A Handel Celebration: 25 years since the Handel House opened - The Brook Street Band, The London Handel Players & Helen Charlston will be there

Amazingly it is 25 years since the Handel House (now Handel Hendrix House) opened in London and Handel Hendrix House is celebrating. There is a concert on 10 November at Handel's parish church, St George's Hanover Square which celebrates his music. The Brook Street Band and The London Handel Players are joining forces for a programme that features the Trio Sonata in B minor (HWV386), the Sonata in A major (HWV361) and the cantata Mi palpita il cor (HWV132c) with mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston.

Rather appropriately, Mi palpita il cor is one of the cantatas that Handel wrote in London, in the 1710s. Similarly the Trio Sonata in B minor was written in the 1720s (and published in 1733) and its final Allegro is linked to the Chandos Anthems, and the Sonata in A Major dates from a similar period.

For those wanting to make the evening that bit more celebratory, there is pre-concert reception at Handel’s home from 5.30pm before making the short walk to St George’s Church for the concert.

Handel Hendrix House's new exhibition, Hallelujah House: Inside Handel’s HQ celebrates both 25 years since Handel's house in Brook Street opened to the public and the way the house was central to Handel's musical life [see my review]

Full details from the Handel Hendrix House website.

Late romantics: Jashandeep Reehal & Holland Park Sinfonia return with Richard Strauss, Korngold & Vaughan Williams

Jashandeep Reehal and his Holland Park Sinfonia will be returning to St Peter's Church, Notting Hill for their next concert on 13 November 2026 which features music written in the 1940s and 1950s by three very different distinguished composers, one German, one Austrian/American and one English. 

The programme features Richard Strauss's late masterpiece, his Oboe Concerto (with soloist Sasha Puller) written in 1945 as a result of a discussion with a US Army corporal who turned out to be principal oboe with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Another late work is Korngold's Theme & Variations, written in 1953 for the American School Orchestras Association and Korngold's last completed original work before his death in 1957. Completing the programme is Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5 written between 1938 and 1943. Despite the composer being 71 when the work was premiered, this is hardly a 'late' work as Vaughan Williams would continue writing until his death in 1958, producing four further symphonies.

The orchestra's previous concert in June featured a programme combining Rachmaninoff and Barber and you can catch a video of their performance in my article. Jashandeep Reehal is a self-taught musician from Punjab, India who moved to London three to four years ago. He never studied music and taught himself how to play guitar, piano, compose and arrange. Growing up in a small town in India, classical music was never something that existed and as a culture, Sikh people never ever ventured into that world, and he speculates that he is most probably the first ever turbaned Sikh conductor.

Full details of the concert from the orchestra's website.

36 nominees in 9 categories with 15 first-time nominees: the 2026 Ivors Composer Awards

The Ivors Composer Awards take place this year on 17 November 2026 at Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, London when the winners will be announced from this year's nominees. The Ivors Academy has just announced the 36 composers and librettists nominated for an Ivor Novello Award across nine categories, with 15 first-time nominees including Ailís Ní Ríain, Anselm McDonnell, Deirdre McKay, Ioana Șelaru, Pav Gekko, Richard Collins, Ruth Morley, Sam Slater, Samuel D Loveless, Sasha Scott, Thomas Farnon and librettist Lee Hall.

Best Original Documentary Score is a new category which aims to recognise the creative contribution original music can have to the telling and impact of real stories. Best Original Film Score and Best Original Television Score are categories historically celebrated at The Ivors, which have been moved to join the rest of the composition categories at The Ivors Composer Awards for the first time. These changes either bring all composer activity together - recognising composers working across genres and disciplines, from film, television and video games to concert halls, community engagement and live performance - or, as a cynic might suggest, weaken the impact of the categories focusing on contemporary classical music.

The Awards are being presented in association with BBC Radio 3 and the ceremony will be broadcast across BBC Radio 3’s schedule, in programmes such as The New Music Show (21/11/2026), Sound of Cinema (21/11/2026) as well as on Breakfast and In Tune.

• Best Community and Participation Composition with ABRSM, original music created for voluntary, amateur or youth performers: Samuel D Loveless for his multi-format neurodivergent-focussed work Benches, Ailís Ní Ríain for her brass band piece Holocene, Brian Irvine for How We Stand, How We Breathe, a collaboration with a diverse range of individuals and groups across Northern Ireland.
• Best Large-Scale Composition, works written for 13 or more performers: Anna Thorvaldsdottir for her cello concerto Before We Fall, Robert Laidlow for his tone poem for orchestra Exoplanets, Hania Rani for her piano concerto Non Fiction, Laura Bowler for The White Book – a work inspired by Han Kang’s book of the same name – and Cassie Kinoshi’s [UNTITLED] for ensemble and solo turntables.
• Best Small-Scale Composition, solo or ensembles of fewer than 13 performers: Ben Nobuto for Hope Spiral, Sasha Scott for Night Owl, Ruth Morley for Reef, Alex Paxton for Scrunchy Touch Sweetly To Fall (Kite and Finger Run) and Hania Rani for Shining.
• Best Vocal and Choral Composition: Anselm McDonnell for A Taste of Trapped Sun, written for the BBC Singers reflecting on the 2016 signing of the Paris Agreement, Stephen McNeff’s Ballads of a Bogman – a song cycle for tenor and piano with poems by Sigerson Clifford [see my review], Richard Blackford for The Black Lake, Martin Suckling for Songs of Sleep and Prophecy, and Deirdre McKay for Litany to the Magdalene Dead, a song commemorating the women who died in Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries [see my review and my interview with pianist Deirdre Brenner].
• Best Original Score for Performance,  music written for live performance: Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Lee Hall for their opera Festen, Richard Ayres for his theatrical journey into the inner workings of an orchestra No. 59 (Dr Frompou’s Anatomical Study of an Orchestra), and Bushra El-Turk's music theatre work Oum – A Son’s Quest for his Mother.
• Best Original Documentary Score: Richard Collins and Patrick Jonsson for their score for A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough, Thomas Farnon for David Frost Vs..., Benjamin Kwasi Burrell for Grenfell: Uncovered, Jessica Dannheisser for The Last Musician of Auschwitz and Hannah Peel for Underland.
• Best Original Film Score: Ioana Șelaru and Siôn Trefor for their soundtrack to Welsh drama film Effi O Blaenau, combining acoustic instruments, synthesisers and vocals. Daniel Pemberton and Oliver Coates for their scores to Project Hail Mary and The History of Sound respectively. 
• Best Original Television Score: Carly Paradis for her soundtrack to ITVX true crime series Believe Me, Siôn Trefor for the Netflix thriller Legends and Patrick Jonsson for BBC comedy-drama series Mint.
• Best Original Video Game Score: The Flight (Alexis Smith and Joe Henson) for 007 First Light, Sam Slater for Saros and Pav Gekko is for Spirit of the North 2.

Further details from the Ivors Academy website.

One Community, No Exclusions: Music for Change supporting You Are Loved's mission to reduce deaths from suicide and drugs in the LGBTQ+ community

On 20 November 2026 at St Marylebone Parish Church, Music for Change returns for its second edition. The event, presented by Big Gay Out and Song in the City, is a fundraising concert for You Are Loved supporting their mission to reduce deaths from suicide and drugs in the LGBTQ+ community.

All proceeds go to You Are Loved. Last year's concert, at St Giles Cripplegate, drew over 300 people and raised £11,000, and this year they hope to build on that in a larger venue.

This year, under the theme of One Community, No Exclusions, the evening promises music to celebrate a community that includes everyone: lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer alike. Blending classical and musical theatre performance with heartfelt purpose, the concert raises urgent funds while affirming that the fight for equal rights is one we carry together – as one community, with no exclusions.

Music for Change at St Giles Cripplegate in 2025

The concert falls on Transgender Day of Remembrance, 20 November 2026 – a day to honour the trans lives lost to violence and prejudice. 

Further information and tickets from TicketTailor website.

Deeply problematic, both aesthetically & ethically: Du Yun's Angel's Bone from English National Opera at London Coliseum

Du Yun & Royce Vavrek: Angel's Bone - English National Opera at London Coliseum [Photo: Tristram Kenton]

Du Yun & Royce Vavrek: Angel's Bone; Allison Cook, Rodney Earl Clarke, Matthew McKinney, Mariam Wallentin, Keith Pun, director: Kip Williams, conductor: Baldur Brönnimann; English National Opera at the London Coliseum
Reviewed 16 October 2026 by Saskia Bibb

In the London premiere by English National Opera of Angel's Bone, an “opera-theatre” work exploring slavery and human trafficking, moments of winning music are swallowed up by ill-conceived theatre. The graphic depictions of rape and violence are as harrowing as they are fruitless.

Sasiki Bibb writes: Composer Du Yun and librettist Royce Vavrek tell the story of two angels who fall to earth. The unhappily married couple who find them are overcome by greed and exploit the innocents, clipping their valuable feathers and condemning them to sexual slavery. Yun and Vavrek readily advertise in the programme that the desired effect is introspection; we are supposed to ask the question “when given the means… to exploit those who are vulnerable, how quickly do we abandon our morals?” The answer, for any normal person, is a hell of a lot less quickly than that.

There is no dramatic arc and not a single believable character. This is part due to the libretto consisting of a string of abstract soundbites, and in part due to a poorly paced plot. The programme would have us believe that Mr & Mrs X.E. initially nurse the angels back to health, but “care quickly turns to control”. It is very quick indeed, blink and you’ll miss it. Within minutes of being introduced to the unhappy couple, the angels have landed in the garden, and a heartbeat later they are pinning the angels to the kitchen table and mutilating them. That leaves 99% of the opera left for the unrelenting horrors of their exploitation, and an incoherent coda that confuses the message and takes the focus off the victims. The last thing I wanted was for the show to last any longer, but the descent into amorality was so rushed that it was impossible to buy into the rest of the drama.

Du Yun & Royce Vavrek: Angel's Bone - Allison Cook, Keith Pun - English National Opera at London Coliseum [Photo: Tristram Kenton]

Schubert's Baritone: A celebration of Johann Michael Vogl - James Newby & Joseph Middleton at Wigmore Hall

Vogl and Franz Schubert,
caricatured by Franz von Schober (c. 1825)

Schubert's Baritone: A celebration of Johann Michael Vogl; James Newby, Joseph Middleton; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 13 October 2026

An imaginative exploration of Schubert's important relationship with baritone Johann Michael Vogl, and a showcase for baritone James Newby's talents in Schubert

The baritone Johann Michael Vogl (1768-1840) is one of those figures who flit in an out of modern accounts of Schubert's life without Vogl himself coming into focus. The baritone was an important figure in the dissemination of Schubert's songs and remained supportive of the younger composer from their first encounter in 1817 right through to Vogl's singing in Schubert's memorial concert and his private rendition of the whole Winterreise a year before his own death.

On Tuesday 13 October 2026 (apologies for the late posting), baritone James Newby and pianist Joseph Middleton brought Johann Michael Vogl back into focus with their programme Schubert's baritone: a celebration of Johann Michael Vogl at Wigmore Hall, singing a wide selection of the songs of Schubert's that Vogl sang and that Schubert wrote for him.

Schubert first encountered Vogl in 1813 when he heard the baritone as Orestes in Gluck's Iphigenie auf Tauris (just eight years before Berlioz's first encounter with Gluck's operas at the Paris Opera had such a stirring effect on him). The following year, in 1814, when Vogl sang the role of Pizarro at the premiere of the final version of Beethoven's Fidelio, it is said that the 17-year-old Schubert actually sold his schoolbooks in order to afford a ticket. And it would be Vogl who was responsible for introducing Anna Milder (Leonora in Fidelio, and a notable Iphigenie in Berlin and Vienna) to Schubert and she would go on to commission Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen.

Less is more: Elena Langer's Ariadne & Purcell's Dido hit home in finely abstract productions, a real ensemble achievement from English Touring Opera

Purcell: Dido & Aeneas - Michael Lafferty, Samantha Price - English Touring Opera [Photo: Richard Hubert Smith]

Elena Langer: Ariadne; Jessica Cale, Kieron-Connor Valentine, director: Anna Morrissey
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas; Samantha Price, Michael Lafferty, ISabelle Atkinson, Lydia Shariff, director Rebecca Meltzer, conductor: Alex Robinson
English Touring Opera at Hackney Empire
Reviewed 17 October 2026

Two tragic classical heroines in productions set in an abstract mythic present showcasing powerful performances from Jessica Cale and Samantha Price in productions that were a terrific ensemble achievement.

Alongside its version of Gluck's Orpheus & Eurydice [see my review], English Touring Opera (ETO) features another iconic early work as part of its autumn tour, with a double bill of Elena Langer's 2002 opera, Ariadne and Purcell's Dido & Aeneas. We caught the double bill on 17 October 2026 at the Hackney Empire. Ariadne was directed by Anna Morrisey and featured Jessica Cale as Ariadne and Kieron-Connor Valentine as Theseus. Dido & Aeneas was directed by Rebecca Meltzer and conducted by Alex Robinson. Samantha Price was Dido and Michael Lafferty was Aeneas, with an ensemble of eight singers from whom were drawn the solo roles, Isabelle Atkinson (Belinda/First Witch), Alexandra Meier (Second Woman, Second Witch), Lydia Shariff (Sorceress), Kieron-Connor Valentine (Spirit), Guy Elliott (Sailor), Binny-Supin Yang, Daniel Gray, Jonathan Eyers, and Peter Lidbetter. Designs for both operas were by Alex Berry with lighting by Joseph Hornsby.

Elena Langer wrote Ariadne in 2002 as part of her residency at Almeida Theatre and the opera was her first collaboration with poet Glyn Maxwell. The work is essentially a mono-drama performed by Ariadne (Jessica Cale) with four musicians - Hannah Conliffe (oboe), Gary Ngan (violin), Hannah Gardiner (viola), James Heathcote (cello). The action takes place largely in Ariadne's head after she discovers Theseus's (unexplained) absence. In fact, the work forms a modern counterpart to Haydn's Arianna a Naxos.

Elena Langer: Ariadne - Jessica Cale - English Touring Opera [Photo: Richard Hubert Smith]

As JW3's classical music series returns for its 4th year, I chat to artistic director David Waterman

JW3

JW3, also known as Jewish Community Centre London, is an arts, culture and entertainment venue, an educational facility and a social and community hub in north London. It is located at 341–351 Finchley Road, London, and opened on 29 September 2013. Describing itself as "a new postcode for Jewish life", the venue's name is a wordplay on its postal address, situated in the NW3 postcode area.

Whilst this year the centre celebrates its 13th birthday, their classical music concert series returned for its four year with a season opened by Russian-Israeli pianist Boris Giltburg on 30 September 2026. The curator of JW3's classical music series is cellist David Waterman, one of the founder members of the Endellion Quartet. David explains that his brief was for a high-quality classical music series. There is no particular emphasis on Jewish artists or Jewish composers, it is the high quality that counts.

Depending on the line-up of performers, JW3's recital hall seats up to 250 people. It is an intimate space, where people can see clearly wherever they sit, and all feel near the action. The atmosphere is intimate and friendly, with an audience that is often local. David describes the audience as listening extremely well, and being very enthusiastic. David plays in around half of the concerts each season and introduces the others. He enjoys meeting the audience, and finds that artists enjoy playing there.

Modernising Gluck: English Touring Opera's new production of Orpheus and Eurydice puts a distinctly contemporary spin on the work

Gluck: Orpheus & Eurydice (Dance of the Blessed Spirits) - Louis T Partridge & Angus Bartlett - English Touring Opera [Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith]

Gluck/Leo Grant: Orpheus and Eurydice; William Morgan, Galina Averina, Rosie Lomas, director: Jenny Ogilvie, conductor: Iwan Davies; English Touring Opera at Hackney Empire

Bravely essaying the Paris version of Gluck's masterwork, ETO combine a modern tenor hero with composer Leo Grant's interventions to higlight the more emotional intensity of the work in an anti-mythic production that remained curiously sterile visually

At the Paris Opera, opera scores were not stable entities and often underwent subsequent transformations. Lully's operas remained in the repertoire for around a century after his death (in 1687) thanks to the fact that at each revival much of the music was recomposed to suit contemporary tastes. [Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel recorded Louis-Joseph Francoeur's 1778 version of Lully's Armide in 2019, see my review]. 

And then in 1824 there were plans for the young tenor Adolphe Nourrit (1802-1839) to sing the role of Orphée in Gluck's opera Orphée et Eurydice, which was created for the Paris Opera in 1774 with a high-tenor in the role of Orphée. Nourrit had made his operatic debut in 1821 as Pylade in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride (written for the Paris Opera in 1779). This 1821 performance would have a profound effect on the young Berlioz. Nourrit would go on to create the principal tenor roles in all of Rossini's French operas, as well as Halévy's La Juive (1835), and Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (1836).

In 1824, it was quite obvious that a leading young tenor should sing the role of Orphée. The problem was that the role was too high for Nourrit and transpositions had to be made. This wasn't Nourrit's fault. Roles written for the haut-contre sit high in the tenor register with occasional excursions to the top of the range. Unfortunately for Nourrit, the pitch level in Paris had been rising. Pitch had been a constant battlefield between singers and instrumentalists, with rising pitch often coming about because of the desire for a brighter tone. The end result was the creation of Berlioz's version of Orphée et Eurydice combining the French and Viennese versions into a new synthesis for female mezzo-soprano. Thus was the modern Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice born! [see my article, 'Berlioz and the creation of Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice as a 19th century masterpiece']

For their new production of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice, English Touring Opera (ETO) have leaned into this tradition. The version used is based in Gluck's 1774 Paris version in a new English translation by George Robarts. The title role has been adjusted for a modern tenor (William Morgan), and the work re-orchestrated for smaller orchestra by Leo Grant. But Grant has gone beyond this, adding his own additional music and electronics. The production opened in Sheffield on 10 October and we caught the performance on 16 October at Hackney Empire. Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice in a new version by Leo Grant was directed by Jenny Ogilvie and conducted by Iwan Davies. William Morgan was Orpheus, Galina Averina was Eurydice and Rosie Lomas was Amor with ensemble of Isabelle Atkinson, Alexandra Meier, Guy Elliott and Jonathan Eyer, and dancers Angus Bartlett and Louis T Partridge. Designs were by Noemi Daboczi.

Gluck: Orpheus & Eurydice - English Touring Opera [Photo: Richard Hubert Smith]

Share the Stage: Massed forces from the North-East join Dinis Sousa & Royal Northern Sinfonia at The Glasshouse in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius

Dinis Sousa conducts Royal Northern Sinfonia & massed forces from the North-East in Tippett's A Child of our Time as part of The Glasshouse's Share the Stage in 2024

On Sunday 8 November 2026 at The Glasshouse in Gateshead, Dinis Sousa conducts the Royal Northern Sinfonia in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with soloists Benjamin Hulett, Sarah Connolly and Roderick Williams. They will be joined by hundreds of non-professional singers and instrumentalists from across the region. The concert is the third event in The Glasshouse's Share the Stage series, which brings professional and non-professional musicians together to rehearse and perform major works.

Previous Share the Stage concerts included Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time, in 2024, and Verdi's Requiem. For The Dream of Gerontius the 300 performers on stage will include 290 passionate non-professionals between the ages of 23 and 85. Share the Stage is very much driven by Dinis Sousa's ambition to bring professional and non-professional musicians together to perform major works on the same stage. Dinis Sousa comments:

"The Dream of Gerontius is an extraordinary piece of music to perform. It moves between moments that feel incredibly intimate and these huge, overwhelming passages where the orchestra, soloists and chorus come together with enormous power.

"That makes it a wonderful piece for Share the Stage. There is something very special about bringing hundreds of people together to make this music, with Royal Northern Sinfonia and our guest soloists performing alongside singers and instrumentalists from communities across the region. Everyone on that stage has a part to play in creating the performance, and I think the scale and energy of that will be incredible to experience in Sage One."

Singers from the North-East in rehearsal for Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, 2026

On stage will be families, friends and musicians from different generations are coming together, alongside participants with very different musical experiences. Among those returning this year is 73-year-old Suzanne Shell from Morpeth, who rediscovered singing through Share the Stage in 2024 after more than 50 years away from serious singing. 

Full details from The Glasshouse's website. 

 

What does it feel like to improvise with AI?

Pianist Zubin Kanga returns to the Southbank Centre on 17 October 2026 with a host of premieres in a  double bill of  Ghost in the Machine + After Dark: Club Cyborg. Zubin Kanga is currently based at Royal Holloway University where he is leading a £1.4m grant-funded research project 'Cyborg Soloists,' which explores AI and technology in music. [see Robert's 2024 interview with Zubin Kanga]

In advance of Zubin Kanga's premiere of George Lewis's Blombos Playground on 17 October at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London, he asks the question 'What does it feel like to improvise with AI?'

I’ve often experienced a deep connection with other musicians onstage when playing chamber music or improvising together, like we're having a musical conversation. But how does it feel to have a musical conversation with AI? Does it feel anything like playing with a human musician on stage? And what can it tell us about what makes human creativity unique? These are questions I’ve been grappling with while working with American composer George Lewis on his new work composed for human and AI keyboardists, Blombos Playground, which I’m about to premiere at the Southbank Centre in London.

While many people today think of AI art as being a recent development and associate it with the lazy production of bland results, trained via the internet through unethical means, it actually has a long and much more interesting history in experimental music, going back to the 1950s. Early developers of AI music systems never sought to replace human musicians, but instead to explore new ways for human performers to interact with musical technologies – and with each other.

Beautifully curated: Carolyn Sampson & Joseph Middleton explore all manner of obsession in Reason in Madness at Oxford International Song Festival

Reason in Madness: Gösta Nystroem, Alma Schindler-Mahler, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Strauss, Wolf, Duparc, Koechlin, Debussy, Saint-Saens, Chausson, Poulenc; Klara Solén, George Herbert, Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton; Oxford International Song Festival at Holywell Music Room
Reviewed 11 October 2026

All manner of obsession: Sampson and Middleton moved between Gretchen, Ophelia, Mignon and Bilitis with Strauss's Ophelia lieder, Wolf's Mignon and Debussy's Bilitis being particularly highlights in a beautifully curated whole

The Sunday of the first weekend of the Oxford International Song Festival (11 October 2026) was devoted to thematic recitals, albeit three vastly contrasting themes. In the morning we had Immortal Mozart [see my review], exploring Schubert's admiration for Mozart, then in the afternoon we had Britten in Love [see my review], with an interweaving of Britten's music and emotional life, and finally in the evening it was Reason in Madness.

At Holywell Music Room, soprano Carolyn Sampson and pianist Joseph Middleton presented a programme exploring obsession and just how far feelings can go. We heard songs by Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Strauss, Wolf, Duparc, Koechlin, Debussy, Saint-Saens, Chausson and Poulenc, whilst the characters invoked included Gretchen, Ophelia, Mignon, Bilitis and Cocteau's La dame de Montecarlo.

Reason in Madness - Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton - Oxford International Song Festival at Holywell Music Room
[Photo: Carolyn Sampson's Instagram]

The evening was begun by two of the Festival's Emerging Artists, mezzo-soprano Klara Solén and pianist George Herbert performing songs by Gösta Nystroem and Alma Schindler-Mahler.

Britten in Love: Robin Tritschler & Malcolm Martineau explore the composer's emotional life through his music

Britten & Lennox Berkeley (Photo: https://www.lennoxberkeley.org.uk)

Britten in Love: Lennox Berkeley, Benjamin Britten; Robin Tritschler, Malcolm Martineau; Oxford International Song Festival at Holywell Music Room
Reviewed 11 October 2026

Songs from Lennox Berkeley and Benjamin Britten linking together the emotional and inimate threads of Britten's life 

In 2024, tenor Robin Tritschler's disc Songs for Peter Pears [see my review] explored songs written for Peter Pears by Lennox Berkeley, Britten, Arthur Oldham, Richard Rodney Bennett and Geoffrey Bush. Now, Tritschler has taken a somewhat different look at the same time-period. On Sunday October 11 October 2026, Robin Tritschler was joined by pianist Malcolm Martineau at Holywell Music Room for Britten in Love as part of the Oxford International Song Festival. 

The recital presented a sequence of songs interweaving Britten's love-life in music. The first half included songs by Lennox Berkeley (with whom Britten had a brief romantic relationship), songs setting W.H.Auden (who was a big influence on the young Britten), as well as two of Britten's Sechs Hölderlin Fragmente which hint at Britten's close friendship with Wulff Scherchen, seven years his junior. Britten would dedicate one of Les Illuminations to Wulff, and another to Pears. 

The second half focused on Peter Pears, with songs from Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (the first song cycle Britten wrote for Pears' voice) and The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, plus some of the folksong arrangements which Britten created for his and Pears' song recitals.

Immortal Mozart: Katharina Ruckgaber, Martin Häßler & Sholto Kynoch bring a light touch to their exploration of Schubert's admiration for Mozart

Schubert's diary in 1816

Immortal Mozart: Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Salieri; Katharina Ruckgaber, Martin Häßler, Sholto Kynoch; Oxford International Song Festival at Garsington Studios
Reviewed 11 October 2026

Inspired by Schubert's admiration of Mozart, a playful yet informed interweaving of their music to create a delightful recital with a distinctly dramatic feel to it 

Schubert had great admiration for Mozart and age 19 would write in his diary, "O Mozart! immortal Mozart! what countless impressions of a brighter, better life hast thou stamped upon our souls." It is this quotation which is behind pianist Sholto Kynoch, soprano Katharina Ruckgaber and baritone Martin Häßler's programme Immortal Mozart. This playful intermingling of music by Mozart and by Schubert was presented at Garsington Studios, Garsington Opera's performing arts hub - a purpose-built complex of studios, meeting rooms and ancillary spaces - as part of Oxford International Song Festival.

Both composers were Masons and both shared a similar taste in poets. The programme included both setting Goethe and both setting Ludwig Hölty. Other fascinating links include Schubert's duet Misero pargoletto, setting Metastasio and written whilst Schubert was studying with Salieri. In the first version of the duet (which we did not hear), Schubert includes an almost direct quote from the aria 'Ach ich fühl's' from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Die Zauberflöte threaded its way through the programme as the second half included two of Pamina and Papageno's duets, whilst in the first half Don Giovanni made an appearance too.

Immortal Mozart: Sholto Kynoch, Katharina Ruckgaber, Martin Häßler (Photo: Martin Häßler's Instagram)

Both singers sang from memory and whilst there was no overall dramatic thread, there was an element of staging with one singer reacting to another, and some songs seemingly in response to something said earlier. It was all done with a light touch, yet it was clear that much thought, research and love had gone into the programme.

Lived experience: Matthias Goerne & Tamara Stefanovich in Schubert's Winterreise at Oxford International Song Festival

Tamara Stefanovich, Matthias Goerne at Salzburg Easter Festival in 2025 [Photo: SF/Marco Borrelli]

Schubert: Winterreise; Matthias Goerne, Tamara Stevanovich; Oxford International Song Festival at Olivier Hall, St Edward's School 
Reviewed 10 October 2026

The further along the journey, the harder the going: Matthias Goerne makes Winterreise a remarkable piece of lived experience bringing a lifetime's work to the role 

It is nearly 30 years since Matthias Goerne made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in 1997, and nearly 25 years since his compelling account of the title role in Berg's Wozzeck at Covent Garden (in 2002, the one with the glass tanks!). Much water (and Wagner) has gone under the bridge since then. 

So it was with great interest that a capacity audience gathered at the Olivier Hall at St Edward's School in Oxford on Saturday 10 October 2026 for baritone Mattias Goerne and pianist Tamara Stefanovich's performance of Schubert's Winterreise at the opening weekend of the Oxford International Song Festival. The event was also Goerne's debut at the festival (amazingly!)

The concert was giving with subtitles which is a relatively new innovation at the festival. These help prevent the audience from spending the duration with their heads in copies, but in song like Schubert's where text is repeated and the flow adjusted, you sometimes miss the wider textual context of a line. 

Goerne sang from memory and the entire concert was a remarkable physical embodiment, his expressive physical language becoming as important as his vocal.  From the first notes it was clear that Goerne's expressive legato was limited but his vibrato gave the voice a remarkable fragility. This combined with his restless body language created the structure of his Winterreise. 

Words & music: at Oxford International Song Festival's opening weekend academics & performers combine for Defining Love

Defining Love
Emily Pillinger, Stephanie Oade, Fiona Macintosh, Elenora Pertz, Valerie Eickhoff
Holywell Music Room, Oxford International Song Festival

Defining Love: Satie, Schindler-Mahler, Britten, Schumann, Korngold, Faure, Schubert, Strauss, Mozart, Rodgers & Hart; Valerie Eickhoff, Elenora Pertz, Fiona Macintosh, Stephanie Oade, Emily Pillinger; Oxford International Song Festival at Holywell Music Room
Reviewed 10 October 2026

A colloquium on approaches to love in Ancient Greece combined with a delightful mix of songs expressing the subject to create and intriguing mix of words and music

This year's Oxford International Song Festival has the theme of Love Songs, and the subject of love was to the fore in the afternoon event on the first Saturday of the festival, 10 October 2026, at Holywell Music Room. Defining Love combined a colloquium between three academics, Fiona Macintosh, Stephanie Oade and Emily Pillinger - Fiona Mackintosh is Emeritus Professor of Classical Reception, at Oxford Stephanie Oade is an academic, teacher and former professional cellist, Emily Pillinger is Reader in Classics and Interdisciplinary Humanities at King's College London

We heard songs by Saties, Alma Schindler-Mahler, Britten, Schumann, Korngold, Faure, Schubert, Strauss, Mozart and Rodgers & Hart performed by mezzo-soprano Valerie Eickhoff and pianist Elenora Pertz.

Reinventing the lute song: countertenor Iestyn Davies & harpist Oliver Wass in John Dowland, Purcell, Nico Muhly & Britten at Hatfield House Music Festival

Iestyn Davies & Oliver Wass
at Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival

Sweeter than Roses: Trabacci, Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Cavalli, Purcell, Dowland, Muhly, Britten, Handel; Iestyn Davies, Oliver Wass; Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival in the Marble Hall
Reviewed 9 October 2026

Performing lute songs with harp accompaniment provides an imaginative solution to problems of scale, whilst Iestyn Davies and Oliver Wass's recital parts Dowland with an imaginative mix from Purcell and Frescobaldi to Britten and Muhly

Countertenor Iestyn Davies and harpist Oliver Wass debuted duo at Wigmore Hall earlier this year and they are touring it to the USA, first stop Hawaii. But en route they stopped at Hatfield House Music Festival to perform in the house's Marble Hall on Friday 9 October. We began with a harp solo by Giovanni Maria Trabacci followed by three Italian baroque arias, Monteverdi's Laudate Dominum, Cavalli's Delizie Contenti from Giasone and Frescobaldi's Se l'aura spira, then Purcell's Strike the viol from Come, ye sons of art. A sequence of seven songs by John Dowland was interspersed with instrumental movements by Bach. The second half began with Nico Muhly, three of his Four Traditional Songs written in 2011 and dedicated to Iestyn Davies. These were followed by Britten's Suite for Harp, Op. 83 (from 1969) and the evening concluded with Purcell's Sweeter than Roses and Evening Hymn, and Handel's Sento Amor from Partenope.

Delight in small things: the Telekom Beethoven Competition winner, Seth Schultheis in recital at Hatfield House Music Festival

Seth Schultheis [Photo: Norbert Ittermann]

Beethoven, Elizabeth Ogonek, Schumann; Seth Schultheis; Hatfield House Music Festival in the Marble Hall
Reviewed 9 October 2026

The 2025 Telekom Beethoven Competition Winner in an engagingly varied programme that found delight in a sequence of short movements by three very different composers

Hatfield House Music Festival's second day, 9 October 2026, began with a piano recital by Seth Schultheis. An American based in London, Schultheis is currently an Aud Jebson Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, and he won First Prize (and Special Prize for Chamber Music) at the 2025 Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn.

He began with Beethoven, not a sonata but the 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119. These were followed by five preluddes by contemporary American composer Elizabeth Ogonek, and Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 concluded the evening. 

Beethoven evidently referred to his bagatelles as 'cobbler's patches'. They are short, characteristic pieces where Beethoven is relatively unfettered by the constraints of form. Schulteheis began with classical poise in the opening minuet and trio, but then the music soon moved between quirky and characterful before classical balance returned. The robust vigour of a dance was followed by intricate rhythms, fleeting moments and the distinctly quirky. A further classical piece had a sense of questioning in the harmony leading to a showy dance with hints of Weber, then a helter-skelter dash to the touching conclusion.

Schultheis perhaps did not make us think these were free improvisations; not so much Beethoven at the piano as the the considered products of the composer's imagination. But Schultheis's sensitivity to the music's quicksilver changes and sly endings was impressive.

A real festival programme: varied lineups in music by Mozart, Britten, Shostakovich & Brahms at Hatfield House Music Festival

Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten, Ethel Bridge by Unknown photographer
snapshot print NPG x15184 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Mozart, Britten, Shostakovich, Brahms; Musicians of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House; Hatfield House Music Festival in the Marble Hall
Reviewed 8 October 2026

Youthful Mozart, Britten and Shostakovich alongside autumnal Brahms in a real festival programme of varied and unusual line-ups, all played with love and energy

The advantage of festivals like the Hatfield House Music Festival is that they can bring together groups of musicians to perform music in instrumental combinations that are frequently less explored on the regular concert stage. For the second concert on Thursday 8 October 2026 in the Marble Hall at Hatfield House, Musicians of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House brought together Magnus Johnston and Jan Schmolck, violins, Gary Pomeroy and Judith Busbridge, violas, Tim Hugh and Kate Gould, cellos, Katherine Baker, flute, and Christopher Cowie, oboe, to perform Mozart's Flute Quartet in D major, K 258, Britten's Phantasy Quartet, and Brahms' Quintet No. 2 in G, Op. 111. 

An imaginative added extra to the programme was the Festival's first side-by-side event where four young artists supported by the J & A Beare Cultural Trust, Sophie Hayin Chung and Isabell Karlsson, violins, Andrew O'Reilly, cello, Harry Rughoo, viola joined So-Ock Kim and Jan Schmoick, violins, Gary Pomeroy, viola, and Kate Gould, cello, to perform Dmitri Shostakovich's Octet Op. 11.

Still remarkably youthful himself, Chromatica Orchestra's new chief conductor Oliver Cope sees their role as developing the next generation of musical talent

Oliver Cope

Oliver Cope was recently appointed as chief conductor of Chromatica Orchestra, making him one of youngest conductors in the country to hold a titled position with a professional orchestra.

He was a prize-winner at the 2026 Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, where he was awarded the BR-KLASSIK studio production prize with the Bamberger Symphoniker. He was also First Prize winner of both the Kussewitzky Competition and the International Athens Conducting Competition. Oliver read music at Clare College, Cambridge, and then studied with Sian Edwards at the Royal Academy of Music, and with Martyn Brabbins at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Chromatica Orchestra made its debut at Battersea Arts Centre in October 2024. Formerly Bath Festival Orchestra, the ensemble was relaunched as Chromatica by its founding artistic director, conductor Peter Manning, with a new base in South London. Regularly performing in Battersea, the orchestra has developed close partnerships with the Music in Secondary Schools Trust and Newham’s Bobby Moore Academy.

Chromatica Orchestra was founded to nurture the next generation of musical talent, bringing together outstanding emerging orchestral players with brilliant soloists, and Oliver is its first chief conductor. He regards his role as 'someone to steer the ship', and his ideas for the orchestra align with those of the players and management. Chromatica is a new orchestra, and London is not short of excellent orchestras. But for Oliver, Chromatica has a distinct reason to exist. It is focused on where the players are in their careers. He feels that there is a gap in London when it comes to early career players. He wants Chromatica to be free to look at ways to do things differently, whether it is the way they play programmes or experimenting with venues. Chromatica's regular concert series at Battersea Arts Centre is already a step away from traditional venues.

Music in anxious times: Hatfield House Music Festival opens with a captivating evening of music from the time the house first opened

Musicians preparing for the opening concert of Hatfield House Music Festival
under the watchful eye of Queen Elizabeth I in the Marble Hall

Music which pleaseth myne ear: Thomas Morley, John Dowland, William Byrd, Tobias Hume, William Lawes, John Coprario; The Sixteen, Fretwork, Joy Smith, Eligio Luis Quinteiro, Harry Christophers; Hatfield House Music Festival in the Marble Hall
Reviewed 8 October 2027

A captivating and enlightening evening of music by Byrd and his contemporaries mixing viol consort, vocal ensemble and instrumental dances complete with pavans for harp consort and some of Byrd's consort songs

When the first Lord Salisbury built Hatfield House (completed in 1611), he employed various musicians including a viol concert to perform in the house. The present Lord Salisbury cannot quite run to that, but this year marks the 15th anniversary of the Hatfield House Music Festival which was founded with cellist Guy Johnston as the artistic director. This year's festival celebrates not just that anniversary, but Lord Salisbury's 80th birthday, and of course the 400th anniversary of the death of John Dowland.

For the opening concert of the festival, at 5pm on Thursday 8 October 2026 in Hatfield House's Marble Hall (one of the first Lord Salisbury's original interiors now presided over by the 'Rainbow Portrait' of Queen Elizabeth I) we returned to the early 17th century for Music which pleaseth myne ear, a programme of music by William Byrd and his contemporaries. Music that would have been around at the time of the house's completion. Harry Christophers and members of The Sixteen (Katy Hill, Alexandra Kidgell, Elisabeth Paul, Mark Dobell, Oscar Golden Lee, Ben Davies, Rob Macdonald) were joined by the viol consort Fretwork (Emilia Benjamin, Christopher Terepin, Joanna Levine, Sam Stadlen, Richard Boothby), harpist Joy Smith, and lutenist Eligio Luis Quinteiro for a programme that moved between unaccompanied part-songs and devotional songs, viol consorts, dances and more concerted pieces.

The music of William Byrd was central to the evening and the sheer variety of his output was apparent. Here was sacred music in Latin and English both liturgical and intended for private devotions, secular music on classical subjects and for pure entertainment, and instrumental music including a pavan in honour of the first Earl of Salisbury. As Stephen Johnson pointed out in his programme notes, the way Byrd wrote to "please the powers at be whilst offering a message of consolation and hope to those with ears to hear it" rather resembles the balancing act the Dmitri Shostakovich had to undertake.

Celebrating John Joubert at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in advance of his 2027 centenary

John Joubert [photo: Graham Boulton]

Next year is the centenary of Birmingham’s pre-eminent composer John Joubert (1927-2019). Born in South Africa, John Joubert wrote over 180 works, ranging from operas and orchestral music to choral works and short carols [his final opera, Jane Eyre received its stage premiere at Grimeborn Festival last year, see my review].  

He made his home in Moseley where he lived for over 50 years and was a much-loved teacher and conductor at University of Birmingham.

As a taster for next year's centenary celebrations, Jeffrey Skidmore (founder of Ex Cathedra) will conduct RBC Chamber Choir in The Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on 29 October 2026 in a programme that mixes Joubert's music with that of Byrd, Parry and Rachmaninoff.  

Jeffrey Skidmore explains, "The idea for the programme came from a 50th anniversary concert that Ex Cathedra gave in Joubert’s honour in 1987.  Joubert wrote in the programme about the inspiration of his school in South Africa where he was introduced to works by Byrd, Parry and Rachmaninoff.  His own compositions, There is no rose, O Lorde the maker of al thing, and Torches, are now modern-day classics.  We’ll also include the Magnificat he wrote for the cathedral in Cape Town, and that links to the concluding piece South of the Line – which I consider to be his masterpiece – a setting of five of Thomas Hardy’s powerful anti-Boer War poems."

Full details from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire's website. 

O’Hare Music Centre, Britten Pears Arts’ new hub for music education, participation and artist development

Students on the Advanced Young Musicians Programme [Photo: Britten Pears Arts]

Britten Pears Arts’ O’Hare Music Centre has opened up in the newly refurbished Britten Pears Building at Snape Maltings. As part of phase 1 of Snape's capital programme, the modernisation of the Britten Pears Building – originally converted in 1979 - was led by architects De Matos Ryan and built by Hutton Construction. A new lift has been installed, five larger music studios have been created, all the technical facilities modernised and the upper floor has been transformed into a state-of-the-art Clore Learning Space.

The Centre brings together the organisation’s work with children, young people, and emerging professional musicians under one roof, offering musical opportunities for artists of all ages: from early years to advanced musicians aged 18, as well as training and creative development opportunities for experienced and internationally established professional musicians as part of the Britten Pears Young Artist & Residencies programmes. 

The launch marks a significant step in Britten Pears Arts’ commitment to nurturing future generations of musicians while strengthening access to high-quality musical opportunities across East Suffolk. A new significant partnership with the Norfolk & Suffolk Music Hub will enable its work for and with children and young people significantly across the next few years. This includes termly performance opportunities for pathways programmes within the Hub as well as a term-time, weekly Saturday school for children of all ages, and the establishment of new singing groups on a Friday afternoon.  

Advanced Young Musicians (AYM) is the organisation’s musical progression programme for talented young musicians from Suffolk and East Anglia. From September 2026, AYM enters an exciting new chapter, with expanded opportunities, a refreshed structure, and a new home in the Centre The programme brings together up to 40 young musicians for weekly Saturday sessions and students will be closely connected to the wider Britten Pears Arts programme, with opportunities to take part in the Aldeburgh Festival, attend masterclasses, observe rehearsals, and engage with an international community of artists.

Further information from Britten Pears Arts' website.

Emad Zolfaghari is the first viola winner in Windsor Festival International String Competition's history

First prize winner, Canadian violist Emad Zolfaghari performing at 
Windsor Festival International String Competition 2026 
[Photo: Julian Guidera]

 This year's Windsor Festival International String Competition celebrated its 10th anniversary and, for the first time, the final on 2 October 2026 featured concerto performances with orchestra - the Orpheus Sinfonia, conductor Rory Macdonald.

And in another first, the winner this year was a viola player: the 21 year old Canadian, Emad Zolfaghari. In what was an extremely close-run final, a joint second prize was awarded to two violinists - 18 year old Lithuanian, Rokas Diržys, and 23 year old American, Sophie Werner. Diržys also won both the Orchestra Prize and the Audience Prize.

Zolfaghari played Walton's Viola Concerto,  Diržys played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Werner played Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216.

There was an impressive line up of judges:

Joji Hattori: Violinist and Conductor, Hsin-Yun Huang: Violist, Raphael Wallfisch: Cellist, Sally Beamish: Composer, Rory Macdonald: Conductor, Alexander van Ingen: Executive Producer, Champs Hill Records, Tom Philpott: Director of Artistic Planning, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Martin Denny: Director, Windsor Festival.

As the winner, Emad Zolfaghari receives a cash prize, a solo recording with Champs Hill Records, performance in Windsor Castle during the 2027 Windsor Festival with associate orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra followed by a UK tour, a concerto commission from composer Sally Beamish, featuring a world premiere performance in London with Orpheus Sinfonia in June 2027, and recital opportunities.

Emad Zolfaghari is a graduate of the Curtis Institute, and is currently a Kovner Fellow at the Juilliard School. He plays on a fine 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola on generous loan from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation [see my interview with Rachel]. 

Further information from the festival website.