Join soprano and square piano duo ‘The Little Song Party’ with guest reader Zeb Soanes, as they settle in for a festive evening of Regency music and merry making! Featuring an historic square piano (1814) similar to Austen’s own, played by Jonathan Delbridge, and sung by soprano Penelope Appleyard, this intimate, semi-theatrical recital will transport you back to a Regency drawing room at Christmas, through authentic domestic music and spoken word. Penelope and Jonathan explore the landscape of a Regency Christmas with poetry and extracts from diaries, letters and Jane’s writing, as well as festive pieces from the Austen family music albums, carols she would have known, and ground-breaking commission ‘Ode to Pity’ released this year on VOCES8 Records.

Delivered imaginatively in period dress, the halls suitably decked with boughs of historically-informed foliage, this thoroughly researched programme is a Christmas gift for fans of music, history and literature!

Performers
Penelope Appleyard soprano
Jonathan Delbridge piano
Zeb Soanes reader