Utopian ideals & cross-cultural dialogue: Jocelyn Freeman’s SongEasel takes song to South-East London with a focus on Robert & Clara Schumann

Jocelyn Freeman and Francesca Chiejina at SongEasel’s 2024 series A Vast Obscurity

Pianist Jocelyn Freeman’s South-East London-based song series, SongEasel goes from strength to strength and their seventh concert series, DREAMS: A Place, runs from 10 May to 13 July 2025. The series explores embracing utopian ideals and cross-cultural dialogue, and celebrates the much-anticipated marital union of Clara and Robert Schumann 185 years ago. As ever with SongEasel, concert locations are outside the usual and this year includes churches in Borough, Catford, and Elephant & Castle, Dulwich College, and fringe events in a coffee shop in Walworth and a pub in Catford.

Jocelyn Freeman

Jocelyn describes the series as having an umbrella of themes. One of the inspirations was Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan (West–östlicher Divan), his collection of poems written in response to the reading the Persian national poet, Hafez, and Jocelyn wanted to shine a light on such an open exchange between West and East. An openness to cultural exchange is important in this day and age and society is not as tolerant as it could be. It is important to dream, to use art to demonstrate how society can be.

SongEasel’s schools project has just taken place. Under the theme of My Place, the project brought together four schools from Lewisham to explore Mary Stuart’s life and poetry, her journeys between France and Scotland, focusing on Schumann’s Maria Stuart Lieder. The children came up with their own songs about the places where they were comfortable, and they were fully on board with it, taking ownership with confidence.

Under the title of Belonging the young Zambian baritone Themba Mvula will be giving a recital exploring his South African and Zambian heritage with songs touching on subjects such as the riots and students being shot, yet full of hope, bringing the full range of life to the music. Song duos who have been coached as part of SongEasel’s Young Artist Programme will be presenting Lebendige Lieder (Living Song), examining lieder’s place in society today. So there will be songs by Robert and Clara Schumann (including Goethe and Hafez settings), along with more fringe material including cabaret to create a programme relevant in today’s age. Soprano Nadine Benjamin will be curating a programme My Journey highlighting her own journey, with song sung by a selection of her mentees from her Everybody Can!

The concert series will be highlighting the songs of Robert and Clara Schumann, focusing on the year 1840 when they finally were able to marry. This was the year that Robert produced a stupendous number of songs. SongEasel will be programming all of Clara Schumann’s songs along with Robert’s song cycles from 1840. The series opens with Myrthen, Robert’s wedding give to Clara, performed by soprano Francesca Chiejina, Artist-in-Residence bass-baritone Stephan Loges, emerging baritone Isaac Tolley, with Jocelyn at the piano. They will also be including songs by Clara on themes related to Myrthen as well as Brahms’ settings of Hafez in translation. There is also a Listening Club in Catford which will focus on Robert and Clara’s music, with Stephan Loges joining former SongEasel Young Artist Catherine Hooper, and Jocelyn, to shed a light on some of the music in the series.

Jocelyn will be joined by tenor James Gilchrist in a programme that pairs Schumann’s Dichterliebe with settings of Dylan Thomas by William Mathias, Rhian Samuel and a new commission from Isabella Gellis. Then, for the first time, SongEasel will be devoting an entire weekend to song. Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and pianist Sholto Kynoch will be performing Dichterliebe in the original version for mezzo-soprano, along with songs by Héloïse Werner and Fanny Hensel. Stephan Loges and Jocelyn will present Clara & Robert, a selection of Clara’s songs alongside Robert’s Liederkreis Op 39 and selections from Kernerlieder Op 35. German soprano Juliane Banse partners Finnish pianist Pauliina Tukiainen for a programme centred on Frauenliebe und -leben. This recital will be at St Matthew’s Church, Meadow Row, Elephant & Castle, a church that has a significant Spanish population, and there is a Spanish thread through the concert too, with Spanish songs by Obradors, works by Viardot, and selections from Wolf’s Spanisches Liederbuch.

There are also a selection of fringe events, at a pub in Catford and a bar in Walworth, bringing a wide variety of repertoire including mezzo-soprano Nafissatou Batu Daramy in a programme ranging from English song to French mélodie and Korean folksongs, and including some of Nafissatou’s own compositions.