Programme Note

Somewhere in London
August 2026

Dear all,

Amidst one of the hottest summers the UK has ever had, we have spent many hours sweating somewhere in London (usually at Aigul’s) debating the details of today’s programme. Amidst coffees, glasses of sparkling water and the occasional bottle of wine (poured and consumed completely by accident, of course), we have analysed and wondered about how, after millennia of human experience, the two of us could have anything novel to say about the idea of love.

We spent hours moving pieces around, trying different combinations and debating what exactly we wanted this programme to say. Repertoire centred on the idea of “love” can work in so many different ways, and we realised how reordering and substituting pieces could change our intended meaning completely.

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Love, similarly, is something so dynamic, so evolving, so multidimensional that there is no way to pin down one clear, unchanging and perfect definition of it.

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This was the starting point for this programme: Love without Borders. The title isn’t only a geographical reference, though of course the music on the programme mixes cultures, styles, languages and genres. We wanted to present a programme which explores “love” as widely as possible. Our aim tonight is to show how varied a force like love is in our lives, how our definition of love can evolve over time and how the experience of love is a uniting force amongst humanity.

We could, of course, have given you an evening of perfectly respectable love songs that talk only about meadows and puppy love. We could sing you a hundred songs in which the lover always comes back and the passion is always polite, decent and family-friendly.

We decided against it.

Instead, tonight’s programme unfolds in three chapters.

The first chapter begins in the world of Russian song with Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff and Mily Balakirev. This music features images of beautiful, simple, if not occasionally naïve ideas of love. This is love at its most idealistic: tender, passionate and simple.

Depending upon your experience in life, you may believe that this kind of love exists, or you may not. It may be something you have and cherish, something you found and lost, something you are seeking, something that is not your destiny, or something you feel is a foolish errand. Regardless, this idea of love will impact your life at some point.

The second chapter moves both geographically and emotionally into a different world, through Bizet, Weill, Guastavino, Piazzolla and Elena Roussanova, whose piece ‘Mujer Fatal’ was commissioned by Aigul for her most recent recording.

What happens when love causes more harm than good? How can heartbreak and loss change us as people and alter our own perspective on love? Why do some of us remain in something harmful like a toxic love affair? How and when do we extricate ourselves from a situation like that? And once we recover, can the walls we build to protect ourselves eventually prevent us from letting anyone in again?

After the interval, we return to the idea of love from a fresher and less dramatic perspective with music by Britten, Bernstein and Jonathan Lakeland, whose work ‘The Temple Bell Stops’ is from a larger piece currently being written for mezzo-soprano, orchestra and choir.

The pieces in this set feel as if they come from a place of wisdom and lived experience. They highlight the importance of relishing the good that love brings, while also maintaining the knowledge that love’s joy does not insulate us from pain or heartbreak.

A romantic relationship can bring us immense happiness, but losing it can be devastating. A mother can feel ecstatic joy while holding her baby, while also feeling anxiety for her child’s future. Human beings can create astonishing violence, while nature continues to offer peace and reassurance amidst it all. All of these things can be true at the same time. C.S. Lewis tells us:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irreproachable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

With our love,

Aigul and Jonathan

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Thank you

Special thanks to Armin Zanner, James Alexander, Samantha Malk, Michael Wardell, Peter Smith, Lindsey Eastham and everyone else from Guildhall and the Barbican who made this event possible