Benjamin Appl loves Schubert. “For singers as well as for the audience, the wonderful thing about Schubert is that his music is so transparent and sincere. So direct,” he remarks. “Schubert never wrote a note that didn’t have its justification.” The Süddeutsche Zeitung affirms that the young singer with the bright baritone timbre “is one of the last grand old masters of vocal art.” Appl has an “almost boundless range of tone colors” at his disposal. Along with legendary British pianist Graham Johnson, he will be traversing the bleak, epic stretches of Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise at this year’s Festival. For the journey, Johnson provides his immense experience as a vocal accompanist; he was already honored with the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize in 2001 for his lifetime achievement. Indeed, this year, Johnson will be giving his 52nd performance at the Festival. Among other remarkable feats, he has recorded Schubert’s complete songs on CD. He teaches as Senior Professor at the London Guildhall School of Music, where Benjamin Appl is one of his colleagues as Professor of German Song.