Allan Clayton, the tenor whose Peter Grimes redefined his career, performed Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin complete at Wigmore Hall on Monday 14 September 2026.
Allan Clayton, the Royal Opera’s Peter Grimes in 2022, sang Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin complete at Wigmore Hall in Marylebone on Monday 14 September 2026. Paul Lewis joined him at the piano.
Clayton was born in 1981 and sang as a chorister at Worcester Cathedral. He won a choral scholarship to St John’s College, Cambridge, then went on to the Royal Academy of Music.
The Royal Philharmonic Society gave him its singer’s award in 2018, and he was appointed MBE in 2021 for services to opera. He won an Olivier Award in 2025 for Festen at the Royal Opera.
Die schöne Müllerin is Schubert’s first song cycle, 20 songs set to Wilhelm Müller in 1823. A young miller follows a brook, falls for a girl who prefers a huntsman, and walks into the water. A tenor and a piano hold the story for over an hour, with no set, costume or other voice.
Clayton and Lewis gave the cycle with no interval. It was the first full song cycle of Wigmore Hall’s new season, six days after the gala that opened it.
Lewis has recorded all three Schubert cycles and the complete Beethoven sonatas.