Episode 11
OF THE
of The Voice Detective Show

Ensemble Creatus is Artist in Residence at the Victorian Artists Society in Melbourne, Australia in 2025. Their offering is named Seasons of Song, each concert being integral to the season during the year in which it is performed. The first of these concerts took place on the 9 February and coincided with the Victorian Artists Society’s Summer Exhibition. The Summer of course, being in the Southern Hemisphere. This concert is what the Voice Detective experienced, and excerpts form part of the Vodcast, by kind permission of Ensemble Creatus.

The concert series showcases the work of British composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams whose art songs are filled with rich harmonics and an impressive narrative gift. The intention is highlighted in the concert title, ‘When Art meets the Art of the English Song’ It is particularly appropriate that the concert took place in an historic setting with direct links to Dame Nellie Melba who taught singing in this building and the her contemporaries, the Australian painters who initiated a distinct movement in Australian art and who founded the Victorian Artists Society. The Ensemble Creatus team consists of contralto, Liane Keegan, accompanist and co-founder of the Ensemble Toni Lalich OAM, mezzo-soprano Juel Riggall, and sopranos Bethan Ellsmore and Naomi Summers.

The interview is with, Liane, a true contralto, has performed across the world in many of the leading opera houses. She is a specialist in Wagner and Verdi roles, as well as the concert and oratorio repertoire for contralto.

The programme presented was as follows:

Three Vocalises (1958) (wordless)

1. Prelude – Juel Riggall
2. Scherzo – Bethan Ellsmore
3. Quasi Menuetto – Naomi Summers

How can a tree but wither (1896) – Bethan Ellsmore

Poem by Thomas, Lord Vaux (1509- 1556)

Three songs from Shakespeare (1925) – Naomi Summers

Poems by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

1. Take, O Take
2. When Icicles Hang by the Wall
3. Orpheus with his Lute

To Daffodils (1895) – Bethan Ellsmore

Poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Excerpts from Seven Songs from The Pilgrims Progress (pre-1951)

No 1. Watchful’s Song – Liane Keegan

No. 4 – The Song of the Leaves of Life & the Water of Life – Bethan & Juel

No. 5 – The Song of Vanity Fair – Naomi Sumers

No. 6 – The Woodcutter’s Song – Juel Riggall

No. 7 – The Bird’s Song – Juel Riggall
 Text from The King James Bible [1, 4, 7], John Bunyan
(1628-1688) [6] and Ursula Vaughan Williams (1911 – 2007) [5]

Five Mystical Songs (1906-11) – Liane Keegan

Poems by George Herbert 1593-1633

1. Easter
2. I got me Flowers
3. Love bade me welcome
4. The Call
5. Antiphon