Seil Kim & Rudolf Jansen

As a teenager, the young tenor Seil Kim was causing a stir in the conservatoires of Europe. He went from Rome to Geneva and Zürich, and then to the Opera Studio in Amsterdam. Those tireless years of study have paid off in spades, as Kim's record proves. The Maria Callas Competition, the Thomas Quasthoff Liedwettbewerb, the International Vocal Competition in Den Bosch: Kim has won prizes at all of them. In Den Bosch, this native Korean made the acquaintance of pianist Rudolf Jansen. It clicked. To such an extent that three years on, the pair will be taking you on a journey through the romantic Lieder repertoire. They will be moving back and forth from Schubert, the prince of early Lieder, to the smouldering chromatics of Wolf. Along the way there is a sensual 'mélodie' from Duparc. The highlight has to be a selection from Schuman's 'Kerner Lieder': one of the many fruits of the famous 'Liederjahr', 1840, packed full of melancholy, weltschmerz and a romantic longing for death.