Melvyn Tan performs in an evening of ‘Words and Music: A Midsummer Nocturne’ at Charleston, East Sussex.
20th June 2026
The evening brings together readings and works for piano in dialogue with the long summer evening. Featuring texts by Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann, T. S. Eliot and John Clare alongside music by Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin and Franz Schubert, the programme traces shifting light and heightened atmosphere of the longest day of the year.
Music
– Mendelssohn – Nocturne from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
– Chopin – Nocturne
– Schubert – Sonata in G major (D. 894)
Words
– Thomas Mann – from The Magic Mountain
– John Clare – from Summer Images
– TS Eliot – from Four Quartets
– Woolf – from Summer’s Night
– Roger Robinson – A Portable Paradise
– Shakespeare – from A Midsummer Night’s Dream