November 2010 – A Dame and a Knight! Joseph has the honour of accompanying Dame Felicity Lott for her new recording of Elgar songs which they have recorded on the new Champs Hill record label. In the same week Joseph gives a recital with Sir Thomas Allen in St Andrew's Church, Bedford. They perform songs by Schubert, Barber, Quilter, Frank Bridge and Schumann's Dichterliebe. He also partners soprano Anna Leese in a Royal Over-Seas League competition winner’s recital at St James' Piccadilly and works for the first time with the outstanding bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu in a concert of Schubert, Schumann, Mussorgsky and Richard Rodney Bennett in Cambridge. Joseph's alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music, invites him back to adjudicate their 2010 Piano Accompanist's Award and Joseph enjoys a fascinating afternoon listening to their postgraduate pianists.
October 2010 ‐ Joseph enjoys working with two outstanding British tenors. To start the month he performs Schubert's Schwanengesang with Mark Padmore in Pembroke College Cambridge where Joseph holds the post of College Musician. He then travels to Belfast with Andrew Kennedy to give a BBC recital for the Belfast Festival. They perform a colourful programme entitled 'American Exiles'. The Belfast Telegraph, reviewing their performance wrote:
'Joseph Middleton was an outstanding accompanist throughout, providing musical and sensitive support with a formidable pianistic technique.'
BBC Radio 3 will broadcast the recital in February 2011. Joseph also performs alongside fellow Kathleen Ferrier Award winner, Sarah-Jane Brandon, in a recital for the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme and returns to the Oxford Lieder Festival for the fourth time, this year with regular duo-partner Clara Mouriz. A review of Clara and Joseph's performance can be found at http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2010/Jul-Dec10/olf2810.htm. The following day Clara and Joseph fly to Berlin to receive two days coaching with internationally acclaimed mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato at the Deutsche Oper.
September 2010 ‐ Joseph and Clara return to Wigmore Hall for their third evening Wigmore Hall recital, given under the auspices of the Kirckman Concerts Society. They perform early Spanish songs, Ravel's Shéhérazade, Italian songs by Schubert and Rossini's Giovanna D’Arco. Musical Pointers reviews the concert and describes Joseph as an 'expert and sensitive pianist'. Earlier in the month, Joseph gives a recital with soprano Sylvia Schwartz for Music in Country Churches in Suffolk, performs Schumann with Duncan Rock at the National Theatre and gives a recital in the RCM Amaryllis Fleming concert hall with students from the Benjamin Britten International Opera School.
July & August 2010 – Joseph's debut CD, 'Canciones — memories of Spain', with mezzo soprano Clara Mouriz is released on the new Sonimage Classics label. It features songs by Falla, Hallfter, Granados, Turina, Mompou and Montsalvatge. Joseph appears at the Chichester Festivities with Caroline MacPhie before spending much of July as a resident accompanist for the 'Academie européenne de musique' at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. He plays for the classes of accompanist Helmut Deutsch and performs a number of recitals (some of which were broadcast live by Arte) for the Festival. Once home, he performs Purcell and Britten with tenor Nicholas Mulroy for BBC Radio 3's In Tune programme and is interviewed by Sean Rafferty. He gives a recital for the Holt Summer Festival with Julia Sporsén and Ronan Collett of Schumann and Wolf lieder and then travels to Scotland with soprano Janice Watson to give a recital in Yester House of Strauss and Menotti songs.
June 2010 – Joseph wins the Ferdinand Rauter Accompanist's Award at the Richard Tauber held at Wigmore Hall. In the final he accompanied Caroline MacPhie in music by Schubert and Mozart before an esteemed jury. He then joined Marcus Farnsworth for a recital at the Riverhouse Barn in Surrey. They performed popular Schubert songs and Schumann's Kerner Lieder. Catherine Hopper and Joseph returned to give a critically acclaimed programme at Wigmore Hall for the Kirckman Concerts Society. The first half consisted of Goethe settings by Loewe, Schubert and Wolf. After the interval they performed Debussy's Proses Lyriques and songs by Tchaikovsky and Kurt Weill. The review of their concert can be found at: http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2010/Jul-Dec10/hopper2606.htm
May 2010 – Joseph partners Sir Thomas Allen and Geraldine McGreevy in a programme of German, French and English songs and duets at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham. The programme includes works by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Fauré, Gounod, Hahn, Chausson, Duparc, Messager and Bridge. He is invited to accompany Anna Leese at St James’ Piccadilly in a programme of Mozart, Poulenc and Quilter to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Over-Seas League. Both Anna and Joseph are major prizewinner’s of the annual ROSL competition. Later in the month, Joseph performs a programme of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Britten with tenor Toby Spence in Cambridge and plays for students of the RCM in a fundraising evening at the home of Vernon and Hazel Ellis.
April 2010 – Joseph gives a recital with Amanda Roocroft at the Royal Northern College of Music to end their day of Schumann Song. They perform a programme of Fauré, Rachmaninov and Britten in addition to Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben and extracts from Myrten. He also accompanies Duncan Rock in the final of the Kathleen Ferrier Awards at Wigmore Hall. Joseph won the accompanist’s prize in 2007 when it was chaired by Dame Janet Baker. Earlier in the month he gives a recital at the French Embassy and his BBC lunchtime concert from Norwich and Norfolk with Clara Mouriz is broadcast.
April 2010 – Joseph is offered management by internationally renowned artists' agency Askonas Holt and will join their illustrious roster immediately. He will be managed by one of their directors, Sue Spence. For more information, please visit www.askonasholt.co.uk or see the contact page.
March 2010 – Clara and Joseph perform twice at the Norwich and Norfolk Chamber Music Club. The first recital, music by Haydn, Granados and Ravel is recorded for BBC Radio 3 and will be broadcast later in the year. In the second recital they perform more Ravel as well as songs by Hahn and Montsalvatge. Other recordings this month include performances with Alexander Baillie and Sophie Bevan. Joseph also works with Geraldine McGreevy in London, performing Fauré, Debussy and Schubert, and with Caroline MacPhee in Sheffield for Music-in-the-Round. Joseph is also invited to spend July in Aix-en-Provence playing for the Festival as the resident accompanist for Helmut Deutsch’s Lieder classes.
February 2010 – Joseph returns to the Leeds Lieder + Festival, this time with Clara Mouriz, performing a programme of Spanish and French song. In the same week he performs with Tyler Clarke and Madeleine Pierard at the Benjamin Britten Theatre at the RCM, gives a recital of Verlaine and Rimbaud settings with students from the RCM and performs with tenor Robin Tritschler ahead of their recent invitation to give a Wigmore Hall recital in 2011. Joseph also accompanies Duncan Rock in the final of the Royal Over-Seas League competition. Joseph won the accompanist’s prize in 2008 and was thrilled that Duncan won the vocal final this year.
January 2010 – Joseph begins the New Year with a Wigmore Hall recital for the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He accompanies two of his regular duo partners, soprano Julia Sporsén and cellist Ashok Klouda, in music by Beethoven, Dvořák, Peterson-Berger, Berg, Schumann and Wolf. They also give the World Premiere of a trio by Howard Blake. Following the concert, the Worshipful Company of Musicians confers the title of Yeoman upon Joseph. A review for Musical Pointers commented that: ‘Pianist Joseph Middleton was with both his partners in every bar, helping to highlight their performances but never remaining in the background as an apology for a pianist; a fine and intelligent musician… A stunning show.’ Later in the month, Joseph works with soprano Sophie Bevan in Cambridge, performing music by Strauss, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy and English song.
