Brodsky Quartet & Sir Willard White
Opera legend Sir Willard White joins the Brodsky Quartet for a genre-spanning celebration of song and strings.
For over 50 years, the Brodsky Quartet have captivated audiences around the world, performing over 3,000 concerts and releasing more than 60 recordings. Their passion for musical exploration remains as strong as ever.
In this special collaboration, they join forces with legendary Jamaican-born bass Sir Willard White – one of the great musical entertainers of our time. Together, they pay tribute to the iconic 1957 album ‘Close to You’, which brought together Frank Sinatra and the Hollywood String Quartet in a groundbreaking blend of voice and strings.
The programme is a rich and varied journey through American music and beyond. Expect Barber’s haunting ‘Dover Beach’, songs by Copland, Kern, and Gershwin, alongside Britten’s folk settings and Schubert’s beloved Lieder, including ‘The Trout’ and ‘Death and the Maiden’. Highlights also include classics from ‘Porgy and Bess’, ‘Hoedown’, and ‘My Way’.
This eclectic mix showcases the extraordinary versatility of the Brodsky Quartet and the magnetic presence of Sir Willard White. From jazz and musical theatre to classical and timeless pop standards, experience an evening of music that crosses genres and generations – brought to life by artists whose partnership continues to inspire and delight audiences worldwide.
About Sir Willard White
One of the best-loved and most versatile opera stars of the last 40 years, Sir Willard White’s illustrious career has taken him to the most prestigious opera houses and concert halls throughout the world, collaborating with conductors, directors and orchestras of the highest calibre.
White was born in Jamaica, where he commenced his musical training at the Jamaican School of Music and then went on to the Juilliard School in New York. Since his operatic debut with the New York City Opera in 1974, he has sung regularly at The Royal Ballet & Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera, the opera houses of Munich, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, and at the Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg festivals. In 1989, White performed the role of Othello in Trevor Nunn’s production for the Royal Shakespeare Company, alongside Sir Ian McKellen as Iago and Imogen Stubbs as Desdemona. White was awarded the CBE in 1995 and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2004, he was named Chevalier de la Legion D’honneur in France in 2023 for his contributions to opera, both on the French and international stages.
Watch The Brosky Quartet with Sir Willard White
BBC In Tune Sessions
Band A: £35 (£31.50 Friends)
Band B: £30 (£27 Friends)
Band C: £12 (£10.80 Friends)
Students and Under 18s: £10 (Bands B and C)
Schools £10
*Ticket prices vary by seating location
For full offer details see Booking tickets >
Venue facilities and information >
Aaron Copland (arr. P. Cassidy and J. Thomas) ‘Hoedown’
George Gershwin (arr. P. Cassidy) Excerpts from ‘Porgy and Bess’
Trad. (arr. Benjamin Britten/P. Cassidy) ‘The Ash Grove’; ‘The Foggy Dew’
Franz Schubert (arr. J. Thomas)
‘Death and the Maiden’
‘The Trout’
Jules Massenet (arr. P. Cassidy) ‘Élégie’
Samuel Barber ‘Dover Beach’
Benjamin Britten Poème
Aaron Copland (arr P. Cassidy) ‘Long Time Ago’; ‘The Dodger’
Jenkins/Mercer (arr I. Belton) ‘P. S. I Love You’
Cole Porter (arr. P. Cassidy) ‘Blow, Gabriel, Blow’
Jerome Kern (arr. J. Thomas) ‘They Didn’t Believe Me’
Hoffman/Lampl/Livingstone (arr. A. Haveron) ‘Close To You’
Lord Burgess (arr. P. Cassidy) ‘Jamaica Farewell’
Anka/Revaux/Thibault (arr. J. Thomas) ‘My Way’
