Due to filming commitments, Alex Jennings is unfortunately now unable to narrate this concert. However, we are delighted to announce that he will be replaced by Michael Maloney.
Having first come to public attention in the film Truly, Madly, Deeply (alongside Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman), Michael Maloney has starred in numerous films and TV shows, including The Crown, Paranoid, Casualty and The Thick of It. He is a well-known theatre actor, both in the West End and for the RSC; most recently he has been touring the UK, Ireland and China as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express.
Debussy’s life is revealed in the form of a personal journal, from his initial success with the Prix de Rome in 1885 to his untimely death in 1918. We discover the complex intellectual and emotional world – the back-drop to Debussy’s entangled love life – that led to illicit trysts in Jersey, a brush with a revolver and even a suicide attempt.
Debussy’s recollections are punctuated throughout with solo piano works performed by the hugely talented Lucy Parham. A world-class pianist, Lucy Parham has earned wide critical acclaim for her series of Composer Portraits, each one meticulously researched and scripted by herself.
Her illuminating selection of accompanying music ranges from the ever-popular Clair de Lune, Rêverie and The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, to virtuosic showpieces including Jardins sous la Pluie, the Etudes and L’Isle Joyeuse.