FULL RODERICK WILLIAMS RECITAL ‘HAIKU’ Leeds 2026

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Roderick Williams Recital 'Haiku'  
• Composer: various  
• Libretto: various  
• Venue & Opera Company: The Venue, Leeds Conservatoire, Leeds, UK, Leeds Song  
• Recorded: April 14, 2026
• Type: Concert Live
• Singers:
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra: Iain Burnside, PIANO  
• Stage Director:   
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Leeds Song  
• Date Published: 2026  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  Leeds Song favourite Roderick Williams is joined by former Artistic Director Iain Burnside to present a programme themed around Japanese haiku, featuring new works by Libby Larsen set to be premièred in 2026. Larsen’s delicate settings of haiku are interwoven with thematically related songs, old and new, creating a rich tapestry of musical and poetic connections.

  As Williams describes, the links between songs may be poetic, musical, contrasting, or sympathetic — encouraging free association. He likens Larsen’s short songs to a mobile, suspended around the central theme of displacement, from which other musical “threads” extend. Williams has selected additional songs from his repertoire to follow these threads, inviting listeners to form their own associations and connections, allowing the fragile beauty of the programme to evolve and expand.

  SERENDIPITY

  Libby Larsen
  IKURU MI NI GESENU KOTO OOKU NATSU-HOSHI HIKARU
  For the living
  many incomprehensible incidents
  summer stars shine

  Franz Schubert
  Die Sterne

  Francis Poulenc
  Jacques Villon

  Gerald Finzi
  Waiting both
  SHE’S LEAVING HOME

  Libby Larsen
  HANARE BANARE NI WAKARE NO HI NO NATSU NO KUMO
  Departure day
  families leaving one by one
  summer clouds

  Ludwig van Beethoven
  Leichte Segler in den Höhen

  Franz Schubert
  Abschied

  Joan Trimble
  My grief on the sea
  FORCED TO SET SAIL

  Libby Larsen
  IKUSA KASHUU O OWARE SABAKU NO MIZUUMI NAMI TATANU HI
  War forced us from California
  No ripples this day
  on desert lake

  Franz Schubert
  Meeres Stille

  Elizabeth Lutyens
  Refugee Song
  CHILDREN CHASING DRAGONFLIES

  Libby Larsen
  HIZAKARI TOMBO OU KORA NO HA GA SHIROI
  At midday
  children chasing dragonflies
  their teeth are white

  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  Das Kinderspiel

  Carl Loewe
  Der Zahn

  Ralph Vaughan Williams
  Silent noon

  Francis Poulenc
  Joan Mirò

  INTERVAL

  NIGHT TRAINS
  Libby Larsen
  KISHA NO OTO KIKOYU NAGAKI YORUO SAMETE ORI
  Hearing sound of train
  AWAKEthis endless night
  Franz Schubert
  Willkommen und Abschied
  Benjamin Britten
  Midnight on the Great Western
  LEAVES ON THE TRACK
  Libby Larsen
  KISHA RERU O KISHIRU KOYOI OMOIDE ICHINEN NO AKIYO
  Train rumbles on track
  this night memories of past year
  autumn evening
  Gabriel Fauré
  Automne
  Franz Liszt
  Es rauschen die Winde
  Muriel Herbert
  Faintheart in a railway train
  Francis Jackson
  From a railway carriage
  THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
  Libby Larsen
  FUYUYO WAGA KATA O TATAKU OTOKO NO IRO SHIROKU
  Winter night
  pale faced man
  taps my shoulder
  Franz Schubert
  Der Doppelgänger
  Ivor Gurney
  Reconciliation
  WHERE DO I DISCARD MY DREAMS?
  Libby Larsen
  AKETE HOSHI WA KIE YUME WA DOKO E SUTER
  At daybreak
  stars disappear
  where do I discard my dreams?
  Robert Schumann
  Aus alten Märchen winkt es

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