardell, Chris Montague and Rob Barron. Michael has been nominated for this year’s Brewin Dolphin Best Newcomer in Jazz Award – vote before 31st July at: www.brewin.co.uk/our-approach/seminars-and-events/marlborough-jazz-festival-2011/ “Way above the hordes of average Sinatra wannabes out there, Roberts is crooner cut from similar cloth to Kurt Elling and Mark Murphy. Possessing an effortlessly hip delivery and an easy-going charm, his superb band add funky bite to his cool bark!” Mike Flynn, TIMEOUT. “One of the few young jazz musicians I’ve seen who is not just immensely talented, but also has integrity. Such performers can be counted on the fingers of a mitten!” Victor Lewis-Smith "A rich voice and inspired arrangements make Michael a real contender for the crown of the UK's leading male jazz vocalist" Andy Roberts - Jazz Connection - Radio Cardiff “A beautiful vocal gift...” Mark Murphy.

St Martin-in-the-Fields has welcomed talented musicians to this central London platform for over 60 years - from highly acclaimed young soloists, to choirs from all over the world; from promising new ensembles, to established professionals. This tradition is supported by the generosity of our performers as well as our audiences. Whilst these concerts are free to all, for those able to give, a suggested donation of £3.50 would be greatly appreciated to help fund all aspects of the work at St Martin’s.

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