“Rare beauty”: expect the unexpected as Olivia Chaney meets Henry Purcell for a late-night gig.

Olivia Chaney’s deep connection to the music of Henry Purcell runs throughout her life. During a Britten Pears Arts Residency in 2025, Chaney explored the astonishing versatility and vibrancy of Purcell’s songs, travelling afterwards to record her new album in New York. She’s now back at Snape to perform songs from her album alongside a star-studded chamber ensemble.

Purcell was a pre-Enlightenment composer who approached music like a magpie, gathering diverse ideas and influences and freely reworking them. At times, his work feels more akin to folk or jazz than anything classical. Drawing from her own experience as a composer of original works and an arranger of folksongs, this concert will showcase Chaney’s deeply personal approach to Purcell, uncovering a new, more accessible side to this much-loved Baroque composer. As a review in The Times put it,  “A version of Purcell’s O Solitude shows how easily the British singer-songwriter flits between past and present. If there’s a hint of Joni Mitchell, Chaney establishes her own voice from the outset ... Rare beauty”.

Find out more about Olivia Chaney’s residency at Snape Maltings.

Download programme notes.

Olivia Chaney vocals, keyboards, guitar
Owen Spafford violin
Chris Vatalaro drums, synths