Franz Schubert/Wilhelm Müller
Ryan McKinny, bass-baritone.
Sharolyn Kimmorley, piano.

“I came here as a stranger, as a stranger I depart” – so the ‘Winter Journey’ of the rejected lover begins.

Winterreise, Franz Schubert’s song cycle of Wilhelm Müller’s poems, is an achingly heartfelt farewell to life and a study of isolation, alienation and morbid grief.

The 24 songs describe a journey to self-destruction with irony, misanthropic ferocity and black humour, making this 1827 song cycle a dramatic challenge for singers.

American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny brings the same remarkable intensity to Winterreise as he does to opera roles such as Figaro, Escamillo, Hercules and Creon/Tiresias in Oedipus Rex.

Photo: photo©hkvam