Amelia Singer writes about why she thinks wine is an art, ahead of her wine tasting event before our concert, The Great English Songbook, on 9 March.
Next week I will be doing a wine tasting in conjunction with the CLS’ Re:Imagine series. I was super excited to be included in this programme as not only do I love wine, the CLS and Southwark Cathedral as a concert venue, I also strongly believe that wine and music complement each other and help create new visions and re imaginations of both art forms.
And yes, I do think it is possible to consider wine as an art form. Both wine and music are experimental, both are creative, both can be extremely technical but ultimately they are meant to be fun and enhance the world around us. There have been experiments which have proven that music can actually influence the way we taste wine, and I hope that next Wednesday evening I can demonstrate how wine can absolutely add new nuances and an extra depth of appreciation to musical pieces that you may already know and love.
The wine-cup is the little silver well,
Where truth, if truth there be, doth dwell.Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Next week’s music programme will be looking at ‘The Great English Song book’. All of the featured music has been written or adapted in the last century. However, the inspiration, lyrics and musical form of these pieces have been mostly based on an enthralling collection of English songs, poems and plays from the 16th century. A particularly apt period of time for this concert due to it being in the midst of the Renaissance, that pivotal era of re-birth, re-vision and re-imagining of Man’s place in the world.
Pairing wines to specific pieces, I hope will add an extra appreciation to this collection of Song. There will be British bubbles to start which will open our minds to the English songs and to the notion of what it means to be ‘English’. This idea will then be further explored by comparing wines from around the world to three of the pieces. The variety of wines will be used to explore the different nuances and influences behind the Songs as well as to explore this idea of ‘Englishness’. Is it something that is innate and untouchable or something that evolves with the time? Is there an ideal we can aspire to or is that just a fanciful idyll? And just as importantly, through these Re:Imagined works and their wine pairing, what new visions, if any, of ‘Englishness’ can transpire and resonate.
We may not come to any conclusions, but wine and music combined will definitely ensure an entertaining, engaging and effusive evening!
Read Amelia’s blog on how music can actually influence the way we taste wine.
Tickets for Amelia’s next Wine Tasting event are just £22 – book now at cls.co.uk
