Monday 18 January 2021

First four months of Barbara Hannigan's initiative Momentum - our future now, a huge success

Susie Allan, Kathryn Rudge, Edward Hawkins, Roderick Williams at Spotlight Chamber Concerts in December 2020 St John's Waterloo (Photo Matthew Johnson)
Susie Allan, Kathryn Rudge, Edward Hawkins, Roderick Williams at Spotlight Chamber Concerts in December 2020 St John's Waterloo (Photo Matthew Johnson)

During last Summer, Barbara Hannigan launched Momentum - our future now, an initiative designed to support young artists at a time when opportunities for live performance and recording were diminishing rapidly and what few opportunities there were went to well established artists. The idea behind the project is that leading soloists and conductors support younger colleagues by bringing them onto main stage professional engagements. The scheme was launched at Snape Maltings on 29 August 2020 with concerts at Snape Maltings with Sir Antonio Pappano and young baritone Yuriy Yurchuk.

Since then there has been a remarkable take up, with a huge roster of top artists implementing the initiative into their schedules. In December, when Sir Bryn Terfel gave a concert at Brecon Cathedral as part of Met Stars Live, he invited two rising Welsh singers, soprano Natalya Romaniw and tenor Trystan Llŷr Griffiths to join him, and when I heard Roderick Williams and Susie Allan performing Schubert's Schwanengesang at Spotlight Chamber Concerts, the baritone was joined by two Momentum artists, Kathryn Rudge and Edward Hawkins [see my review]. In April 2021, Stone Records will be releasing a new album recorded by six Momentum artists alongside the distinguished accompanist Malcolm Martineau.

In all there have been over 35 events across the UK and Europe. Sweden, Austria, Germany, France, England and Wales, even up to the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, Finland. In 2021 Barbara Hannigan will be presented with her 2020 Léonie Sonning Music Prize, from which she has earmarked a substantial financial contribution towards Momentum.

Full details from the Momentum website.


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