LEEDS Lieder’s Autumn series presents the first post-lockdown song recitals outside London to be given in front of a real audience.

Three celebrated British singers and three promising young artists are slated to fill Leeds Town Hall with song. Each will be partnered at the piano by Joseph Middleton, artistic director of Leeds Lieder.

On Thursday 29th October tenor Ian Bostridge reprises his deeply felt interpretation of Schubert’s Winterreise - Winter Journey. Bostridge has made three critically acclaimed recordings of the song cycle that he ranks alongside the greatest works in the operatic and symphonic repertoire. Winterreise will be prefaced by Schubert’s Ellens Gesang - Ellen’s Song - No’s l, 2, & 3, sung by soprano Harriet Burns, a recent graduate of the Guildhall Opera School.

The lustrous quality and flawless intonation of Louise Alder mark her out as one of the most exciting lyric sopranos ever to emerge from these islands. The thirty three- year-old singer’s programme on Friday 30th October includes songs by Grieg, Rachmaninov and Richard Strauss. Alder’s first performance of Strauss’s sublime autumnal Vier Letzte Lieder - Four Last Songs - is eagerly awaited. She will be preceded by New Zealand born baritone Benson Wilson in a sequence of English and Samoan song.

The vocal agility of countertenor Lestyn Davies has beguiled opera audiences around the world and his insightful interpretations of the classical song repertoire continue to garner critical acclaim. On Saturday 31st October the lauded countertenor sings Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin - the Fair Maid of the Mill. The earlier of Schubert’s two great song cycles will be preceded by soprano Nardus Williams in a selection of songs by Liszt, Brahms and Hugo Wolf. Although every recital will be livestreamed, nothing beats actually being there in person. Physical distancing arrangements in Leeds Town Hall reduce the audience capacity to just 200 seats and so demand is likely to be high. Each recital starts at 6pm. Tickets for in-person attendance costs £22, or livestream via your own device for £4.40. Box office 0113 376 0318 or purchase online at www.leedstownhall.co.uk

Geoffrey Mogridge