Rachmaninoff and Medtner by candlelight. Voice and piano

«You are, in my opinion, the greatest composer of our time.» - Sergei Rachmaninoff, writing to Nikolai Medtner

On 20th November 2026, in the candlelit intimacy of Oxford's Holywell Music Room - Europe's oldest purpose-built concert hall - Red Events presents an Oxford premiere: a recital for voice and piano performed by countertenor Gleb Zakharov and prize-winning pianist Elizaveta Velikhova. An intimate evening of love, longing and discovery.

Rachmaninoff can make ecstasy and despair feel inseparable. A melody opens like a confession; a change of harmony turns tenderness into longing. His songs bring the emotional sweep of his famous piano concertos into a more intimate setting, where a few minutes of music can hold the intensity of an entire love story.

Alongside him comes a discovery worth making: Nikolai Medtner, his close friend and a composer he admired without reservation. Medtner's music has a voice entirely its own, full of sensuous harmonies and unexpected turns. He set poetry by Goethe, Pushkin and Lermontov, and made the piano tale, orskazka, a genre distinctly his own. His music invites us into a world of memories, dreams and deeply felt emotions. Even on a first hearing, it can feel strangely familiar.

Medtner's story also leads to England. He settled in London in 1935 and spent his final years in Britain. In 1928, he became an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music - where Gleb Zakharov now studies.

In this recital, Zakharov's distinctive countertenor voice joins pianist Elizaveta Velikhova in a programme of songs and solo piano music. The piano carries its own share of the drama, answering the voice and taking centre stage in the solo works. Expect moments of hushed intimacy alongside music of surging passion, with something to discover whether you know these composers well or are hearing them for the first time.