A delightful jeu d'esprit: a strong cast has great fun with Peter Tranchell's 1950s operetta Twice a Kiss

Peter Tranchell (Courtesy: Independent Society of Musicians)

Peter Tranchell: Tu es Petrus in fuga, Seven Pieces in Alphabetical Order, The Dog That Sat, No more of THEE and ME, Twice a Kiss, Maho Ishizaka: Tickle the Keys; Daniel Gilchrist, Sophie Bevan, Hilary Summers, Jennifer France, Henry Waddington, James Gilchrist, Christopher Purves, Tom Winpenny, Piers Lane, David Doidge, Michael Papadopoulos, Imperial College Chamber Choir, Jonathan Wikeley
Reviewed 18 April 2025

A comic operetta by 20th-century Cambridge composer Peter Tranchell proves to be a delightful jeu d'esprit with a strong cast demonstrating their enjoyment of the music, alongside a selection of pieces giving us an idea of the wide range of Tranchell's musical world

Peter Tranchell was a Cambridge-trained composer and conductor who lectured in music at the university and was Praecentor of Gonville and Caius College until his retirement in 1989. His musical output, often linked to his various musical activities at the university, was many and varied with a chameleon-like assumption of style along with an interest in serialism, his music moving between writing for the Footlights, the chapel choir along with larger-scale works like his opera The Mayor of Casterbridge (1951).  

About this latter, Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote to Tranchell after hearing a performance in Cambridge, 'I was very much interested in your opera.  Of course to my old-fashioned ears there were rather too many “wrong notes” in the music, but that is my misfortune.  It seemed to me, if I may say so, that your music definitely understood the stage and was very effective dramatic music, which is after all what opera should be.' The 'wrong notes' being RVW's references to Tranchell's fondness for twelve-tone writing.

The Peter Tranchell Foundation was created to promote his music and from 2022 (the year of his centenary) has run a composition prize. On Saturday 18 April 2026 at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge the Foundation presented an evening of Tranchell's music alongside a performance of the winning entry in the 2025 competition, Maho Ishizaka's Tickle the Keys. The centrepiece of the evening was a performance of Tranchell's comic one-act operetta Twice a Kiss with Daniel Gilchrist, Sophie Bevan, Hilary Summers, Jennifer France, Henry Waddington, James Gilchrist, and Christopher Purves, along with Piers Lane (piano), David Doidge (piano) and Tom Winpenny (organ), conducted by Michael Papadopoulos.

The evening began with Tom Winpenny playing the third and final movement of Tranchell's organ sonata Tu es Petrus in Fuga on the organ of St Paul's Church. This work was written for Peter Le Huray in 1958, the letters from whose name are used to create the pitches of the main themes. Though notated in quadruple time, the music plays with irregular rhythms and the result was a surprisingly perky, rhythmically intriguing theme that Tranchell developed into music that mixed opaque harmony with constant, dramatic movement.

The piece that made me fall in love with song: mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston on Schumann's Dichterliebe & recording the songs that make her want to get up in the morning

Helen Charlston (Photo: Julien Gazeau)

On 8 May, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston has a new solo disc out on BIS. It is something of a contrast with her two previous recital discs one of which focused on Purcell and the other on lute song. This time the focus is more Romantic: A Poet's Love, with pianist Sholto Kynoch, features Schumann's Dichterliebe alongside the premiere recording of Héloïse Werner’s Knights Dream. 

It has been a busy and varied period for Helen. We caught her last October singing the title role in Handel's Solomon with John Butt and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment [see my review]. And when we chatted recently, she had had a busy few weeks devoted to Bach's passions (with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Dresdner Philharmonie) and cantatas (with the Academy of Ancient Music). But in between she created the role of Marianne for Michel van der Aa’s new opera Theory of Flames with Dutch National Opera as part of the annual Opera Forward Festival.

Though in some ways we associate her voice with earlier repertoire, Helen sings a lot of song recitals and the German Romantic repertoire is important to her. She describes Dichterliebe as 'the piece that made me fall in love with song' and the new disc was her first opportunity to record it. She was asked to perform Dichterliebe at the 2023 Oxford Song Festival, so she and Sholto Kynoch built a programme around it, and she adds that she feels lucky to have found that musical relationship with Sholto. This has led to a three-disc project focusing on Schumann's song cycles, and she enjoys the fact that she is starting Schumann with such a big piece from the canon.

A vividly theatrical mix of Eastern folk traditions & 17th century Italian music: MOURN from Alkanna Graeca & Figure

MOURN: music by Monteverdi, Strozzi, Cesti, Gesualdo plus folk music from Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean; Figure, Frederick Waxman, Alkanna Graeca 
Reviewed 16 April 2026

Pairing Eastern European folk traditions, many polyphonic, with 16th and 17th century Italian music all exploring loss and lament might seem unlikely but the performances from both singers and instrumentalists were vivid and theatrical, gripping us from start to finish 

Somebody could write (or probably has written) a thesis on the way the lament and music of mourning from 16th and 17th century classical music was indebted to folk traditions, looking at the way these traditions of mourning continued in the folk traditions of the Balkans. But instead of that, Frederick Waxman's period ensemble Figure, who are never ones to shy away from risk-taking, joined forces with the vocal trio Alkanna Graeca (Alexandra Achillea, Irini Arabatzi, Dunja Botic), whose repertoire blends raw folk traditions from the Balkans, to create MOURN, a music-theatrical exploration of the experience of loss. We caught the first of two performances of MOURN at Stone Nest on 16 April 2026.

The three singers, Alexandra Achillea, Irini Arabatzi, Dunja Botic, mix classical, jazz, improvisation and folk. They demonstrated their chops in the challenging folk music of the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean by starting the evening dressed in black, standing in half darkness on the balcony at Stone Nest singing Mirgangula, a piece of polyphonic folk tradition from Georgia. The result was a thrillingly raw sound that captured the visceral nature of this type of folk music. Frederick Waxman and Figure followed this with the Passacaille from Lully's Armide, a juxtaposition that should not have worked but did, the Georgian folk piece having a greater complexity than we might have imagined and the Lully gaining in directness. It helped that Figure was configured as a small but mighty ensemble of Naomi Burrell and James Toll, violins, Sergio BUcheli, lute, Jan Zahourek, double bass, and Waxman on chamber organ. 

Orpheus returns, raag, rhythm & a new sitar concerto: Jasdeep Singh Degun to be artist in residence at Barbican Centre for 2026/27

Jasdeep Singh Degun (Photo: Govert Driessen)

Leeds-born sitar player and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun continues to push the envelope. His recent concert with Tom Featherstonhaugh and Fantasia Orchestra [see my review] served as a digest of the story so far with excerpts from Degun's first album and first sitar concerto, yet his most recent album Jogkauns (on Real World Records) is structured as a traditional Indian classical concert, presenting the entirety of the music within a single raag. 

Now, London audiences will get the chance to explore Degun's work further as it has been announced that he is an artist in residence at the Barbican Centre for the 2026/27 season with three major events planned, building on Degun's achievement becoming the first British Asian musician to receive the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award, marking a significant moment in his career and the wider cultural landscape. 

The residency culminates in the London premiere of critically acclaimed reimagining of Claudio Monteverdi’s Orpheus. Already announced as part of Opera North's 2026/27 season this is a revival the original 2022 production which combined Monteverdi's score with new material bringing together artists from Indian and Western classical traditions in a large-scale cross-cultural work. Degun is returning to the work as co-musical director alongside harpsichordist Ashok Gupta, with tenor James Way as Orpheus. Opera North is touring the production with performances at Leeds Playhouse, and in Bradford, Liverpool, Leicester and London's Barbican.

Monteverdi/Jasdeep Singh Degun: Orpheus - Shahbaz Hussain on tabla, RN Prakash on ghatam, Mark Wagstaff on percussion, Sergio Bucheli on theorbo, Jasdeep Singh Degun on sitar and Andrew Long on violin - Opera North, 2022 (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Before then there are two other occasions to hear Degun at the Barbican. In October 2026, Degun joins tabla maestro Sukhvinder Singh ‘Pinky’, as part of the Darbar Festival which celebrates the distinct strands of the Indian classical tradition over five days. For their event, Degun and Singh will be guiding audiences through the infinite riches of raag and rhythm.

Then in January 2027 comes the premiere of Degun's new Sitar Concerto commissioned by the Barbican and premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Kirill Karabits alongside works by John Adams (The Chairman Dances) and Sergei Prokofiev (Symphony No. 7).

Jasdeep Singh Degun commented, "I’ve always seen my work as a part of the wider musical landscape in the UK, moving naturally between different contexts and tradition. This residency allows me to share this in a meaningful way, and marks a significant milestone for me personally. I’m very much looking forward to presenting my music and connecting with new audiences." 

75 glorious years: arising out of work to celebrate the Guildhall of St George, the King's Lynn Festival is in celebratory mood

The Guildhall of St George in King's Lynn (Image: Matthew Usher)

Founded in 1951, the King's Lynn Festival has a long and distinguished history. It arose because Alexander Penrose and Lord and Lady Fermoy wanted to save the Guildhall of St George – now believed to be the oldest working theatre in the UK that once hosted Shakespeare – which was nearly lost after the Second World War. Penrose’s vision of using it as an arts centre captured the imagination of Lord and Lady Fermoy. Together, they formed a trust, raised restoration funds, and transformed the Guildhall into a cultural hub.  

Now, the festival is celebrating its 75th anniversary with two weeks of events from 12 to 25 July 2026 encompassing a diverse programme of music, talks, exhibitions and events. There is a memorial recital for Ruth, Lady Fermoy being given by pianist Boris Gilburg, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Beethoven's Eroica Symphony which closed that first festival. There are visits from BBC New Generation Artists, and Coffee Concerts showcasing a range of young artists. Other distinguished visitors include two of the Kanneh-Mason Siblings, the Academy of Ancient Music, guitarist Craig Ogden, and baritone Roderick Williams is giving two concerts

This year, things open with a concert by Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band encompassing Elgar, Eric Coates and Berlioz. In a more challenging vein, Contemporary Consort invites listeners to explore the music of Mark-Anthony Turnage with a concert putting his chamber music next to that of Stravinsky, Copland and Bernstein, then the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective bring music clarinet quintets by Coleridge-Taylor and Brahms.

The Guildhall Singers, conductor Andres Hernandez Salazar premiere a new piece by Norfolk--based composer James McConnel in a programme that moves from Purcell and Lassus to Mantyjarvi, Whitacre and Shearing.

Siblings Sheku and Issata Kanneh-Mason bring their distinctive musicality to music by Mendelssohn, Nadia Boulanger, Schumann and Rebecca Clarke (a transcription of her Viola Sonata).  Anne Heemsker, Kate Bennett Wadsworth and David Wright (flute, cello and harpsichord) explore the chamber music of the two great contemporaries Bach and Telemann. The Novo Quartet, BBC New Generation Artists, pair quartets by Haydn and Mendelssohn. 

At St Nicholas' Chapel, organist Francesca Massey will be presenting an eclectic recital of organ music from Bach to Frances Pott.  Still in St Nicholas Chapel, the viol duo Jacqui Roberson-Wade and Peter Wendland will be exploring music from pre-Revolutionary France. Bojan Cicic directs the Academy of Ancient Music in a programme of Italian concertos, mixing Vivaldi with Mossi, Locatelli, Velentini and Corelli with music for one, two and four solo violins. 

The King's Lynn Festival Chorus are joined by violinist Charlie Lovell-Jones, baritone Roderick Williams, pianist Ella O'Neill and conductor Ben Horden for RVW's The Lark Ascending, and Five Mystical Songs, plus Elgar's Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands. Roderick Williams returns with pianist Iain Burnside for a recital that puts cherished English song by Vaughan Williams, Gurney and Howells, alongside Rhian Samuels and Vaughan Williams arrangements of songs from the Appalachian Mountains.

Guitarist Craig Ogden will be taking listeners on a journey from Fantasy to flamenco, and Dowland's Foundry mark the composer's 400th anniversary. 

There are five coffee concerts, with the Novo Quartet returning for Mozart and Nielson; Joel Munday, violin and Julian Trevelyan, piano in sonatas by Mozart and Brahms, plus Ravel's Tzigane; Rose McLachlan, piano plays Schubert and Chopin; Sirius Chau, flute and Gwenellian Llyr, harp in Spohr, Debussy and more; and the Paddington Trio in Haydn and Beethoven's Archduke Trio.

On a lighter note, Magpie Lane present an evening of traditional English song and dance, whilst the Bowjangles quartet takes things in a more cabaret direction, and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra encourages us to take a step back to a more glamorous era.

The Ruth, Lady Fermoy Memorial Concert features pianist Boris Giltburg in a virtuoso programme encompassing the Bach/Busoni Chaconne, Liszt's Sonata in B minor, preludes by Rachmaninoff and Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit. The Festival concludes with Adam Hickox conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Mendelssohn's The Hebrides Overture, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto (with BBC New Generation Artist, Hana Chang) and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, a work which concluded the first festival in 1951.

Full details from the Festival website. 

Beautifully wrought & intensely serious: Kitty Whately & Julius Drake explore the songs of Madeleine Dring

Through the Centuries: Songs by Madeleine Dring; Kitty Whately, Julius Drake; Chandos
Reviewed 15 April 2026

If you thought Madeleine Dring's songs were confined to camp nightclubs then think again. Here Kitty Whately and Julius Drake mine the composer's intensely serious side, revealing a woefully neglected and wilfully misunderstood composer.

Despite training at the Royal College of Music in the years before the Second World War alongside women such as Elizabeth Lutyens, Elizabeth Maconchy, Grace Williams, and Ruth Gipps, Madeleine Dring's reputation is much more that of an accidental composer: her songs simply happenings around her career in the theatre. And her reputation not helped that perhaps her best known song is her setting of Betjeman's Song of the Nightclub Proprietress where the rather camp, musical hall atmosphere is to the fore.

On this new disc on Chandos from mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and pianist Julius Drake, Through the centuries: songs of Madeleine Dring, they take an entirely serious and focused view of Dring the songwriter. We are treated to 20 songs from across Dring's career, though many are in fact of uncertain date. Apart from the last song, an arrangement of Cole Porter's In the still of the night, Dring the music theatre composer is entirely absent. Her 'day job' was as an actress and entertainer, writing some two dozen scores for the BBC and music for West End shows and reviews. As Lewis Foreman's excellent booklet note points out, because she often wrote songs at short notice, she did not deal with them systematically. As a result, we have to take each song on its merits rather than assigning early, middle or late.

An evening of connection, reflection, & celebration: Renell Shaw's The Windrush Suite at Kings Place

As part of Kings Place's Memory Unwrapped season composer, songwriter and producer Renell Shaw has a year-long artist residency. Shaw’s work bridges theatre, contemporary composition and artist led music, and his credits include music for The Crucible and Othello for Shakespeare’s Globe, Is God Is for the Royal Court Theatre, , as well as winning an Ivor Novello Award for Jazz Composition for Small Ensemble.

He is currently developing a new opera with Music Theatre Wales based on Yasuke, a samurai of African origin who served Oda Nobunaga between in the 16th century. Set to premiere in 2027, the work extends his practice further into long form music drama.  

On 25 June, Shaw will be presenting two works at Kings Place as part of Memory Unwrapped. The Windrush Suite and Echo in the Bones both feature on Shaw's albums, and this event will be the first ever performance with a full live ensemble.

The Windrush Suite pays homage to Shaw’s grandparents' journey from the Caribbean to Britain telling their stories of love, pain, struggle, and triumph through a fusion of jazz, spoken word and Caribbean traditions. Echo in the Bones explores what it means to be Black British through the eyes of the Windrush generation’s children - weaving music, history, and storytelling into a moving portrait of resistance, legacy, and belonging.

The concert features and ensemble of 12 musicians led by Shaw, mixing classical, jazz and contemporary including cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, multi-instrumentalist Orphy Robinson and legendary saxophonist Jean Toussaint.

As a central pillar of his 2026 residency at Kings Place, Renell Shaw leads a mentoring programme, The Artist’s Room. This is a bespoke masterclass series designed to bridge the gap between creative intuition and professional longevity. By mentoring two distinct cohorts, Young Artists (16–18) and an Open Room (19+), Shaw fosters a collaborative environment where aspiring musicians and creators can refine their musicality while gaining essential industry insights directly from a master storyteller.

The concluding part of Shaw's planned trilogy is planned for 9 October when a new commission, Remember Us Tomorrow is premiered during Black History Month. Shaw's most personal work to date, it asks what it means to be of Afro-Caribbean heritage after three generations in Britain, raising a fourth generation in a world that is both hyper-connected and deeply divided. What stories must we protect? And how do we ensure we are remembered as tomorrow takes shape.

Full details from Kings Place's website.

Music at the Heart of the community: Sinfonia Cymru take us from Latin America and France to concerts in local venues across Wales

One of Sinfonia Cymru's Cymuned Sessions

Sinfonia Cymru is a collective of dynamic professional musicians all aged under 30 committed to taking music across the length and breadth of Wales. Whilst the do perform regularly at some of Wales’ most popular arts venues, including Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Cardiff), The Riverfront (Newport) and Theatr Clwyd (Mold). They also want to perform in smaller communities and these events include the annual free ‘Cymuned’ tour, which visits museums, pubs, miners’ institutes and village halls across Wales.  

Later this month, the ensemble is joined by Colombian soprano Julieth Lozano Rolong [whom we heard earlier this year in one of Opera Rara's Salon Concerts, see my review] for Latin American Song, a journey through Latin America from the lush lyricism of María Grever to the rhythmic brilliance of Esther Forero, with each song written by a female composer, with events in Rhosygilwen, Mold and Cardiff. (24 April - 2 May) Then there are two opportunities to hear Tour de France, the ensemble's celebration of French music with piece by Lili Boulanger, Jean Françaix and Saint-Saëns in Newport and Barry. (6 & 7 May).

On a somewhat different scale, Sinfonia Cymru's Cymuned Sessions will be taking music to the heart of the community. [cymuned is Welsh for community]. They will be bringing live music to local areas, presenting free hour-long concerts. These family-friendly concerts take place in all sorts of venues across Wales: village halls, care homes, fruit and veg shops, cafés, rugby clubs and more. 

First off is a trio of flute, harp and cello travelling to Chepstow, Maesteg, Risca, Cemmaes and Neuadd Llan Ffestiniog Hall from 6 to 17 May, then later in May and June there will be two further ensembles touring to venues including Solva, Narbeth, Tre’ddol, Wrexham Pontyberem and Pentredŵr. All events are free but it is wise to book.

Full details from the Sinfonia Cymru website. 

 

 

Signs, Games & Messages: Lewes Chamber Music Festival 2026 celebrates Kurtág

From 11 to 14 June 2026, cellist and artistic director Beatrice Philips leads an ensemble of 15 chamber musicians and soloists for the 2026 Lewes Chamber Music Festival with a wonderfully diverse programme, celebrating Kurtag’s 100th anniversary via the festival’s theme: Exploring musical legacy, along with locally sourced refreshments and great cake!

The music of Kurtág threads its way through the festival with various incarnations of Signs Games & Messages, plus 12 Microludes for String Quartet, Hommage a R. Schumann, Jaketok and his transcriptions of Bach cantatas for piano four-hands (written for Kurtág to play with his wife.).

And this music has provided other threads that run through the programme. Alongside Kurtág's Bach, there are extracts from Bach's Goldberg Variations in its original version and in transcription for string trio. Whilst Kurtág's Hommage a R Schumann is written for the same instrumental combination as Schumann's Fairtytale for piano, clarinet and viola. And further Schumann includes his Adagio & Allegro for horn and piano, Six pieces in canonic form, and Piano Quartet. Plus there is a suite for piano, violin and clarinet by Darius Milhaud, with whom Kurtág had lessons in Paris.

Other homages include Ligeti's Horn Trio 'Hommage a Brahms', alongside Brahms' Sonata for viola and piano in E flat, and Sextet No.2 in G major. Other works include Ravel's Piano Trio, and music by Sally Beamish, Dora Pejacevic, Martinu, Bartok and Webern. The Saturday evening concert includes Janacek's String Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters' and tenor Laurence Kilsby joins the festival for Britten's Les Illuminations.

The gala concert on Saturday evening not only features a double length event with music by Kurtág, Schumann, Janacek and Britten, but refreshments which are the result of community efforts along with locally sourced wine. And the coffee for Sunday morning's coffee concert is locally are the result of community efforts and locally sourced wine, whilst the cakes served are locally-made and have gained a reputation for being outstanding.

Full details from the festival website. 

 

A new festival in Glasgow and Edinburgh recalls a forgotten 19th century Scottish musical pioneer, Helen Hopekirk

Helen Hopekirk - National Galleries of Scotland collection (Photo: National Galleries of Scotland)

A new festival is hoping to bring back the name of Helen Hopekirk. Born in Peebles in 1856, she was one of the most accomplished pianists and composers of her generation, and her accomplishments including playing her Piano Concerto (now lost) with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1900.

A new festival, the Helen Hopekirk Festival will mark her 170th anniversary with events in Glasgow and Edinburgh from 18 to 24 May 2026. 

A young trio of Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduates, Bubblyjock Collective will be presenting a concert featuring Hopekirk alongside other neglected names including Isobel Dunlop, Marie Dare and Claire Liddel. Dr Hannah Roberts will give a lecture-recital exploring the folk roots of Hopekirk's music, performing her work and unpacking the Scottish songs and Celtic traditions that shaped it, followed by a masterclass for young musicians.

Gary Steigerwalt and Dana Müller are the world's foremost Hopekirk scholars and performers and Steigerwalt’s recording Helen Hopekirk: Piano Music was the first album ever devoted to her music. They will be flying in from Arizona for a piano duo concert devoted to Hopekirk's music.

There is also a competition for young pianists and organists placing Scottish repertoire at the heart of young musicians' training. Free and open to the public, the closes with a winners' gala concert.

Helen Hopekirk studied with Scottish composer Alexander Mackenzie and with Carl Reinecke in Leipzig. She planned to continue her studies with Franz Liszt, but after his death studied instead with Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. She lived in Vienna until 1892 and then she and her husband moved to Paris. Her first large scale work, the Concertstück in D Minor for piano and orchestra, was written in Paris in 1893–94, and she performed it with the Scottish Orchestra under Georg Henschel in Edinburgh and Dundee in November 1894. She accepted an invitation to teach at the New England Conservatory, later leaving it to teach privately and to perform. She and her husband became American citizens in 1918, and her career was then focused on the USA. 

Full details from the festival website. 

From London to Jerusalem: America period instrument ensemble Apollo's Fire return to London for a second residency at St Martin in the Fields

Apollo's Fire

Apollo's Fire, the American period instrument ensemble led by its founder Jeanette Sorrell, is coming to the UK for a short tour featuring the company's second residency at the Church of St Martin in the Fields. They are at St Martin in the Fields on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 April and complete the mini-residency with a concert at Snape Maltings.

On Friday lunchtime there is Pubs and Palaces of 1610, a chamber recital exploring music from the crossroads of baroque and folk traditions, featuring duo and trio performances by five artists from the ensemble. Then the early evening concert sees Apollo's Fire joined by musicians from the English Baroque Soloists for Fencing Match – Duelling Double Concertos, with double concertos by Vivaldi, Telemann and Bach, plus dances by Rameau. Then late evening there is Baklava Bash: A Middle Eastern Celebration in the crypt, an evocation of a Middle-Eastern café with music from Israeli recorder virtuoso Daphna Mor and Palestinian-American oud master Ronnie Malley and friends.

Saturday sees the ensemble's residency conclude with O Jerusalem! Crossroads of Three Faiths, a musical tour through Jerusalem and its ancient Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarters, as surprising cross-influences emerge, as a Sephardic ballad leads to a classical Arabic love song, and selections from Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 echo the exotic and rapturous singing of the Jewish cantors in the temples. 

On Sunday 26 April, they will be again joined by musicians from the English Baroque Soloists for Fencing Match – Duelling Double Concertos at Snape Maltings.

Full details from Apollo's Fire's website. 

Cross-cultural cross currents: Jasdeep Singh Degun with Fantasia Orchestra in Terry Riley's iconic In C performed by string orchestra, piano, sitar and tabla at Smith Square Hall

Jasdeep Singh Degun, Gurdain Rayatt, Fantasia Orchestra, Tom Fetherstonhaugh - Smith Square Hall (Photo: Pablo Strong)

Terry Riley: In C, Jasdeep Singh Degun, Philip Glass, Rameau; Jasdeep Singh Degun, Gurdain Rayatt, Fantasia Orchestra, Tom Fetherstonhaugh; Smith Square Hall
Reviewed 10 April 2026

Minimalism, classical Indian music & French Baroque in an entrancing mix which saw the iconic In C including sitar and tabla alongside Jasdeep Singh Degun's own music in performances full of infectious joy

Sitar player and composer Jasdeep Sing Degun joined Tom Fetherstonhaugh and Fantasia Orchestra for a concert at Smith Square Hall on Friday 10 April 2026 with a wide-ranging programme which saw Degun, on sitar, and tabla player Gurdain Rayatt joining the orchestra in Terry Riley's iconic In C alongside music by Degun, Philip Glass and Rameau.

The orchestra consisted of an ensemble of 21 strings with Fetherstonhaugh playing the piano for the first half. We began with Degun's In Search of Redemption from his first album, Anomaly. We began with Fetherstonhaugh playing a gentle melody on the piano, then as sitar and strings joined they played the same melody in free heterophonic fashion. As the piece developed we became aware of Degun, the composer, adding layers each one with a different timbre and playing subtly different rhythms. The work ended with a fast riff for sitar (Degun) and tabla (Rayatt) over a string drone.

Jasdeep Singh Degun, Fantasia Orchestra - Smith Square Hall (Photo: Pablo Strong)

Gregory Spears opera Fellow Travelers celebrates its 10th anniversary with a nationwide USA tour collaborating with the Lavender Names Project

Gregory Spears: Fellow Travelers - Andy Acosta, Joseph Lattanzi - Seattle Opera (Photo: Sunny Martini)

They served their country. Their country fired them. And it's still happening 

Gregory Spears opera Fellow Travelers, with a libretto by Greg Pierce, premiered at Cincinnati Opera in 2016, directed by Kevin Newbury. Since then the work has been staged by more than 15 opera companies including London’s University College Opera.

The work is based on Thomas Mallon’s best-selling 2007 novel which tells a love-story set against the Lavender Scare, a piece of LGBTQ+ history from the 1950s that is still relatively unknown. The opera speaks to the experiences of those who were banned from government employment and subject to humiliating investigations because of their sexuality. The novel went on to form the basis for the 2023 TV series starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey, which reached wide audiences.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Spears' opera, director Kevin Newbury's production is undertaking a nationwide tour of the USA. The tour launched in February and March at Seattle Opera and Portland Opera. In his review of the Seattle Opera premiere, Thomas May said in The Seattle Times that 'Though rooted in fear from seven decades ago, the story feels unsettlingly present' and described the score as 'a sound world at once intimate and unexpectedly expansive, its modest forces carrying emotional weight well beyond their scale — much like the opera itself. '

The USA tour, one of the largest consortium projects ever attempted in the US opera industry, continues this summer with performances at San Diego Opera (July 10-12) and New York’s Glimmerglass Festival (July 18-Aug. 16), and 2027 performances begin with the opera’s Texas premiere at Austin Opera (Feb. 6-7), with Andy Acosta and Joseph Lattanzi in the two leading roles.

For this tour, the staging broadens its impact through the Lavender Names Project, a pioneering collaboration with the American LGBTQ+ Museum, ALL OUT, and the Lambda Archives of San Diego building community around the country by shedding light on a forgotten chapter of LGBTQ+ history that echoes today's political climate, which is again marked by the policing of identity.  This nationwide, grassroots archival research and community outreach initiative will galvanize libraries, universities and LGBTQ+ organizations in each city. 

Gregory Spears: Fellow Travelers - the closing scene at Seattle Opera (Photo: Sunny Martini)

Over the past year, the Lavender Names Project has collected photos and stories of members of the LGBTQ+ community who were systematically discriminated against, fired and mistreated by federal and local governments in the United States, including the military, from the "Lavender Scare" in 1953, to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the 1990s, to today.  The tour includes curated lobby installations for each performance venue which will feature these collected stories and exhibits detailing the history of the Lavender Scare.

 

 

Bridging worlds: premiere of Eleanor Alberga's Symphony No. 2 by Academy of St Martin in the Fields alongside music by Grazyna Bacewicz, Florence Price, Carolyn Shaw

Bridging Worlds: Grazyna Bacewicz, Florence Price, Carolyn Shaw, Eleanor Alberga; Elena Urioste, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Tomo Keller; Church of St Martin in the Fields
Reviewed 9 April 2026

The premiere of Eleanor Alberga's vividly inventive second symphony alongside works by three other women composers spanning two continents and two centuries in compelling performances 

Back in 2020, a wind ensemble from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields gave the first performance since its premiere in 1993 of Eleanor Alberga's Nightscape, then in Autumn 2021 the Academy launched The Beacon Project, a digital offering of educational resources and performance films that shine a light on three beacons of contemporary music: Eleanor Alberga, Sally Beamish, and Errollyn Wallen, with the first film to be issued being Alberga's Nightscape. In 2022, I chatted to Eleanor Alberga about Nightscape and also about her first symphony, which she had just completed [see my interview].

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields were so taken with Alberga's music that the idea of a commission developed and finally, last night (9 April 2026), the Academy of St Martin in the Fields directed from the violin by Tomo Keller premiered Eleanor Alberga's Symphony No. 2 at the Church of St Martin in the Fields as part of a concert entitled Bridging Worlds which featured Grazyna Bacewicz's Concerto for String Orchestra, Florence Price's Violin Concerto No. 1 (with soloist Elena Urioste) and Carolyn Shaw's Entr'acte.

It was a fascinating programme of 20th and 21st century music by women composers moving between Europe and America. The first half focused on the mid-Century period as Price's Violin Concerto No. 1 dates from 1939 whilst Bacewicz's piece dates from 1948. Then in the second half we had Shaw's 2011 work and Alberga's immediately contemporary one.

Elaborate vocal lines, aching beauty & expressive pain: The Portrait Players & Dame Emma Kirkby in I Voci Segreti

The Portrait Players (Emilia Agajew, Kristiina Watt, Claire Ward, Mirim Nohl) with Dame Emma Kirkby

I Voci Segreti: Monteverdi, Luzzaschi, Quagliati, Piccinini, Ortiz, Malvezzi, Coma, Settimia Caccini, Marenzio, Francesca Caccini; The Portrait Players, Dame Emma Kirkby; City Music Foundation at Bart's Great Hall
Reviewed 8 April 2025

The seductive sweetness of three voices weaving in and around each other: Dame Emma Kirkby joins the young ensemble, The Portrait Players, for a programme celebrating the concerto delle donne and the fondness for all-female vocal ensembles in 16th century Italy

The court of the d'Este family, the Dukes of Ferrara in the 16th century is in many ways tantalising. Some of this is caused by distance, how can we know anything about life over 500 years ago. But in the case of the Dukes of Ferrara, when Alfonso II d'Este died without a direct heir in 1597 the d'Este family's hold on the dukedom withered and in 1598 it became papal fief and archives from the period were catastrophically lost.

Ferrara in 16th century matters, because it was a musical hothouse. Alfonso II created the concerto delle donne, a consort of professional female singers that existed from 1580 to 1597, famed for the singers' technical and artistic virtuosity. The women were upper class but not necessarily noble and the music performed was highly private, part of Alfonso's musica secreta concerts.

A highly trained ensemble, one of their innovations was to move from a single voice singing diminutions over accompaniment to two or three highly ornamented voices singing varying diminutions at once, with the ornaments notated in detail by the composers. The concerto delle donne was directed by court composer Luzzasco Luzzaschi and his surviving music for the group is precious.

This idea of a private ensemble of female singers was influential in Italy at the period and a recent concert by The Portrait Players, as part of the City Music Foundation's (CMF) lunchtime recital series in the Great Hall at St Bart's Hospital, explored this repertoire by focusing on the concerto delle donne in Ferrara and the music created for and by the Caccini sisters in Florence.

On Wednesday 8 April 2026, The Portrait Players (Claire Ward, soprano, Kristiina Watt, theorbo/voice, Miriam Nohl, cello and Emilia Agajew, harp) were joined by soprano Dame Emma Kirkby whose familiarity with this repertoire goes back many decades. Alongside madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Annibale Come, Settimia Caccini, Francesca Caccini and Luca Marenzio we heard instrumental music by Paolo Quagliati, Alessandro Piccinini, Diego Ortiz and Cristofano Malvezzi. Claire Ward was a CMF Artist from 2022 to 2024 and founded The Portrait Players in 2023.

Ferrara and its castle, home of the concerto delle donne

In fact, the members of the concerto delle donne in Ferrara all played instruments too, including the lute and harp. For this concert Kristiina Watt both sang and played theorbo, sometimes simultaneously, with Miriam Nohl and Emilia Agajew providing the other instrumental support.

1976 and All That! Spitalfields Music Festival celebrates 50 years since its founding with contemporary music, classical repertoire and cross-artform collaborations including 20 premieres

The 2026 edition of the Spitalfields Music Festival begins the celebrations of the Festival's 50th anniversary. Established in 1976 by conductor Richard Hickox, this year marks the beginning of Spitalfields Music’s 50th anniversary celebrations which will culminate in 2027 with the anniversary of the first Festival.  The 2026 festival takes place from 26 June to 8 July in venues across East London, featuring cutting edge contemporary music, classical repertoire and cross-artform collaborations including 20 premieres.

In line with the festival's cross-artform themes, spoken word takes a prominent role. The opening concert features four newly commissioned poems on theme of what does peace look like, alongside a new work by Philip Herbert inspired by a quote from UN Secretary António Guterres: “Peace is the missing piece” performed by the City of London Sinfonia with music by George Walker, Reena Esmail, Arvo Pärt, and Sibelius. Then writer Ali Smith joins forces with the New European Ensemble to present the UK premieres of four new musical works based on her Seasonal Quartet novels - Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer, interspersed with readings from the books that inspired them. 

Broadcaster and writer Gillian Moore CBE is joined by Stephen Colegrave and Dennis Bovell MBE to delve into what made 1976, the year that Spitalfields Music was founded, such a defining year - The Great Heatwave; an economic crisis; the death of Benjamin Britten; the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK. 

Still on the theme of political engagement, for No man is an island soprano Mimi Doulton and Jonathan Higgins, electronics perform three new commissions by composers Elaine Mitchener, Linda Buckley and Krõõt-Kärt Kaev which reflect on what it means to be European today, ten years on from the referendum that sparked the UK’s decision to depart from the European Union. Whilst performer-composers Emily Levy and Matthew Bourne present a powerful reimagining of British folk music inspired by Julia Varley - a pioneering British activist, trade unionist, suffragette, and social reformer.

Standard Issue make their festival debut with a programme of contemporary music from female-identifying music creators, featuring the world premiere of a new piece by Australian composer and ecologist Kate Milligan which blends music and field recordings to explore the hidden world of London’s wildlife along the Islington canal. [I recently chatted to Standard Issue, see my article]. Trombone quartet Slide Action presents a concert that places the trombone in a completely new light featuring world premieres from Rockey Sun Keting, Ben Nobuto, Omri Kochavi, and the winner of the inaugural Henfrey-Spitalfields Prize. [I chatted to Slide Action in 2024 about their mission to create a new voice for the trombone, see my interview]

Carolyn Sampson stars in In the Belly of the Beast, a theatrical reimagining of three works from 18th century French composer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre’s Cantates Bibliques (Biblical cantatas) placing a contemporary feminist slant on the biblical tales of Adam, Jonah, and Jephthah, sung in translations by Toria Banks. For The Song Sung True, the Carice Singers and George Parris bring together seminal choral works from the 20th and 21st centuries, including a rarely performed masterpiece by Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur and choral music by Luigi Dallapiccola. Along with the London premieres of four new works by fresh talent from the Composers Academy at Cheltenham Music Festival. [I chatted to George Parris at the end of last year, see my interview]

To close this year's edition, the festival returns to the Tower of London for a concert in collaboration with the Choir of the Chapels Royal, HM Tower of London that explores the historic legacy of music dating back to the 16th Century featuring Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli. 

Returning to that 1976 founding of the festival, singer, songwriter and composer Tom Hickox, the son of founder Richard Hickox, returns to Spitalfields Music Festival with a concert featuring New YVC that combines new material with songs and compositions from his previous albums. 

And Spitalfields Music isn't just about the festival. Their RAM Schools Tour is a long-standing collaboration with the Royal Academy of Music which brings musicians into classrooms around East London. An ensemble of musicians from the RAM delivers interactive performances during school assemblies, connecting music to PSHE topics, and bringing it to life in an engaging way for our young audiences. Whilst during the festival, 200 children from the Neighbourhood Schools come together to connect and celebrate through song in the Primary Big Sing, including a specially commissioned piece written for the young people by composer Anna Pool.

Full details from the festival's website. 

Sofiane Pamart: Cinematic Horizons with "MOVIE"

Sofiane Pamart

French pianist and composer Sofiane Pamart is redefining modern classical music for a new generation. 

Known for blending high fashion, street culture, and virtuosic piano mastery, Pamart has amassed over a billion streams worldwide, earning him the distinction of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.

He studied piano and classical music at the Conservatoire de Lille for sixteen years and the Conservatory Gold Medal at the age of 23. He also has a degree in musicology, a master's degree in law, economics, and management, and in business administration. He is known for contributing to the French rap scene, collaborating with seveeral French and Belgian rappers. 

With his latest album, MOVIE, he fuses cinematic grandeur with intimate emotional depth, bringing together seventy orchestral musicians and twenty-four choristers from the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. 

In MOVIE, the human voice emerges as a compositional instrument alongside the piano, with Latin lyrics penned by his long-time manager and collaborator Guillaume Heritier, creating a universal, timeless language. From recording in the historic Rudolfinum in Prague to premiering at Paris’s iconic Opéra Garnier, this album represents a convergence of elegance, intensity, and ambition in Pamart’s ongoing mission to bring classical music to younger audiences without compromise.

We spoke with Sofiane Pamart about the making of MOVIE, the challenges and joys of working with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and his vision for a modern classical music that resonates across generations.

Your new album features a collaboration with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. How did this partnership come about, and what drew you to work with them?

Prague is part of my story. A few years ago, I performed there for the royal Lobkowicz family in the Royal Castle. The city has a sense of both history and cinema –it carries the weight I was looking for with MOVIE. We recorded the final sessions at the Rudolfinum: seventy orchestral musicians, twenty-four choristers. Watching my music come to life in that space was overwhelming. As a composer, I had always dreamed of experiencing that exact moment.

How was the process of recording with the choir? What was your approach to integrating them into your compositions?

The voices of the Prague Philharmonic Choir are crystalline, pure, and full of character. I didn’t want to direct them conventionally. I wanted the choir to be an instrument in its own right, not an ornament. Each voice had to carry its own weight while contributing to something larger. I approach all collaborations this way: I don’t ask the voice to serve the piano; I ask it to exist alongside it, fully, completely.

The lyrics were written by your manager, Guillaume Heritier, and are sung in Latin. Why Latin?

Guillaume and I have been building a creative universe together for years. Latin imposed itself naturally because it belongs to no contemporary territory—it predates borders and styles. It is universal. The piece is a tribute to a friend who is gone, conceived as a requiem.

Working with vocals is relatively new for you. How do you use the human voice as a compositional tool?

Every voice carries a soul. I don’t use the piano merely to support it. The piano and voice stand on equal footing, in dialogue. The voice brings fragility, presence, and character; the piano brings elevation, space, and emotion. Together, they tell a story that neither could tell alone.

You are widely recognized for redefining modern classical music. How do you define it, and does your music fit into that category?

For me, modern classical is alive. It retains the rigor and emotional depth of classical music while embracing contemporary textures and codes. My music belongs in that world, but I never start with a category. I start with a feeling, a vision, a desire to create something strong and lasting. I aim to give classical intensity a new shape, one that belongs to my time and story.

Reaching younger audiences is part of your mission. How do you achieve that?

It’s not about teaching classical music as a lesson. It’s about giving younger listeners access to emotion, depth, and intensity through the piano. If they discover a wider classical world afterward, that’s beautiful. I aim to make classical music feel alive, direct, and powerful. Albums and performances alike should speak immediately, without simplifying the emotion, showing that the piano can be magnetic, physical – even spectacular.

Your album premiere took place at Opéra Garnier. Why this venue?

MOVIE lives in a dialogue between elegance, intensity, and ambition. Garnier naturally represents that. It gave the premiere a ceremonial dimension, almost like an official entry into the world the project was meant for.

Your performances often blur classical and contemporary lines. How do you balance traditional orchestral elements with your cinematic style?

I focus on emotions rather than balance. What does the moment need to feel true? Sometimes that’s a full orchestra, sometimes a solo piano. Cinematic and classical aren’t opposites – they both aim to make you feel what words cannot. I follow that feeling wherever it leads.

Reflecting on this album and your artistic journey, what does MOVIE represent?

MOVIE is where everything converged: piano, voices, orchestra, choir, and cinema – all in the same room. If someone listens and feels less alone, or experiences music as sacred in a fast-moving world, then it has done everything I hoped for.

Sofiane Pamart - MOVIE - 88 Touches Production. Released 17 April 2026, further details

Thomas Elwin & Friends: wonderful music & delectable nibbles from Millie Charrington in aid of MacMillan Cancer at the Voces8 Centre

Thomas Elwin as Nemorino in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love with Wild Arts in 2023 
(Photo: Bonnie Britain)

Tenor Thomas Elwin is hosting a concert in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. For Thomas Elwin & Friends at the Voces8 Centre, Gresham Street, London EC2V 7BX on Sunday 12 April, Thomas Elwin will be joined by baritone Ross Ramgobin, mezzo sopranos Rachael Lloyd, Victoria Simmonds and Cassandra Manning, bass baritone Rob Byford, soprano Lillian Noble and flautist Cynthia Millinger. Two pianists will accompany, Erika Gundesen and Caroline Tyler who will also perform some of her compositions. 

The event is hosted by Thomas Elwin and chef Millie Charrington, who will prepare delectable nibbles to enjoy alongside drinks and the wonderful music. Both Thomas Elwin and Millie Charrington are running the London Marathon on 26 April in aid of MacMillan Cancer support, ALL proceeds from this concert will also go to MacMillan.

We last saw Thomas Elwin as Arturo in Bellini's La Straniera with Chelsea Opera Group [see my review] and his disc le vase brisé was issued on Voces8 Records last year [see my review], whilst back in 2024 we chatted to him about West Green Opera's new season [see my interview]. Millie Charrington is Sous Chef at Chantelle Nicholson's Apricity Restaurant in Mayfair.

Further details and tickets from EventBrite. 

The celebrated choral ensemble Tenebrae and the equally celebrated Britten Sinfonia joined forces in a devout concert for Holy Week

Graham Sutherland: The Crucifixion - St Matthew's Church, Northampton

Edmund Finnis, Allegri, Barber, Victoria, James MacMillan; Tenebrae, Britten Sinfonia, cond: Nigel Short; Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 2 April 2026

The Maundy Thursday concert at Snape Maltings comprised a reflective Passiontide programme featuring Allegri’s Miserere, Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories, Barber’s Adagio for Strings and most fittingly James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross

Acting as a curtain-raiser to Tenebrae and Britten Sinfonia's well-conceived Passiontide concert held on Maundy Thursday, the first day of the Holy Triduum of Easter commemorating the institution of the Eucharist, Edmund Finnis' Hymn (an arrangement of the penultimate movement of the composer's String Quartet No.1 Aloysius of 2018) co-commissioned by Alois Lageder and the Aldeburgh Festival in 2023, was so pleasurable to hear in the confines of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall.

Dedicated to the Lageder family, this delightful six-minute work based on Byrd’s setting of the fifth-century hymn Christe, qui lux es et dies (sung at Compline during Lent) found the strings of the Britten Sinfonia bright and alert to Finnis' clear and distinctive writing in a work that offered a prayer for light over darkness which I found inspiring and contemplative to the core.

In fact, the contemplative nature of the concert was greatly enhanced by the continuity of the programme being delivered without applause between items thereby creating a sense of reverence and shared reflection in which the silence seemed as meaningful as the music itself.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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