As a free-lance teacher one of the real pleasures of my job is not knowing what opportunity is next going to present itself. One day I had a call from the pianist Iain Burnside asking me to visit the Guildhall School of Music & Drama to coach a young singer who was planning to perform a song that I had written. In that most enjoyable lesson I met the pianist Edward Picton-Turbervill.

I was immediately struck by Edward’s gifts at the keyboard, but have since discovered his other skills as a first rate entrepreneur and a most sensitive composer of art songs. Looking for concerts to meet our theme of The Ties between Pupil & Teacher, I needed little prompting to ask Edward to curate a programme for us. He has assembled a quartet of remarkable young singers, all currently studying alongside him at the Guildhall.

This Evening of Love Songs will include the public première of Edward’s intensely lyrical Songs for A, settings of Harold Pinter’s love poems to Lady Antonia Fraser.

Richard Sisson (Programme Planner)