Journey through the realms of love and nature as husband and wife team, Margarita Wood and Jette Parker Young Artist Michael Gibson, grace the SPO stage for an enchanting evening of Lieder and Song. Savour the melodies of Strauss, Liszt, Debussy, Britten and other musical luminaries as they take us on a musical tour invoking the vibrant spirit of spring.

Joined by pianist Lucy Colquhoun providing sparkling accompaniment, we capture the essence of romance and the beauty of the season.

The date for your diary is Friday 22nd March 2024 with the performance starting at 7.30 pm.

Tickets are £18 in advance (£20 on the door) – just click the button above.

The Performers

The first of our performers for this wonderful evening of Lieder and Song is Scottish tenor Michael Gibson. A Jette Parker Artist at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Michael’s roles this season include Borsa (Rigoletto), Young Servant (Elektra), Normanno (Lucia di Lamermoor) and Pong (Turandot) in the Royal Opera House's 2024 tour of Japan.

Michael is a graduate of the Royal College of Music's International Opera Studio, where he held the Aldama scholarship. Prior to this he graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, completing a Bachelor of Education in Music, and the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied for his Master of Music with Peter Alexander Wilson.  

Michael will be joined by his wife, Canadian soprano Margarita Wood. Rita began her music studies in Nova Scotia, Canada, where she was raised. She holds a Master’s of Music in Performance and Literature from Western University, and in 2017, completed the International Artist Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Roles have included Iris (Semele), Gabrielle (La Vie Parisienne), Rodelinda (Rodelinda), Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Cupid (Orpheus in the Underworld), Nella (Gianni Schicchi) and Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute).

Rita has been the recipient of the Dr. Don Wright Scholarship for excellence in music, the Richard Newitt Fund, the Leverhulme Arts Trust and of the Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship. At the RNCM she was awarded the Clare Croiza Prize for French Song.

Providing piano accompaniment is Lucy Colquhoun, who is in demand as a recitalist throughout the UK including at the Purcell Room Southbank, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, St John’s Smith Square, Royal Philharmonic Society, Park Lane Group, Oxford Lieder Festival, Britten-Pears Foundation, Worshipful Company of Musicians, St James’s Piccadilly, St-Martin-in- the-Fields, Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, 22 Mansfield Street, Brighton Festival, Perth Festival, Fidelio Orchestra Café, Middle Temple Hall, Fishmongers’ Hall, Philip and Dorothy Green recitals, Conway Hall, Cambridge University, Cheltenham Town Hall, Schubert Society of Great Britain, British Music Society, Concordia Foundation, Stone House, Pushkin House, International Festival of Sacred Music Bogotá and Durham University accompanying Sir Thomas Allen.

She released her debut album with Champs Hill Records last year with Rowan Pierce and Julien Van Mellaerts. She is a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star. Lucy has broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Colombian National Television and played for five singers in the Ferrier Awards finals (2019–2022) at London’s Wigmore Hall including all prizewinners. She is a staff member at the Royal College of Music and adjudicated Birmingham Conservatoire’s Piano Recital Prize. She has worked closely with several composers including Joseph Horovitz, John Casken, Gary Carpenter, Larry Goves and Paul Paterson.

Lucy studied at Royal College of Music with Roger Vignoles winning all the major accompaniment prizes and numerous scholarships (Kendall-Taylor Scholarship, Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Award, Walter Deakin Award, Knights of the Round Table.) She won the Somerset Song Prize and RJ Forbes Prize for Accompaniment (RNCM) and is a Britten-Pears and Samling Artist.