Anna Clyne announced as composer-in-residence with the CBSO for 2026/27 with new viola concerto with Lawrence Power, new recording with Jess Gillam and more

Anna Clyne (Photo: Victoria Stevens)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has announced that USA-based British composer Anna Clyne has been appointed composer-in-residence for the 2026/27 season. Her work with the CBSO will include major symphonic performances, a world premiere commission and a significant new recording project.

Concert highlights include Restless Oceans in a programme conducted by the CBSO's music director Kazuki Yamada in September 2026, as well as her saxophone concerto, Glasslands, performed by CBSO collaborative artist Jess Gillam under the baton of Alpesh Chauhan, with a Decca recording of the work forming part of the project.     

In March 2027, the CBSO will give the world premiere of Clyne’s new Viola Concerto – Resonant Forms – co-commissioned by the orchestra for Lawrence Power. Her piece Night Ferry will also be performed as part of the CBSO’s Halloween themed Family Concert in October 2026.    

Clyne’s residency will extend beyond the concert platform, with collaborations including a project with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, educational visits to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Shireland CBSO Academy, and involvement in the CBSO’s Orchestral Residency Scheme with young musicians in July 2027, featuring her work PALETTE – a concerto for Augmented Orchestra. 

Clyne's cello concerto DANCE was performed by National Youth Orchestra as part of Shimmer, its January 2026 programme, and she was awarded her first Ivor Novello Award for Orbits, a piece commissioned and performed by The Sixteen and Harry Christophers setting the poem I Live My Life In Growing Orbits by Rilke in a translation by American poet Robert Bly [see my review]. Her piece, The Years, was performed at the BBC Proms in August 2025 by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Fabio Luisi as part of the orchestra's centenary celebrations [see my review].

Clyne's announcement at composer-in-residence comes after recent announcements of Ilan Volkov as principal guest conductor from 2026 to 2029; pianist Alice Sara Ott and saxophonist Jess Gillam as collaborative artists for 2026–28; composer and producer Rushil Ranjan as collaborative artist for 2025-27; along with the confirmation that Kazuki Yamada will remain music director until at least the end of the 2028-29 Season

Full details from the CBSO's website. 

 

'Music in Motion' and 'Cosmic': National Children's Orchestras present two showcase concerts at Bristol Beacon with Anna Lapwood

National Children's Orchestras (Photo: Paul Blakemore )

Next month, a pair of concerts at Bristol Beacon will showcase the talents of the National Children's Orchestra (NCO). Music in Motion on Sunday 5 April, sees the 12-13 year olds of NCO’s Under 13 Orchestra present the highlights of their first residential of the year with music from Bernstein's West Side Story, Khachaturian's Gayeneh Suite, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances and works by Arturo Marquez and Perez Prado.

On Sunday 12 April, the 13-14 year olds of NCO’s Under 14 Orchestra will conclude their residential week with a performance of their Cosmic programme where they will be joined by organist (and NCO alumna) Anna Lapwood for music by Richard Strauss, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Holst, Kristina Arakelyan and John Powell's music from How to train your dragon!

Founded in 1978, NCO brings together nearly 2,000 young musicians annually through residential activities, regional projects, and non-auditioned workshops to foster musical, social, and personal development and provide young budding musicians with the environment and opportunities to flourish and perform to their full potential.

Earlier this year NCO announced an ambitious programme of orchestral weeks, weekends and further public concerts in additional locations across Liverpool, Wiltshire and London. With these public concerts, expanded regional activity, new partnerships and a renewed focus on audience development, 2026 marks a significant moment in NCO’s mission to ensure that more children, regardless of background, can experience the transformative impact of music.

Full information from NCO's website.

Pauline Viardot, Francesca Caccini, an early Handel magic opera, late Mozart and more: Buxton International Festival's 2026 season

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Paula Sides in John Savournin's production at Scottish Opera 2025 (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Buxton International Festival is going from strength to strength and the 2026 festival, which runs from 9 to 26 July, features 160 events across 17 days including six opera production (four of them new productions), alongside a concert programme, jazz, book events and more. In recent years it has staged musicals alongside lesser-known opera. This year it is presenting two well-known main-stage operas, Lehar's The Merry Widow and Verdi's La traviata, alongside more rarified repertoire including Handel's Amadigi di Gaula, Viardot's Le dernier sorcier and Caccini's La liberazione di Ruggiero, along with Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.

John Savournin's to Italian-American Mafia-inspired production of Lehar's The Merry Widow (a co-production with Scottish Opera, Opera Holland Park and D’Oyly Carte Opera which we saw last summer, see my review) makes its Festival debut with Iwan Davies conducting the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. Paula Sides is Hanna Glawari and Dominic Sedgwick is Danilo.

A new production of Verdi's La traviata is a co-production with Norwich Theatre, directed by James Hurley and with Adrian Kelly, the Festival's artistic director, conducting the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. Polish-American soprano Alexandra Nowakowski is Violetta with Omer Kobijlak as Alfredo and Andre Heyboer as Germont.

Another Festival production is Handel's Amadigi di Gaula. Olivia Fuchs directs with Erin Helyard conducting the English Concert. American countertenor Jake Ingbar (whom we saw as Nireno in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Salzburg last year, see my review) is Amadigi with Rowan Pierce as Oriana, Hilary Cronin as Melissa and James Hall as Dardano. The Festival is also presenting a lesser known opera of a different vintage, Pauline Viardot's Le dernier sorcier. A chamber opera in two acts which has a libretto by the novelist Ivan Turgenev, with whom Viardot had a long relationship. Erika Gundesen conducts and Lysanne van Overbeek directs with a cast including Phil Wilcox, Eleri Gwilym, David Karapetian and Rebecca Anderson.

Vache Baroque bring their production of Francesca Caccini's opera La liberazione di Ruggiero, the first known opera by a woman and complete with a horse ballet! Eloise Lally directs with Jonathan Darbourne conducting an ensemble of period instruments. Camilla Seale is Alcina, Jon Stainsby is Ruggiero, and Phoebe Rayner is Melissa.

There are two performances of a semi-staging of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito. Adrian Kelly conducts the Buxton International Festival Orchestra and a chorus from the Royal Northern College of Music with a cast including Xavier Mas, Maria Stella Maurizi, Indyana Schneider, and Frances Gregory.

Visitors to the festival include the Sacconi Quartet, celebrating its 25th anniversary; harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani in a programme of Handel and Scarlatti; soprano Louise Alder, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, tenor Nicky Spence, baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Joseph Middleton in four linked song recitals each inspired by points of the compass; the Sitkovetsky Trio in Beethoven's Ghost Trio; cellist Stephen Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih in Sterndale Bennett, Britten and Messager; the Gould Piano Trio in James MacMillan; Will Duerden, Daniil Margulis and Svitlana Kosenko in music for two double basses and piano; the Brodsky Quartet in an American-inspired programme; pianist Peter Donohoe in Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin and Schumann; actor Alexander Armstrong, soprano Claire Booth and pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen explore the roaring Twenties; oboist Ewan Miller and pianist Tomos Boyle in music by Bach, Barber, Musgrave and Brahms; pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason in Beethoven, Ravel, and Dobrinka Tabakova; bass Alistair Miles and pianist Marie-Noelle Kendall in Brahms, Ibert, Finzi and Strauss' Four Last Songs.

Vache Baroque present a programme of Dowland, Iwan Davies (conductor of The Merry Widow) directs Twentieth Century Din in Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire with Allison Cook, and Erwin Stein's chamber version of Mahler's Symphony No. 4. Euan Shields conducts the Halle Orchestra in Weber, Richard Strauss and Brahms. There are concerts in Poole's Cavern featuring music from opera and musicals,

Full information from the festival website.

Easter Music Course for 8 to 13s, new Movement for Musicians & Creative Writing: Guildhall School's programme of Easter Short Courses

Easter Music Course

The Guildhall School offers a wide range courses above and beyond full-time study. There are Summer Evening Courses, Easter Short Courses and Summer Schools, with many courses offered on-line. 

The Easter Short Course programme features 15 short courses, 6 of which are brand new. These include 4 drama courses, 2 new writing courses, 8 music courses and 1 new skills for the creative industry course. The deadline to book for all Easter short courses is 5pm, Thursday 2 April 2026, or when the course reaches full capacity.

The Easter Music Course is for young instrumentalists aged 8 to 13 playing any bowed string, wind, brass or percussion instrument (Grade 1 or above: equivalent to one year's experience), who are looking to gain some ensemble experience in different performance settings including orchestra, small ensembles, and choir. The course culminates in an informal concert for friends and family to showcase the work they have developed during the course, including a piece of original music, which will be created as a group. This course is taught by tutors from Junior Guildhall, led by Spencer Down – Brass Coordinator at Junior Guildhall and Creative Director of Guildhall Young Artists.  

New courses include two in-person three-day Acting Intensive courses, for ages 11 to 14, and 15 to 17, delving into modern industry practice, building upon traditional Stanislavsky-based methods. Another new, in-person course is Movement for Musicians, designed to inspire fresh enthusiasm and awareness for the importance of bodywork and movement in artistic practice.

There is a new Creative Writing for Ages 14-17 led by London writer Annie Hayter, and Writing a Solo Show (for 18+ ) designed to help you create a one-person performance from scratch. Focusing on Skills for Creative Industries, there is a new one-day masterclass, Creative Evaluation Methods.

Whilst all the acting courses are in-person, three of the music courses are on-line. Full details from the Guildhall School's website.

 

 

 

Hugill in New York: Laetare Jerusalem at St Patrick's Cathedral

St Patrick's Cathedral, New York (Photo from the Live Stream)

A Facebook contact very kindly alerted me to the fact that the 10:15am Solemn Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York on Sunday 15 March (Laetare Sunday) was going to feature my motet Laetare Jerusalem. Luckily the service is Live Streamed so we were able to eavesdrop on the performance. Bravo and many thanks to the choir and their music director.

The service is available on YouTube, on the cathedral's YouTube Channel.

Laetare Jerusalem is a setting of the Introit for the Fourth Sunday in Lent and comes from Tempus per Annum my sequence of motets for the church's year, setting the Latin introits for Sundays and major feasts. All are available from CPDL.

    Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her:
    rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow:
    that you exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.
    I rejoiced at the things that were said to me:
    we shall go into the house of the Lord.
 

Vital & engaging: Handel's early English masque, Acis and Galatea, alongside his setting of Dryden's A Song for St Cecilia, harking back to concerts from 1739

Auguste Ottin
Polyphemus Surprising Acis and Galatea
1852-63, Luxembourg Gardens

Handel: Acis and Galatea (1718), Ode for St Cecilia; Carolyn Sampson, Laurence Kilsby, William Thomas, Jonathan Hanley, Archie Inns, Gabrieli, Paul McCreesh; London Handel Festival at Smith Square Hall
Reviewed 14 March 2026

Harking back to one of Handel's concerts from 1739, Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli presented vital performances of two contrasting works with engaging solos and fine instrumental playing. 

Handel's Acis and Galatea and his Ode for St Cecilia is not a particularly obvious pairing. Yet in 1739, when Handel presented his first London season without any Italian opera because the continental wars made recruiting Italian singers difficult, that is exactly what he did. The season included Alexander's Feast and initially Handel paired the Ode for St Cecilia with Alexander's Feast, but after the first performance he changed plans, perhaps wanting greater contrast. Instead, the Ode for St Cecilia was paired with Acis and Galatea, reverting to an adaptation of the work's original 1718 masque version rather than the grander serenata version Handel created in 1732.

On Saturday 14 March 2026, Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli evoked his concert at Smith Square Hall with the original 1718 version of Acis and Galatea alongside the Ode for St Cecilia. The cast for Acis and Galatea featured Laurence Kilsby and Carolyn Sampson in the title roles, plus William Thomas as Polyphemus, Jonathan Hanley as Damon and Archie Inns as Coridon. Then Kilsby and Sampson took the solo parts in the Ode for St Cecilia.

The inclusion of Acis and Galatea in the concert seemed somewhat a luxury for the festival given that it staged the 1718 version at Stone Nest in 2022, also with William Thomas as Polyphemus [see my review]. That said, experimenting with Handel's own somewhat unwieldy, by modern standards, concert programmes is exactly what this type of festival should be doing.

Elegance, exuberance and one remarkable woman: the Academy of Ancient Music travels to Georgian London to discover the lost world of musical innovator, Elisabetta da Gambarini

Elisabetta da Gamberini

Handel, Elisabetta de Gambarini, Geminiani, Carlo Tessarini; Mhairi Lawson, Academy of Ancient Music led by Bojan Čičić; Milton Court Concert Hall
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 12 March 2026

The Academy of Ancient Music plunges deep into the colourful world of Elisabetta da Gambarini - composer, virtuoso and entrepreneur as well as the first woman ever to publish music in England

The Academy of Ancient Music’s tribute to Elisabetta da Gambarini and her contemporaries proved an enjoyable and unforgettable show with an excellent programme exploring the vibrant musical landscape of Georgian London showcasing the influence of immigrant musicians and the pioneering role of women engaged in 18th-century music-making.  

Relating mostly to the late baroque and classical music period, Gambarini (who lived for only 33 years from 1731 to 1765) achieved distinction by being an all-round musician performing on and composing for a variety of instruments as well as voice. Her compositions were known to reflect that of vocal work instead of instrumental patterns.  

Born on 7th September 1731 in Holles Street, Marylebone, Elisabetta Gambarini’s father, Charles Gambarini, acted as Counsellor to the Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel. He died in 1754 while his wife Joanna (Giovanna Paula) Stradiotti died in 1774. A nobleman from Lucca, Italy, her father published A Description of the Earl of Pembroke’s Pictures 1731 while her mother, of similar status from Dalmatia, is thought to have been a tutor to the nobility. 

The third of four children, Elisabetta (who on 20th March 1764 married Etienne Chazal at St Martin-in-the-Fields) was the only sibling surviving to maturity. She died at her home in Castle Court, Strand, in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, on 9th February 1765 and was interred at St James’ Church, Piccadilly, five days later - 14th February. 

Although there’s no specific information regarding her formal musical education there is speculation that Gambarini may have studied with Francesco Geminiani, composer of The Enchanted Forest, a baroque orchestral work inspired by Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata often performed with dance thereby depicting a mystical perilous forest. 

It takes two! Countertenor Agustín Pennino & mezzo-soprano Ella Orehek-Coddington on sharing the role of Rinaldo in Royal Academy Opera's forthcoming production of Handel's opera

Handel: Rinaldo - Agustín Pennino in rehearsal - Royal Academy Opera

Handel's Rinaldo was the first opera he wrote for London, in 1711. It was astoundingly popular; the first full Italian opera seria written for London, it went on to have over 50 performances during Handel's lifetime in the period from 1711 to 1731. During this period, the opera went through a remarkable number of revisions. The title role was written for the castrato Nicolini, whose performances in London in the period 1707 to 1717 went a long way towards establishing Italian opera in the city. [Countertenor Randall Scotting's recent disc, Divine Impresario: Nicolini on Stage, explores the castrato's musical world, see my review].

Whilst the title role in the 1731 revival of Rinaldo was also given to another castrato, Senesino, in the intervening period revivals saw the title role sung by both castratos and female altos. During the modern period, revivals have similarly given the role to men and to women; at Glyndebourne Opera, Robert Carsen's 2011 production saw Sonia Prina as Rinaldo [see my review of the BBC Proms performance], but later revivals of the production would see the role given to countertenors Christophe Dumaux, Iestyn Davies [see my review], and Jake Arditti.

On 17 March 2025, Royal Academy Opera is presenting Handel's Rinaldo in a production directed by Julia Burbach and conducted by David Bates. Performances run until 20 March with the title role shared between Uruguayan countertenor Agustín Pennino and Australian-Maltese mezzo-soprano Ella Orehek-Coddington. I recently caught up with Ella and Agustin to find out how sharing a role in a production worked with two different voice types.

Handel: Rinaldo - Ella Orehek-Coddington in rehearsal - Royal Academy Opera

A new Eugene Onegin, Orpheus returns, a second chance for Dead Man Walking: Opera North announces an imaginative new season for 2026/27

Verdi: Rigoletto - Sir Willard White, Callum Thorpe, Eric Greene, Roman Arndt, Themba Mvula - Opera North 2022 (Photo Clive Barda)

Opera North has announced its 2026/2027 season which is a canny mix of the new and the old. Autumn sees a new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin alongside a revival of the 2022 production of Verdi's Rigoletto. Christmas at the Howard Assembly Room features a new production of Will Todd's A Christmas Carol.

Spring sees a revival of Don Giovanni alongside the company's first performances of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking in the production first seen last year at ENO. There is also a new concert staging of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde alongside the exciting prospect of a revival of Jasdeep Singh Degun’s reimagining of Monteverdi’s Orfeo.

The new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Opera North's first in over 20 years, is a co-production with Irish National Opera and Opera Queensland. It will be directed by Patrick Nolan, artistic director of Opera Queensland, with designs by Leslie Travers and Elizabeth Gadsby, and conducted by Garry Walker, music director of Opera North. American baritone John Brancy takes the title role with Verity Wingate at Tatyana, Caspar Singh and Jingwen Cai as Lensky and Joshua Bloom as Gremin.

Director Femi Elufowoju Jr returns to Opera North to revive his production of Rigoletto which debuted in 2022 [see my review], conducted Patrick Lange. . Blake Denson makes his Opera North and role debut as Rigoletto, while Jasmine Habersham returns as Gilda, with Leonardo Sánchez as the Duke. Sir Willard White returns as Count Monterone, and other cast members include Callum Thorpe, Themba Mvula and Thomas Elwin.

Building on the success of the company's ‘Pay what you can’ performance of La bohème which saw 89 percent of tickets booked by people who had never been to an opera before, tickets for an additional Rigoletto performance will be offered on a ‘Pay what you can’ basis with support from the Laidlaw Opera Trust. A relaxed matinée for anyone who prefers a more informal theatre environment is also planned in Leeds.

Playwright David Simpatico, takes Dickens’ original words from A Christmas Carol and added some extra festive sparkle by including variations on traditional Victorian carols, all set to music by Will Todd. Garry Walker conducts and PJ Harris directs with members of the Chorus of Opera North accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble.

I missed Alessandro Talevi's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni when it was new, so look forward to making its acquaintance. The conductor is Chloe Rooke, with Mark Stone in the title role, with Sara Cortolezzis as Donna Anna, Alexandra Lowe as Donna Elvira, David Ireland as Leporello, Anthony Gregory as Don Ottavio, and Claire Lees as Zerlina.

The production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking is a co-production with English National Opera and Finnish National Opera. Directed by Annilese Miskimmon and conducted by Ben Glassberg, the cast features Christine Rice reprising her role (and making her Opera North debut) as Sister Helen with Johannes Moore (who made such an impression in Britten's Peter Grimes recently, see my review) as Joseph De Rocher and Kate Royal as Mrs Patrick De Rocher.

Monteverdi & Jasdeep Singh Degun: Orpheus - Jasdeep Singh Degun - Opera North 2022 (Photo: Tom Arber)

Orpheus, which features music by Monteverdi alongside that of Jasdeep Singh Degun, places the South Asian and western baroque singers and musicians centre stage, focusing on the incredible musicality of the piece, winning awards when the production was new in 2022. For this revival, Jasdeep Singh Degun and Ashok Gupta are music directors and the production is presented in collaboration with SAA-uk.

The new staging of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde will be conducted by the company's principal guest conductor, Anthony Hermus, and directed by Peter Mumford (who directed the company's Ring Cycle). The cast includes John Matthew Myers and Wendy Bryn Harmer (in their Opera North debuts) in the title roles. The production debuts at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall and travels to the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham and Symphony Hall, Birmingham before ending at the newly refurbished Leeds Town Hall.

Summer 2026, sees the company back at Nevill Holt Festival for the second year of their five-year collaboration. James Hurley directs Donizetti's Don Pasquale, conducted by Michael Papadopoulos. An opera that the company has not performed for 35 years. Grant Doyle sings the title role, with Harriet Eyley as Norina, Aaron Godfrey-Mayes as Ernesto and Henry Neill as Malatesta. Plans for the 2027 collaboration with Nevill Holt will be announced later this year.

Highlights of the Orchestra of Opera North's 2026-2027 Kirklees Concert Season include Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony and Mahler’s Ninth conducted by Garry Walker. Antony Hermus will conduct Debussy, Ravel and Richard Strauss, while guest conductors include Ryan Wigglesworth and Erina Yashima. Distilled, the company’s popular series of intimate lunchtime chamber concerts, continues at Dewsbury Town Hall and the Howard Assembly Room in Leeds, featuring repertoire chosen and played by members of the Orchestra.

The company's widely admired In Harmony programme reaches over 3,200 pupils each week in 13 schools, while structured vocal and instrumental learning pathways are offered through the Company’s Talent Development Programme. The coming year brings Opera North’s first matinées for primary schoolchildren featuring the popular operatic whodunnit The Big Opera Mystery, and a Creative Industries Insight Day for secondary schools, which will include workshops and a performance of Don Giovanni adapted for schools at Leeds Grand Theatre.

Building on the success of the monthly Melodic Memories sessions for people with dementia and their carers, Opera North will be launching a new monthly Dementia Café to be held in the company’s HAR bar on New Briggate in Leeds. The adult online singing workshops From Couch to Chorus return with an opportunity to sing with the Chorus of Opera North either remotely or in person.

Full details from Opera North's website.

Letter from Florida: Lisette Oropesa delivers fireworks at Palm Beach Opera's 2026 Gala

Lisette Oropesa & members of Palm Beach Opera - Palm Beach Opera 2026 Gala

Palm Beach Opera 2026 Gala; Lisette Oropesa, Micheal Borowitz; Mediterranean Ballroom, The Breakers (1896, Palm Beach Inn), Palm Beach, Florida
Reviewed by Robert J Carreras (2 March 2026)

What do fireworks, opera and Cuba have in common? 

Behind and over our shoulders, the first notes of Jules Massenet’s Gavotte served as a sound and voice check for one Lisette Oropesa. All relaxed systems go. Bird of passage concert galas like these bubble over when there is something of a laid back tone. 

As Manon, Ms. Oropesa’s way invites something like insouciance. Her direct communications to the audience between numbers take another direction, inviting something of the formal. The soprano has a way of making a comfortable fit out of the fun and frolic and the glitz and glamour for Palm Beach Opera’s (PBO) 2026 Gala presentation.

Throughout Europe and the Americas in 2026, opera’s most historic spaces will play host to its most luminescent performers in concerts like this one. To have this event in Palm Beach is a bit of an exceptional coup, with one exceptional headliner after another dating back to when Renee Fleming came to town in 2013. Others that have topped PBO Gala marquees over the years – Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau, Sondra Radvanovsky, Christian Van Horn, Nadine Sierra, Matthew Polenzani, Piotr Beczala, and Anna Netrebko.

Palm Beach Opera 2026 Gala at The Breakers, Palm Beach

A coterie of the company’s male resident artists, Lisette Oropesa’s escorts, framed the stage and the fireworks around the piano for that first number. The evening’s expectations may have been high, but the explosions came from the lower part of the stave as much as above it. Oropesa’s Manon, while still in warm-up mode, is the personification of the adage “youth is wasted on the young.” 

Divine Impresario - Nicolini on Stage: countertenor Randall Scotting explores the musical world of the first major castrato to sing in London

Divine Impresario: Nicolini on Stage: Broschi, Gasparini, Handel, Porpora, Mancini, Ariosto, Giaj; Randall Scotting, Mary Bevan, Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings; Signum Classics
Reviewed 3 March 2026

The first major castrato to sing in London who wowed audiences with his performances, Nicolini is an intriguing figure and on this disc Randall Scotting weaves a fascinating selection of arias written for Nicolini into an engaging recital

If you refer to an 18th century castrato then the likelihood is the first name to come time mind will be Farinelli who caused a sensation during his lifetime and whose reputation remains. But there were others, and the first to cause a stir in London, singing in the first complete Italian opera there, was Nicolò Grimaldi known as Nicolini. In London, Nicolini is associated with his roles for Handel: the title roles in Rinaldo (in 1711) and Amadigi di Gaula (in 1715). But he was more than simply a singer, being involved in the operas themselves.

It is these aspects of Nicolini's career that countertenor Randall Scotting's new disc on Signum Classics, Divine Impresario: Nicolini on Stage seeks to illuminate. Joined by soprano Mary Bevan, the Academy of Ancient Music and Laurence Cummings, Scotting performs music from Broschi's Idaspe (Venice, 1730), Gasparini's Ambleto (London, 1712), Handel's Rinaldo (London, 1711), Porpora's Siface (Venice, 1726), Handel's Amadigi (London, 1715), Gasparini's Antioco (London, 1711), Mancini's Idaspe Fedele (London 1710), Ariosto's Tito Manlio (London, 1717), Gasparini's Tomiri (London, 1709), and Giaj's Mitridate (Venice, 1729).

Nicolini made his debut in London with Scarlatti's Pirro e Demetrio which had nearly 60 performances between 1708 and 1717. Another early success was Mancini's Idaspe fedele, where Nicolini wowed audiences with a scene where, wearing a flesh-coloured bodysuit, he wrestled with a lion. A scene so popular it had to be encored. Nicolini had brought the score of Idaspe with him to London, but it was adapted for London according to his wishes with the music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch (of Threepenny Opera fame). 

Nicolini had created the role of Idaspe in Mancini's Idaspe fedele in 1705, so when he came to London the opera was clearly a favourite he wanted to revive. And still, in 1730 in Venice he would return to the role of Idaspe for the fourth time, this time in Ricardo Broschi's Idaspe (originally written for Broschi's brother, Farinelli).

Painting of a rehearsal for Scarlatti’s Pirro e Demetrio by the Venetian master Marco Ricci from around 1709; Nicolini stands poised at the center of the scene.

Opera historian Angus Heriot claims that with his arrival in London, Nicolini was "perhaps more than any other single person responsible for the popularity of Italian opera in England". Nicolini was based in London from 1708 to 1712, then for the next four years he iterated between Italy and London, returning for Handel's Amadigi and Ariosti's Tito manlio. By the 1720s he is a somewhat mature, more elder-statesman performing in Europe but seems to have had something of a golden season in Venice in 1729 and 1730. The disc reflects these two, the London operas and the late Venetian ones.

From Wynton Marsalis to Scriabin, from Mozart to Missy Mazzoli: Edinburgh International Festival launches the 2026 season on theme of All Rise

Nicola Benedetti (Image: Andrew Perry)

Under the title All Rise, this year's Edinburgh International Festival is presenting 24 days of performances from 7 to 30 August 2026. Nicola Benedetti's fourth programme as Festival Director features 147 performances in total with five world premieres and eight works commissioned by the festival. Over 2000 artists will be taking part, of which over 700 are Scots. And the Festival feels that nowhere else in the UK does a festival have the ability to take such creative risks

Whilst this year's title, All Rise, rather makes me think of 'The Ladies who Lunch' from Sondheim's Company, the phrase is in fact the name of a work by Wynton Marsalis that will open the festival, performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (with Marsalis in his final year as artistic director), the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Edinburgh Festival Chorus and Jason Max Ferdinand Singers, some 200 performers in all, conducted by James Gaffigan.

This opening work points to the Festival's theme, as it sheds a spotlight on the USA during the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Independence (though whether, by August, we will feel like celebrating the USA is a moot point.) The Festival is presenting the largest number of American artists in its history and aims to focus themes arising from a focus on the USA - freedom, ingenuity, hypocrisy, prejudice. The Festival was founded in 1947 in the belief that culture could help rebuild understanding between nations. Benedetti explained that in 2026 what they wanted to do was avoid the myth and effectively remythologise through art to create a truer but messier story of the USA.

The Festival will feature the premiere of Missy Mazzoli's opera The Galloping Cure, with libretto by Royce Vavrek. The work will be staged by Tom Morris, thus reuniting Mazzoli, Vavrek and Morris after the 2019 staging of Breaking the Waves. The new opera is an allegory about the opioid crisis, a darkly funny tale that is a devastating critique of contemporary society. It features a cast including Daniela Mack, Justin Austin and Susan Bullock, conducted by Stuart Stratford.

Still on the American theme. Zurich Opera will be bringing their production of Verdi's A Masked Ball, directed by Adele Thomas and conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. The production uses the original, Boston version of the libretto but resets the piece in the American Gilded Age. There are two casts, Stephen Costello, Dalibero Jenis and Elena Stikhina, and Piero Pretti, George Petean and Erika Grimaldi.

There are two operas in concert. Mozart's Don Giovanni features Maxim Emelyanychev conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Konstantin Krimmel, Michael Sumuel, Louse Alder, Janai Brugger and Hera Hyesang Park. Strauss's Elektra features Karina Canellakis conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Irene Theorin, Vida Mikneviciute and Nina Stemme.

Verdi: A Masked Ball - Zurich Opera (Photo: Herwig Prammer)

The return of the King's Theatre after refurbishment means that the venue becomes the focus for some of the theatre programme. International Theater Amsterdam is bringing Ivo van Hove's production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America with the two plays compressed into a single five-hour evening.

A collaboration between the Festival, Festival d'Avignon and Holland Festival, all three of which were established in 1947, will feature A Trial, conceived and directed by Christiane Jatahy with actor Wagner Moura. A sequel to Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, the work will put Thomas Stockmann on trial, and it will be up to the audience to judge. Belgian company Olympique Dramatique brings together a cast of Deaf and hearing actors to reimagine Chekov's The Seagull performed largely in sign language. Khashabi Theatre with writer/director Bashar Murkus and dramaturg Khulood Basel will be presenting a retelling of the legendary 14th century poem The Epic of Bani Hilal combining physical theatre, music, puppetry and dance, mixing Palestinian folklore with Arab performance styles.

The Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra is finally making its Festival debut and besides the opening concert there is also Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige and the premiere of a collaboration with pianist Yuja Wang. A jazz-adjacent concert will feature the National Youth Orchestra of the USA conducted by Karina Canellakis in Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F with Kirill Gerstein and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.

There is a residency for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, when Gustavo Dudamel conducts concerts including the UK premiere of Gabriela Ortiz's Revolucion diamantina, a work focusing on female violence and Mexican feminism, and Thomas Ades's Inferno, alongside Beethoven symphonies. The Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and conductor Rafael Payare will be performing Coleridge Taylor's complete 1899 cantata trilogy, The Song of Hiawatha, the first time it has been performed at the festival. There is also a concert featuring music by Canadian Indigenous composers. The Berlin Philharmonic returns to the Festival after a gap of 20 years with a two-concert residency conducted by Kirill Petrenko including by Elgar's Enigma Variations, music by Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, and Scriabin's Symphony No. 3 'Le divine poeme'.

Bach to Bach will feature a marathon day of Bach's music with a come-and-sing Bach chorales event, the complete cello suites from Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Vikingur Olafsson in recital.

The Epic of Bani Hilal - (Photo: Khulood Basel)

Concerts at the Queen's Hall feature the Dunedin Consort in the Scottish premiere of Tansy Davies's Passion of Mary Magdalene based on non-canonical gospels and ancient texts, guitarist Sean Shibe's Festival debut, a new commission from composer Stuart Macrae and performances from the Festival's Rising Stars.

Alabama's The Legacy Museum, in its first international exhibition, is presenting The Legacy of Slavery at the Playfair Library charting not only the history of racial injustice in America but also Scotland's links to slavery. A series of post-show talks with the creative teams will complement seven productions in the opera and theatre programme.

Over 50,000 tickets will be available for £30 or less including £10 'give it a go' tickets for all events. And there are free tickets for 8-18-year olds, NHS staff, charity workers and low-income benefit recipients.

Full details from the Festival website.

A life of quiet industry: songs by Ina Boyle alongside her teachers & friends from Ailish Tynan, Paula Murrihy, Robin Tritschler, Iain Burnside at Wigmore Hall

Ina Boyle

Ina Boyle: a Rediscovery, songs by Ina Boyle, Charles Wood, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Elizabeth Maconchy; Ailish Tynan, Paula Murrihy, Robin Tritschler, Iain Burnside; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 10 March 2026

An exploration of Irish composer Ina Boyle's song legacy in performances that were never less than engaging and sometimes profoundly moving, leaving one puzzled as to why we don't know this repertoire better 

Ina Boyle is an intriguing figure: she might be said to have lived a life of quiet industry, with music and family being important to her. She was relatively prolific even though she hardly travelled after World War Two, yet few songs were published in her lifetime.

Born and brought up in County Wicklow, family was important, and she lived in Wicklow all her life. Though she had some success during her lifetime, she remained somewhat on the fringes. Lessons with Ralph Vaughan Williams during the 1920s and 1930s and friendship with some of his other female pupils has led her to be associated with composers such as Elizabeth Maconchy (with whom she had a 50-year friendship), Elizabeth Lutyens and Grace Williams, but it is worth bearing in mind that she was around 20 years older than them.

Her music is in the process of being rediscovered yet though there have been discs of her songs (on Delphian) and her orchestral music (on Dutton Epoch), it has not yet reached common currency.

On 10 March 2025 at Wigmore Hall, Ina Boyle: a Rediscovery presented Ailish Tynan (soprano), Paula Murrihy (mezzo-soprano), Robin Tritschler (tenor) and Iain Burnside (piano) in a programme of Ina Boyle's songs performed alongside those of her teachers, Charles Wood and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and her friend Elizabeth Maconchy. Rather impressively for a programme of somewhat less-known music, all of Boyle's songs were performed from memory.

Meaning & drama: Bach's St John Passion from Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists with Peter Whelan, Nick Pritchard, Konstantin Krimmel

Bach: St John Passion - Nick Pritchard, Peter Whelan, Konstantin Krimmel, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists - St Martin in the Fields (Photo: Paul Marc Mitchell)

Bach: St John Passion; Nick Pritchard, Konstantin Krimmel, Julia Doyle, Rebecca Leggett, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Peter Whelan; St Martin in the Fields
Reviewed 10 March 2026

Nick Pritchard's Evangelist on compelling form and complemented by a performance of satisfyingly dramatic urgency from Peter Whelan, choir and orchestra in an account of the St John Passion that filled the space

Peter Whelan, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists are in the middle of a short tour of Bach's St John Passion. Last week they were in Barcelona and early next month they are in Budapest, with a performance in London on 10 March 2026 at St Martin in the Fields [and yes, the day after Peter Whelan conducted his Irish Baroque Orchestra at Wigmore Hall, see my review].

Nick Pritchard was the Evangelist and sang the tenor arias, Konstantin Krimmel was Jesus and sang the bass arias, with Julia Doyle singing the soprano arias, and Rebecca Leggett (from the choir) singing the alto arias. The other solo roles were taken by choir members with Malachy Frame as Pilate, Cressida Sharp as the maid, Will Wright as the officer and servant and Tristan Hambleton as Peter.

Bach: St John Passion - Nick Pritchard, Peter Whelan, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists - St Martin in the Fields (Photo: Paul Marc Mitchell)

Whelan conducted the standard version of Bach's St John Passion, with a choir of 23 (including a mix of male and female altos) and orchestra of 23. Whelan directed from the harpsichord (an instrument that in sound terms was a bit underpowered) with continuo also provided by organ and lute. In sonic terms it was a very powerful, up-front performance with the choral and orchestral sound enveloping the audience. Balance was good and in the big choral numbers you never felt that the focus was too much on the choir.

The first Thai composer to be commissioned to write for a major European opera house: Prach Boondiskulchok's new operas in Amsterdam and Brussels

Prach Boondiskulchok

Composer Prach Boondiskulchok is perhaps as well known as a pianist, as part of the Linos Piano Trio [see my review of their 2023 disc, Maurice Ravel: In search of lost dance] but that may be about to change.

His opera short Lesson will be premiered in the Opera Forward showcase at the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam on 12 March by Dutch National Opera as part of a programme of seven new operas under the banner of Harvest. Harvest is the result of mezzo-soprano and director Cora Burggraaf’s invitation to a group of contemporary composers to each write a short monodrama in close collaboration with several well-experienced singers. Each composer and musician collaboration provokes a fresh approach to straddling the tension of opera: contextualising itself within historical repertoire whilst innovating forwards, with new conceptualisations of colour and texture. 

But his full-length opera Burmese Days, based on George Orwell’s 1936 debut novel Burmese Days, has been commissioned by La Monnaie / De Munt in Brussels and will be premiered in summer 2027. The work is an exploration of the colonial mores at an exclusive members club in the dying days of the British Empire.  Controversy and tensions arise when the club admits their first non-European member.   Political ambitions and romantic entanglements spill over against the backdrop of colonial machinery and Buddhist cosmology.  The opera is scored for classical ensemble Het Muziek and virtuoso musicians from Myanmar and Thailand (Hsaign Waing and Piphat music) – this will be a modern synthesis of Western and Southeast Asian music traditions.

In 2025, Boondiskulchok was a resident composer with Het Muziek (formerly Asko|Schönberg Ensemble) conducting research and development for his new opera, Burmese Days.  He is the first Thai composer to be commissioned to write for a major European opera house. 

Further information from his website.

Storytelling, musicality & musicology: Hugh Cutting, Peter Whelan & Irish Baroque Orchestra in The Trials of Tenducci at Wigmore Hall

Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci (c. 1773)
(Photo: The Barber Institute of Fine Arts)

The Trials of Tenducci: Mozart, Johann Christian Bach, Gluck, Thomas Arne, Johann Christian Fischer, Tommaso Giordani; Hugh Cutting, Peter Whelan, Irish Baroque Orchestra; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 9 March 2026

Irish Baroque Orchestra makes a welcome visit to London with a wonderful evening combining story-telling and virtuosity, exploring music associated with the impecunious Italian castrato Tenducci on his travels in England & Ireland with performances of great presence and bravura

When I interviewed Peter Whelan last year he talked about his interest not only in music but in the stories behind it, [see my interview 'Spurred on by the story-telling'] and this is exemplified by his series of discs with Irish Baroque Orchestra exploring Ireland's 18th century musical heritage by focusing on particular characters. Notable amongst these was their 2021 disc The Trials of Tenducci on Linn Records [see my review] focusing on the Italian castrato, Tenducci who made a career in England and Ireland along with getting himself into one or two scrapes!

On Monday 9 March 2026, Peter Whelan and Irish Baroque Orchestra (IBO) were joined by countertenor Hugh Cutting for a concert version of The Trials of Tenducci at Wigmore Hall. The programme included music that Tenducci had sung, music by composers with whom he was friends and music by contemporaries in Ireland, including pieces by Mozart, Johann Christian Bach, Gluck, Thomas Arne, Johann Christian Fischer and Tommaso Giordani.

New music, rare Mahler, the Big Sing, Eric Coates & young musicians: Cheltenham Music Festival 2026

South Cotswold Big Sing Group

Artistic director Jack Bazalgette has announced the full programme for the 81st Cheltenham Music Festival which runs from 3 to 11 July 2026. Bazalgette, promises "a chance to bring all kinds of people together and take the temperature of classical music today, get really excited for its future, and expand our horizons ever further."

The festival opens with Nicholas Collon conducting Aurora Orchestra in Jessie Montgomery's Strum, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with soloist Benjamin Grosvenor and Mozart's Symphony No. 41 'Jupiter' played from memory.  David Crown will be conducting Cheltenham Bach Choir and the Musical and Amicable Society Orchestra in Verdi's Requiem with a terrific line-up of soloists - Ella Taylor, Rebecca Afonwy-Jones, Tom Elwin and Julian Close. Then the festival will be closed by John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London in a programme of English music from Vaughan Williams to Richard Rodney Bennett, with a focus on the music Eric Coates.

Another large-scale concert in more ways than one takes place at Tewkesbury Abbey when Adrian Partington conducts the British Sinfonietta and South Cotswold Big Sing Group in Bruckner's Te Deum and Mahler's Das Klagende Lied. Mahler wrote Das Klagende Lied between 1878 and 1880, then continued tinkering with it until the work was finally premiered in 1901. During that time, Mahler radically restructured the performing forces and reduced the work to two movements from three. Adrian Partington has opted to perform Mahler's 1893 revision which is still in three parts but reduces the performing forces somewhat (the number of harps in the first part being reduced from six to two, and the vocal soloists from eleven to four!). This is thought to be the first time that this version has been performed in the UK.

Soloists include pianists Mariam Bastsashvili (in Schubert and Liszt), Angela Hewitt (in Bach, Schumann and Ravel) and Pavel Kolesnikov (in an extended recital exploring Chopin’s complete Nocturnes). Siblings Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason have a duo concert, performing Fanny Mendelssohn, Nadia Boulanger, Robert Schumann and a transcription of Rebecca Clarke's Viola Sonata. Soprano Sophie Bevan and pianist Christopher Glynn join Harriet Walter for Shakespeare's Sisters featuring music inspired by Shakespeare alongside readings.

Senegalese multi-instrumentalist Dudù Kouate will be joining Irish folk musician, Shunya, and Jess Gillam Trio will deliver an energetic repertoire inspired by classical, jazz and folk.

The Festival's second Friday will feature a showcase concert for the members of this year's Composer Academy led by composer Laura Bowler, with the Carice Singers and George Parris. 

New commissions feature across the programme: Irish-Italian violinist Violetta Suvini and Friends will perform three world premieres – from Jasmine Morris, Ben Nobuto and Imogen Davey. Vision String Quartet will perform their own commissioned piece for the first time, alongside works by Mozart and Grieg, all from memory.

In exciting collaboration, Fantasia Orchestra will perform with Jasdeep Singh Degun several of the sitar player’s own compositions, including a brand new co-commission, In Search of Redemption. They will also perform, among other pieces, Terry Riley’s revolutionary In C.

The collaboration with BBC New Generation Artists returns this year with recitals from Astatine Trio, Hana Chang (violin) and Oleg Shebeta-Dragan (clarinet). Also returning will be the Festival's Concert for Schools and SEND-focused Relaxed Concert for Schools and Relaxed Concert for Families. And the winner of the Gloucestershire Musician of the Year, 18-year-old Herbie Asquith-Dixon (violin) will perform Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 with Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra, conductor Glyn Oxley.

Cheltenham Bach Choir at Cheltenham Town Hall (Photo: Still Moving Media for Cheltenham Festivals)

For the Festival's opening weekend there are free pop-up concerts around town featuring a wide variety of artists from two brass bands, a saxophone quartet, and Tewkesbury Pub Singers to Iranian voice and guitar, Ukrainian bandura and voice, and Community "come and sing".

Full details from the festival website.

From Sappho to Strozzi to Errollyn Wallen: Nardus Williams, Elizabeth Kenny & Mary Beard's Women and Power at Wigmore Hall

Riana Duncan cartoon from Punch (1988) - From Flickr

Women and power: Maddalena Casulana, Isabella de’ Medici, Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, Settimia Caccini, Rosa Giacinta Badalla, Claudia Sessa, Errollyn Wallen; Nardus Williams, Elizabeth Kenny, Mary Beard; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 8 March 2026

Mary Beard brings out the political undertones and classical references in music by 16th and 17th century Italian women composers in pleasingly direct and intimate performances from Nardus Williams and Elizabeth Kenny leading to the premiere of a terrific piece by Errollyn Wallen.

International Women's Day at Wigmore Hall began with Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective in Fanny Mendelssohn's Piano Trio, plus music by Madeleine Dring, Amy Beach and Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, then in the afternoon violist Rosalind Ventris presented a programme of unaccompanied viola music from 20th and 21st centuries by Lilian Fuchs, Imogen Holst, Elizabeth Maconchy, Thea Musgrave, Sally Beamish, and Amanda Feery.

In the evening, Nardus Williams (soprano), Elizabeth Kenny (lute/theorbo) and Mary Beard (speaker) presented Women and Power, an evening that mixed 16th and 17th century Italian music by women composers with Beard's illuminating discourse and ended with the premiere of Errollyn Wallen's setting of Carol Ann Duffy, Eurydice.

There were seven historic composers featured, Maddalena Casulana (c.1544-1566/83), Isabella de’ Medici (1542-1576), Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677), Francesca Caccini (1587-1641), Settimia Caccini (c.1591-1660), Rosa Giacinta Badalla (c.1660-c.1710), and Claudia Sessa (c.1570-c.1613/9).

A rich feast of poetry, symbolism & mime: The Music Troupe in Edward Lambert's Lorca-inspired In Five Years’ Time

Edward Lambert: In Five Years’ Time - James Schouten, Chris Murphy - The Music Troupe (Photo: Claire Shovelton)

Edward Lambert: In Five Years’ Time; James Schouten, Rosalind Dobson, Mae Heydorn, Lucy Gibbs, Fiona Hymns, Jean-Max Lattemann, Chris Murphy, Thomas Stevenson, The Music Troupe, director: Walter Hall, music director: Alistair Burton; The Croft Hall, Hungerford
Reviewed by Chris de Souza, 1 March 2026

Turning the intimate space of the Croft Hall, Hungerford into a world of magic, The Music Troupe performs Edward Lambert's In Five Years’ Time, a rich feast of poetry, symbolism and mime, where Lamberts music adds and draws out something extra from Federico García Lorca’s words

If you were looking for interesting music theatre, would you look in Hungerford? Perhaps you should, because from time to time Edward Lambert turns up with his company The Music Troupe at the Croft Hall, and turns the intimate space into a world of magic. Never more so than on March 1st when they presented their latest production In Five years Time. It’s based on a surrealist play by Federico García Lorca, whose complex dream-scape, once believed unstageable, Lambert has made into a beautiful precis of moonlit characters who inhabit a past, present and future at any moment.

This is something music can do better than any other art form, and something which Lambert thrives on. Lorca’s poetic symbolism of water and shadow and moonlight comes to life through the easy flow of his melodies, and the wide open harmonies they create in combination.

Edward Lambert: In Five Years’ Time - The Music Troupe (Photo: Claire Shovelton)

The story of an artist trying to find his inspiration until he is finally killed became horridly and uncannily prophetic of Lorca’s own life. He was murdered during the Spanish Civil War five years to the day after he signed and dated his playscript.

Not only has German-born singer, Ute Lemper, found affection on the world’s stage as a cabaret-style performer, she’s also taken on starring roles in West End and Broadway musicals.

Ute Lempe (Photo: Steffen Thalemann)

Ute Lemper: Berlin Cabaret; Ute Lempe, conductor: Robert Ziegler; Cambridge Music Festival at Cambridge Corn Exchange

Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 5 March 2026

As part of the Cambridge Music Festival, Ute Lemper wowed a full house at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in a lovely and inviting programme of Berlin cabaret songs from the era of the Weimar Republic. 

As a teenager, Ute Lemper (who, incidentally, trained at the Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in Vienna) fronted the punk-rock group, Panama Drive Band, at the age of 16. As her career blossomed, she established herself as a leading interpreter of Weimar Republic cabaret songs with Kurt Weill at the forefront of her expansive repertoire. 

An ambitious and adventurous performer, Lemper (born in Munster, Germany but now resides in New York City) enjoys a prolific career in musical theatre, too. For instance, she played Sally Bowles in the original Paris production by Jerome Savary of Cabaret for which she won the 1987 Molière Award for Best Newcomer as well as taking on the role of Velma Kelly in the revival of Chicago on Broadway and in the West End which duly won her the 1998 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.  

She also appeared in the original Viennese production of Cats (playing the roles of Grizabella and Bombalurina) and the title role in Peter Pan as well as recreating the Marlene Dietrich role of Lola in The Blue Angel directed by Peter Zadek.  

Furthermore, she dubbed the singing voices of Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame for German-speaking audiences while the Marseille-born dancer, choreographer and opera director, Maurice Bejart, created a ballet for her, La Mort Subite, premièred at the Palais des Congrès, Paris, in 1991. 

Therefore, it comes as no surprise to learn that Lemper was named Billboard’s ‘Crossover Artist of the Year’ in 1993 being such a prolific and diverse singer. Her extensive discography includes excellent interpretations of Kurt Weill’s compositions from the late 1980s in addition to German cabaret songs sung by Marlene Dietrich and, indeed, those by Parisian singer, Edith Piaf, which were politically motivated and sung in underground locations in 1930s Berlin.  

Currently, she dedicates most of her concert tours to the theatrical show Rendezvous with Marlene, telling Marlene Dietrich’s true story in words and music. A hugely popular show, performances pop up the world over. In fact, Lemper’s latest album, appropriately named Rendezvous with Marlene, features 20 of the most beloved songs that she sang but, of course, reinvented by Lemper. 

But for her show at the Cambridge Corn Exchange (forming part of the Cambridge Music Festival) Lemper treated an admiring and eager audience to her 1930s Berlin cabaret show working alongside an eight-piece band directed by Robert Ziegler comprising Karen Street  (saxophones, clarinet, accordion), Andy Tweed (saxophones, clarinet), Noel Langley (trumpet), Joel Knee (trombone), Mitch Dalton (guitar), Andy Massey (piano), Steve Pearce (bass) and Ralph Salmins (drums). A brilliant bunch of musicians, you wouldn’t getter better. 

Featuring iconic works including works by Kurt Weill, Mischa Spoliansky, Friedrich Holländer and George Gershwin, the show depicted songs from the era of the fragile and shaky Weimar Republic (active from 1918 to 1933) plagued by extreme political violence and a crippling economic crises with its systemic flaws, proportional representation and the like causing weak coalitions thus allowing radical right-wing parties, particularly the Nazis, to exploit public despair and dismantle the republic from within.