Michael Bell joined the Musicians' Company Young Artists' Programme after winning a Musicians' Company concert award in 2020. Here he performs three songs from Brahms’s Op. 63. Michael says: "These three songs from Brahms’s Op. 63 are each subtitled Heimweh, which can be translated as ‘homesickness’. Their texts are principally concerned with a nostalgia for childhood, for simpler times and for home. In particular, they are interested in that special and uncynical relationship we enjoy with nature when we are young. I thought this would resonate in this period of continuing national lockdown when so many of us are confined to our homes and longing for that renewed, childlike connection to the natural world around us. I hope they bring you some comfort and thank you very much for listening." The translations to the lieder can be found here: http://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/3259 http://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/3260 http://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/3261 Northern Irish Tenor Michael Bell is currently studying at the Royal College of Music with Russell Smythe having previously held a choral scholarship at St. John’s College, Cambridge. He has performed with choral societies and orchestras across the country in a diverse repertoire that has included Bach’s Passions as both Evangelist and soloist, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Haydn’s Creation. Also a keen recitalist, he has recently sung at the Lewes Festival of Song, the London Song Festival and the Drogheda Classical Music Festival. On the opera stage his roles have included the Madwoman in the Moscow premiere of Britten’s Curlew River and the creation of the role of the Pilot in a new opera based on le Petit Prince by Nicholas Jackson. This summer he looks forward to giving his first Nemorino in Duchy Opera’s production of l’Elisir d’Amore in Cornwall and singing Harry and Postillon in Puccini’s la fanciulla del West under Valery Gergiev at the Verbier Festival. Michael is a Musicians’ Company Young Artist and his studies are generously supported by the Irene Hanson Scholarship. -------------------------------------------------- About our Maisie Lewis and Concordia Young Artists' Fund - http://www.wcom.org.uk/awards/maisie-lewis-young-artists-fund-and-concordia-foundation-artists-fund Michael's Company page - http://wcom.org.uk/yeoman/michael-bell Michael's Twitter - http://twitter.com/michaelbell94 -------------------------------------------------- Join our weekly #MiddayMusic e-news at http://eepurl.com/dv0ccr #MiddayMusic is supported by generous donations from members of the public, along with funds from the Musicians' Company’s Prince’s Prize which received a generous endowment in 2015 from The Eranda Rothschild Foundation and Rothschilds Bank, in memory of Leopold de Rothschild, a Liveryman of the Musicians’ Company for over 50 years. Donate to support The Musicians' Company Young Artists - http://www.justgiving.com/musicianscompanyfund