You might not be familiar with the name or music of Erwin Schulhoff, however, in recent years his compositions have been revisited and rightly celebrated. He was a Czech composer and pianist who began writing music in between the First and Second World Wars and went on to study with the composer’s Max Reger and Claude Debussy. His works are deeply connected to the political and cultural upheavals he and many others experienced at that time and his work moved away from the traditional musical influences of the classical world into the neoclassicism of Stravinsky and Hindemith and the atonality of Schoenberg and Alban Berg. However, his Suite for Chamber Orchestra is very accessible and draws on his enthusiasm for jazz and ragtime and even the world of Dadaism. 

The second half of tonight’s programme honours two huge personalities and their unique talents: Enrico Caruso and Mario Lanza. In 1921 the world’s greatest tenor, Enrico Caruso, died at the age of only 48. That same year Mario Lanza, who was to sing the title role in the film The Great Caruso, was born. He too died tragically young. But these two great singers left an amazing legacy of recordings. Caruso was the first singer to sell a million copies of an operatic aria and Lanza sold one million copies of Be My Love, having taught himself to sing by listening to his Father’s collection of Caruso records.

Caruso was the first singing superstar, famous all over the globe, his every move reported by the newspapers, his death mourned by millions. Lanza was pursued by both the press and his fans, his matinee-idol looks combined with natural charisma making him a huge film star. And both of them sang from the heart with emotions that touched every listener’s soul. 

This programme will feature a selection of the songs and arias that they both brought to a world-wide audience, interspersed with stories about their extraordinary lives and the music they created. 

Mark Milhofer has sung his entire life, from winning local singing competitions at the age of seven to performing in the world’s greatest theatres. It may be a cliché to say that he was inspired to become an opera singer by the films of Mario Lanza but, as it was for the Three Tenors, it introduced him to a magical world of amazing music, with all the glamour and hardship that goes with it. And this led to his discovery of the great Enrico Caruso himself, a life, like Lanza’s, filled with riches and tragedy. It has been his long-held dream to be able to honour these two singers and share his love and passion for their artistry with you.