Helen joins Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Maxim Emelyanychev to perform Mendelssohn’s Elias at the Maison de la Radio, in Paris. The concert will also be broadcast on Radio France.
Carolyn Sampson / Rowan Pierce
Helen Charlston / Andrew Staples / Roderick Williams
with Maîtrise de Radio France & Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Helen and Sholto Kynoch return to Music at St Leonard’s to share a specially curated version of their widely acclaimed A Poet’s Love programme. Alongside Schumann Dichterliebe and Heloise Werner’s companion piece Knight’s Dream, hear songs by Haydn, Hahn, Boulanger and Viardot as well as they second ever performance of Richard Barnard Prophecy written for the artists in 2025.
Helen is in Adelaide for a weekend of music making across Siobhan Stagg’s ChamberFest. Singing music by Schubert, Mahler, Strauss, Chausson and Andrew Ford, she joins a stellar team of artists for multiple concerts over the weekend.
For more information see UKARIA website.
Helen Charlston makes a welcome return to the Festival to perform Schubert’s great song cycle of 1823, Die schöne Müllerin (‘The Fair Maid of the Mill’). For this poignant journey from optimism to despair, Schubert sets the folk-like texts of Wilhelm Müller, which were originally conceived as a kind of parlour entertainment. Schubert responds to the directness of the poems with a remarkable musical sequence, perfectly reflecting the journey of the young miller as he strides confidently into the world only to be ignored by the woman he falls for, with his sole companion the flowing brook whose course he follows.
18th October 2026, 3.30pm
Holywell Music Room, Oxford
Love, loss and revenge… join us for an atmospheric evening of music based on ancient Greek myths, interspersed with stand-up comedy from Natalie Haynes.
This event marks 50 years since the death of composer Benjamin Britten, with the sublime mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston the soloist in his late micro-opera Phaedra. The contrasts between Phaedra's disgust at her own obsession with her stepson and the heartfelt expressions of her love for him are darkly and brilliantly conveyed in this condensed masterpiece.
“Hell hath no fury" is also the mood in Charpentier's opera about Medea and Haydn's depiction of Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus, while male protagonists fare better in Stravinsky's ballet music and Woolrich's shimmering re-write of a Monteverdi aria. The stories may be tragic, but in the company of comedian and classicist Natalie Haynes (BBC Radio 4’s Stand Up for the Classics) there will be tears of laughter too. The doomed woman stereotype provides plenty of provocative material.
Thursday 20th Oct 2026, 7pm
Norwich Halls, Norwich
Love, loss and revenge… join us for an atmospheric evening of music based on ancient Greek myths, interspersed with stand-up comedy from Natalie Haynes.
This event marks 50 years since the death of composer Benjamin Britten, with the sublime mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston the soloist in his late micro-opera Phaedra. The contrasts between Phaedra's disgust at her own obsession with her stepson and the heartfelt expressions of her love for him are darkly and brilliantly conveyed in this condensed masterpiece.
“Hell hath no fury" is also the mood in Charpentier's opera about Medea and Haydn's depiction of Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus, while male protagonists fare better in Stravinsky's ballet music and Woolrich's shimmering re-write of a Monteverdi aria. The stories may be tragic, but in the company of comedian and classicist Natalie Haynes (BBC Radio 4’s Stand Up for the Classics) there will be tears of laughter too. The doomed woman stereotype provides plenty of provocative material.
Thursday 21st Oct, 7.30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Love, loss and revenge… join us for an atmospheric evening of music based on ancient Greek myths, interspersed with stand-up comedy from Natalie Haynes.
This event marks 50 years since the death of composer Benjamin Britten, with the sublime mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston the soloist in his late micro-opera Phaedra. The contrasts between Phaedra's disgust at her own obsession with her stepson and the heartfelt expressions of her love for him are darkly and brilliantly conveyed in this condensed masterpiece.
“Hell hath no fury" is also the mood in Charpentier's opera about Medea and Haydn's depiction of Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus, while male protagonists fare better in Stravinsky's ballet music and Woolrich's shimmering re-write of a Monteverdi aria. The stories may be tragic, but in the company of comedian and classicist Natalie Haynes (BBC Radio 4’s Stand Up for the Classics) there will be tears of laughter too. The doomed woman stereotype provides plenty of provocative material.
Thursday 22nd Oct 2026, 7.30pm
Milton Court Concert Hall, London
Join Helen and Sholto Kynoch in Skipton Town Hall as their reprise their highly acclaimed Knight’s Dream programme.
Tuesday 3rd Nov 2026, 7.30pm
Skipton Town Hall
Helen and Sholto Kynoch return to Wigmore Hall, with their very favourite Notes of Old programme. The concert is also broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
Monday 16th November 2026, 1pm
Wigmore Hall, LONDON
This is a rare chance to hear all six parts of the original Christmas hit performed over two nights. There could be no better way to end the year in which the OAE celebrates the 40th anniversary of its formation in 1986 than with a work that has been a mainstay.
The Christmas Oratorio was first performed as six cantatas, each focusing on a different aspect of the Christmas story, across six feast days in different churches around Leipzig.
Our first evening opens with the bells ringing out for Christmas Day then cuts to the angels’ encouragement to the shepherds that there’s no need to be afraid.
The Evangelist’s narration interweaves with dramatic choruses, chorales and reflective arias from the cast of soloists.
Václav Luks, the founder of Prague’s Collegium 1704, returns to the OAE following critically acclaimed collaborations in Bach’s Mass in B Minor at the Southbank Centre and in the pit at Glyndebourne Opera.
Luks completes the programme with a Credo from a mass by fellow Czech Jan Dismas Zelenka. Bach almost certainly knew Zelenka and held his music in high regard for its inventive harmony and what Luks describes as its ‘extraordinary power’.
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Václav Luks conductor
Sofia Kirwan-Baez / Helen Charlston
Guy Cutting / Florian Störtz
Choir of the Age of Enlightenment
Saturday 5th December 2026, 7pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Tonight’s concert begins on the New Year’s Day Feast before joining the Magi on their journey to Bethlehem to honour the baby Jesus.
The Evangelist’s narration interweaves with dramatic choruses, chorales and reflective arias from the cast of soloists.
Václav Luks, the founder of Prague’s Collegium 1704, returns to the OAE following critically acclaimed collaborations in Bach’s Mass in B Minor at the Southbank Centre and in the pit at Glyndebourne Opera.
He opens the concert with a motet by fellow Czech Jan Dismas Zelenka. Bach almost certainly knew Zelenka and held his music in high regard for its inventive harmony and what Luks describes as its ‘extraordinary power’.
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment & Václav Luks conductor
Sofia Kirwan-Baez / Helen Charlston
Guy Cutting / Florian Störtz
Choir of the Age of Enlightenment
Sunday 6th Dec 2026, 7pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall, LONDON
Bach Christmas Oratorio: Cantatas 1, 2 & 3, BWV 248
Alexandra Lowe / Helen Charlston / Sebastian Hill / Matthew Brook
Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir
Michael Papadopoulos conductor
Tuesday 8th Dec 2026, 7.30pm
Sheldonian Theatre, OXFORD
Handel’s Messiah meets Harry Christophers and The Sixteen: a seasonal tradition from this world-famous chamber choir.
The Times called The Sixteen as “a tiny soundbite of heaven”, and under their founder-conductor Harry Christopher, this world-beating chamber choir makes even the most familiar classic sound new. “A realisation of Handel’s work that suggested it was written yesterday” was how Bachtrack described one of their previous performances of Messiah at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Now they’re bringing Messiah back again: an intimately scaled, historically informed interpretation, here in the heart of the city that Handel called home. And with artists as brilliant as these (and a masterpiece as evergreen as Messiah) every note, every chorus and every beloved melody will sound fresher than ever.
The Sixteen & Harry Christophers
Hilary Cronin / Helen Charlston / Rob Murray / Matthew Brook
Thurs 10th Dec 2026, 7.30pm
St Martin-in-the-fields, London
Handel: Messiah with Royal Northern Sinfonia, conducted by Sofi Jeannin.
Hilary Cronin / Helen Charlston / Benjamin Hulett / Luthando Qave
Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Saturday 12th Dec 2026, 3pm
Middlesbrough Town Hall, Middlesbrough
Handel: Messiah with Royal Northern Sinfonia, conducted by Sofi Jeannin.
Hilary Cronin / Helen Charlston / Benjamin Hulett / Luthando Qave
Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Sunday 13th Dec 2026, 3pm
The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, GATESHEAD
Tůma Te Deum & Mozart Mass in C ‘Krönungsmesse’
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest & Groot Omroepkoor, directed by Shunske Sato
Flore Van Meerssche / Helen Charlston
Nick Pritchard / André Morsch
Friday 18th Dec 2026, 8.15pm
TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
Handel: Messiah, with Royal Scottish National Orchestra directed by Peter Whelan
Rachel Redmond - Soprano
Helen Charlston - Mezzo-soprano
Anthony Gregory - Tenor
Ashley Riches - Bass-baritone
RSNO Chorus
2nd January 2027, 3pm
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, GLASGOW
Helen and collaborator Sholto Kynoch return to their widely acclaimed A Poet’s Love programme, that showcases Schumann Dichterliebe alongside Heloise Werner new companion piece Knight’s Dream written for the artists.
Helen joins forces with the Consone Quartet in a late night concert that celebrates the magic of Henry Purcell, in arrangement for string quartet. Alongside the baroque world of fancy are songs by Vaughan Williams, Britten and music for strings by Oliver Leith.
Helen joins Arcangelo directed by Jonathan Cohen to perform Bach Mass in B minor.
5th September 2026, 8pm
Helen joins Arcangelo, directed by Jonathan Cohen, to perform Bach’s Mass in B minor at the Rheingau Festival.
3rd September 2026, 7pm
Helen sings the role of Dido is Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas director by Peter Holman in his final ever Suffolk Villages Festival.
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Helen Charlston / Michael Craddock / Stuart O’hara / Philippa Hyde
Psalmody & Essex Baroque Orchestra
31st August 2026, 6pm
Helen joins the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Peter Whelan to perform Haydn’s Nelson Mass as part of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
The OAE plays Haydn and Mozart
9th August 2026, 7pm
Royal Albert Hall, London
Helen and Sholto Kynoch perform Schubert Die schöne Müllerin for Oxted & Limpsfield Music Society.
Franz Schubert 6 Moments Musicaux, (piano solo)
Franz Schubert Die Schöne Müllerin
Saturday 11th July 2026, 7.30pm
Hazelwood School Concert Hall, Oxted RH8 0QU
Helen joins Paul Agnew (tenor) and Sergio Bucheli (lute) for an evening of courtly sophistication, colourful salon society and refined nobility, as we immerse ourselves in France’s iconic secular vocal genre of the 17th century: the air de cour. With songs by Michel Lambert (hailed as the author of ‘les plus beaux airs’) and Sebastien Le Camus, the genre reached its pinnacle, encompassing solitary plaints and the joyful shouts of drinking songs to conjure a world of grace and wit that would have been the envy of even the most fashionable denizens of the Sun King’s court.
Thursday 9th July, 7pm
Merchant Taylors Hall, YORK
Helen joins the Purcell School Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Hoskins, for the Last Night of the Proms at St Jude’s.
5th July 2026, 7.30pm
Walton Spitfire Prelude and Fugue / Elgar Sea Pictures
Carwithen Overture to Men of Sherwood Forest / Prokofiev Symphony No 1 ‘Classical’ in D major
Handel Rinaldo: Lascia ch’io pianga / Mozart Così fan tutte: Ah, scostati! ... Smanie implacabili
Rodgers Carousel: You’ll Never Walk Alone / Parry Jerusalem / Traditional Auld Lang Syne
Helen joins St Albans Bach Choir for this monumental word, conducted by Daniel Hyde.
ELGAR: DREAM OF GERONTIUS
Sam Furness / Helen Charlston / Gareth Brynmor John
Saturday 27th June, 7.30pm
St Albans Cathedral
An evening of obsession, abandonment and absolute fury – with occasional moments of calm. Tales from mythology are set to music from three centuries in this powerful programme.
Helen joins Britten Sinfonia for a programme she has curated with them in a performance celebrating the 50 years since Benjamin Britten’s death.
Britten Sinfonia
Helen Charlston mezzo-soprano
Zoë Beyers violin, director
Thursday 18th June, 7.30pm
From the shadow of a haunting funeral march to a blazing, celestial finale – Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony is one of the great journeys in all of music.
Vast in scale, fierce in ambition, and brimming with human hope, it is a work that demands to be heard live. For this festival finale, the Bristol Symphony Orchestra is joined by two exceptional soloists: soprano Ana Beard Fernandez and the multi-award-winning mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, whose extraordinary expressive range brings singular depth to Mahler’s hauntingly beautiful Urlicht. In the resonant surroundings of Clifton Cathedral, this promises to be an evening to remember.
Presented by Clifton Festival: Saturday 13th June 2026, 7.30pm
Bristol Symphony Orchestra / Nailsea Choral Society / The Olympia Singers
Rob Weaver (Conductor)
Ana Beard Fernandez (Soprano)
Helen Charlston (Mezzo-Soprano)
Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston joins pianist Sholto Kynoch for Schubert’s immortal song cycle Die schöne Müllerin — a poignant tale of youthful love, longing, and loss. Charlston, praised for her expressive warmth and depth, and Kynoch, renowned for his insight into German Lied, bring vivid life to Wilhelm Müller’s verses and Schubert’s flowing melodies.
Together they chart the miller’s journey from innocent optimism to quiet heartbreak, revealing the timeless beauty and emotional power of one of the greatest works in the song repertoire
Helen Charlston & Sholto Kynoch (piano)
Friday 5th June 2026, 1pm
The Bach Choir was formed in 1876 to give the UK premiere of Bach’s Mass in B minor in the now-closed St James’ Hall in Piccadilly. 150 years later, the Choir will return to the work that started it all at the Royal Festival Hall with a century and a half of experience and a stellar cast joining them.
BACH: B MINOR MASS
David Hill (conductor)
Nardus William / Helen Charlston / Sam Furness / Neal Davies
Tuesday 26th May 2026, 7.30pm
Royal Festival Hall, London
To celebrate the release of their new album A Poet’s Love on BIS records, Helen and Sholto Kynoch head to the Presto Music Headquarters in Leamington Spa to perform selections from the album and give a Q&A about the programme.
Come to hear the album and pick up your own copy!
Friday 15th May, Doors open 6pm, performance begins at 6.30pm
23–25 Regent Grove, Leamington Spa, CV32 4NN
To celebrate the release of their new album A Poet’s Love on BIS records, Helen and Sholto Kynoch give a performance of the album programme at Leighton House, in London.
Come to hear the album and pick up your own copy direct from the artists!
Wednesday 13th May, 7.30pm
Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ
Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and pianist Sholto Kynoch present a programme celebrating Heinrich Heine’s vivid poetry and the blurred boundaries between reality and imagination in life and love. At its heart is Dichterliebe, Schumann’s 1840 song cycle drawn from Heine’s Lyrisches Intermezzo, alongside Knight’s Dream – a 2023 BBC Radio 3 commission by Héloïse Werner, alumna of the Leeds Song Young Artists Programme, written as a contemporary companion piece.
Heine’s poetry anchors the programme, guiding us from the 19th to the 21st century through works by Josephine Lang, Carl Loewe, and Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, each offering a unique take on Heine’s concise and evocative texts. Werner’s imaginative setting closes the programme – part homage, part playful dialogue with both Schumann and Heine—bringing past and present into lyrical conversation.
LEEDS LEFT BANK | Leeds Song
15th April 2026, 20:00
Helen reunites with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to perform Bach John Passion in London, directed by Johanna Soller.
QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL | London
Southbank Centre, 29th March 19:00
Helen joins the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra for the first time to perform Bach Matthew Passion directed by Laurence Cummings.
QUEEN ELISABETH HALL | Antwerp
20th March 19:30
21st March 19:30
Helen makes her debut at Dutch National Opera to create the role of Marianne in Michel van der Aa’s new opera Theory of Flames
DUTCH NATIONAL OPERA | Amsterdam
6th March 20:00
8th March 14:00
12th March 20:00
14th March 20:00
17th March 20:00
22nd March 14:00
Helen returns to Prague to work once again with Czech Philharmonic to perform Mozart Requiem conducted by Giovanni Antonini.
MOZART REQUIEM | Prague
Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall
7th Jan 19:30
8th Jan 19:30
9th Jan 19:30
Helen joins the Nederlandse Bachvereniging for their Christmas tour of Bach’s Mass in B minor across Holland, directed by Richard Egarr.
MASS IN B MINOR | J S Bach
12th Dec: Utrecht, TivoliVredenburg
14th Dec: Zwolle, Theatre De Spiegel
16th Dec: Naarden, Grote Kerk
17th Dec: Amsterdam, Musiekgebouw aan ‘t IJ
18th Dec: Den Haag, Amare Concertzaal
19th Dec: Naarde, Grote Kerk
20th Dec: Tilburg, Theaters Tilburg Grote Zaal
21st Dec: Haarlem, Phil Grote Zaal
The award-winning Helen Charlston and pianist Sholto Kynoch invite us to take a journey into the 18th century with music by Fanny Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn and Carl Loewe leading us to Robert Schumann’s extraordinary song-cycle Dichterliebe where the songs trace the poet’s experience of falling in love, of joy and pain. Explore in exquisite detail the themes of love, loss, longing and the power of meory and imaginaton in shaping one’s experience of love.
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR EARLY MUSIC | York
6th December, 12:30pm
TICKETS available as part of the NCEM Christmas Festival
Joined by Sholto Kynoch on piano, Helen performs her Knight’s Dream programme at Luton Music Club.
LUTON MUSIC CLUB
Schumann Dichterliebe, Heloise Werner Knights Dream, Loewe, Hensel, Lang
St Mary’s Church, Luton, 24th Nov 19:30
Helen heads to Canada to join pianist Roman Rabinovich in Calgary as part of Chamberfest West’s Shoulder Season. They perform Haydn’s dramatic cantata Arianna a Naxos and Schumann’s exquisite Dichterliebe.
ARTSPLACE | Canmore
20th Nov 2025, 19:30
Helen heads to Canada to join pianist Roman Rabinovich in Calgary as part of Chamberfest West’s Shoulder Season. They perform Haydn’s dramatic cantata Arianna a Naxos and Schumann’s exquisite Dichterliebe.
ST STEPHEN’S ANGLICAN CHURCH | Calgary
18th Nov 2025, 19:30
Helen returns to Wimbledon International Festival with pianist Sholto Kynoch to share a programme centred on Schumann’s exquisite Dichterliebe.
ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH | Spenser Hill, Wimbledon
12th November, 14:30
Tea and Coffee will be served before the concert
More details and tickets from Wimbledon International Festival
Helen returns to Porto to perform Mozart Requiem with Porto Symphony Orchestra Casa da Música & Casa da Música Choir under the direction of Andreas Spering.
CASA DA MUSICA | Porto
8th November 18:00
Helen and the Consone Quartet, return to their programme of lieder arrangements for voice and string quartet culminating in Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben
BRIGHTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL
C Schumann, R Schumann, Mendelssohn, Hensel
TICKETS
Helen and Sholto Kynoch close this years Oxford International Song Festival in a programme following the tales of two mythological heroines: Ariadne and Phaedra.
OXFORD INTERNATIONAL SONG FESTIVAL
Britten, Werner, Barnard, Haydn, Schubert
Holywell Music Room, 25th Oct 19:00
