BBC Proms: Rarely has large-scale Handel felt so vital & involving. Peter Whelan & the Irish Baroque Orchestra in the Dublin version of Alexander's Feast

Handel: Alexander's Feast - Hilary Cronin, Stuart Jackson, Peter Whelan, Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus - BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

Handel: Alexander's Feast (1742 version, modern premiere), Concerti a due cori; Hilary Cronin, Hugh Cutting, Stuart Jackson, Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus, Peter Whelan; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 30 August 2025

This was unashamedly Big Baroque with the Dublin version of Alexander's Feast where Peter Whelan drew a remarkably communicative and urgent performance from all his players.

Handel's Alexander's Feast tends to be something of an unsung gem amongst his oratorios, perhaps Dryden's text is somewhat too poetically diffuse for modern audiences to take to their heart but in the work Handel displays his masterly grasp of creating large scale structures by interweaving chorus, recitative and aria into something more. He wrote the work in 1736 as a result of a sustained campaign by his friends to get the composer setting some great English poets, a campaign that would lead to Handel's other Dryden and Milton settings.

Until this year, the work had only been performed twice at the BBC Proms, in 1964 and in 2006 (this latter performance in Mozart's re-orchestration). On Saturday 30 August for their first appearance at the BBC Proms (and only the second appearance ever of an ensemble from the Republic of Ireland), Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra chose to perform Handel's 1742 Dublin version of Alexander's Feast along with a selection of his Concerti a due cori. The orchestra was joined by the Irish Baroque Chorus and soloists soprano Hilary Cronin, alto Hugh Cutting and tenor Stuart Jackson.

When Handel visited Dublin in 1741 and 1742 he gave two subscription series which would include the premiere of Messiah and a serenata version of his last opera, Imeneo. He also planned on performing Alexander's Feast but a decree from the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Jonathan Swift, meant that Handel could no longer use the singing men from the cathedral. This meant that Alexander's Feast had to be adjusted. The result is structurally different from the 1736 version, with a third part, using text by Irish writer Newburgh Hamilton who had arranged Dryden's original, and solos rewritten for soprano Christina Avolio, alto Susannah Cibber (who was in Dublin avoiding a sex scandal in London and who made a big impression in the alto solos in Messiah) and tenor Callaghan McCarty who was a Dublin-based theatre singer.

Handel: Alexander's Feast - Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus - BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

As Peter Whelan explained to me when we chatted in July [see my interview, Spurred by the story-telling], he designed the performance partly for the Royal Albert Hall and this was certainly Big Baroque. We had a chorus of 40, and orchestra with 30 strings, four oboes, three bassoons and four horns. These latter looked and sounded pretty spectacular with their miles of tubing and highly characterful timbre. The continuo line-up included two harpsichords (one played by Whelan), two theorbos and organ.

Up close & personal: a pacey & vivid account of Mozart's Don Giovanni from Ensemble OrQuesta at the Grimeborn Festival

Mozart: Don Giovanni - Ensemble OrQuesta at Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre
(Photo: Julian Guidera)

Mozart: Don Giovanni; Marcio da Silva, Flavio Lauria, Helen May, Rosemary Carlton-Willis, Anna-Luise Wagner, John Twitchen, director: Marcio da Silva, Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra Ensemble, conductor: Andreas Levisianos, Ensemble OrQuesta; Grimeborn Festival at the Arcola Theatre
Reviewed 29 August 2025

A compact chamber version of the opera, notable for its pacey drama and vividly vigorous individual performances

One week, two festivals, two Mozart operas in two very different venues. Following on from Glyndebourne's performance of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms [see my review], we caught Mozart's Don  Giovanni performed by Ensemble OrQuesta at the Arcola Theatre as part of the Grimeborn Festival where Ensemble OrQuesta has performed annually for the last six years.

On Friday 29 August 2025 we caught Mozart's Don Giovanni in the Arcola Theatre's large studio. The company originally performed Don Giovanni in 2017 and Marcio da Silva's production was revived and revised earlier this year at the the Cockpit. Ensemble OrQuesta's artistic director and founder Marcio da Silva both directed the show and performed the title role, with Flavio Lauria as Leporello, Helen May as Donna Elvira, Rosemary Carlton-Willis as Donna Anna, Anna-Luise Wagner as Zerlina, John Twitchen as Don Ottavio, Jay Rockwell as Masetto and Vedat Dalgiran as the Commendatore. Andreas Levisianos conducted an instrumental ensemble of eight drawn from the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra (of which Marcio da Silva is founder and artistic director). Costumes were by Gil Jenks and puppets by Orlando Bishop.

Ensemble OrQuesta functions very much as a repertory company and all of the cast had performed a number of other roles with the company including last year's Le nozze di Figaro [see my review] and Handel's Alcina in 2022 [see my review]. The company's founder and artistic director Marcio da Silva is something of a Renaissance man, encompassing directing shows, conducting as well as singing. For this run of performances, having directed the show da Silva was alternating singing and conducting this meant that this evening's conductor, Andreas Levisianos, though he had worked with the company before, was only conducting this one performance which was not ideal.

The instrumental ensemble (string quartet, double bass, flute, clarinet and bassoon) took a little time to settle down. Andreas Levisianos's speeds in the overture were brisk and there were moments when we missed the sheer weight of a full orchestra, even though the players were admirably incisive. Levisianos also accompanied the recitatives on piano.

The version of the opera used was trimmed so that it lasted 160 minutes (including interval). We had the basic Prague version so no 'Mi tradi' for Donna Elvira, but more than that Don Ottavio got neither of his arias and Zerlina's 'Batti, batti' was omitted too. The ending did not hang around either and we ended with the Don's descent to Hell (cue red glow). The aim was to create a compact version of the drama which matched the intensity and pace of the performance. 

Mozart: Don Giovanni - Ensemble OrQuesta at Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre (Photo: Julian Guidera)

The Glyndebourne Prom: Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with a young cast on superb form

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - Huw Montague Rendall, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - Glyndebourne at the BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro: Tommaso Barea, Johann Wallroth, Huw Montague Rendall, Louise Alder, Adèle Charvet, director: Mariame Clément/Talia Stern, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conductor: Riccardo Minasi, Glyndebourne Festival Opera; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 27 August 2025

An economical staging mixed comedy, tragedy and politics that allowed a cast mixing youth and experience to create one of the most satisfying performances of the opera I have seen in a long time

Mariame Clément's production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro debuted this summer at Glyndebourne and following a successful two month run, the performers came to rest at the Royal Albert Hall for the Glyndebourne Festival's annual visit to the BBC Proms. On 27 August 2025, Riccardo Minasi conducted the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment with the Glyndebourne Chorus. Tommaso Barea was Figaro, Johanna Wallroth was Susanna, Huw Montague Rendall was the Count, Louise Alder was the Countess, Alessandro Corbelli was Bartolo, Madeleine Shaw was Marcellina, and Adèle Charvet was Cherubino. The semi-staging was directed by Talia Stern based on Mariame Clément's production at Glyndebourne.

The Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment was pressed towards the rear of the stage, making extensive use of the risers which created a substantial acting area, though as is usual with these Glyndebourne Proms, there was little opportunity for eye contact between conductor Riccardo Minasi and his cast.

The set, such as it was, consisted of two doors which were made extensive use of, plus sundry elements of set dressing moved around by stage crew - chairs, tables, a screen for the Countess to change behind in Act Two and the bath for the Count in Act Three.

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - Louise Alder, Pippa Barton - Glyndebourne at the BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou/ BBC)

Clément's production used a traditional, 18th century setting which meant that costumes (designer Julia Hansen) and action all gave a clear presentation of the hierarchy in the palace. Unlike the festival's previous 1960s-set production directed by Michael Grandage, the notion of droit de Seigneur was a clear and present danger here, forming a strong political thread throughout the action. Stern's boiling down of the original production used the limited resources (two doors, a chair, a sheet, a screen) to maximum effect so that the farcical elements were wittily done without too much suspension of disbelief.

Sing for Pleasure, the UK’s leading provider of choral conductor training, launches its newly updated Choral Conductor Training Programme

Sing for Pleasure training in action (Photo: Simon King)

This month, Sing for Pleasure, the UK’s leading provider of choral conductor training, launched its newly updated Choral Conductor Training Programme. The Programme, is an expansion and development on existing courses and builds on 60 years of expertise in the field.

The new programme starts with an Essentials module and then there are four levels - Consolidating, Developing, Enriching and Extending. The programme is built around four key aspects of learning:

• Preparation & Planning – the work done before rehearsal
• Teaching – how to run effective rehearsals and teach music
• Gesture – conducting techniques for both rehearsal and performance
• Leadership – developing the skills to inspire and guide singers

Courses are offered in flexible formats, including weekend workshops, four-day programmes, and the annual Summer School. The new training programme is led by expert tutors who are professional musicians with real-world experience from across the UK.

Sing for Pleasure was founded in 1964, and was inspired by the international French-based organisation A Coeur Joie. The organisation aims to encourage people of all ages to enjoy singing. It is the largest provider of choral conductor training in the UK and prides itself on delivering programmes and events that develop choral and musicianship skills. 

Full details from the Sing for Pleasure website.

East meets West: music for strings and tabla from Dionysius Ensemble as part of Slough Cultural Revival

Slough Cultural Revival is a project led by Slough Arts Forum, a collective of over 50 arts organisations, and supported by Arts Council England, intended to ‘revive’ the town as a centre for creativity and innovation, and act as a powerful catalyst for a vibrant cultural future for the town.

As part of this, the Dionysius Ensemble is presenting a cross cultural music event in Slough. East meets West at St Mary's Church, Slough, SL1 1PJ on 28 September 2025 will feature music for strings and tabla, with music by Mozart and Schubert alongside Bollywood and new works for string quartet and tabla.

The Dionysius Ensemble is the ensemble in residence at St Mary's Church, and they have been exploring the music of former Slough resident William Herschel, music and astronomer, issuing a disc of his trio sonatas as part of the 2022 bicentenary celebrations.

Further details of the ensemble's East meets West concert from TryBooking website.

Time to get blowing: Brassworks, Woolwich Works' celebration of all things brass

Brassworks at Woolwich Works

Brassworks, Woolwich Works' celebrations of all things brass returns to the multi-disciplinary cultural hub on the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich on Saturday 6 September 2025 with a parade through Woolwich, and a full day of free outdoor concerts in the courtyard.

The day kicks off with a parade through Woolwich towards Dial Arch and through the Royal Arsenal, winding its way to Woolwich Works. There, the Courtyard Stage will feature a whole variety of brass in free performances until 9.30pm. There is Crystal Palace Band, founded in 1901 and one of the few traditional Brass Bands remaining in London. In complete contrast is Bollywood Brass, the UK’s pioneering Indian-style wedding band, playing the great tunes and compulsively danceable rhythms of Bollywood.

Brassworks is hoping to reconnect people with forgotten brass instruments. They want to connect a community of players, who are looking to gain some brass skills, as well as have a hoot. So for Blow and Blast, during the afternoon there is a rehearsal workshop, and then the group will then have the opportunity to perform on the Brassworks stage led by Byron Wallen with members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Then Brassic Parp, whose members describe themselves as "Blurting out DJ style pop mashups with horns and a drum kit… all just so we can dress up as characters from Jurassic Park", and finally brass of a different style again with London Afrobeat Collective.

It is a a dog friendly venue and courtyard music is free of charge, with family games, a bar selling alcohol and soft drinks, an ice cream bike, a giant deckchair and a stretch tent to shade you from the sun.

Full details from Woolwich Works' website.

Rooted in Liverpool’s music ecosystem: Mark Simpson returns home as Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's 25/26 Artist in Residence

Mark Simpson (Photo: Matthew Johnson)

Composer and clarinettist Mark Simpson has been announced as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s (RLPO) new Artist in Residence for the 25/26 season. Simpson’s residency is launched with the UK premiere of his viola concerto, Hold Your Heart in Your Teeth, with the RLPO conducted by principal guest conductor Andrew Manze and featuring viola player Timothy Ridout. The 30-minute work is a musical response to a Romanian proverb encouraging you to ‘face your fears head on and move forward with courage’. (Soloist Timothy Ridout gave the world premiere last December at the Philharmonie). The concert will also feature a rarely heard version of Pictures at an Exhibition by Sir Henry Wood, featuring every one of the RLPO's famous church bells collection.

Further ahead, in January 2026 Simpson leads RLPO musicians as clarinettist in a programme pairing his own Geysir with Mozart’s Gran Partita. Then in March 2026, the RLPO, vocal ensemble EXAUDI and baritone Mark Stone perform Simpson’s oratorio The Immortal, conducted by Daniela Candillara. In this large-scale score for baritone, small chorus and orchestra, Melanie Challenger’s text explores paranormal events in the late Victorian era when mediums in different countries began writing down the same messages from a deceased psychical researcher who was harbouring a dark secret.

In April 2026, Simpson appears as soloist in John Adams’s clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons with the RLPO’s contemporary music group Ensemble 10:10, conducted by George Jackson in a concert that also includes the UK premiere of Josephine Stephenson’s In Time Like Air. Finally, Simpson's season with RLPO concludes with a recital with pianist Ian Buckle in which they play Simpson's Lov(escape) and Echoes and Embers. Simpson describes how, “at this relaxed evening with me in the Music Room, I’ll be talking about growing up in Liverpool and how vital it was for my musical development and performing the music by my former composition teachers that brought me along the way”.

Simpson’s story is rooted in Liverpool’s music ecosystem and reflects both the city’s rich classical music infrastructure and the importance of access for young people. Born in Liverpool, Simpson began his musical journey in the Merseyside (now Liverpool Philharmonic) Youth Orchestra, which led him to the National Youth Orchestra. In 2006, at just 17, he became the first-ever winner of both BBC Young Musician of the Year and BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year. 

His own formative experiences, from council-funded music tuition to Saturday morning ensembles, mirror the ambitions of the Orchestra’s In Harmony programme, which continues to transform the lives of children across Liverpool through music. This season also marks the 75th anniversary of the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the very ensemble where Mark Simpson began his journey, and highlights Liverpool Philharmonic’s leading role as a champion of new music. The RLPO is one of the UK’s most active commissioners and performers of contemporary work, having premiered more than 300 new pieces in the last 20 years, and continues that commitment in the 2025/26 season.

Full details of the RLPO's new season from their website, and further details of Simpson's residency from his publisher's website.

25 years of the special natural setting of Exmoor & Dartmoor: the Two Moors Festival celebrates

South Molton Church

This October the Two Moors Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary with events encompassing Exmoor (1-5 October 2025) and Dartmoor (8-12 October 2025). Since 2001, the Two Moors Festival has evolved into one of the most distinctive classical music festivals in the UK. It usually welcomes over 4,000 people to its rural venues. The Festival also nurtures young artists through its Young Musicians’ Competition and assists performers through its residency programmes. This year’s line-up represents the best of chamber music and song, spanning six centuries of musical tradition, as well as talks, discussion and workshops. 

Last year, I chatted to artist director, violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen about the festival, see our interview. This year she opens things with solo and duo works by Bach performed with cellist Guy Johnston, and then Waley-Cohen and friends perform Schubert's Trout Quintet.  Waley-Cohen also joins Colin Currie and the United Strings of Europe for a concert including music by Tchaikovsky, Jessie Montgomery, Caroline Shaw and a new piece by Erkii-Sven Tuur for violin, percussion and string orchestra. Colin Currie and his quartet will also be giving a relaxed concert including music by Steve Reich and Anna Meredith

Tamsin Waley-Cohen performing at the Two Moors Festival in 2022

Vocal ensemble Apollo5 give an eclectic recital as well as presenting an all-ages singing workshop. Other events include a recital of English song by soprano Elizabeth Watts and pianist Julius Drake, the duo Intesa (Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgietti) in music for viol and voice, singers from the National Opera Studio in recital, tenor Nick Pritchard joins pianists James Baillieu and Cordelia Williams for a Schubertiade,  pianist Tianxu An makes a rare UK appearance with a recital of Liszt, Chopin and Rachmaninoff and the festival draws to a close with the Chiaroscuro Quartet in late Beethoven.

Full details from the festival website.

A milestone: Steel City Choristers' first international tour to Berlin and Leipzig

Steel City Choristers performing at Berlin Cathedral

Earlier this month, Steel City Choristers went on its first international tour - a week-long trip singing in Berlin and Leipzig. The choir of 24 children and 15 adult singers, based at St Mark’s Broomhill in Sheffield, was formed following the unexpected disbanding of Sheffield Cathedral Choir in 2020, with the aim of keeping choral music alive in the city.

Members of the cathedral-style choir sang a diverse range of works for hundreds of people in six performances at Berlin Cathedral and other Berlin churches as well as at St Thomaskirche, Leipzig. They entertained crowds along the way, staging pop-up performances of The Bear Necessities outside the bear cage at Berlin Zoo and on buses and trains. They also sang Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra for fellow passengers on their flights back from Berlin.

The choir's trip to Berlin was organised through contacts made in language exchanges undertaken by the choir’s young members. The same members were also able to introduce their Berlin concerts in German.

Kate Caroe, Chair of Trustees at the charity, commented: "We sang works by German, Austrian and English composers, such as Abendfeier in Venedig by Clara Schumann, Nachtlied by Max Reger and several pieces by Anton Bruckner, as well as by Hubert Parry and Edward Bairstow."

"A really important lesson for our children to learn is that music can bring people together, even across language barriers and different cultures. The trip was also about having a lot of fun with our singing: working hard as a team, getting to know each other and drawing the children on in their love of singing that we all share.” 

The livestream of Sunday morning Eucharist from Berlin Cathedral with the Steel City Choristers is available on YouTube.

Steel City Boys

Despite much generous support from trusts, foundations and individuals, the choir had to subsidise the trip from its core funds. A fundraising campaign called Here to Stay to mark the choir’s fifth anniversary is planned for later this year. The choir will be performing their music from the tour at a fundraising concert on 20 September at St Mary’s Church, Ecclesfield, at 7pm. No need to book tickets, donations will be gratefully received on the door. 

Full details from the Steel City Chorister' website. 

 

Ravishing delight: Rebecca Meltzer tells the story of Handel's Semele with engaging clarity at Waterperry Opera with Hilary Cronin & Michael Lafferty

Handel: Semele - Hilary Cronin & ensemble - Waterperry Opera Festival (Photo: Jennifer Hawthorn)

Handel: Semele; Hilary Cronin, Michael Lafferty, Sophie Goldrrick, Nathan Mercieca, Sarah Winn, director: Rebecca Meltzer, conductor: Bertie Baigent, Waterperry Opera Festival; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 23 August 2025

A small-scale production with a big heart. Director Rebecca Meltzer tells the story with engaging clarity and benefits from Hilary Cronin charming and delighting in the title role

Having finished its summer performances in Oxfordshire, Waterperry Opera Festival made two guest appearances at Opera Holland Park bringing their new production of Handel's Semele. We caught the second, on 22 August 2025. The director was Rebecca Meltzer and conductor was Bertie Baigent with Hilary Cronin as Semele, Michael Lafferty as Jupiter, Sophie Goldrick as Juno, Nathan Mercieca as Athamas, Sarah Winn as Ino, Phil Wilcox as Cadmus, Louse Fuller as Iris, James Micklethwaite as Apollo and Masimba Ushe as Somnus and the High Priest. Designs were by Jennifer Gregory, lighting by Catja Hamilton and movement by Alexandria McCauley.

Meltzer's production took advantage of the full extent of the Opera Holland Park stage even adding a walkway across the middle of the pit. Most of the action was on the forestage with the main stage used for emphasis. Jennifer Gregory's designs were contemporary, the mortals dressed in shades of black, white and grey with clothes that might have come from Cos, whilst the immortals were in vivid colour with paint on their skin and graffiti-esque clothes.

Handel: Semele - Michael Lafferty, Hilary Cronin - Waterperry Opera Festival (Photo: Jennifer Hawthorn)

It was a tight and small cast, with many of the smaller roles being doubled with the chorus, but quick changes and clear delineation of costumes meant that there was never any confusion, and the choruses filled the space admirably. Bertie Baigent directed a small-ish band from the harpsichord, but even with a second harpsichord in the ensemble the instrument sounded undernourished and the cello was the main driver in the recitatives.

BBC Proms: A performance to treasure as Fabio Luisi & the Danish National Symphony Orchestra celebrate their centenary with Beethoven, Bent Sørensen & Anna Clyne

Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi - BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall (Photo: BBC/Chris Christodoulou)

Bent Sørensen: Evening Land, Anna Clyne: The Years, Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, ‘Choral’; Clara Cecilie Thomsen, Jasmin White, Issachah Savage, Adam Pałka, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Concert Choir, Fabio Luisi; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall

Beethoven's choral symphony in a performance full of vivid energy and intense detail yet never straining for a sense of scale. The orchestra's principal conductor brought discipline and imagine to an oft repeated work.

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (DR Symfoniorkestret) is celebrating its centenary. It was created in 1925 as part of the founding of DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation), partly in emulation of the BBC where the predecessor to the BBC Philharmonic had been created in 1922. As part of the celebrations the orchestra and its chief conductor, Fabio Luisi paid a visit to the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday 21 August 2025 along with the Danish National Concert Choir (DR Koncertkoret) and soloists Clara Cecilie Thomsen, Jasmin White, Issachah Savage and Adam Pałka to perform Bent Sørensen's Evening Land, Anna Clyne's The Years and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, ‘Choral’.

We began with Evening Land by Danish composer Bent Sørensen who has a long relationship with the orchestra. This was only the third of Sørensen's pieces to be performed at the Proms and one of those previous performances was given by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra on a previous visit in 2008. Evening Land was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic in 2017, the piece now features regularly in Danish National Symphony Orchestra programmes. It is inspired by an image Sørensen had from his childhood on the island of Zealand in Denmark which he recalled whilst in New York so that "the vision of quiet – mixed with the new vision of flashes of light and bustling activity".

Clara Cecilie Thomsen, Jasmin White, Issachah Savage, Adam Pałka - BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall (Photo: BBC/Chris Christodoulou)

A final goodbye to this year's Salzburg Festival

Theatre-goers leaving the Haus für Mozart with Festung Hohensalzburg in the background.

 A final goodbye to this year's Salzburg Festival, I had an amazing five days, taking in three operas and two concerts, including hearing both Riccardo Muti and Daniel Barenboim in action, as well as Dmitri Tcherniakov's first Baroque opera production, an abstract kinetic staging of a bel canto masterpiece and a reworking of an unfinished Mozart opera.

• The performers invested so much in the music that we were carried away: Raphaël Pichon & Pygmalion rethink Mozart's Zaide - opera review
• Astonishing kinetic musical theatre: Donizetti's Maria Stuarda from Ulrich Rasche with Lisette Oropesa & Kate Lindsey - opera review  
• Travelling hopefully: defying age & ill health, Daniel Barenboim conducts his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - concert review
• Youthful tragedy & transcendental mystery: Riccardo Muti & Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Schubert & Bruckner - concert review 
• Strange & intriguing: Dmitri Tcherniakov directs his first Baroque opera with Handel's Giulio Cesare - opera review 

You can also catch my photographs from my sightseeing ventures on Instagram:

• Churches
• Dom Quartier (including the Residenz)
• Festung Hohensalzburg

My thanks again to the festival team for their help and support in organising the trip. More next year!

The sound of Carnival: in advance of this year's Notting Hill Carnival I chat to Eversely Mills the band manager of Metronomes Steel Orchestra about the sounds and traditions of steel bands

The Notting Hill Carnival this year is from Saturday 23 August to Monday 25 August and a big feature, as ever, will be the Steel Bands with the Steel Band Competition on the Saturday and the Parade on the Monday. We are all familiar with the sound of the steel band, yet as a musical ensemble it remains distinct yet distinctive. I recently chatted to Eversely Mills the band manager of Metronomes Steel Orchestra to find out more about the ensemble and the traditions behind it.

Formed in 1973, Metronomes is an innovative steelband and unique community based in Ladbroke Grove, West London. They teach and perform steelpan music, promote Caribbean heritage, and run projects to benefit local people.

The tradition of playing steel drums arose in Trinidad and Tobago where they turned 22 gallon oil drums into instruments, creating what quickly became a community tradition. Eversely explains that the steel orchestra (his preferred term rather than steel band) is made up of different types of instrument that have different functions. The bass and tenor bass provide the low notes whilst the different cello instruments play chords with further instruments playing harmony and runs with the double tenor (which is actually at soprano pitch) providing the melody. 

Playing in steel orchestras is very much a community-based thing with players in youth clubs, community centres and a lot of schools. Whilst you can have a three or five-piece band, a steel orchestra will be made up of twelve to fifteen people. An arranger has to work out the chords and melody; whilst a chord will have three to five notes in it, a single player with only two sticks can play just two notes at a time, hence they need to be allocated, splitting the chord. Whilst the arranger use music, having the arrangement written down, the vast majority of players perform from memory.

Eversely explains that the level of difficulty depends on the individual, some are natural players whilst others are able to develop the skills. You need dexterity, a good memory, and a sense of basic timing, along with being collaborative. And, of course, different players are suited to different pans.

Metronomes has three bands. There is the junior academy, the adult intermediate band and the adult stage-side band, which is their A team. Whilst some players strive to get into the stage-side band others are happpy to be where they are, finding their roles less stressful. Each band will generally have a repertoire of 12 to 15 tunes. Rehearsals are seasonal, normally a band would get together twice per week but at the moment rehearsals are full-on as they gear up for the Carnival. In addition to the arranger, bands have a drill master who rehearses with them and gets them performance ready. Often, nowadays, bands will perform with the drill master conducting out front.

When I ask about how Metronomes is funded,  Eversely laughs; they are reliant on a mix of fundraising, income from performances and grants.

Performing at the Carnival is, itself, a very full-on activity. They prepare from 8 am, get on the route at about 12 pm and finish the circuit at around 7pm, all of which is hard work. Also, as they are playing percussion instruments, it is a very physical activity.

Metronomes stageside band

Metronomes will be performing at the Carnival on Saturday and Monday, and they will be rehearsing on the streets the Thursday (today) and Friday (tomorrow) before the Carnival.
 

Offenbach's Rhine fairies get to tread the boards at Battersea Arts Centre as Gothic Opera gives the UK stage premiere of Die Rheinnixen

Offenbach wrote his four-act romantic opera, Les fées du Rhin in 1864, for the Hofoper in Vienna where it was performed in a German translation as Die Rheinnixen. The tenor Alois Ander was ill and unable to learn his part (though it should be pointed out that Ander was the tenor selected for the intended Vienna premiere of Tristan und Isolde who proved incapable of mastering the role of Tristan during rehearsals between 1862 and 1864). The end result was that Die Rheinnixen premiered in an incoherently truncated version and the result was misunderstood, also the critic Eduard Hanslick was not inclined to see Offenbach as a composer of romantic grand opera, but rather as a satirist. There were further performances in Cologne in 1865 but then Offenbach seemed to put thought of romantic opera aside.

By the 1860s, Offenbach was writing less for the Bouffes-Parisiens, and many of his new works premiered at larger theatres. He was writing works such as La Périchole (1868) which had less exuberant satire and more human romantic interest, and Les brigands (1869) that leaned towards more romantic comic opera. After the Franco-Prussian war, Offenbach relied quite heavily on revivals of his earlier hits, and none of his works from the 1870s had such success. His opera comique Fantasio, which premiered at the Opéra Comique veered far closer to romantic opera and Offenbach was heartbroken when it was taken off. All this would lead towards Les contes d'Hoffmann, whose Barcarolle is in fact a re-use of a chorus from Die Rheinnixen.

It was only in the 21st century that Offenbach editor Jean-Christophe Keck was able to create a coherent edition of the work and it premiered in Montpelier in 2002. The first fully staged performance was given in Ljubljana by the Slovenian National Opera in 2005 and there have been further performances of the work. New Sussex Opera under Neil Jenkins gave the British premiere of the piece in concert in 2009, but it has never been staged in the UK until now.

Gothic Opera continue to go where few companies fear to tread and this year the company returns to Battersea Arts Centre for a staging of Die Rheinnixen (The Nixies of the Rhine) in a production by Max Hoehn. Hoehn explains that "This production updates the opera’s setting from the Rheinland of the sixteenth-century to the postwar chaos of the short-lived Weimar Republic, with visuals inspired by the dream factory of German expressionist cinema and the political poster art of the period."

Leon Haxby has created a new chamber orchestration of the opera for seven instruments, conducted by Hannah von Wiehler and the team also includes set and costume designer Isabella Van Braeckel, animator Amber Cooper-Davies, and lighting designer Luca Panetta, whose most recent project with Gothic Opera won Outstanding Achievement at the 2025 Profile Awards. The team will also be working with a group of costume design undergraduates from Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

Full details from Gothic Opera's website

Colombian soprano Julieth Lozano gets into the spirit of the carnival for circus opera – Le Carnaval de Venise by Campra

Julieth Lozano in rehearsal getting ready for her aerial moves….

Vache Baroque is celebrating its fifth anniversary by returning to its home, The Vache, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, to perform André Campra's little-known opera, Le Carnaval de Venise. 

Written in 1699, the opera was premiered by the Académie royale de musique in Paris and the work was dedicated to Louis, Grand Dauphin, eldest son of King Louis XIV, who enjoyed it and had it staged again in February 1711. 

Vache Baroque is performing it in a production directed by James Hurley and conducted by Jonathan Darbourne.

Here, Colombian soprano Julieth Lozano (winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World Kiri Te Kanawa Audience Prize) writes about preparing for the production which opens on 30 August 2025.

Colombia has many wonderful carnivals, two recognised by UNESCO, Barranquilla's carnival and Pasto's carnival of black and white people. A truly exuberant, colourful showcase with wonderful artisan workmanship throughout the parades, it is this charisma and energy that is the insignia of us Colombians. The spirit is beautifully portrayed in the movie Encanto with the dances, landscapes, food, even types of hair! My country is a beautiful mix of flavours and cultures. 

When Vache Baroque approached me about this little known opera by Campra - Le Carnaval de Venise, I was thrilled especially when they revealed they would set it as a circus opera.  The production would be replete with a big top tent, aerial acrobatics, foot archery, kabuki silk wizardry and more, all masterminded by circus artist Rebecca Solomon in conjunction with director James Hurley.   

The performers invested so much in the music that we were carried away: Raphaël Pichon & Pygmalion rethink Mozart's Zaide at the Salzburg Festival

Mozart: Zaide - Lea Desandre, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Pygmalion - Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Marco Borrelli)

Mozart: Zaide oder der Weg des Lichts, Sabine Devieilhe, Lea Desandre, Julian Prégardien, Daniel Behle, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Pygmalion, conductor: Raphaël Pichon; Salzburg Festival at the Felsenreitschule, Salzburg
Reviewed 17 August 2025

A new version of Mozart's Zaide with extra music from other sources including Davide Penitente to create a modern version of the story in a performance notable for its musical riches

For Raphaël Pichon's latest project at the Salzburg Festival with his ensemble Pygmalion, he turned to Mozart's unfinished opera Zaide. Written as a speculative venture in 1779, Mozart put the work to one side in favour of Idomeneo and never returned to it. When he did return to writing a singspiel, the result was Die Entführung aus dem Serail which premiered in Vienna in 1782. The surviving material from Acts 1 and 2 of Zaide was discovered amongst his papers after his death. The spoken dialogue has been lost but Mozart's music is of sufficient quality to make people attempt a completion.

On 17 August 2025, Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion presented Zaide oder der Weg des Lichts at the Felsenreitschule at the Salzburg Festival. The work was a pasticcio combining music from Zaide, the incidental music from Thamos, König in Ägypten and Davide Penitente, with new spoken dialogue by Lebanese-Canadian writer Wajdi Mouawad, director of the Theatre national de la Colline in Paris. The event was directed, designed and lit by Bertrand Couderc with choreography by Evelin Facchini. Sabine Devieilhe was Zaide, Lea Desandre was Persada, Julian Prégardien was Gomatz, Daniel Behle was Soliman and Johannes Martin Kränzle was Allazim, plus dancers Tommy Cattin and Sabrina Rocha.

It was billed as a semi-staging but there was nothing half-hearted about the production. Raphaël Pichon and his large instrumental ensemble were one side of the Felsenreitschule's large stage whilst the other was an acting area. The production was modern dress and very definitely off the book.

Mozart: Zaide - Sabine Devieilhe, Julien Prégardien, Pygmalion - Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Marco Borrelli)

An astonishing piece of kinetic musical theatre: Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at Salzburg Festival, directed by Ulrich Rasche with Lisette Oropesa & Kate Lindsey

Donizetti: Maria Stuarda - Bekhzod Davronov, Thomas Lehmann, Kate Lindsey - Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Monika Rittershaus)

Donizetti: Maria Stuarda; Lisette Oropesa, Kate Lindsey, Bekhzod Davronov, director: Ulrich Rasche, Vienna Philharmonic, conductor: Antonello Manacorda; Salzburg Festival at the Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg
Reviewed 16 August 2025

Donizetti's bel canto opera as an abstract combination of music and movement, with intensely committed and commanding performances from the two protagonists

Donizetti's Maria Stuarda without any monarchical iconography or 17th century political background? Why not? After all, when Joan Sutherland sang the role at Covent Garden with Huguette Tourangeau as Elisabetta (in 1977, using English National Opera's classic John Copley production) reviewers commented that it was less about Mary, Queen of Scots and more about two operatic divas facing off.

For theatre director Ulrich Rasche, his production of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Salzburg Festival was only his third music theatre staging and his first bel canto opera. The result was an astonishing piece of kinetic musical theatre

I caught the performance of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda on 16 August 2025 at the Grosses Festspielhaus as part of the Salzburg Festival. Ulrich Rasche directed and designed the sets with costumes by Sara Schwartz, video by Florian Hetz, lighting by Marco Giusti and choreography by Paul Blackman. Kate Lindsey was Elisabetta and Lisette Oropesa was Maria, with Bekhzod Davronov as Leicester, Aleksei Kulagin as Talbot, Thomas Lehman as Cecil and Nino Gotoshia as Anna. Antonella Manacorda conducted the Vienna Philharmonic and Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy of the Vienna Philharmonic, with the Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus and dancers from SEAD — Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance.

Donizetti: Maria Stuarda final scene - Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Monika Rittershaus)

Travelling hopefully: defying age & ill health, Daniel Barenboim conducts his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Wagner, Mendelssohn & Beethoven at the Salzburg Festival

Wagner: Siegfried Idyll - Daniel Barenboim, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Marco Borelli)

Wagner: Siegfried Idyll, Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'; Lang Lang, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim; Salzburg Festival at Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg
Reviewed 15 August 2025

Daniel Barenboim defies age and illness to conduct his orchestra in a programme full of prescient hints of today and in performance that reflected a lifetime of experience.

In February of this year, Daniel Barenboim announced that he was suffering from Parkinson's Disease and as such his appearance with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival on 15 August must seem something of a miracle. His progress across the platform of the Grosses Festspielhaus towards the podium was slow yet steady and inexorable, his eyes bright at the warm audience response. His West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has never felt so important and so pertinent. 

There were few concessions to age or ill health in the evening. Barenboim conducted a substantial programme, Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Lang Lang, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'. It was an intriguing and surprisingly current programme that encapsulated the 19th century struggles with antisemitism and with overweening authority figures. It did not preach but it made you think.

Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Lang Lang, Daniel Barenboim, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Marco Borelli)

Youthful tragedy and transcendental mystery: Riccardo Muti & Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Schubert & Bruckner at Salzburg Festival

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo Muti - Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Marco Borelli)

Schubert: Symphony No. 4 'Tragic', Bruckner: Mass in F minor; Ying Fang, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Pavol Breslik, William Thomas, Konzertvereinignung Wiener Staatopenchor, Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti; Salzburg Festival at Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg
Reviewed 15 August 2025

Under veteran conductor Riccardo Muti's deft direction the Vienna Philharmonic were on form in large scale symphonic accounts of a youthful Schubert symphony and one of Bruckner's great masses

For the Vienna Philharmonic's concert at the Salzburg Festival on the morning of 15 August (the Feast of the Assumption) they were conducted by the apparently ageless (he is 84) Riccardo Muti in Schubert's Symphony No. 4 in C minor 'Tragic' and Bruckner's Mass in F minor with soloists Ying Fang, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Pavol Breslik, William Thomas, and the Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus.

There is some 50 years between the two works. Schubert's symphony was written in 1816 (the composer was a mere 19) for a good amateur orchestra yet not highly regarded by the composer and apparently unperformed until ten years after his death. Bruckner's mass was written in 1867/68 for Linz but the conductor found the mass too long and unsingable and it had to wait until 1872 for its premiere. Both are works probably written for relatively compact forces yet both have what we might term symphonic aspirations and Riccardo Muti's large-scale approach in both reaped dividends.

Bruckner: Mass in F minor - Ying Fang, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Pavol Breslik, William Thomas, Concert association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo Muti - Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Marco Borelli)

Strange & intriguing: Dmitri Tcherniakov directs his first Baroque opera with Handel's Giulio Cesare in Salzburg

Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto - Robert Raso (Curio), Lucile Richardot (Cornelia), Yuriy Mynenko (Tolomeo), Andrey Zhilikhovsky (Achilla) - Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Monika Rittershaus)

Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto: Christophe Dumaux, Olga Kulchynska, Lucile Richardot, Federico Fiorio, Yuriy Mynenko, Andrey Zhilikhovsky, director: Dmitri Tcherniakov, Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm; Salzburg Festival at Haus für Mozart
Reviewed 14 August 2025

Despite Dmitri Tcherniakov's updating of the drama, there was something weirdly compelling about the performance. The cast really convinced you that these people mattered, that we needed to watch their drama.

Asking Dmitri Tcherniakov to direct Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, the director's first Baroque opera, was never going to produce a straightforward piece of music theatre. But that is what festivals are for, to push boundaries and to create events not possible in the regular theatrical mill. Salzburg Festival did just that, and Tcherniakov's take on Handelian Opera Seria is a big feature of this year's festival.

I caught the penultimate performance of Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto on 14 August 2025 at the Haus für Mozart as part of the Salzburg Festival. Dmitri Tcherniakov directed and designed the sets, with costumes by Elena Zaytseva, and Emmanuelle Haïm conducted Le Concert d'Astrée. Christophe Dumaux was Cesare with Olga Kulchynska as Cleopatra, Lucile Richardot as Cornelia, Federico Fiorio as Sesti, Yuriy Mynenko as Tolomeo, and Andrey Zhilikhovsky as Achilla.

In an interview in the programme book Tcherniakov commented that 'At first, it [Baroque Opera] left me baffled', going on to add, 'how to make the characters feel alive when all I have were about forty exquisite arias - and little else'.

His solution was to place the action in the present, after an apocalyptic event. The evening began with warning sirens and the events unfolded in a nuclear bunker. The chorus (sung by Bachchor Salzburg) was an invisible presence, singing from the balcony and playing no part in the stage action, leading you to wonder, did they even exist in Tcherniakov's revised scenario.

His fixed set presented three areas, one colonised by Cesare and Curio, another by Cornelia and Sesto and a third by the Egyptians. For much of Act One, the entire cast was present all the time, gone was the concept of the Exit Aria. At times it felt like Tcherniakov had been watching too many Katie Mitchell productions; he gave us two other visual contexts to compete with the main aria. For instance, towards the end of Act One, this meant Lucile Richardot's Cornelia and Federico Fiorio's Sesto having to compete with Christophe Dumaux (Cesare) stripping down to his underpants before retiring to bed!

Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto - Christophe Dumaux (Giulio Cesare), Federico Fiorio (Sesto), Lucile Richardot (Cornelia), Andrey Zhilikhovsky (Achilla), Olga Kulchynska (Cleopatra), plus Rene Keller as Pompeo - Salzburg Festival (Photo: SF/Monika Rittershaus)

What this did was enable Tcherniakov to recontextualise arias by having different characters present and reacting to the singer, thus creating a more complex web of inference and influence. When Olga Kulchynska's Cleopatra told Yuriy Mynenko's Tolomeo about the Roman's reception of Pompeo's head (here his full body), Tolomeo already knew this but Tcherniakov made it clear this was all part of the siblings' games with each other. Two lesser-known arias for Cesare and Cleopatra in Act One acted as an extension of their wooing. This recontextualisation got more problematic in Act Two when Yuriy Mynenko's Tolomeo ordered the arrest of Cornelia and Sesto, with Cornelia to be put into the harem, though by this point in the opera we had come to suspect that Yuriy Mynenko's Tolomeo may have been somewhat delusional.

The perspicacious amongst you will have realised that with this scenario Dmitri Tcherniakov rather dug himself into a hold when it came to Act Three.