Premiered at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1905, Massenet’s Chérubin provides a sequel to Beaumarchais’s play and Mozart’s opera, both entitled The Marriage of Figaro, placing the romantic exploits of the page boy centre stage.

In the hands of Massenet and librettist Francis de Croisset, Chérubin is no longer the ‘farfallone amoroso’ (amorous butterfly) of Mozart’s opera buffa, but a fiery 17-year-old intent on pursuing every folly he can think of: ‘Freedom! I want to make so many stupid mistakes that you will be horrified!’.

Massenet described his opera as a ‘comédie chantée’ and the flexible structure of the work freely incorporates pastiches of 18th-century opera-ballet with liberal splashes of Spanish local colour, unfolding a dreamy coming-of-age story in which the exuberant protagonist experiences his first taste of heartbreak at the hands of Teatro Real’s dazzling prima ballerina, L’Ensoleillad.

Samantha Quillish soprano 
Yuki Akimoto mezzo-soprano 
Robert Forrest tenor 
Michael Ronan baritone 
Julia Klimek and Benjamin Mead piano

The Academy Song Circle presents the complete songs of Clara Schumann. Unlike Fanny Mendelssohn and Alma Mahler, whose creative talents were stifled by their families, Clara was encouraged to compose by both her father and her husband. In addition to touring as a concert pianist and bringing up her family, this remarkable woman composed piano and chamber music and some 30 songs. This concert features her entire Lieder output.

Tickets: £16 available from Wigmore Hall Box Office.

How to book:

In person: 7 days a week: 10am-8.30pm. Days without an evening concert: 10am-5pm. No advance booking in the half-hour prior to a concert.

Telephone: 020 7935 2141 Monday-Sunday, 10am-7pm. Days without an evening concert: 10am-5pm. £4 administration fee.

Online: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. £3 administration fee. Disabled Access and Facilities For full details please call 020 7935 2141 or email access@wigmore-hall.org.uk.

Yuki Akimoto mezzo-soprano 
Gus Tredwell piano 
Frederico Paixão flute 
Wenhan Jiang viola

Brahms Zwei Gesänge, Op 91 
Hiraku Hayashi A Road; Child and the Lines; Sky; Four Songs of Dusk 
Schoenberg Vier Lieder, Op 2 
Takemitsu I Just Sing

The Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award was founded in 2001 and is awarded annually to postgraduate vocal students. The winner of the 2019 award was mezzo-soprano Yuki Akimoto, who studies with Royal Academy Opera.

Free, no tickets required