Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s fifth great-grandson will mark the poet’s 254th birthday with a recital at his Highgate resting place.
Royal Academy of Music bass-baritone Marcus Coleridge (pictured below) and pianist Henry Smith will present The Romantic Imagination: Samuel Taylor Coleridge Through Poetry and Song at St Michael’s Church, Highgate, on Wednesday 21 October 2026.
Audiences will be invited into the literary world of Samuel Taylor Coleridge through a one-hour recital of English song and poetry at St Michael’s Church, Highgate, where the poet is buried.
The concert brings together music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter, Arthur Somervell, John Ireland, Gerald Finzi and Robin Milford with readings from Coleridge’s own poetry.
The recital is both a musical exploration of Coleridge’s literary legacy and a personal return to a place long connected with Marcus’s family.
The idea grew out of a family visit to St Michael’s. Marcus had visited the church and Coleridge’s resting place since infancy; a family photograph records him there as a baby with his father.
On a more recent visit to see Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s coffin in the church crypt, Marcus noticed that St Michael’s also ran a regular concert series. Having wanted for some time to create an English-song recital in honour of his ancestor, he realised that Coleridge’s own resting place offered an unusually meaningful setting in which to do it.
“I had wanted for some time to create an English-song recital in honour of Coleridge, but I hadn’t quite found the right way to do it. On a family visit to see his coffin in the crypt at St Michael’s, I noticed the church ran a concert series and the idea suddenly became real. Emma sent me a few possible dates and I chose 21 October. It was only afterwards that my grandmother reminded me that it was Coleridge’s birthday. The coincidence completed a project that had begun almost by accident.” said Marcus.
Church administrator Emma Janka subsequently sent Marcus several possible dates. He chose 21 October without recognising its significance.
Only afterwards did his grandmother point out that 21 October was Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s birthday. Born on 21 October 1772, the poet would have been 254 on the day of the recital!
The concert takes place at 12.30pm. Entry is free. The recital lasts approximately one hour.