The Book of Lieder

Richard Stokes has published books on German, French and Spanish song, and his singing translations of Berg's Wozzeck and Lulu, and Wagner's Parsifal have met with critical acclaim. He collaborated with Alfred Brendel on his volume of poems, One Finger Too Many (Faber) and, more recently, The Veil of Order (Faber). Ian Bostridge is universally recognised as one of the greatest Lieder interpreters of today. He has made numerous award-winning recordings of opera and song, and gives recitals regularly throughout Europe, North America and the Far East to outstanding critical acclaim. On stage, he was the original Caliban in Thomas Ades's The Tempest, and he played Gustav von Aschenbach in the landmark 2007 production of Death in Venice directed by Deborah Warner. In 1999 he gave the premiere of Hans Werner Henze's song cycle, Sechs Gesange aus dem Arabischen, which was specially written for him, and which was subsequently recorded. He read Modern History at Oxford and received a D.Phil in 1990 on the significance of witchcraft in English public life from 1650 to 1750. His book Witchcraft and its Transformations 1650 to 1750 was published in 1997. A regular contributor to the Guardian and the TLS, he is married to the writer and critic Lucasta Miller. They live in London with their two children.