Penglei Liang (soprano) & Yuyao Qu (piano)

Free admission | Donations welcome

Programme

PART ONE · AWAKENING AND LONGING
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
1. La Flûte de Pan, from Trois Chansons de Bilitis
The first stirring of desire
2. Green, from Ariettes oubliées
Meeting the beloved; an offering of love

Richard Strauss (1864–1949):
3. Ständchen, Op. 17 No. 2
A serenade; a meeting by night
4. Freundliche Vision, Op. 48 No. 1
A vision of the life they might share

Jonathan Dove (b. 1959):
5. Between Your Sheets
Watching the beloved sleep

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901):
6. Caro nome, from Rigoletto
Imagining a love not yet lived

INTERLUDE · THREE SONGS BY FLORENCE PRICE
Florence Price (1887–1953) was the first African-American woman to have a symphony played by a major American
orchestra, when the Chicago Symphony gave her Symphony in E minor in 1933. Alongside the orchestral works she wrote
more than a hundred songs, many of them settings of Black American poets. Much of her music disappeared after her death
and was recovered only in 2009, when a large cache of manuscripts came to light in a derelict house outside Chicago. The two
Langston Hughes settings here stand on either side of Night, a quiet nocturne.
7. Songs to the Dark Virgin
An ardent declaration
Langston Hughes
8. Night
Tenderness and stillness in the dark
Louise C. Wallace
9. Hold Fast to Dreams
Hold on, though the dream breaks
Langston Hughes

PART TWO · LOSS, LETTING GO, AND HOPE

Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848):
10. Prendi, per me sei libero, from L’elisir d’amore
Love turns; letting go, or testing

arr. Benjamin Britten (1913–1976):
11. The Last Rose of Summer
An omen of fading

Clara Schumann (1819–1896):
12. Ich stand in dunklen Träumen, Op. 13 No. 1
The beloved is lost

Franz Schubert (1797–1828):
13. An den Mond, D. 193
Grief after parting

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907):
14. Ein Traum, from Sechs Lieder, Op. 48
It was only a dream

Strauss:
15. Morgen!, Op. 27 No. 4
And tomorrow the sun will shine again

Artist Bio

Soprano Penglei Liang recently completed a Master of Performance at the Royal College of Music, supported by the Audrey Sacher Award, where she studied with Jeffrey Stewart. She also holds a Master’s degree in Musicology from the University of Edinburgh.

Penglei debuted as a soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana in Oxford, and has since appeared as the soloist in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël in London and Aylesbury. She performed as concert soloist at the National Liberal Club, and at the Silk Road Concert supported by the Chinese Embassy. Operatic roles include Laoula (L’étoile), Elmira (Sosarme), Hélène (Véronique) and Elisetta (Il Matrimonio Segreto). Penglei joined the Grasmere Song 2025 with scholarship, where she had masterclass with Sir Thomas Allen. She participated in the RCM Song Plus Program, and received a masterclass with Pumeza Matshikiza. Her ensemble and chorus performances include Holst’s The Planets at the 2024 BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Madama Butterfly at St. John’s Smith Square, and Le Nozze di Figaro with the RCM Opera Studio. Penglei performed as a concert soloist at the 2026 Great Malvern Festival of Singing. She will be singing as soprano soloist for Handel’s Messiah in November.

Yuyao Qu is a collaborative pianist of rare sensitivity and musical depth, celebrated for her refined artistry in art song and chamber music. Born in Dalian, China, she brings to her performances a distinctive perspective shaped by early immersion in a wide range of artistic disciplines — dance, vocal music, painting, ikebana, and calligraphy — an interdisciplinary background that continues to inform the nuance and poetry of her musical expression.

Recent highlights include appearances at the Grasmere Song Festival in England’s Lake District and the Ticino Musica Festival 2025 in Lugano, Switzerland, where she performed as a sponsored participant in a series of chamber music concerts and masterclasses. She serves as featured collaborative pianist for the New Elements Music Concert Series 2025–2026 in London and the Qingxiang Music Season 2025 at Shuimu Theatre in Beijing, collaborating with distinguished singers and instrumentalists in programmes spanning art song and chamber music.
Her international concert appearances span Birmingham Symphony Hall; St James’s Church Piccadilly, St Dunstan-in-the-West, the Austrian Cultural Forum, St John the Baptist Church, and St Bride’s Church in London; Elisarion Cultural Centre in Switzerland; Chongqing Philharmonic Music Factory and Nanjing Steinway & Sons Music Centre in China; and Fulkerson Recital Hall and Warner Music Hall in the United States, among others.

Yuyao has studied with Simon Lepper, Kathron Sturrock, Colin Stone, and Ran Dank. She completed her Artist Diploma in Collaborative Piano at the Royal College of Music in 2024, her Master of Arts in Piano at the Royal Academy of Music, and her Bachelor of Music with Honours at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has participated in masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Nicky Spence OBE, Audrey Hyland, James Holmes, Paulina Tukiainen, Susan Manoff, and Ulrich Koella. Her repertoire encompasses an extensive range of German and French art song alongside diverse chamber music works. She is the recipient of the Gold Prize in Chamber Music at the London Young Musicians Competition.
Alongside her performing career, Yuyao maintains an active presence as a freelance collaborative pianist, piano educator, and associate accompanist at the Royal College of Music and Eltham College, where she continues to explore the intersection of artistry and music education.

Presented in association with Royal College of Music