Past events back to 2019 are listed in reverse order – earlier years will be added as documents, in chronological order
2023
“The Schumanns” Piano Recital with a twist (Performances on May 13th, Enfield; May 20th, Islington and October 14th, Primrose Hill)
Music by Clara and Robert Schumann combined, including: Scherzo 1 in d minor and Scherzo 2 in c minor by Clara Schumann; “Carnaval” by Robert Schumann and eight of their songs.
28 September 2023 – soloist in a concert of the St. Mary’s Harvest Festival
In the first half, several items from Haydn’s Creation were performed, and I sang “With verdure clad”. The concert had “Creation” as its topic, and I was privileged to perform two Britten Folksongs as well as Donadl Wethericks beautiful setting of Milne’s poem “Mirrors”.
Music and poetry programme 28 Sept 23 .docx
2021
12 November 2021 (-private performance) for Claremont Project, White Lion Street, Islington
4 Beethoven Songs and the Pathethique (see below)
23 October 2021 Piano Recital with a twist – Beethoven’s Birthday is near
In my latest Beethoven programme, I tried out something new: I sang four of his simpler songs, playing the accompaniment, and combined it with two piano solo sonatas, Op.7 (Grand Sonata) and Op.13 (Pathétique). It has been great fun to try out this new way of performing, and whilst it will never replace the joy of working with a different pianist, it is great to do it this way, sometimes.
An die Hoffnung – To hope(Op32). Das Blümchen Wunderhold – Little flower Wondrous(Op. 52,8) Mignon (Op.75,1) Sehnsucht – Yearning(Op. 83,2)
26 September 2021 Vocal Chamber music – Soprano meets clarinet
Vocal Chamber concert 26 Sept 21 programme
It has been a pleasure to perform live again, to a very appreciative audience. The ambience of St. James’ is so pleasant, it is an absolute joy to sing in there. The humorous numbers got the right response and we all enjoyed the view “from the highest rock into the deep valley below” in our final item, “Shepherd on the Rock”. This concert had been intended for the month of April, thus we had a lot of spring time featured in the lyrics. Well, always something to look forward to, in 2022 (or think of the southern hemisphere, it’s the global age, after all).
Thomas Ayres, Gordon Jacob, Matyas Seiber, Ralf Vaughan Williams, Arthur Bliss, Louis Spohr and Franz Schubert
Gisela Meyer, Soprano Alistair Logan, clarinet; John Human, piano
2020
11 October 2020 – Return to Sorento – and many more popular tunes to enjoy on an autumn eve
Eva Hurt, Chromatic harmonica Jurand Jakub Zygadlo, guitar Gisela Meyer, piano and voice
Though with a very select audience, we thoroughly enjoyed offering a performance to a live audience again. The lovely tunes sounded great in the supportive acoustic of St. James’s and enchanted us all. It was one step forward in these challenging times!
Programme Return to Sorento Sunday 11 October
10 September 2020 – Vocal recital: Livestreamed concert from the St. Pancras Tower
Gisela Meyer: soprano; John Human: piano Adam Bonser: recording and mastering; Sophie Sparkes: videos
Video (audio mastered, including of a programme with timings)
Programme only: VOCAL RECITAL 29 SEPTEMBER 2019
Impressions just after the event:
Our livestream, 10th September 2020 is done….What an amazing day we had in St. Pancras tower yesterday. It is mind-blowing to even walk up through the staircase, seeing the trains from the back.The corridor seems to go on forever. Once you reach the level of the studio, you have a view right across London. Inside, looking up, you can see the metal staircase leading to the actual clock (not our job – but it was nice to imagine).
The space is lovely and has a nice acoustic. Recording in the early afternoon was a smooth and beautiful collaboration with John Human at the piano and Sophie Sparkes and Adam Bonser at the cameras and microphones.
After a couple of hours break it was time to get ready for the virtual performance at 6.30.Doing a live-stream is a unique experience. Walking up on stage, knowing that the cameras are looking at your every step, feels very different to walking out to a live stage– but once we were under way, we were both astonished how much the performance seemed like a normal concert. Even though the element of real-time interaction with the audience is missing– and boy, I am looking forward to having that again! – I somehow still felt connected with everyone out there.
A BIG THANK YOU to all who have been listening in – and to those who might do, from this point forward! A big thank you also to everyone who has donated, we much appreciate your support. And I want to mention two more people at this point: Peter Tompkins, who has kindly hired the space out to us, and on a more personal note, Jessica Cash (formerly professor of the Guildhall School of Music), my amazing singing teacher.
Summer concert 7 June 2020 – An event with poetry and music, run by the Polish Toastmaster club (president: Rafael Jablonski) – broadcast by Zoom
Performers: Agnieszka Borzęcka and Maciej Michalak, reading
Eva Hurt, chromatic harmonica/guitar Jurand Jakub Zygadlo, violin/guitar Gisela Meyer, piano/voice
14 March 2020 – Concert with music for flute, soprano and piano – including a UK premiere performance
Elisabeth Parry and Jonathan Slade flute Gisela Meyer, soprano John Alley, piano
This concert included a range of French songs, partly arranged for flute and piano, partly set for flute, soprano and piano. It has been a special privilege for me sing the UK premiere performance of Jonathan Slade’s song cycle “The Passage of Time” for flute, soprano and piano – and Jonathan could not have been more appreciative! The three songs are each in a different language (French/Italian/German), and it has been a pleasure to present them to our audience, in an ensemble with two superb players. Thankfully, we just managed this performance before lockdown put a stop to live concerts shortly afterwards.
2019
Friday 6 December 2019 – AUTUMN CHAMBER CONCERT Music for Piano Trio (repeated) at the City Lit Institute 10 Keeley Street, London WC2B 4 BA
Sunday 24 November 2019 – AUTUMN CHAMBER CONCERT Music for Piano Trio
Natalee Jeremic, Violin Una Birtchnell, Violoncello Gisela Meyer, Piano
St James Church, Prebend Street, Islington, London N1 8QH
Programme Autumn Chamber concert
Friday 11 October – CONCERT and ART EXHIBITION: An evening with Leondaro Da Vinci
We had a wonderful evening combining various art forms and speech: To mark the 500thdeath anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci, artist Dorota Pietrzyk presented her work “Notes for Leonardo”
Ognisko Polskie (Polish Cultural Centre), 55 Exhibition Road, London SW7 2PN
Music presented at the event was written by Italian baroque composers, including Vivaldi, Scarlatti and many more. The event was presented by:
Dorota Pietrzyk, artist Eva Hurt, soprano and chromatic harmonica Jurand Jakub Zygadlo, guitar and violin Gisela Meyer, piano and violoncello
Programme An Evening with Leonardo da Vinci
Sunday 29 September – VOCAL RECITAL Songs by Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy (incl. Ariettes oubliées)
Gisela Meyer, soprano and John Human, piano
St James Church, Prebend Street, Islington, London N1 8QH
Programme Vocal recital 29 September
Friday 19 July 2019 CONCERT: Music and Poetry for a Summer Night – Soul in the City Festival, St. Mary’s Church, Islington
Programme Music and Poetry for a Summer Night
Tuesday 16 April – Piano Lunchtime recital – Chopin Preludes Op. 28
National Physical Laboratory Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW
(see 3rd April for programme notes)
Wednesday 3 April 2019 Piano recital CHOPIN MEETS DEBUSSY (repeat of the programme from November 2018)
City Lit Institute 10 Keeley Street, London WC2B 4 BA
Programme CHOPIN MEETS DEBUSSY
10 March Free Church Hampstead Garden, North Square, London NW11 7AA and
3 March – St James Church, Prebend Street, Islington, London N1 8QH
CHAMBER CONCERT – Music around stories – music for violin, clarinet and piano
