Decadent & modernist: I chat to director Max Hoehn & designer Darko Petrovic about working on the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon's first staging of Wagner's Tannhäuser for 30 years

Wagner: Tannhäuser - designs by Darko Petrovic, courtesy of Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon

Later this month, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon will be presenting a new production of Wagner's Tannhäuser, opening on 23 April 2026. The theatre's first staging of the work in nearly thirty years. And the production will feature role debuts for Jonathan Stoughton (Tannhäuser) and Annemarie Kremer (Venus), plus Allison Oakes as Elisabeth. Graham Jenkins conducts and Max Hoehn directs with set designs by Darko Petrovic, costumes by Nuno Velez, choreography by Isabel Galriça and animations by Amber Cooper-Davies. I recently chatted to Max Hoehn and Darko Petrovic to find out more about their plans for the production.

Darko has worked on Tannhäuser before, for a production in Cologne. He was pleased to be returning to the work, finding it fascinating and very romantic. For him, it is still a kind of mystery, and he thinks of Wagner as intending to keep a path of mystery in his work. Darko sees their role as one of trying to solve the hidden meanings that add weight to the narrative. Cologne used the first (Dresden) version of the opera and performances were not it in the theatre so they were able to put the extra musicians all around the auditorium.

Whilst Max has not worked on Tannhäuser before, in 2023 he directed Der fliegende Holländer at the São Carlos in Lisbon also with Graham Jenkins conducting. Max comments on the visceral impact of Wagner's sound world, as if you are entering a cathedral of sound with all those layers. The question for him and Darko is how do you create space and images that let the music breathe. An inherently taxing challenge.

Wagner: Tannhäuser - designs by Darko Petrovic, courtesy of Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon

Like many of Wagner's heros, Tannhäuser is very damaged but approachable. With Darko, Max wanted to create a psychological space for the piece focused around Tannhäuser's divided personality. Max is very drawn to the end of the Fin de siècle period and the German Weimar Republic. He and Darko have used the graphic art of the period as the aesthetic for the designs, so the opera becomes part erotic dream and part nightmare. Much of the art of the Weimar Republic, particularly that which the Nazis labelled as Entartete Kunst, has a very nightmarish, surreal quality and Max feels that Wagner's music fits. He and Darko made these decisions early on in the process, before deciding a particular interpretative path.

Drama & presence: Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Barbican with Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen, Nick Pritchard & Alex Rosen

Bach: St Matthew Passion - Alex Rosen (Jesus), Nick Pritchard (Evangelist), Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith)

Bach: St Matthew Passion; Nick Pritchard, Alex Rosen, Carolyn Sampson, Hugh Cutting, Hugo Hymas, Thomas Bauer, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen; Barbican Centre
1 April 2026

Great presence and a sense of drama, this was Bach's great passion as communal expressive enterprise with intent performances from all crowned by fine solo singing and choral contributions, with Nick Pritchard's profoundly moving Evangelist at the centre.

Much ink has been spilt over the forces that Bach used to perform his St Matthew Passion. Undoubtedly it was a stretch, his family did not call it the great passion for nothing. Yet it was given four or five times at Leipzig. We will probably never know exactly what forces were used, we lack the sort of detailed evidence we have for Messiah performances that Handel gave at the Foundling Hospital.

The St Matthew Passion works very well when using just eight singers, covering all the solo roles and the choruses. This creates a sense of intimacy, and the various arias with chorale are transformed into fascinating ensembles. Yet, this approach is taxing and does not represent the entirety of the work. Also, it is worth bearing in mind that Bach was aware of the musical world around him, of the courts in Dresden and in Berlin. Even when struggling to perform the St Matthew Passion with minimal forces in Leipzig he might have imagined how the work would sound in the unlikely setting of the (Roman Catholic) court chapel in Dresden, for instance.

Bach: St Matthew Passion - Hugh Cutting, Carolyn Sampson, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen at Barbican Hall (Photo: Ed Maitland Smith)

Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo are performing Bach's St Matthew Passion on a tour (Spain, London, Netherlands, Germany) and presented the work at the Barbican on 1 April 2026, with Nick Pritchard as the Evangelist, Alex Rosen as Jesus, plus soloists Carolyn Sampson, Hugh Cutting, Hugo Hymas and Thomas Bauer. The forces used included two choirs of 17 singers each (mixed men and women altos), and two orchestras of around 18 each, with all the smaller solos being drawn from the choir.

It was very much a 'traditional' version, in the sense of the tradition that has developed in the 20th century, yet Cohen has a fine ear and even in the opening chorus, the choir did not over-dominate. This was never a choral society version, and throughout it was clear that Cohen had thought everything through rather than following tradition blindly. One final detail that I enjoyed, after the last recitative sung by all four soloists they remained on stage and sang in the final chorus, making it truly a communal summation.

A sonic extravaganza: Alex Paxton's Candyfolk Spacedrum demonstrates his gift for carefully crafted music that has the energy & engagement of a communal jam session.

Alex Paxton: Candyfolk Spacedrum: Alex Paxton, Jennifer Walshe, Riot Ensemble, Dreammusics Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Belham Primary School, David Ingamells, Jennifer Walshe; Jonah Records
Reviewed 25 March 2026

A sonic extravaganza where Paxton demonstrates not only his remarkable ear for creating richly layered textures where sophisticated hyperactivity dominates, but also a gift for carefully crafted music that has all the energy and engagement of a communal jam session.

Candyfolk Spacedrum is the latest aural extravaganza from composer Alex Paxton. The album, on Jonah Records, features performances from Riot Ensemble, Dreammusics Ensemble, and London Sinfonietta with pieces originally commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Riot Ensemble and Zubin Kanga.

First comes Blue Chew Cheerio Earpiece, eight hyperactive movements performed by Riot Ensemble. Things begin in bright, light, 1950s, hyperactive fashion. Paxton continues this vein, varying the material but always multi-layering wildly different lines, including lurching changes of direction. Inspired by sample culture, cartoons and the fragmented listening experience of the internet and 90’s pirate radio adverts, the music channels dance music energy. Something that Paxton does brilliantly well. Despite sounding sampled, the music is fully written out as Paxton likes to keep the decision-making to himself. But there are pause points in the hyperactivity, so that YOUR MOM Still Laughing features moments that are slowed down, dreamy and almost spaced out.

Pullback Hat Biome Dunk features vocalist Jennifer Walshe and Paxton's trombone improvising with Dreammusics Orchestra. Here, the orchestral part is entirely notated and just the solo parts are improvised. There is something orgasmic about the textures that Paxton conjures with his vibrant trombone over an already rich mix of layers, and only gradually does Walshe appear and begin to dominate in a disturbing fashion.

Alex Paxton: Candyfolk Space Drum - children of Belham Primary School (Photo: Orlando Gili)

Act Four: Young Artists from the National Opera Studio on terrific form in scenes directed by Ruth Knight

Donizetti: La fille du regiment - Young Artists of the National Opera Studio (Photo: Kirsten McTernan )

Act Four: Rossini, Lortzing, Stravinsky, Britten, Berlioz, Cilea, Donizetti; Young Artists of the National Opera Studio, director: Ruth Knight, conductor: Andrew Griffiths; Bishopsgate Institute
Reviewed 31 March 2026

Director Ruth Knight and the Young Artists weave together a selection of scenes, well-known and lesser known, into an engaging tale of love and relationships, forming a terrific showcase

For the past year the current intake at the National Opera Studio have been working with the various national opera companies. The final of these collaborative events took place on Sunday at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff after a week of work with Welsh National Opera under director Ruth Knight. The resulting show, aptly named Act Four, was brought to London on Tuesday 31 March 2026 at the Bishopsgate Institute. Directed by Ruth Knight, the ten Young Artists of the National Opera Studio - sopranos Elisabeth Eunsoo Lee, Rachel McLean, Biqing Zhang, mezzo-sopranos Mathilda Goike, Lil Mo Browne, Clover Kayne, tenor Tomos Owen Jones, baritone Ambrose Connolly, bass-baritone Jack Sandison, bass Peter Lidbetter - performed a range of operatic excerpts by Rossini, Lortzing, Stravinsky, Britten, Berlioz, Cilea, and Donizetti, accompanied by répétiteurs André Bertoncini, Henry Reavey and Alfonso Sanchez Pérez and conducted by Andrew Griffiths.

Ruth Knight's production took place in and around a Tudor wedding (the men in modern suits but with ruffs), the long table forming a backdrop for various scenes between the wedding guests where love and relationships were put under the spotlight. This meant that guests overheard and eavesdropped, even participated in the scenes as the drama flowed freely, losing a sense of operatic scenes and weaving into a drama. One point about the selection of music, the cast included only one (hard-working) tenor, Tomos Owen Jones, so not every scene featured a conventional operatic hero and some were at an interesting tangent.

Rossini: Il barbiere di Sivigla - Tomos Owen Jones, Ambrose Connolly - Young Artists of the National Opera Studio (Photo: Kirsten McTernan )

Shakespeare in Music? “Give me excess of it”. There is no sickening and the appetite never dies.

Devon Glover

"If music be the food of love" then take me to the Shakespeare in Music Festival (SIM) in Stratford-upon-Avon from 20 to 23 April. The SIM Festival is rapidly becoming the "go to" Festival for those who love music and love Shakespeare.

SIM’s first Festival - in May last year - was greeted by a local critic in the Stratford Herald as the best thing that had happened to classical music in the town during the sixteen years that he had been living there. Audiences were treated to a feast of song by artists at the height of their profession, among them David Padmore and Elizabeth Kenny, and others straight from training at the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, all delighted at the opportunity of singing and playing at the inaugural session of the Festival. 

This year the Festival offers a rich selection of fifteen events over the four days – from 20 to 23 April (Shakespeare’s Birthday).  Each morning and each afternoon there is a musical recital. There are songs Ancient and Modern from the harp and viola duo the Painted Fall, madrigals from the Arcadian Singers, songs by Castelnuovo Tedesco, Kenneth Leighton and Erich Korngold sung baritone William Drakett accompanied on piano by Simon Carrey, and Elizabethan and Jacobean music by the Bloomsbury Baroque Ensemble.  The Festival also features the young countertenor Benjamin Irvine-Capel accompanied on the lute by Kristiina Watt, and Sami Brown and Daniel Thomson of Dowland’s Foundry with an Elizabethan meditation on Facets of Time.

Each lunchtime an illustrated lecture fills in the background of Shakespeare’s music in his plays, of his time, and from four hundred years of musical legacy that lead from his age to the present day. One concentrates this year on Shakespeare’s drinking songs, another on the Walton score for Laurence Olivier’s patriotic 1940 take on Henry V, and another, by Devon Glover, the Sonnet Man from New York, will open the audience’s ears and minds to Shakespeare and Rap.

Dowland's Foundry

Evening performances take place in the atmospheric setting of Holy Trinity, Shakespeare’s memorial Church. A double bill on the first night offers a concert performance of George Bernard Shaw’s 1910 one-act play The Dark Lady of the Sonnets followed by Philip Hagemann’s 2008 short opera of the same name, inspired by the play but with a twist in the tail. The talented Stratford Chamber Choir then offer Vaughan Williams’ four unaccompanied songs as well as George Shearing’s settings of Shakespeare songs, alongside soloists from Rose Opera with enchanting interpretations of folk and courtly verses of Shakespeare’s time. And the Rose Opera singers will enchant the audience on the final night with their selection of favourite arias from Shakespeare’s operatic legacy, from Berlioz and Bellini, Gounod and Thomas, Britten and Tippett, Verdi and Wagner – yes, from his very first opera which was based on Love’s Labour’s Lost! 

In addition to all that, the Festival has been chosen for the first award of the Fischer Fund Prize for the best Shakespeare song composed in 2025. It is shared this year between a sonnet and a speech, interpreted by Mathilda Goika (mezzo) and Archie Inns (tenor) with Nigel Foster, the founder of the London Song Festival, at the piano,  for a musical celebration of Shakespeare’s Birthday.  

Performances in this Festival of Shakespeare and his musical legacy take place in Holy Trinity Church, the 13th century Guild Chapel, and the United Reformed Church, all central locations in Stratford-on-Avon.  Just check out the programme on the website and book on-line.

 Shakespeare in Music? "Give me excess of it". There is no sickening and the appetite never dies. 






 

Grimeborn Festival 2026: where daring stories, urgent questions and bold reinventions unfold across intimate stages

Mozart: Don Giovanni - Ensemble OrQuesta at 2025 Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre (Photo: Julian Guidera)

The Grimeborn Festival is back at the Arcola Theatre this summer from 15 July to 5 September with its usual daring mix of new work and classics reinvented. Three double bills and the UK premiere of a new opera by Tuluğ Tırpan ensure that 20th century and contemporary repertoire is well represented, and then there are stripped-down interpretations of classics by Purcell, Handel and Mozart.

A double bill opens the festival with two chamber operas focusing on the climate crisis. Eden 2.0 from librettist Alexia Peniguel and composer William Gardner takes the Garden of Eden as the starting point to ask what if creation could be rebooted, but this time the tree of knowledge was sanctioned and freely accessible? Then Lisa Logan's After my Breath is a chamber opera for solo soprano, drawn from moments in the life of climate activist Greta Thunberg. 

There are two further double bills. That from The Opera Makers features farcical murder mysteries by twentieth century composers Madeleine Dring and Ned Rorem. Dring's The Cupboard is a whodunnit for three voices, whilst Rorem's Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters is a surreal philosophical musing on childhood innocence based on Gertrude Stein. Tearworks Productions pair Schoenberg's intense monodrama Erwartung with Kevin Rodgers’ The Murderous Delusions of Gavrilo K, first premiered in 2025, which explores violence and sanity in a two-act electroacoustic chamber work for four singers.  

Turkish composer Tuluğ Tırpan's docu-opera Lowest of the Low is based on the undercover experience of German investigative journalist Günter Wallraf who was disguised as a Turkish migrant worker in West Germany during the 1980. Arcola Theatre and Yeni Opera's production is the work's UK premiere, directed by Mehmet Ergen.

Ololyga presents a new work by Florence Carruthers Andrews based on Hildegard of Bingen's morality play Ordo Virtutum. Bitter Visions: By Order of Hildegard is a reimagining of Hildegard's work that offers an immersive, meditative experience that fuses medieval plainchant with ambient electronic soundscapes.

Having explored Mozart at previous festivals, Ensemble OrQuesta turns to Purcell with Dido and Aeneas directed by Marcio da Silva (who also sings Aeneas) and with Helen May and Rosemary Carlton Willis alternating Dido and the Sorceress. The company also continues its Mozart journey with a new production of The Magic Flute directed by Marcio da Silva (who also sings Monostatos) blending inventive physical theatre and starkly poetic imagery. Mozart features in Barefoot Opera's stripped-down production of Cosi fan tutte, directed by Jenny Miller,  

Handel's first opera for London, Rinaldo features in a new staging by Ralph Bridle that 'looks beyond the myth to the darker realities beneath the fantasy: captivity, enslavement and the human cost of war.'. Then one of Handel's greatest hits, Giulo Cesare, with New Trinity Baroque conducted by Pedrag Gosta featuring Sandro Rossi as Giulio Cesare and Radoslava Vorgić as Cleopatra.

Full details from the Arcola Theatre's website. 

Warm hearted & with a twinkle in his eye: The Brook Street Band bring out the sense of enjoyment in the violin sonatas of Ipswich-based Joseph Gibbs

Joseph Gibbs: 8 Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1; The Brook Street Band; First Hand Records

Warm and characterful music that deserves to be better known. Provincial in fact but not in reputation, the music of Joseph Gibbs endears itself in these lovely performances. 

Until the mid-20th century, Ipswich-based composer Joseph Gibbs's biggest claim to fame was probably that in 1755 Thomas Gainsborough painted his portrait. And arguably, it is the existence of this portrait which raised interest in Gibbs's music. The Brook Street Band has been playing, enjoying and loving Joseph Gibbs's violin sonatas for almost as long as the ensemble has been in existence, approaching 30 years now.  They have finally brought them to the recording studio in what is clearly a passion project.

The Brook Street Band (Rachel Harris, Tatty Theo, Carolyn Gibley) perform Joseph Gibbs's 8 Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1 on First Hand Records. The first complete recording of the works.

So, who was Joseph Gibbs? Well, simply, not a lot is known about him. Aside from a few organ pieces, we know of only two sets of music, the c. 1746 Eight Solos for a Violin with a Thorough Bass, Op. 1 and a set of Six Quartettos for Two Violins, Tenor and Violoncello or Harpsichord, Op. 2 from 1777. Both were published by subscription, and included notable musical names of the times indicating Gibbs’s recognition and popularity extended far beyond East Anglia, even though we have no evidence for Gibbs leaving the area once established in his adult life.

English lute song & L'Invitation au Voyage: concerts at the Institut français

Près de votre oreille

The Institut français in South Kensington continues its occasional series of concerts presenting artists making a welcome appearing in London. This time there is the opportunity to hear the period instrument ensemble Près de votre oreille, founded by gamba player Robin Pharo, and soprano Marie-Laure Garnier, recipient of the Médaille d’honneur de l’engagement ultramarin in 2024

In Blessed Echoes on 9 April 2026, eight musicians from Robin Pharo's ensemble Près de votre oreille will be presenting an evening of English lute song featuring music by Alfonso Ferrabosco II, Robert Jones, Thomas Ford, Michael Cavendish, John Dowland, Philipp Rosseter and Thomas Campion. Pharo and Près de votre oreille released a disc of William Lawes' music on Harmonia Mundi last year [see my review] 

Then on 11 June there is the chance to hear soprano Marie-Laure Garnier in recital. Her programme, L'Invitation au Voyage will take the listener on an expressive journey featuring beloved songs and arias, Guyanese songs and Afro-American melodies.

Full details from the website. 

Mozart the Travelling Whirlwind: the fourth of pianist Michael Wessel's exploration of Mozart's piano sonatas

Mozart the Travelling Whirlwind - Mozart: Sonatas Nos. 7, 8, 9;  Michael Wessel; ARS Produktion
Reviewed by Rey Andreas 27 March 2026

German pianist Michael Wessel recorded a new album of Mozart’s piano sonatas for the ARS label in 2025. Titled Mozart The Travelling Whirlwind, the album features Sonatas Nos. 7, 8, and 9 (K 309, 311, and 310, respectively), as well as a Siciliana and sonata movements (Sonatensätze in German). 

While his first sonata is marked as much by pianistic virtuosity as by an almost exuberant joy, some of its eighth notes—particularly in its final movement, Rondeau, Allegretto grazioso—suggest a more anxious and desperate mood. Could this exaggerated joy, intense in its expression, be nothing more than a headlong rush?

This gap between the greatest joy and the deepest sorrow, this tension between these two opposing emotions—which constantly narrows without ever closing—reaches its peak in Sonata No. 9, composed in Paris. It would undoubtedly be too easy to attribute this sonata to the death of his mother, which occurred shortly before its composition. Perhaps this death merely provided an opportunity for this anxiety within Mozart to reveal itself more openly….

In any case, the pianist succeeds here in interpreting these works as the little sisters of Mozart’s most tragic operas—obviously the three operas with Da Ponte, but also, earlier, Mitridate and Lucio Silla.
The quality of this recording lies in the interplay—one might even say the interplay—between lightness and gravity, which prevents the former from becoming frivolous and the latter from becoming too sombre.

All of Mozart is right there…

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Piano Sonata number 7 in C major KV 309 (Mannheim 1777) 
Piano Sonata number 8 in D major KV 311 (Mannheim 1777/78) 
Piano Sonata number 9 in A minor KV 310 (Paris 1778) 
Taken from the notebook of the 8 years old Mozart:
     Sonata movement in G major, KV 15p 
    Siciliana in D major KV 15u
Sonata movement in B-flat major KV 400 / 372a (1781)
Michael Wessel (piano)

ARS Produktion ARS 38 378 1CD [74:53]

Michael Wessel is professor of piano, song interpretation and methodology at the University of Church Music in Bayreuth. He studied piano, composition, music theory and school music at the music universities of Detmold and Stuttgart, and his teachers included Elisabeth Leonskaja and the composer Helmut Lachenmann. In the years leading up to his death, Wessel often sought artistic advice from the Paul Badura-Skoda, who wrote: "Michael Wessel is not only an excellent, sensitive pianist, but also one of the most intelligent musicians I have ever met."

This disc is the fourth of Michael Wessel's Mozart discs for ARS, each with a particular theme. Previous discs being Mozart The Poet, Mozart the Double-Faced and Mozart the Progressive

Sailm nan Daoine (Psalms of the People): a new film exploring Gaelic psalm singing

Sailm nan Daoine (Psalms of the People) is a new documentary which explores one of the most emotionally resonant and culturally significant musical traditions: Gaelic psalm singing. Directed by Jack Archer, the film will be released in cinemas across the UK from 15 May 2026. Taking the form of a road trip, the film approaches psalm singing not as an artefact or historical curiosity, but as something communal and fiercely alive.

Spoken part in English, part in Gaelic, Sailm nan Daoine sees musician and sound designer Rob MacNeacail embark on a personal and communal road trip as both documentary participant and narrator across Scotland and Ireland. The journey brings up many questions in Rob’s mind about identity, culture and community as he immerses the audience in a new perspective through his music and portable sound recorder. Rob also composes the soundtrack to the film, incorporating melodies, field recordings and musical encounters he makes along the way.

The film’s release comes at a time that sees a surge of interest in Gaelic vocal traditions. In November, Radiohead played a recording of Psalm 9 sung in Gaelic during the interval of their sold‑out show at London’s O2 Arena, introducing tens of thousands of fans to the sound. Sailm nan Daoine is an entertaining and heart-warming film about the power of community, family and the resilience needed to keep a language alive.

Gaelic psalm singing, Salmadaireachd, is a tradition of psalmody in the (Scottish) Gaelic language found in Presbyterian churches in the Western Isles of Scotland. The psalms are sung unaccompanied, in a style known as "lining out" in which the leader of the performance sings a line, after which the rest of the congregation follows, with each member allowed to embellish the melody as they wish, in a free heterophonic fashion. The style is influenced by piobaireachd (pibroch) music native to the Scottish Highlands. 

The practice of lining out psalms was common in England and lowland Scotland in the 17th century. In 1659, the book of psalms was translated into Gaelic for the first time, and it is believed that the Highlanders began to sing the psalms at this point.

Sailm Nan Daoine had its World Premiere at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival. The film will be released in UK cinemas on 15 May 2026.

Further details from Hopscotch Films,  

Imagine Trump, Leonardo da Vinci, Jane Austen & Alexander the Great went into a room: Handel's Tamerlano reinvented at London Handel Festival

Handel: Tamerlano - James Laing - London Handel Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Handel: Tamerlano: James Laing, Benjamin Hulett, Nardus Williams, Jake Ingbar, Kitty Whately, director: Orpha Phelan, Academy of Ancient Music, conductor: Laurence Cummings; London Handel Festival at Shoreditch Town Hall
Reviewed 27 March 2027

Superb individual performances and some innovative design cannot quite lift a production that seeks to reinvent opera seria, thankfully we came away having enjoyed an evening of world class Handel singing

The London Handel Festival's staged opera offering this year was one of the composer's great Italian operas, something of a change from the last few years when the festival has more explored the fringes of the Handel's dramatic art. But Orpha Phelan's staging of Tamerlano was anything but traditional, using the great hall at Shoreditch Town Hall as a found space with the audience on three sides of the action and performing the work in English with surtitles. In her article in the programme book, Phelan seemed to express doubts about the opera or at least she did not quite understand the form. This was a production that sought to reinvent a serious opera seria.

We caught the second of three performances on Friday 27 March 2026. Handel's Tamerlano was conducted by Laurence Cummings with the Academy of Ancient Music. Orpha Phelan directed with designs by Madeleine Boyd and lighting by Matt Haskins. James Laing was Tamerlano (a role we heard him sing with Cambridge Handel Opera in 2022, see my review). Benjamin Hulett was Bajazet (having impressed as Vitaliano in Handel's Giustino at Covent Garden last year, see my review). Nardus Williams was Asteria and Jake Ingbar was Andronico (both singers were in Handel's Partenope at ENO this year, see my review). Kitty Whately was Irene, and Jonathan Brown was Leone. The opera was sung in an uncredited English translation.

Handel: Tamerlano - Benjamin Hulett - London Handel Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Phelan's big idea was to present each character as an archetype so that the audience did not need to worry about the various elements of backstory. But in a sense, backstory does not matter in Tamerlano, it is one of those sealed box types of Baroque plot where a group of characters is brought together and stuff happens! Phelan and Boyd had given each character a distinctive look, and each singer had their own area of the stage, with all performers present for virtually all the action. Boyd's use of the available area was imaginative, though I did not feel the production used this to the best.

A colourful & exciting journey: London-based neoclassical composer Julia Thomsen whose music has achieved over 18 million Spotify streams

Julia Thomsen

London based neoclassical composer Julia Thomsen has achieved over 18 million Spotify streams and her music has been featured on flagship programming across Sky and Channel 4, though you rarely come across her music in the concert hall.

But talking to Julia, you get the clear impression that her music is more than this. She sees that there is such a lot going on in the world and feels that people need mental health breaks. Her music is relaxing and not too serious. She wants it to give people hope. The feedback she receives via messages on Instagram and elsewhere tell her what her music has done for people. And this is across the board - mental and physical health. And for busy parents, the music is something to switch off to, helping them sleep.

Julia is part of a generation whose work reaches audiences via streaming across the globe. Something that she finds amazing. Whilst Julia sees her music as having a sense of calm, people have their own reasons for listening to it. And it pops up a lot on people's Instagram Reels. This ability to tie in with visual images is perhaps also why her music is used in documentaries and television programmes. And when writing, she likes to cross genres, creating different types of music.

From Mozart's Cosi fan tutte to massed voices of the North East in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius to How To Train Your Dragon 2: Royal Northern Sinfonia & The Glasshouse's 2026/27 season

How To Train Your Dragon 2

The Glasshouse in Gateshead and Royal Northern Sinfonia have announced their 2026/27 season and a substantial one it is too. Royal Northern Sinfonia is led by the impressive partnership of music director Dinis Sousa, artistic partner Maria Włoszczowska, principal guest conductor Nil Venditti and associate conductor Ellie Slorach.

They kick of with a rare foray into opera by the orchestra and the launch of a multi-year exploration of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas led by Dinis Sousa. First off, in September 2026 is Cosi fan tutte with Christina Gansch, Alexandra Oomens, Jonas Hacker, Cody Quattlebaum, Rebecca Evans and Neil Davies.  Definitely well worth a trip to Gateshead for!

Dinis Sousa's other concerts with the orchestra include Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto No. 1 with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a programme of 20th-century American composer - Cage, Ives, Crumb and Gloria Coates, Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Monteverdi Choir and soloists including Nick Pritchard as the Evangelist.

Hundreds of non-professional singers from across the North East will share the stage with the orchestra and chorus for the third time in the Share the Stage series of major events, when Sousa conducts  Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with a terrific cast, Benjamin Hulett, Sarah Connolly and Roderick Williams.

Beethoven is something of a focus, not only Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Isabelle Faust, but all the piano concertos and the Choral Fantasy spread over three concerts with pianists Paul Lewis, Alice Sarah Ott, Elizabeth Brauss, Stephen Hough, Jonathan Biss and Elizabeth Leonskaja. And the season ends with Sousa conducting Symphony No. 9 with soloists  Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Alice Coote, Laurence Kilsby, Matthew Rose, alongside a new commission from Kristine Tjøgersen.

Besides the Beethoven Piano Concerto weekend, there are two other festival weekends. Reich at 90, on the composer’s birthday weekend in October is curated by Colin Currie and brings together Bryce Dessner, author and broadcaster Tom Service and all-star contemporary ensemble Colin Currie Group to celebrate the composer whose rhythmic imagination reshaped late-20th-century music. And in May, a Sci-Fi weekend marks two major milestones: 50 years since Star Wars: A New Hope and the centenary of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Holst’s The Planets, the full Metropolis score live, and two Star Wars in Concert performances promise to draw audiences far beyond the classical core. 

Nil Venditti conducts Beethoven's Symphony No. 3; Britten's Violin Concerto with Maria Włoszczowska as soloist plus Grace Williams and Dvorak; 

Smaller scale events in Sage Two not only include Sousa's American concert, but Maria Włoszczowska leading Kurtag's Kafka Fragments and Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King paired with his Missa super l’homme armé  conducted by James Weeks.

And January brings an international spotlight through the ECHO Rising Stars Festival, a full day celebration presented in partnership with the European Concert Hall Organisation. Four exceptional young artists – violinist Ava Bahari, soprano Camila Mandillo, cellist Petar Pejčić and the Javus Quartett – take over the building with concerts, pop-up performances and artist conversations.  

One of the concerts that appeals to most, however, is Ellie Slorach conducting the orchestra for How to Train Your Dragon 2 in concert! 

Full details from The Glasshouse's website. 

Intoxicating textures to offset the Lenten penitence: Mother of Mercy - Music for Lent from Harry Christophers & The Sixteen at St Martin in the Fields

Domenico Scarlatti wearing the Order of Santiago
by Domingo Antonio Velasco (1738)

Mother of Mercy - Music for Lent: Lotti, Diogo Dias Melgás, João Lourenço Rebelo, Caldara, Domenico Scarlatti: Stabat Mater á 10; The Sixteen, Harry Christophers; St Martin in the Fields
Reviewed 26 March 2026

A rich feast of Lenten music, comparing and contrasting 17th-century Portuguese intensity with Domenico Scarlatti's dazzling ten-part Stabat Mater in a luxuriant programme full of lesser-known gems

Considering that Lent is a season for penance and reflection, it is somewhat surprising that much of the music associated with the season is rather rich and lush. Some of this is that the intensity of reaction to the events of the Passion seem to have brought out an almost Romantic leaning into the pain, at least in Southern Europe. You suspect that the more northerly Protestant states would be rather more austere.

Harry Christophers and The Sixteen's programme, Mother of Mercy - Music for Lent at St Martin in the Fields on 26 March 2026 explored exactly this vein. They opened with the best known work in the programme, Lotti's Crucifixus á 8 and ended with a work that is, at least, known but not often performed, Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater á 10 and in between we had music by the Portuguese composers Diogo Dias Melgás (1638-1700) and João Lourenço Rebelo (1610-1661). Thus making a rather rich but varied diet.

We began with Lotti. Despite the fact that Ben Palmer made a terrific disc of Lotti's sacred music for Delphian way back in 2016 [see my review] which put Lotti's Crucifixus movements in context, we persist in hearing the music in isolation. But it is stunning. The Sixteen brought out the long sweep of the phrases, the dissonances smoothly progressing and growing in intensity.

Celebrating Carl Loewe, a day of Spanish Song & composer Emily Hazrati in residence: SongEasel's weekend of Sweet Harmony

SongEasel, pianist Jocelyn Freeman's inestimable song recital series in South East London, is having a festival weekend from 21 to 24 May 2026 under the title of Sweet Harmony which celebrates Carl Loewe (born 230 years ago) as well as featuring a new commission from SongEasel's new composer in residence, Emily Hazrati.

The festival opens with a day devoted to Carl Loewe. There is a masterclass and pre-concert talk from Richard Stokes, with musical examples given by bass-baritone Isaac Tolley, who appeared in the opening concert of SongEasel's 2025 season. The day concludes with a welcome return from baaritone James Newby, joined by pianist Malcolm Martineau for The Shipping Forecast which features Carl Loewe, who lived much of his life in the coastal city of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland), alongside songs from Elgar’s Sea Pictures, and songs by Schubert, Duparc, Rachmaninov and Kurt Weill.

Friday is a day of Spanish song, which pays homage to the festival's host venue, St Matthew’s Church, Elephant & Castle, home to the first bilingual parish in the Church of England. There is a Young Artist masterclass from Roger Vignoles, and an early evening concert featuring former SongEasel Young Artists Cecilia Rodríguez soprano and Esther Vilar-Portillo piano, introducing a fun selection of Spanish songs. Then for the main evening concert, Spanish soprano Lorena Paz Nieto returns to SongEasel with ¡PRESENTES! The Secret Songs of Women Latina Composers including works by Teresa Carreño, Pauline Viardot and Alicia de Larrocha. And the day concludes with a soulful late-evening of popular Latin music for guitar and voice, starring Diana Florez.

Saturday begins with a masterclass from tenor James Gilchrist. The evening culminates in the festival's inaugural Song Exchange, where the haunting melodies of Persian song meet the Lied tradition, woven together with live cello improvisations. The recital features Kian Ravaei’s Gulistan alongside a new commission from composer in residence Emily Hazrati, paired with works by Schubert, Fauré and Alma and Gustav Mahler. Inspired by the 14th-century poet Hafiz and Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan, this thoughtfully interwoven programme invites reflection, dialogue, and the excitement of experiencing new songs in this intimate setting. Performers include Negin Raggazhi (soprano), Filippo Turkheimer (baritone), Joe Zeitlin (cello) and Jocelyn Freeman.

The final day of the weekend festival celebrates the next generation of performers, as the 2026 cohort of Young Artists presents a lunchtime concert in Catford, followed by the festival's much-loved informal Lieder Lounge in the Loft at Rocketvan. 

Further ahead, soprano Nadine Benjamin will be curating a programme devoted to the Great American Songbook on 4 July. 

Further details from the SongEasel     . 

 

 

Letter from Florida: Robert J Carreras experiences Peter Lieberson's 'vehicle through which to reflect a different face in love’s mirror'

Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs - Kelley O'Connor, New World Symphony, Stephane Deneve (Photo: Alex Markow, courtesy of New World Symphony)

Ravel: Daphnis & Chloe, Lieberson: Neruda Songs; Kelley O'Connor, New World Symphony, Stephane Deneve; Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts Miami, Florida
Reviewed by Robert J Carreras, 7 March 2026

Robert J Carreras has thoughts about the meaning of home after experiencing Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs and Ravel's complete Daphnis & Chloe from Stephane Deneve and the New World Symphony in Miami 

It is just as well that Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs is almost single-handedly kept playing by Kelley O’Connor. It is just as well that her portraits of this work have remained steady across time. In 2028, it will be twenty years since the composer trained O’Conner in this music at his home in Hawaii.

O’Connor’s performance of Neruda Songs may be more informed by the years that have passed and life experience, but still comes across as quite fresh. By and large, her work in these songs has stayed near to the composer’s home, and he would have it no other way.

Kelley O’Connor’s gently assumed, creamy mezzo and proficiency in Peter Lieberson’s musical idiom – a smoldering mix of melodic mazes and rhythmic lazes – translates into observing the most intimate scenes of a relationship. Lieberson wants to keep every moment alive and vital with his darling Lorraine – every note, every measure, every word is precious.

O’Conner makes native Spanish speakers reevaluate their use of common words (sueno, porque, ojos, lejos), making subliminally seductive even those perfunctory in daily speech. Stephane Deneve aides in accenting words at crucial points by stretching out rhythmic values – knowing O’Connor would not object, and that New World Symphony (NWS) was well-prepared to execute; they doubled these efforts later for Ravel.

Fibonacci Quartet appointed Associate Ensemble at Music at Paxton, the festival based at Paxton House in the Borders

Music at Paxton, the festival based at Paxton House in the Borders, has appointed Fibonacci Quartet as its new Associate Ensemble for 2027-2029. 

Music at Paxton's artist director, Angus Smith, said: "We always have one eye on the future, and are hugely excited to welcome the exceptionally talented young members of Fibonacci Quartet  – Kryštof Kohout, violin; Luna De Mol, violin; Elliot Kempton, viola; Findlay Spence, cello – to be our Associate Ensemble from 2027-29. Watching and listening to these brilliant musicians is a truly thrilling and uplifting experience and they are already looking forward to playing at Music at Paxton, and sharing their music with people of all ages in the Border community."

Formed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the quartet were winners at the 2024 Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International auditions and were recently appointed as Grand Résident ensemble at ProQuartet in Paris for seasons 2025-2027. The quartet is also featured at the 2026 St Magnus Festival [see my article] 

Music at Paxton aims to bring high quality music to the Eastern Scottish Borders, an area not currently well served with classical music. The festival is committed to breaking down barriers and encourages young people to attend through generous concessions and free events.

Music at Paxton runs from 17 to 26 July 2026 and the programme will be available from 13 April. See the website for details. 

Icelandic voices, a new orchestra & celebrating the Kirkwall cat: St Magnus Festival in Orkney is in celebratory mood for its 50th birthday

Heiða Árnadóttir in Mörsugur by Ásbjörg Jónsdóttir & Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir

This year the St Magnus Festival in Orkney celebrates its 50th birthday with some 50 events in and around Kirkwall from 19 to 28 June 2026. Things kick off with festival director, Alasdair Nicholson conducting the debut performance of the new Festival Orchestra at a new performance space created in Orkney Auction Mart. The performance, Welcome to Orkney features music by the festival's founder, Peter Maxwell Davies written for an early festival, alongside music by Sally Beamish celebrating her 70th birthday plus Mozart and John Eccles.

Later on in the week, the Festival Orchestra is joined by the Festival Chorus for a performance of Mozart's Requiem alongside Golijov's Tenebrae. And festival director, Alasdair Nicholson's new piece Jasper the Kirkwall Cat is a new large-scale work for the Festival Orchestra and local children that celebrates Kirkwall's celebrity cat, Jasper. Other new work is showcased in the latest of the festival's Johnsmas Foy commissions, Veni Creator Spiritus where three saxophonists join with a singer/movement artist for a performance that builds on ancient plainsong themes and through free improvisation explores new interpretations of old echoes, alongside filmed images.

There is a strong Icelandic presence at this year's festival. There is a rare UK performance from Voces Thules, an all-male group that is one of Iceland's leading ensembles and their programmes celebrate Iceland's vocal heritage. Mörsugur, which receives its UK premiere, is an Icelandic opera by Ásbjörg Jónsdóttir that blends voice, experimental music and visual art, inspired by a poetic tale by Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir and featuring a tour-de-force turn from soprano Heiða Árnadóttir. Icelandic-American cellist Geirþrúður Anna Guðmundsdóttir juxtaposes Bach's Cello Suite No. 2 with the technically demanding Spuni 1 by Gudmundur Hafsteinsson.

Jasper, the Kirkwall cat

Other visitors to the festival include pianistic duo, Samson Tsoy and Pavel Kolesnikov; percussion duo, O Duo who are joined by percussionists from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for music from George Crumb and more; the Hebrides Ensemble journey to the Isles; the Fibonacci Quartet; the Marian Consort whose programme moves from the Renaissance to contemporary including Daniel Kidane and Emily Hazrati premieres; Armenian-American viola da gamba player, singer Lucine Musaelian fuses music of the 16th and 17th centuries with traditional Armenian folk tunes. Guitarist Chris Amer is joined by pianist Fergus McCreadie and saxophonist Matt Carmichael for music inspired by photos taken by his Orcadian grandfather Danny Nicolson.

The Cooperation Band from Glasgow join forces with the Wallace Collection for a performance of Gabrieli's The Invisible Symphony from the Canzoni et Sonata (1615). This work places five choirs of brass around the space filling the acoustic creating a surround-sound effects. It was transcribed by John Wallace (the late founder of the Wallace Collection), who always wanted this enormous and breathtaking work to be performed in Kirkwall’s Cathedral. The performance is dedicated to John, a frequent attender of the Festival and the Cathedral over many years.

The tradition of placing music in the landscape across the islands continues with an accordion tour across Hoy led by Neil Sutcliffe, who also travels to the island of Rousay with pianist Anna Michels, together they are The Bubblyjock Collective. The Collective also presents Quines- a new programme celebrating female Scottish composers and neglected women from Scottish history, with a newly commissioned song cycle from Highlander Lisa Robertson Quines, based on Gerda Stevenson’s poetry collection.

Full details from the festival's website.

Seductive & expressive: for their disc on SOMM, Time Stands Still, tenor Kieran White & lutenist Cédric Meyer refocus the soundworld of Dowland & Danyel

Time stands still: Dowland & Danyel; Kieran White, Cédric Meyer; SOMM
Reviewed 24 March 2026

Two great lute-song contemporaries given a striking new focus by haute-contre Kieran White and lutenist Cédric Meyer, rethinking instruments and keys to create a seductive and expressive new sound-world

A new disc from tenor Kieran White and lutenist Cédric Meyer on SOMM records, Time Stands Still, pairs the songs of John Dowland (1563 - 1626) with those of his almost exact contemporary, John Danyel with selections from Dowlands three books of airs, and A Musicall Banquet, alongside songs from Danyel's Songs for the Lute, Viol and Voice and Mrs M.E. her funeral tears for the death of her husband.

When it comes to the songs for voice and lute by Dowland and others, our contemporary performance style is very informed by the rediscovery of this music in the 20th century. Countertenor Alfred Deller's performances of Dowland were seen to distil the very essence of the melancholy of the 17th century English song. Performances like Deller's became the epitome of how these songs sounded. The reality is of course that we have no real idea what Dowland's songs sounded like to the composer himself and each modern performer has, to a certain extent, to find their own way.

In A history of singing by John Potter and Neil Sorrell, they go as far as to suggest that if Dowland was performing his songs to his own accompaniment he would probably have sounded far more like Sting than a contemporary classical singer, thanks to the changes in vocal production. A sobering thought!

Kieran White is a British tenor whose voice leads him into the French haut-contre repertoire, and he has performed leading roles in a number of Rameau's operas including Castor in Castor et Pollux, Hippolyte in Hippolyte et Aricie, Valère and Tacmas in Les Indes Galantes. We caught him in Hippolyte et Aricie at Grimeborn back in 2019 [see my review] and more recently he was singing Céphale in Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre's Céphale et Procris also at Grimeborn [see our review]. Of course his repertoire is wider than this. Last year he recorded a disc of 17th century Italian music, Cupid's Ground Bass with soprano Lucine Musaelian and the Bellot Ensemble [see my review].

For this disc of Dowland and Danyel, White and Meyer have chosen to take a distinctive approach to the music. They perform the music a whole tone higher than the original keys, suiting White's specific voice type. Meyer's lute is therefore tuned up from standard pitch so that it transposes from the original tablatures. The instrument is based on an extant Italian lute from 1592. The vibrating string length is slightly shortened in order to function at the new pitch, and the woods were chosen to match White’s voice quality. The intention was to lend a new, personal touch to the sonic relationship between voice and lute.

Celebrating Finzi, Shakespeare & 25 years of the festival itself: Ludlow English Song Weekend

Mitchell's Fold - Mike Ashton

This year's Ludlow English Song Weekend not only celebrates Gerald Finzi, marking 70 years since his death, but celebrates 25 years of the festival itself. The festival is from 10 to 12 April 2026 with events in St Laurence's Church and Ludlow Assembly Rooms. The event is very much a passion project for founder and artistic director, pianist Iain Burnside.

Burnside and baritone Roderick Williams open the festival with Eight Haiku which mixes songs written for Williams by American composer Libby Larsen with music by Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven and Britten. This is the first time the programme has been performed since its premiere in Minnesota last year, and the concert is the first of three appearances Williams makes in Ludlow for the festival. 

The music of Gerald Finzi is celebrated across the Saturday concerts. In the morning, mezzo-soprano Katie Bray, tenor James Way, bass-baritone Ossian Huskinson and Iain Burnside join actor Alex Jennings for an exploration of Thomas Hardy's life including Finzi's settings of the poet, then in the afternoon pianist Ian Tindale curates an exploration of the 1930s, mixing Finzi with contemporaries such as Gershwin and Shostakovich performed by mezzo-sopranos Bethany Horak-Hallett and Lily Mo Browne, and baritone James Atkinson. 

Early evening, tenors Adrian Thompson, Robin Tritschler and Francis Melville perform Finzi's A Young Man’s Exhortation setting poems by Thomas Hardy whilst actress Joanne Scanlan reads poems by women poets which respond, affectionately and acerbically, to Hardy's sometimes uncomfortable opinions. Then the Finzi day concludes with a portrait of the composer and his friends where Roderick Williams and Iain Burnside are joined by soprano Ailish Tynan and bass Matthew Rose.

Sunday is a celebration of Shakespeare. Iain Burnside is joined by actor Richard Goulding and sopranos Jennifer France and Manon Ogwen Parry, mezzo-sopranos Katie Bray, Lily Mo Browne and Anita Monserrat, tenors Adrian Thompson and James Way and bass Matthew Rose, for songs from Haydn to Berlioz, Poulenc to Shostakovich. Then it is the turn of British composers including Finzi Parry, Tippett, Dring and many more, plus, all sixteen of the weekend’s singers come together for a special performance of Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music.

Full details from the festival website. 

The Continuo Foundation announces grants totalling £106,000 awarded to 30 Early Music projects across the UK

The Continuo Foundation round 11 grantees

The Continuo Foundation has announced the recipients of its eleventh round of grants, awarding more than £100,000 to support Early Music projects across the UK. The Foundation received a record number of applications of a very high standard for this round, including some intriguing Purcell project proposals. The grant awards just announced include two projects chosen jointly with the Purcell Society as part of our partnership celebrating their 150th anniversary. 

The first Purcell project is the Monteverdi String Band’s Wandering Prince, Unhappy Queen, created in collaboration with the Roman River Festival. Inspired by Dido and Aeneas, the project combines Purcell’s music with readings from Virgil, songs and ballads to restore the wider dramatic and literary context of the story for modern audiences. Oliver Webber of the Monteverdi String Band says:

‘Since I first performed ‘Dido’ in about 1995, I have had a yearning to expand it to give the audience the cultural and historical background that Purcell’s contemporaries would have had, to appreciate the pathos and drama even more fully. I hope this project will give them a fresh, vivid and poignant experience.’

The second Purcell-focused award will enable Istante Collective to create a new production of King Arthur. The ensemble notes that while the music is regularly performed, the full Restoration masterpiece is rarely presented complete. Their production will restore the spoken word and dance elements that are ‘rarely performed but an essential part of the work’s identity’. 

• Vache Baroque will create a production of Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero (1625), the oldest known opera written by a woman composer, for the Buxton International Festival
• The English Haydn Orchestra is supported for its Haydn’s Musical World concert series at the eponymous festival in Bridgnorth
• Projects from the Bloomsbury Players, Linarol Consort of Viols, The Morley Consort and Wessex Baroque Collective will take performances to venues across the Lake District, Scotland, Wales, Devon, Southwest England, and London. 
• Ensemble Hesperi will work with the Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble in South Africa in what the ensemble describes as ‘an artistic and educational collaboration’ grown from a ‘shared passion… for high-quality, historically informed performance.’
• The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen will make world-premiere recordings of Alessandro Poglietti’s arrangements of motets by Bonifazio Graziani. The ensemble says these recordings will allow audiences to hear ‘these ear-tickling masterpieces’ and compare them with the original monody versions.
• The Royal Sackbut Collective will use its grant to present a launch concert for its debut album. The ensemble comments that the grant, 'allows us to take our debut album project to the next level. Considering the struggles of entering the music industry as a young ensemble, we are beyond grateful to be given this opportunity and we cannot wait to make it happen!’

Further information from the Continuo Foundation's website. 

Norwich Chamber Music, formally Norfolk & Norwich Music Club, one of the oldest music clubs of its kind in the country, finds itself in celebratory mood shouting about its 75th anniversary.

Fitzwilliam Quartet at the Assembly House, Norwich

The inaugural concert of the Norfolk & Norwich Music Club fell on 26th May 1951 given by the London Harpsichord Ensemble in the elegant surroundings of the Music Room of the restored Georgian-built Assembly House, a ‘crowning glory’ of the fine city of Norwich.  

Along with the historic cities of Bath, Exeter, Canterbury and York, Norwich was targeted in two major Baedeker raids during the nights of 27th-28th April and 29th-30th April 1942. The raids formed part of a series of retaliatory attacks by the Luftwaffe on historic English cities following the RAF’s bombing of Lübeck. 

Therefore, following the end of the Second World War, Norwich, like many other English cities and towns, was down at heel, slowly recovering and finding its feet and thankfully cultural activity was high on the agenda. Narrowly, the Theatre Royal survived the bombing but offered very basic fare while the Norfolk & Norwich Triennial Festival was held over a handful of days in 1947, 1951 and 1955 with a variety of small amateur groups holding fort. 

The mainstay of the classical-music scene was the Norwich Philharmonic Society founded in 1839, three years after the founding of the Huddersfield Choral Society, by Frank Noverre, grandson of French dancer, Augustin Noverre, who in 1775 came to England with a corps de ballet at the invitation of David Garrick, one of England’s greatest actors, who at that time was manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where the dancers appeared. 

Noverre - whose uncle, incidentally, was Jean-Georges Noverre and known as the ‘father of modern dance’ - also established a prominent dancing academy in Norwich in 1793 based at the Assembly House and it’s fitting and proper, I feel, that the ballroom of this fine building is named after the Noverre family. 

A well-respected amateur body, the Norwich Philharmonic Society offered a regular series of orchestral and choral concerts in St Andrew’s Hall engaging professional soloists and from time to time promoted the occasional celebrity recital. For instance, I well remember (and attended) the piano recital that Ukrainian-born pianist, Benno Moisewitsch, gave in St Andrew’s Hall in the 1950s. Virtually, though, there were no professional chamber-music recitals.  

Against this rather spartan background and by the initiative of the Norwich Philharmonic Society a meeting of local music representatives was convened with a view of creating an independent body to co-ordinate chamber-music activities. 

Conveniently, the Georgian-built Assembly House (originally used by the Girls’ Public Day School Trust (Norwich High School for Girls) from 1876 to 1939 had just been restored and refurbished to its former glory by the prominent Norwich shoe manufacturer, Henry Jesse Sexton, who presented it to the city for public use. 

Therefore, when the Norfolk & Norwich Music Club formed on 31st March 1951, they found a ready-made home utilizing the elegant Music Room of this delightful ornate property in which, may I add, the famed ‘devil’s violinist’, Niccolò Paganini, thrilled a packed house in August 1831.  

His visit rests alongside other ‘celebrity’ performances at the venue topped by the renowned Hungarian pianist/composer, Franz Liszt, who dazzled yet another full house in his recital of September 1840 as part of his Grand Tour of England, Scotland and Ireland during the height of ‘Lisztomania’.