Authenticity in song: I chat to pianist James Baillieu about his new role on the Britten Pears Arts Young Artist Programme, performing with soprano Lise Davidsen & the future of song

James Baillieu (Photo: David Ruano)

From this year, pianist James Baillieu and conductor/composer Ryan Wigglesworth begin a three-year tenure as Associate Directors of the Britten Pears Arts Young Artist Programme, with both men being significantly involved in this year’s Aldeburgh Festival which runs from 12 to 26 June 2026. 

For James the appointment is a big honour. He comments that Britten Pears Arts is a wonderful organisation, very collaborative and very collegial. As he sees it, he has been brought on board to take the legacy of Britten and Pears forward, to keep their ideals at the heart of the training but have the teaching and training for the Young Artists responding to what the music world is like today. They are moving away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to seeing what each Young Artist needs.

There will continue to be a Festival Academy, a week of masterclasses during the festival. But they will be adding performance psychology, career building, health and wellness and movement, the additional skills that are generally not taught in conservatoires. Typically, the masterclasses have been voice and piano and James wants to add instrumental duos as James feels that there is not a lot of focus on these. For young song pianists opportunities are not as widely available as when James was a young pianist, and they need to develop versatility by having instrumental repertoire too. James wants to look at the versatility of the young musicians and consider what skills they need to help them get working.

Complementary to this, Ryan Wigglesworth’s focus will be orchestral and composition. James is also working on strategic partnerships with organisations with similar ideals so that Britten Pears Arts can amplify the exposure that the Young Artists get, helping them get the opportunities they need.

James Baillieu & Benjamin Appl at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2025 (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

James took part in the Britten Pears Arts Young Artists scheme when he was in his second year of post-graduate study. He went twice, with a week on Schubert song and a week on Strauss and Mahler. At the time, the scheme was repertoire based, and it became an important part of his artistic training. There were also a lot of opportunities as he performed as a Young Artist at the Festival. But it was also one of the few places you could meet singers and artists from far away. A lot became friends and collaborators, useful and inspirational, so that he still plays with some today. He points out that today is different and the current Young Artists are in a world that is more connected because of smartphones.

Also for James, Aldeburgh is a unique place. There is a timelessness to the landscape that inspires you, enabling you to get away from the real world. And at the Festival, the audience is well-trained; they are not scared and will come to everything. It is a loyal audience, trusting the Festival and the audience is super-supportive of the Young Artists, feeling invested in them. James finds it unique to have an audience in such a focused way.

At Aldeburgh, the Festival Academy is during the second week of the Festival, but James will be around for the three full weeks. For the Festival Academy, each pianist works with two singers. Whilst duos are encouraged to apply, they also match up pianists and singers. This provides an opportunity to meet new artists which James sees as important for song pianists. Sometimes partnerships work well and sometimes not. But he points out that this happens in life, and it is good experience for artists to have to produce something with someone with whom they are not on the same page.

At this year’s Festival, James will be doing an all-Schubert programme with soprano Lise Davidsen, and she will also be giving a masterclass. James will also be joining violinist Maria Włoszczowska for a recital that re-creates the one given by Yehudi Menuhin and Benjamin Britten in Bergen-Belsen in July 1945. Playing the recital meant a lot to both Menuhin and Britten and the programmes are quite meaningful. James and Maria studies together, and they performed quite a lot together as students and Young Artists. Maria is Artistic Partner of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Director and Leader of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. James calls her a ‘force of nature’, saying she is such a galvanising musician, and he is thrilled that her career is taking off.

James Baillieu & Lise Davidsen at the Metropolitan Opera, New York

Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen’s recent performances have included the role of Isolde in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Met in New York and at the Liceu in Barcelona, and she will make her international role debut as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in March 2027, as part of the Salzburg Easter Festival’s 60th anniversary programme. For James, it is a thrill to hear her voice live, and he comments on its superhuman nature. He and Lise have performed in various recitals over the last decade. Often these have taken place in large concert halls which requires a different way of playing for him. Some years ago they performed a programme of songs by Berg, Strauss and Schubert [see my review of their 2023 Wigmore Hall concert], and it was the Schubert songs that stood out. They found that the simplicity of Schubert’s piano accompaniments works well with her voice, whereas in Richard Strauss’s songs you rather miss the full orchestra. So they decided on an all-Schubert programme. For James, Lise has her own way of performing Schubert which is very authentic and incredibly genuine. He admits that her style of Schubert singing might not be to the taste of all aficionados, but he grew up listening to Jessye Norman singing lieder.

This year, Lise and James’s all-Schubert programme will take them to Spain, Bergen, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall and Aldeburgh. James finds it great that someone like Lise does recitals like this. She has sold out the large auditorium at Carnegie Hall, showing people that art song is amazing. It is exciting for him too, as he is playing in auditoriums larger than usual. In 2023, they did a recital the Met in New York which he describes as a wonderful experience. Decca released it on disc recently. There was a huge audience, and they made Lise and James feel like rock stars. It was a really joyous occasion with the audience on their side.

When I chatted to James he was just back from Japan where he was performing with tenor David Butt Philip, and he has Schubert’s three song-cycles to look forward to with Benjamin Appl. This summer is devoted to Aldeburgh then Verbier then Edinburgh with a mix of performing and teaching. He smiles and comments that the next few months are nicely full.

This year has been a big year of touring for James with around two weeks of each month taken up, but he tries to make tours to the US and to Asia in larger patches. He loves the counterpoint of teaching at Britten Pears and at the Royal Academy of Music (where he is Head of the Ensemble Piano department), finding it grounding to have this constant in his life. He regards himself as luck to give great concerts with great people as well as having opportunities to help the amazing talent of the next generation to create meaningful careers.

He feels optimistic about the future of song and finds a huge enthusiasm for song in Young Artists. There is so much interest in song in conservatoires with interest in a different way of doing things. What attracts young singers is the authenticity: in song, a Young Artist shows themself as an authentic artist rather than being a character. In world increasingly dominated by AI, the song recital is free of it for an hour, there is no app that makes the experience better.