A Curious Invitation present London Month of the Dead

ARS MORIENDI
A candlelit performance of songs on the theme of death and madness with Béatrice de Larragoïti and Karl Lutchmayer
Sunday 14th October 2018 at 7:30 pm

ARRIVAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ARS MORIENDI - As the Cemetery will be closed to the general public from 5 pm, the only entrance that will be open for the performance is the one on Old Brompton Road. We chose this entrance as it is located directly next to the West Brompton underground station. The entrance will be open from 7:10 pm and the performance will start at 7:35 pm. Please note latecomers will not be admitted.

Guests will gather at the gates to the cemetery on Old Brompton Road shortly after sunset to steel their nerves with a bracing Hendricks’ gin punch before embarking on a candlelit procession through the gravestones until they arrive at the heart of the cemetery - the 19th century chapel - where French-Brazilian soprano Béatrice de Larragoïti will await to perform a candlelit recital on the theme of death and madness.

Drawing on her native French repertoire the programme will include Charles-Valentin Alkan’s mysterious “The Song of the Mad Woman by the Sea”, Poulenc’s chilling “My Corpse is Soft as a Glove”, Gounod’s “The Legend of the Bloody Nun”, Messiaen’s feral “Terror” and “The Gibbet” from Ravel’s diabolic (and diabolically difficult) piano suite “Gaspard de la Nuit”. Also featured will be other staples of the spooky Classical canon from Mendelssohn’s “Witches’ Song”, Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” and “The Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath” from Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.

Béatrice de Larragoïti
After studying at the Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot in Paris, Béatrice graduated from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, obtaining a Master of Music and a Postgraduate Artist Diploma with distinction under Alison Wells. Béatrice also holds degrees in Art History from the Sorbonne University and the Ecole du Louvre. She recently sang Ottavia in L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Hampstead Garden Opera.

Karl Lutchmayer
Karl Lutchmayer is an Anglo-Indian pianist who studied at the Royal College of Music and the Moscow Conservatoire. He is currently completing a Masters at Oxford University. He also writes and lectures on music and plays the theremin in prog rock bank The Connoisseur.

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Brompton Cemetery Chapel