Art Sung - Edith Sitwell:Behind her Façade

Contralto/Actor - Lucy Stevens
Tenor - Michael Gibson
Pianist - Elizabeth Mucha
Pianist - Nigel Foster Director/Movement - Roxani Eleni Garefalaki Visual imagery by James Symonds

2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the death of the flamboyant English poet, Dame Edith Sitwell: a perfect opportunity to revive and celebrate her wonderfully fantastic brand of artistry. We are delighted to be performing Art Sung – Edith Sitwell, Behind her Façade in York as part of the York Late Music Series. As Sitwell was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, it seems very fitting to be celebrating this anniversary in Yorkshire this year.

Art Sung – Edith Sitwell explores her unusual and eccentric life in her own words, both spoken and sung. Settings of her poetry by Benjamin Britten, William Walton, Michael Head, Ned Rorem, and Robert Marchant are at the core of this semi-dramatized recital as well as music by Erik Satie, Leonard Bernstein, and specially commissioned songs by Late Music’s very own Hayley Jenkins and Dominique le Gendre. 

Woven through are excerpts from “Façade”, the extraordinary musical entertainment Edith Sitwell created with composer William Walton. The narrative, drawn from her letters and autobiography, together with bespoke visual images inspired by her fantastical, whimsical poetry experiments, the Façade curtain backdrops, and the many portraits of Sitwell by artists including Wyndham Lewis, Roger Fry and the Russian painter Pavel Tchelitchew, reveal the private Edith behind her façade.