Your events at Classical Events
Details
City Lit - Recital Room
1-10 Keeley Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2B 4BA
England
Tickets
Prices: £10 / £15 / £20 pay what you can
Book Tickets
Programme
Roger Quilter – Love’s Philosophy, Op.3 no.1
Peter Warlock – Captain Stratton’s Fancy
E. B. Bacon – My river runs to thee (Text: Emily Dickinson)
Ethel Smyth – The March of the Women
Frank Bridge – Thy hand in mine
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Songs of Travel: 'Youth and Love'
Douglas Lilburn – Elegy: no.4 Reverie
Johannes Brahms – Unbewegte laue Luft, Op.57 no.8
Ivor Gurney – In Flanders
Andrew Baldwin – Dawn, May 11 1915
Emily Hazrati – The Sick Rose
Clara Schumann – Die gute Nacht die ich dir sage
Robert Schumann – Romanzen und Balladen: Selections
Hugo Wolf – Italienisches Liederbuch: Selection
George Butterworth – Songs from A Shropshire Lad
Franz Schubert – Die Schöne Müllerin, D.795: Selection
Gerald Finzi – Before And After Summer: Selection
Performers
Kieran Rayner – baritone
Gamal Khamis – piano
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
*NB – the songs listed as part of the programme are all prepared to be part of the show, but each performance features only a selection of them, dictated by what story decisions the audience makes.
The Bloomsbury Festival presents:
What If? – Choose-your-own-adventure meets classical song
3:30 & 6pm, Sunday 18 October, City Lit Recital Hall, Holborn, London. Running time: 60 minutes.
England, 1914. Young bookseller Max and his best friend Sam have both fallen for Lily, a suffragette. As World War I unfolds, will Max follow patriotic Sam and enlist, or stay and campaign for social reform with Lily? Be it in cruel trenches or impoverished streets, turmoil is inevitable. Navigating war, politics, love, and brotherhood, Max must choose between desire and loyalty, between his duty and principles. What will he do? That’s where you come in…
Kieran Rayner’s moving and entertaining story combines live classical music with a branching narrative where the audience votes on what happens, shaping the plot and musical programme. Featuring songs by Finzi, Butterworth, Schubert, Robert & Clara Schumann, Ethel Smyth and more*, What If? is an unforgettable evening of choose-your-own-adventure with song at its soul. What path will our river take to the sea?
“A story told well with fun characterisation and lots of genuine humour… genuinely affecting … a feast of joys” – Everything Theatre
View full trailer: https://youtu.be/aFWITA-S1KM?si=9dNXzmmG3Z4J9K1c
Set in 1914, What If? features multiple characters acted and sung by baritone Kieran Rayner, with piano and musical direction by Gamal Khamis. This story explores love, loss, friendship, war, social justice and the women’s suffrage movement, all while giving the audience agency over the direction of the narrative.
Whichever paths are picked, a fulfilling and uplifting experience is guaranteed: an entertaining script connecting a rich selection of German and English songs, including Schubert, Robert and Clara Schumann, Ethel Smyth, Butterworth, and Finzi, alongside contemporary composers.
What If? has grown out of Gamal and Kieran’s partnership as an established song duo, Kieran’s experience as a writer, opera singer and actor, and Gamal’s work on recording projects which combine song and narrative. Together, they are creating a new way for audiences to experience the dramatic power of song. They developed the show with the support of Samling Institute for Young Artists and the Hugo Burge Foundation – it was selected for a highly-contested ‘Samling and Song’ residency, which was invaluable to the show’s creation.
Backed by expertise from directors Guido Martin-Brandis (Royal Over-Seas League premiere, 2024), and Edwina Strobl (Jermyn Street Theatre performance, West End, 2025), What If? is now launching its third run, this time at the Bloomsbury Festival. This show promises a new art song experience: an exciting combination of traditional song recital and interactive storytelling.
Kieran Rayner is a London-based New Zealand operatic baritone and Royal College of Music graduate. Career highlights include principal roles with The Royal Ballet & Opera Covent Garden, Garsington Opera, Longborough Festival Opera, English Touring Opera, IF Opera, Waterperry Opera Festival, NAFA Singapore & New Zealand Opera. Winner of SING FINZI 2022, International Handel Competition finalist, Wigmore Hall International Song Competition semifinalist & Royal Overseas League prizewinner. As a writer-performer, he opened his second choose-your-own-adventure song show What If? in the West End in 2025, and repeats it at the Bloomsbury Festival 2026. He has sung solo at Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, and across Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Islands.
Gamal Khamis first performed at the Wigmore Hall at the age of ten, and he has since appeared at Carnegie Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Glasshouse Centre, as well as all over Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Described by The Times as a pianist with "formidable keyboard skills", he has won major prizes at the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition and the Ferrier Awards and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 3 In Tune. Recent engagements have included conducting Verdi’s opera “Un Ballo in Maschera” in Sheffield, as well as performing concertos by Rachmaninov, Schumann and Grieg with orchestras across the UK. Gamal is a Samling Artist and a member of the award-winning Lipatti Piano Quartet. Gamal works at the Royal College of Music as a vocal repertoire coach and chamber music coach, and he also teaches piano at London College of Music.
The Bloomsbury Festival is a creative explosion of arts, culture and science. For the whole month of October, the streets, parks, museums, galleries, laboratories and public and private buildings of this vibrant cultural quarter play host up to 130 events which attract a significant audience from across London and beyond. The Festival works with many large and small partners to create and deliver its annual programme. More than simply a showcase for the area, Bloomsbury Festival acts as a catalyst bringing together artists and academics, scientists and dancers, musicians, publishers and school pupils to make new projects and to inspire and learn from each other.
