NEW ALBUM & WIGMORE HALL FOCUS DAY ILLUMINATE THE LEGACY OF BRITISH COMPOSER REBECCA CLARKE
Rebecca Clarke – The Complete Songs
Album Release Date: 7 November 2025
Wigmore Hall Focus Day: 8 November 2025
This November, the music of the trailblazing yet long-neglected British composer Rebecca Clarke takes centre stage with the release of a landmark recording and a dedicated Focus Day at Wigmore Hall.
Internationally-acclaimed British mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately, Grammy Award-winning American tenor Nicholas Phan, and distinguished British pianist Anna Tilbrook have joined forces to record Rebecca Clarke – The Complete Songs, the first album to encompass Clarke’s entire song output, many of which are world premiere recordings. The album will be released on Signum Records, featuring guest appearances from violinist Max Baillie, baritone Roderick Williams, soprano Gweneth Ann Rand, and members of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.
Tilbrook notes, “It’s astonishing how little-known Rebecca Clarke’s songs still are, given their extraordinary depth, imagination and craftsmanship.” Whately adds, “She was writing at the same level as her male contemporaries, yet has been largely overlooked.”
Despite composing around 100 works—including vocal music, chamber pieces and piano works—only 20 were published during Clarke’s lifetime, By the time of her death in 1979, at the age of 93, her music had all but vanished from print. Phan outlined the trio’s goal in recording this album, saying “With this album, we hope to shine a light on her immense contribution to the art song repertoire and give her music the recognition it has long deserved.”
The album offers nearly 30 world-première recordings of songs unpublished in Clarke’s lifetime, alongside new arrangements of Clarke’s The Seal Man and Binnorie highlighting the viola, an instrument central to Clarke’s own performing career.
“Do yourself a favour,” urges baritone Roderick Williams OBE, who features on the album, “and get to know this composer. Rebecca Clarke’s music is rich, evocative, and deeply rewarding. The first time I heard Rebecca Clarke’s song The Sealman my mind was completely blown. Not only did the song, its story, its harmonies, its textures, utterly transport me, I was also completely embarrassed as to why I had never heard of this composer before. I began to discover more of her songs and then became aware of her chamber music. I realised what a huge gap there was in my repertoire knowledge. I almost felt cheated that I’d managed to continue this long without having encountered Rebecca Clarke’s music. At last that omission has been rectified and I am grateful for it.”
WIGMORE HALL FOCUS DAY | 8 NOVEMBER 2025
The day following the release of Rebecca Clarke – The Complete Songs, Wigmore Hall will host a Rebecca Clarke Focus Day, devised by Whately, Phan, and Tilbrook. The day includes lecture-recitals and performances of Clarke’s finest works, including her celebrated Viola Sonata, with guest performers Max Baillie, Ailish Tynan, and Ashley Riches. The day also features talks by music historians Leah Broad, Natasha Loges, and Clarke’s great-nephew Christopher Johnson.
NEW SCORE EDITIONS AND COMPETITION
This renewed celebration of Clarke’s life and work is also supported by five new volumes of her previously unpublished songs, published by ClarNan Editions and edited by Nicholas Phan and Christopher Johnson. With these volumes, all of Clarke's vocal compositions known to exist in a completed state—excluding only sketches, drafts, and exercises—will be available in practical editions aimed at the widest possible range of musicians, students, and music-lovers.
The celebration culminates in January 2026 with the Rebecca Clarke Memorial Prize Competition, led by the charity SWAP’ra and Kitty Whately. This new national competition will invite singer-pianist duos to perform works by women composers, with particular focus on Clarke’s repertoire. It is designed to showcase Clarke’s work and support greater education and discovery of women’s song repertoire. Tilbrook and Whately will form part of the adjudication panel. Further details about the competition to be announced soon.