A sonic portrait of British Jewish families: composer Na'ama Zisser on the JMI Archive

Tai Rona at the launch event for the JMI Archive at Stone Nest

The Jewish Music Institute (JMI) is the UK’s home for Jewish music and for decades as part of its Archive, JMI has been collecting music resources from families, collectors and foundations. Since last year, composer Na'ama Zisser has been the CEO and artistic director of JMI, and she has been spearheading a project aimed at relaunching and revitalising the Archive. The collection had been in a storage facility in Surrey, some 6,000 items, vinyls, shellac discs, tapes, scores and manuscripts. With the support of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe, these materials were catalogued and then experts helped to assess the collection.

Na'ama explains that, as with other archives across the world, the decision was taken to preserve a smaller number of meaningful, rare, and historically important items, rather than keep thousands in storage without proper attention or access, especially without a dedicated physical space. The JMI Archive does not have a building, so it would have been a hard task to keep the full 6,000 items in proper order. A small selection was chosen for the permanent collection, things not commercially available or of historical significance such as rare shellac discs of the world-renowned cantor Gershon Sirota, who died in the Holocaust, rare opera in Yiddish and field recordings of Jewish ritual life in the Middle East.

At a launch event last month, the Archive was brought to Stone Nest in Soho, with a performance by Iranian-American singer Elana Sasson and a curated deep-listening set by DJ and composer Tai Rona, featuring many recordings not heard in decades. The event closed with a late selection by JMI Archive curator Wajima Tapes.

The one where Dido kills Aeneas: Oliver Platt radically refocuses Purcell's opera at Guildhall School

Purcell: Dido & Aeneas - Joshua Saunders as Aeneas with the Witches - Guildhall School (Photo: David Monteith-Hodge)

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas; Julia Merino, Karima El Demerdasch, Manon Ogwen Parry, Joshua Saunders, director: Oliver Platt, Academy of Ancient Music, conductor James Henshaw; Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Reviewed 11 June 2025

Time travelling production of Purcell's masterwork recontextualises the drama without explaining or satisfying, but with some strong dramatic performances

Purcell's Dido and Aeneas is a challenge to directors and performers, to match its compact perfection yet bring the drama alive. The work was written for a very particular set of performing practices, and we don't even have the original manuscript, so we are left with gaps that have to be filled creatively.

At Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas was their chosen opera and rather daringly it was presented on its own, without any accompanying works. Also, we were warned beforehand that the production involved contemporary music, so this was not going to be traditional, was it. Except that the project was also the latest one where players from the Academy of Ancient Music collaborated with the students.

We caught the second night of the production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Guildhall School on Wednesday 11 June 2025. The production was directed by Oliver Platt with designs by Alisa Kalyanova, movement by Caroline Lofthouse, lighting by Eli Hunt and video by Mabel Nash. James Henshaw conducted, with Julia Merino as Dido, Karima El Demerdasch as the Sorceress, Manon Ogwen Parry as Belinda, Joshua Saunders as Aeneas, Hannah McKay as Attendant/2nd Woman, Seohyun Go and Julia Solomon as witches, Gabriella Noble as the Spirit and Tobias Compos Santinaque as the Sailor.

Purcell: Dido & Aeneas - Joshua Saunders, Julia Merino - Guildhall School (Photo: David Monteith-Hodge)

The programme warned us that the 'production contains adult content with themes of physical and emotional abuse, including scenes of bloody violence, reference to suicide, themes of kidnap, coercion and threat, implied sexual themes, and gory interaction with depictions of dead animals'. So, not your average Dido & Aeneas then.

We entered the auditorium with electronic dance music pounding (the music was created by students of Guildhall School Electronic and Produced Music Department). Not the sort of music I would be tempted to dance to, but certainly it filled the theatre with an atmosphere. A woman was dancing, joined by another, the two having a strong connection.

Redefining "Success" as a Classical Musician

Stevens & Pound - Delia Stevens and Will Pound

On 21 June 2025 at Stromness Town Hall as part of the St Magnus Festival, the duo Stevens & Pound present Ascending - a cross-genre concert full of original compositions and reimaginations following the creative evolution of classical composers who were inspired by the English Folk Revival. And then on 23 June at the festival in St Magnus Cathedral, Stevens & Pound join another duo, Grant & McQuade for Sharing and Gathering, a wide and varied programme and where they collaborate for the first time.

Here, percussionist Delia Stevens - one half of the classical-folk collaboration Stevens & Pound  - reflects on her definition of success; from where she is as a musician today and whilst growing up in the classical music industry.

The original master plan:

Back in the day, this was my vision for achieving “success”: 

Get grade 8 distinction. Get into the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Win BBC Young Musician of the Year. Get into music college with a full scholarship. Win all the other music competitions. I am officially recognised as “talented” by others. I get all the concerts (no admin woes). My mission is to show the world how AMAZING percussion is and that there is more to it than just playing the triangle every now and then at the back of an orchestra.

A decade or so on, some of that kind of happened and most of it didn’t, or it was a really small slice of the pie. And I now have a completely different view of what “success” looks like as a musician.

How do we Define Success in the Classical Music Industry?

From kazoo & harpsichord to large electronically-augmented ensemble: Alex Paxton's Delicious on New Amsterdam Records is a multi-layered maximalist delight:

Alex Paxton: Delicious - Scrunchy Touch Sweetly to Fall (kite and finger run), Shrimp BIT Baby Face, Dadd's Fairies, Justgum Friends, Spit Crystal Yeast-rack dripping (à lorange), Levels of Affection; Dreammusics Ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain (NEC), GBSR DUO, Explore Ensemble; New Amsterdam Records
Reviewed 11 June 2026

The latest sonic adventure from Alex Paxton features studio versions of pieces written for live ensembles over the years. It is as vivid and unexpected as we might imagine, a multi-layered maximalist delight.

Any Alex Paxton disc is guaranteed to be a wild ride and his new disc, Delicious on New Amsterdam Records is no different. A hyperactive sonic adventure, Delicious features Scrunchy Touch Sweetly to Fall (kite and finger run), Shrimp BIT Baby Face, Dadd's Fairies, Justgum Friends and Spit Crystal Yeast-rack dripping (à lorange), Levels of Affection - as usual with Paxton, the works' titles are half the fun - performed by Dreammusics Ensemble (Paxton's own ensemble), Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain (NEC), GBSR DUO, Explore Ensemble.

The music is all a maximalist delight, there is always a lot happening and textures are sonically complex, rich in detail and multi-layered in feel. Paxton explains, 'I start composing by following a feeling. Melody is the core of my musical language and the first thing I write. For me, tunes are the most tentacular of music languages able to reach all kinds of alcoves, juices and specialities of our existing. The harmony of a piece is always looking for the maximum pleasure and everything left to do I call "orchestrating". Here I am constantly imagining to experience the music through the whole body, from large gradations you can feel in your navel to tiny nuances of sensual experience like rain on the back of your ears, or a funny smell.'

Window of opportunity: City Music Foundation opens applications for its 2025 programme

CMF Artists Connaught Brass

City Music Foundation (CMF) is opening its 2025 programme to applications from Friday 13 June 2025, giving emerging professional performers across classical, jazz, folk and world music genres - both soloists and ensembles - to apply for the opportunity to become a 2025 CMF Artist.

In 2024, CMF introduced a renewed focus on individual projects as a central element of the selection and support process, is project-based approach will continue in 2025, recognising the potential of a well-conceived and well-executed project - whether a recording, film, tour, chamber opera, or commission - to act as a career catalyst for early-stage professional musicians.

Successful applicants will be awarded up to £10,000 in CMF Funding to support the development and realisation of their proposed project. In addition to financial support, CMF Artists benefit from a tailored professional development programme, including expert coaching, industry mentoring, and CMF-promoted performance opportunities.

They are looking for exceptionally talented artists, regardless of instrument or genre, who would benefit most from CMF’s distinctive combination of artistic and professional support.

Full details from the CMF website, and deadline for applications is 30 June 2025

Esprit Submergé: French string quartet Page Blanche give the first UK performances of Luke Styles' new string quartet

Page Blanche is a string quartet made up of musicians from the Orchestre de Paris, but with a twist they are violin, viola, cello and double bass (Joseph André, Flore-Anne Brosseau, Paul-Marie Kuzma, Ulysse Vigreux). In 2024 they commissioned a new string quartet from British / Australian composer Luke Styles, Esprit Submergé, which they premiered at performances in France last year. 

Now, the work gets its first UK performances as Page Blanche bring their Esprit Submergé programme to  the Deal Music & Arts Festival (of which Luke Styles is the artistic director) on 5 July 2025 and the Insitut français in London on 8 July 2025. Their programme will range from Debussy, Ravel, Bach and Poulenc to arrangements of works by legendary jazz pianist Bill Evan alongside Styles' new piece.

Luke Styles says this about his piece, 'The work is in 3 movements with two Intermezzi (which give a jazz derived pallet cleanser connecting to the rest of the concert programme where the music of Bill Evans is a big feature). It delves deep into the lower sororities of this group of instruments, drawing out rich melodies, harmonies and driving rhythms.'

I chatted to Luke Styles back in 2021 when his opera Awakening Shadow, based on Britten's five canticles, was premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival, see my interview 'Exploring Big Themes'.

Further information from the Deal Music & Arts website, and the Institut français website.

A valuable window onto the sound world of the Tudor Court on progress: Henry VIII on Tour from Ensemble Pro Victoria & Toby Ward

Henry VIII on Tour: music from Tudor Royal Progresses - William Cornysh, William Rasar, John Redford, Dionisius Prioris, Philippe Verdelot, Philip van Wilder, John White, William More, Robert Cowper, John Tavener, Henry VIII; Ensemble Pro Victoria, Toby Ward, Toby Carr, Aileen Henry, Magnus Williamson, New Vocal Ensemble; Delphian
Reviewed 10 June 2025

Relying on a precious selection of surviving sources, an imaginative exploration of the sort of music, sacred and secular, that would have accompanied King Henry VIII on his progress around his kingdom

Medieval and early modern courts were peripatetic because they had to be, the infrastructure could not cope with so many people in one place for a great length of time. During the Summer, Tudor monarchs developed this into the idea of the progress, a semi-ceremonial journey through the countryside designed to show the monarch off, reinforce social bonds with courtiers and inspect the monarch's business outside the capital. It was Queen Elizabeth I who raised the progress to its apogee, sometimes nearly bankrupting the courtiers she stayed with, but her father, Henry VIII was also assiduous. His progresses were often about inspecting naval and military fortifications, but there was another aspect to them, recreation. Henry would take the opportunity to go hunting.

The court functions did not disappear during such travel, but things were readjusted, there was still music albeit on a different scale. The disc Henry VIII on Tour: music from Tudor Royal Progresses from Toby Ward and Ensemble Pro Victoria on the Delphian label explores this repertoire, presenting a diverse mix of sacred and secular music by William Cornysh, William Rasar, John Redford, Dionisius Prioris, Philippe Verdelot, Philip van Wilder, John White, William More, Robert Cowper, John Tavener and Henry VIII himself. And the ensemble is joined by lutenist Toby Carr, harpist Aileen Henry, organist Magnus Williamson and New Vocal Ensemble.

Eternal Light: the seventh Summer Music in City Churches returns to the City of London

The seventh Summer Music in City Churches returns to the City of London from 18 to 27 June, celebrating choral music in the City's churches, with music in St Giles Cripplegate, St Mary Abchurch, St James Garlickhythe and St Botolph without Bishopsgate.

The festival begins with John Rutter conducting the City of London Choir and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) in Fauré's Requiem (using the original chamber orchestration) at St Giles Cripplegate, and things come to a thrilling conclusion at St Giles with Verdi's Requiem performed in Richard Blackford's practical orchestration with Daniel Hyde conducting the City of London Choir. Another Requiem, that by Duruflé is presented by Freddie Cowley and Corvus Consort in a programme with music by Morten Lauridsen.

These two works help give the festival its theme, Eternal Light, and this is something picked up on in an eclectic programme, Beginning to See the Light from vocalist Eleanor Grant and guitarist Gus McQuade, the string quartet Brother Tree Sound pair quartets by Haydn and Mendelssohn for Sunrise and Sunset and pianist Viv Maclean presents Moonlighting, piano solos for a Summer night.

Tier3 Trio's lunchtime concert features music by Mozart, Smetana and Lili Boulanger. Mark Bebbington is joined by members of the RPO for Schubert's Trout Quintet, guitarist Jack Hancher's programme The Memory Garden mixes Debussy and Ravel with Dani Howard and Laura Snowden, whilst Lucy Parham brings her programme, Reverie: the life and loves of Claude Debussy with actor Henry Goodman. Brass players from the RPO present an eclectic programme of music from Rachmaninov and Prokofiev to Walton and Morten Lauridsen.

Full details from the festival website.

Orpheus Sinfonia commissions concertos from three major female composers, Cheryl Frances Hoad, Roxanna Panufnik and Sally Beamish

Orpheus Sinfonia

The Orpheus Sinfonia, a young professional orchestra founded in 2009, created its Foundation Programme in 2023. The Foundation Programme offers professional development to early-career classical musicians, providing paid performance platforms, high-level mentorship, and real-time industry experience to forge viable careers.

Orpheus Sinfonia has now commissioned three major female composers, Cheryl Frances Hoad, Roxanna Panufnik and Sally Beamish, for three concertos to be premiered over the next three year. Orpheus Sinfonia Foundation Programme musicians will be premiering Cheryl Frances Hoad's Three Mathematical Diversions, with saxophonist Jonathan Radford conducted by Thomas Carroll at St George's Church, Hanover Square, London, on June 26, 2025 as part of a programme that also includes Keepsakes/Namesakes, which is the culmination of Miles Walter's year as the Foundation Programme's selected composer.

The a world premiere from Roxanna Panufnik takes place on June 25, 2026, featuring Jonathan Swensen, cello, a distinguished winner of the Windsor Festival International String Competition, and a third world premiere by Sally Beamish in 2027 will then feature the winner of the next Windsor Festival International String Competition.

Full details from the Orpheus Foundation's website.

Out of the ashes: Cambridge Schola, formed out of the disbanded St John's Voices, joins with BBC Singers for Rachmaninov's Vespers at Ely Cathedral

 

Cambridge Schola

Around this time last year, St John's College, Cambridge disbanded St John's Voices, the mixed voice choir based at the college which had been created in 2013 to allow female members of the college to take part in the college's choral tradition. Despite significant outcry, the College pressed ahead with the closure.

There has, however, been a more positive outcome as the Cambridge Schola emerged from the ashes. Directed by Graham Walker and with a home base at Emmanuel College, Cambridge Schola performs weekly services of candlelit Compline or Vespers in a different chapel or church each Monday; alongside these services the choir performs concerts each term in and around Cambridge as well as undertaking a variety of other activities.

As part of their new existence, the choir is partnering with a local primary school as a pilot for a bigger project, supported by Deloitte, which will see choir members going regularly into local schools to help teachers and staff with their music provision, encouraging children to get singing. The choir members see this as away to share the support which they experienced during their struggles last year.

On Friday 13 June, the choir is joining forces with the BBC Singers for a concert at Ely Cathedral performing Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil 'Vespers' conducted by Graham Walker. The concert also features Graham Walker in his cellist guise, performing Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata in G minor with pianist Iain Farrington.

Full details from Ely Cathedral website.

Diverse & eclectic: Peter Cigleris & Amaia Quartet in clarinet quintets by Mozart & the 20th century English composer David Gow

Silhouette of the clarinettist Anton Stadler
For whom Mozart wrote the Clarinet Quintet

David Gow, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Mozart; Peter Cigleris, Amaia Quartet; Conway Hall Sunday Concerts
Reviewed 8 June 2025

Clarinet quintets by Mozart and David Gow, who studied with Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music, paired with compact quartets by Beethoven and Shostakovich in this fascinating and diverse programme

On Sunday 8 June 2025, the Amaia Quartet (Alexandra Lomeiko, Milan Berginc, George White, Molly McWhirter) were joined by clarinettist Peter Cigleris at Conway Hall Sunday Concerts for a fascinating programme that including clarinet quintets by the 20th century English composer David Gow and Mozart, plus Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 1 in C, Op.49 and Beethoven's Quartet No. 11 in F minor 'Serioso'. Beforehand, I gave a pre-concert talk introducing the music and looking at the history of the basset clarinet for which Mozart wrote his quintet.

David Gow studied with Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music and went on to spend most of his working life teaching. Much of his music dates from the final 20 years of his life, but he had success early and his Quintet No.2 from 1947 is in the collection at Conway Hall. The work is in three short movements, the first began with a stirring unison and then alternated between passages of complex, edgy counterpoint and passages where the tempo eased off and the music became more thoughtful. There was a restless feel to the movement, along with that sense of edge in the harmony. The serious middle movement focused on a long-breathed clarinet melody against a backdrop of intense, sustained strings. Eventually the melody was taken up by the other players and at one point there was a moment of pure RVW with a clarinet melody against trembling strings. The vigorous opening of the final movement led to fast and perky music that was furiously busy.

A lot more emotional resonance than you might expect: Jonathan Dove & Alasdair Middleton's Itch return to Opera Holland Park shows it is more than a rattling good yarn

Jonathan Dove: Itch - Xavier Hetherington - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Jonathan Dove & Alasdair Middleton: Itch; Xavier Hetherington, Natasha Agarwal, Rebecca Bottone, Victoria Simmonds, Eric Greene, Robert Burt, James Hall, director: Stephen Barlow, City of London Sinfonia, conductor: Matt Scott Rogers; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 6 June 2025

Dove's Itch returns with Xavier Hetherington successfully drawing us into the engaging mix of family , heroes and villains, and mythic drama with real emotional resonance

Jonathan Dove's Itch, with libretto by Alasdair Middleton based on Simon Mayo's books, debuted at Opera Holland Park in 2023 [see my review] in a production by Stephen Barlow. This has now been revived as Opera Holland Park's second production of its 2025 season. Matt Scott Rogers (assistant conductor in 2023) conducts the City of London Sinfonia, this time Xavier Hetherington as Itch (Itchingham Lofte), also new to the cast was James Hall as Cake and Berghahn, plus Natasha Agarwal, Rebecca Bottone, Victoria Simmonds, Eric Greene, Nicholas Garrett and Robert Burt returning to their roles. We caught the second performance on 6 June 2025.

I have never read Simon Mayo's books, but Alasdair Middleton and Jonathan Dove have created a rattling good yarn that manages to bowl along, carrying you away with it, rooting for the good characters and wanting to boo the bad ones. Even second time around, when we knew what was coming, the work drew you in and the ending when Eric Greene's Nicholas Lofte (Itch's father) rescues his son, brought a lump to the throat. That is part of Dove's skill. 

Sometimes his music can feel slightly too close to primary colours (nearer to Sondheim than Britten), but here he manages to give most of the major characters moments of real emotion, short aria-like monologues where we hear their personal thoughts. This helps a lot as the basic characters are all stereotypes, which of course, makes the plot easier to follow and means that Middleton's libretto does leave plenty of space for Dove's music.

Intrigued by stories & narratives: members of Apollo's Cabinet on their musical exploration of the world of 18th century actress Kitty Clive

Apollo's Cabinet at Bachfest Leipzig in 2024 (Photo: Emanuel Mathias)

The early music ensemble Apollo's Cabinet is known for its evocative, story-driven programmes. Their first disc, Musical Wanderlust: Charles Burney's European Travels in Pursuit of Harmony, focused on the 18th-century musicologist Charles Burney's diaries, with the disc being issued on the Prima Classic label in versions featuring English narration by Alexander Armstrong and German narration by Jürgen Maurer. 

Their latest disc which sees its official launch this month is based on their programme The Comic Muse: The Theatrical World of Kitty Clive, and this year has seen the group touring the programme with future performances at Strawberry Hill House, London (Thursday 19 June 2025); two dates in Scilly Isles (Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 July 2025); Penlee Park Open Air Theatre, Penzance (Wednesday 9 July 2025); and Lichfield Festival (Tuesday 15 July 2025). 

For their Kitty Clive programme, Apollo’s Cabinet comprises Jonatan Bougt (theorbo, Baroque guitar), Harry Buckoke (viola da gamba), Thomas Pickering (harpsichord, recorder, flute), and Teresa Wrann (recorder) along with a soprano (Angela Hicks and Lauren Lodge-Campbell sharing duties). I recently met up with Thomas and Teresa to find out more.

Apollo's Cabinet in A Birthday Party for the King

Back to the 1890s: Dinis Sousa & the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment move out of their comfort zone reveal magic moments in Elgar

Elgar - Dinis Sousa, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - Queen Elizabeth Hall

Elgar: In the South, Sea Pictures, Enigma Variations; Frances Gregory, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Dinis Sousa; Queen Elizabeth Hall
Reviewed 4 June 2025

Far from an exercise in academic completism, OAE's exploration of the sound world of Elgar's 1890s helped us view familiar music in new ways and brought a subtly different palate of colours and approach, moments of sheer magic.

Elgar's Enigma Variations premiered in 1899 and the composer went on to record it twice, acoustically in 1924 and electrically in 1926. A lot happened to orchestral sound in those intervening 25 years with technological and stylistic developments that would lead to the modern orchestral sound. As something of an end of term experiment, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's last orchestral concert of the 2024/25 season at the Southbank Centre featured the ensemble moving out of their comfort zone and explore the sound world of Elgar in the 1890s. They were joined by conductor Dinis Sousa, who in an engaging post-concert speech admitted that the concert was pushing the envelope for him too, and mezzo-soprano Frances Gregory. 

So, on 4 June 2025, Dinis Sousa conducted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Elgar's In the South, Sea Pictures (with Frances Gregory) and Enigma Variations at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Elgar: Sea Pictures - Frances Gregory, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - Queen Elizabeth Hall

Dazzling aural journeys where the political commentary and sheer playfulness combine with a serious purpose: Anselm McDonnell's Politics of the Imagination

Anselm McDonnell: Stop Small Boats, Politics of the Imagination, The Union is our God, Cross-Purposes; Crash Ensemble, London Symphony Orchestra, Kosyne, Barrowclough, Joel the Custodian; Anselm McDonnell/Bandcamp
Reviewed 4 June 2025

Politics and playfulness thread their way through composer Anselm McDonnell's latest album as he collaborates with rappers on a music theatre piece that mixes political comment with magic realism, yet we also have a musical evocation of Northern Ireland's troubled past.

Politics of the Imagination is Anselm McDonnell's third album, released through his own label. Featuring works for 2022/23 commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and Crash Ensemble, the connecting theme of the disc is politics and the works showcase collaborations with Birmingham rappers Kosyne, Barrowclough, and Joel the Custodian, performed with members of the London Symphony Orchestra and Crash Ensemble.

We begin with Stop Small Boats featuring dazzling vocals from the three rappers with music from Leonie Bluett (clarinet), Kate Ellis (cello), and Paddy Nolan (percussion) of Crash Ensemble. The words with their refences to the small boats political catch phrase form a vivid, seductively rhythmic line where meaning dissolves into seductive pure sound complemented by McDonnell's wonderfully bouncy clarinet line.

Kirklees Concert Season 2025/26: Orchestra of Opera North's year round concert season in Huddersfield and Dewsbury Town Halls

Elena  Urioste, Gary Walker & Orchestra of Opera North at Huddersfield Town Hall

The Kirklees Concert Season is a year-round programme of concerts presented by Opera North and Kirklees Council in Huddersfield and Dewsbury Town Halls. This year the Orchestra of Opera North is presenting seven concerts as part of a season running from September 2025 to June 2026, along with one concert from the Opera North Youth Orchestra. There are also seven chamber concerts showcasing and curated by musicians from the Orchestra of Opera North, and a series of lunchtime organ recitals on the Father Willis Organ in Huddersfield Town Hall.

Orchestra concerts begin in Huddersfield Town Hall on 25 September 2025 with Gary Walker conducting Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 1 and Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 with soloist Elena Urioste. In December, Chloe Rooke conducts music from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Walton's Viola Concerto with soloist Dana Zemtsov and music by Elgar and Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen.

In January 2026, the Father Willis organ in Huddersfield Town Hall gets to join in with Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 with organist David Pipe and conductor Sora Elisabeth Lee, plus music by Ravel, Chabrier and Augusta Holmes. In February, Karel Deseure conducts music by Mozart, Stravinsky and Beethoven, then in March, Oliver Rundell conducts the Opera North Youth Orchestra in selections from Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. [The Youth Orchestra is also performing on 14 December 2025 in St. Paul's Hall, University of Huddersfield]

April sees Gary Walker conducting Thomas Ades, Rachmaninov and Brahms, and the season concludes in June with Katie Stilman directing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons from the violin.

Full details from the Opera North website.

Festival of Musical Ideas: Gresham College holds inaugural festival fusing music with science and the humanities

Gresham College is hosting the inaugural Festival of Musical Ideas on Friday 20 June 2025 at the college in Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn. Gresham Professors will present a day of learning, exploration and music, fusing music with science and the humanities.

Milton Mermikides, Gresham College’s Professor of Music, commented: "By bringing together leading thinkers from across science, humanities, and the arts, the festival invites us to explore music not just as sound, but as a shared and profound way of understanding the world."

The day concludes with a lecture from Sky at Night presenter Professor Chris Lintott (the current Gresham Professor of Astronomy) which explores historic and contemporary musical representations of astronomical data while exploring astro-sonification in black hole radiation and exoplanetary systems.

During the day, Professor Robin May asks if music is an extension of evolution, and why music can evoke strong emotions; Professor Morten Kringelbach, neuroscientist and the founding director of the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, talks to Milton Mermikides about music in the brain; Professor Melissa Lane explores Ancient Greek philosophies on music; and Gresham College’s Acting Provost Professor Sarah Hart explores the connections between music and mathematics.

Founded in 1597 by Sir Thomas Gresham, Gresham College has been providing free, educational lectures to Londoners for over 400 years from a lineage of leading professors and experts in their field who have included Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, Iannis Xenakis and Sir Roger Penrose. 

Entry to every lecture is free and they will be streamed online, people can attend as much or as little as they like. Full details from the college website.

A Capella Summer School: work with Frances M Lynch of Electric Voice Theatre at Conway Hall

Performer, composer, director Frances M Lynch, who is the artistic director of Electric Voice Theatre, the contemporary music-theatre acappella ensemble, is running an A Capella Summer School open to singers aged 18 to 35 from 11 to 14 August 2025 at Conway Hall. This will be an opportunity to work with Electric Voice Theatre's expert a capella ensemble techniques via music by women composers.

The Summer school will feature special sessions with mezzo-soprano Jenny Miller, founder of Barefoot Opera, tenor and pianist Laurence Panter, music director of Barefoot Opera, composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad and BSL interpreter Lauren Lister.

Full details from the Electric Voice Theatre website.

1-2-3 Engegård Quartet! Norwegian ensemble celebrates 20 years at its own festival in Oslo

The Engegård Quartet has been playing together for 20 years and this year its 1-2-3 Festival in Norway celebrates its 10th anniversary. For this double celebration, the quartet is presenting 1-2-3 Engegård Quartet! at Sentralen in Oslo from 14 to 16 November 2025. The festival features some of the most important works from the quartet's repertoire in the last 20 years along with important collaborators. I chatted to members of the quartet back in 2020, see my interview.

The festival begins with Grieg and Schumann's Piano Quintet with a new work by Nils Økland, and they will be joined by former members of the quartet for a performance of Mendelssohn's Octet, whilst actress Gjertrud Jynge joins them for an evening based on Jon Fosse's Septology combining powerful texts with music from Bach to Kurtag to Norwegian folk. And the weekend ends with a concert combining Ibsen with Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132. The quartet will also be celebrating the completion of their recordings of all of Mozart's 26 quartets on Lawo Classics. Full detail of the festival from the website.

In the UK, the quartet will be at the Roman River Festival in Essex in September [further details], opening the festival's 25th anniversary season with a concert of Grieg, Mozart and Norwegian folk music. And the quartet is also in Hereford the same month with Grieg, Boyce and Beethoven [    ]

Grimeborn 2025: The first staging of John Joubert's Jane Eyre alongside Tristan, Lucia, Don Giovanni & more

The Grimeborn Festival returns to Arcola Theatre from 16 July to 13 September 2025 for a season which includes fresh versions of classics such as Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Mozart's Don Giovanni as well as a the first full staging of John Joubert's late masterwork, Jane Eyre.

Arcola Theatre and Green Opera are collaborating on the first complete staging of John Joubert's Jane Eyre. John Joubert (1927-2019) worked on Jane Eyre from 1987 to 1997 but the work never had a proper professional performance and remained one of those tantalising possibilities. Kenneth Woods and the English Symphony Orchestra gave the work its professional premiere in October 2016 in Birmingham, and the resulting live recording was released on the SOMM label in March 2017 [see my review] to coincide with Joubert’s 90th birthday. Now Eleanor Burke directs the work's first full staging, with Laura Mekhail as Jane and Hector Bloggs as Rochester.

Regents Opera, fresh from their triumphant Ring Cycle earlier this year, present an intimate take on Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in a new chamber arrangement of the score, created by musical director Michael Thrift. Guido Martin-Brandis directs with Brian Smith Walters as Tristan, Elizabeth Findon and Becca Marriott sharing Isolde. Brandis directed Regents Opera's predecessor, Fulham Opera's impressive staging of Strauss' Die ägyptische Helena in 2021 also with Brian Smith Walters, see my review. 

Ensemble OrQuesta and Marcio da Silva return to Mozart with a stripped down version of Don Giovanni with the orchestral accompaniment by the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra Ensemble, plus Oshri Segev, Flávio Lauria, Helen May, Rosemary Carlton-Willis, Anna-Luise Wagner, and John Twitchen. See my review of their production of Le nozze di Figaro at last year's Grimeborn Festival

Another returning company is Barefoot Opera who bring Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in a production blending storytelling and physical theatre, directed by Rosie Kat with Beren Fidan as Lucia. Other productions include Green Opera in Testament, a journey through four centuries of vocal music explores humanity’s evolving relationship with nature. Baseless Fabric reinvent Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore for today's social media savvy world, whilst Prologue Opera present Becoming Tosca an evening that explores Puccini's opera and its background, setting the story in context, combining newly commissioned music with an abridged version of Puccini’s score. And Neal Hampton's musical version of Sense & Sensibility (with book and lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow) returns after last year's sold-out run.

Full details from Arcola Theatre's website.

Sundays at the London Sketch Club: concerts from students and alumni of the Royal College of Music in their historic studio

The London Sketch Club

The London Sketch Club was founded in the late 19th century as a club for professional artists and illustrators. Today the London Sketch Club is still going strong and open to both professional and amateur artists with members, and non-members, enjoying weekly life drawing and portraiture classes at the club’s historic studio in Chelsea. In 1957, the Club moved to its current home in Dilke Street , with its magnificent studio which was built for Victorian portrait painter John Collier. The studio walls are decorated with silhouettes, some brought from the two previous premises, of Club presidents dating back to the early years which demonstrate its rich and illustrious history.

They also run regular concerts in the studio space, and on the last Sunday of the month The Sketch Club hosts a performance by young musicians, including students and alumni of the Royal College of Music. 

On 15 June, they welcome emerging young American-Russian pianist, historical keyboardist and collaborative pianist/répétiteur Paul Mnatsakanov, an alumnus of the Royal College of Music, to perform Schumann's Carnaval. Further concerts include further alumni of the RCM including cellist Carys Underwood in Bach's Cello Suite No. 4 and music by Malcolm Arnold and Edmund Finnis, Italian pianist Antonio Morabito in Scarlatti, Respighi, Chopin and Liszt including Sonetto del Petrarca Op.104 and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15, and baritone Peter Edge with pianist John Whittaker in music by Whittaker alongside poetry by Anthony Pinching, a retired clinical immunologist (and poet).

Full details from the Sketch Club's website.

To invigorate the artistic life of the area: High Barnet Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 5th anniversary

Dr Joshua Ballance, founder of the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival

The High Barnet Chamber Music Festival is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a series of concerts celebrating the world of song. Beginning on Saturday 7 June 2025 the festival runs until 5 July at various locations in High Barnet. Founder, Dr Joshua Ballance explains, "When we launched this festival, in the middle of Covid, we were attempting to bring really high quality performances to High Barnet, to offer work to young musicians at the start of their careers and to invigorate the artistic life of the area. Five years on I’m pleased we’ve achieved those aim."

Things being with a flute and piano recital from Hannah Gillingham and Luke Lally Maguire. Birdsong, a Playful Introduction for Families is a family friendly afternoon concert with an emphasis on introducing over-sevens to chamber music. At the opposite end of the spectrum, baritone Jonathan Eyers joins Ballance and his ensemble Mad Song for Peter Maxwell Davies' iconic Eight Songs for a Mad King plus music by Berio, Lolavar, Benjamin, and Palmer.

Baritone Hugo Herman-Wilson and pianist Richard Gowers, feature music by Vaughan William, Madeleine Dring,  Britten and Ives at their afternoon concert at Queen Elizabeth's School, and the festival ends with  Ensemble Pro Victoria and music by Monteverdi, Strozzi and le Jeune.

Full details from the festival website.

With Helena Dix in top form, bel canto fireworks illuminate La straniera, a Bellini rarity given a welcome outing by Chelsea Opera Group

Bellini: La straniera - Helena Dix
acknowledging applause at Chelsea Opera Group performance
Cadogan Hall (Photo: c/o Helena Dix)

Bellini: La straniera; Helena Dix, Thomas Elwin, Georgia Mae Bishop, Dan D'Souza, Chelsea Opera Group, Stephen Barlow; Cadogan Hall
Reviewed 1 June 2025

Bellini's second big hit; a rather strange story brought alive by the bel canto ardency of Helena Dix finely supported by a terrific line up of talent

La straniera was Bellini's fourth opera, coming after the success of Il Pirata at La Scala in Milan moved Bellini from a local celebrity in Naples to a national celebrity. For La Straniera, Bellini was working again with the librettist of Il Pirata, Felice Romani. Bellini and Romani would go on to collaborate on all of Bellini's subsequent operas except for his final one, I Puritani. Romani is regarded as the best Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito, he wrote for everyone but was incredibly busy. The partnership with Bellini was not without problems, and following Il Pirata you sense Bellini taking time to hit his stride.

After La straniera, Bellini and Romani would revise Bellini's second opera as Bianca e Fernando to mixed results. Their next collaboration, Zaira was a failure and much of the music ended up in I Capuleti e i Montecchi which was an unqualified success. After this came La sonnambula and Norma and the rest, as they say, is history.

As for La straniera, it premiered in 1829 at La Scala, Milan going on to be performed all over Italy as well as in London, Vienna, Paris, New York and Lisbon. The last known performance seems to have been in 1875, and the opera was only revived at La Scala in 1935. 20th century performances remained rare, often linked to a particular soprano. Stagings seem to be even rarer and Christoph Loy's 2013 production for Zurich Opera has had a couple of revivals. In London, Opera Rara presented the work in concert in 2007 in association with their recording with David Parry conducting and Patrizia Ciofi in the title role.

On Sunday 1 June 2025, Chelsea Opera Group gave Bellini's La straniera a most welcome concert performance at London's Cadogan Hall. Stephen Barlow conducted, with Helena Dix as Alaide, known as la straniera, Thomas Elwin as Arturo, Dan D'Souza as Valdeburgo, Georgia Mae Bishop as Isoletta, Will Diggle as Osburgo, Thomas D Hopkinson as the Prior and Kevin Hollands as Count Montolino.

A terrific sense of collaboration: composer Colin Matthews and writer William Boyd on their first opera, A Visit to Friends

William Boyd and Colin Mathews (Photo: Mark Allan)

During his long career the composer Colin Matthews has been associated with several other composers, he assisted both Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst at the Aldeburgh Festival, he and his brother David assisted Deryck Cooke on the completion of Mahler's Symphony No. 10, whilst more recent projects have seen Colin orchestrating Debussy. And since his orchestral Fourth Sonata (written 1974–75) won the Scottish National Orchestra's Ian Whyte Award, Colin's work has unfolded in a variety of genres, but until now never opera.

On 13 June 2025, Colin's first opera, A Visit to Friends will premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival. The new opera is a collaboration with novelist and playwright William Boyd (whose first opera libretto it is), and intriguingly whilst Boyd's libretto has its origins in the Chekhov short story of the same name, written in 1898 almost as a study for The Cherry Orchard, Colin's music is partly inspired by that of Scriabin. I recently went to chat with Colin and William about the new opera and their collaboration.

The new opera takes the form of a group of contemporary singers rehearsing a hitherto unknown opera by a Russian composer from the early years of the 20th century, with William's libretto for the 'rediscovered' opera channelling Chekhov and Colin's music channelling Scriabin, but around these scenes are scenes of the contemporary singers rehearsing and gradually, for them, life starts to imitate art.

The work just grew through Colin and William's collaboration, but from the outset, Colin was clear that he wanted to write an opera about opera. The two men first met in 2019 and agreed to collaborate, but initially with no clear idea of the direction the collaboration would take. 

Something memorable: Jacqueline Stucker, David Bates & La Nuova Musica in Handel's Alcina & Rodelinda, plus Telemann at Wigmore Hall

Jacqueline Stucker

History's Lovers: Telemann: Overture-Suite: Burlesque de Quixotte, Handel: arias from Alcina, & Rodelinda, Concerto Grosso in F op. 6 No. 9, Telemann: aria from Orpheus; Jacqueline Stucker, La Nuova Musica, David Bates; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 28 May 2025

Love, from the comic to the obsessive to the devoted to real vengeance. Handel and Telemann brought vividly alive in an evening that rose far above a greatest hits concert and gave us something memorable

Under the title History's Lovers, David Bates and La Nuova Musica were joined by soprano Jacqueline Stucker at Wigmore Hall on 28 May 2025 for an evening of music by Handel and Telemann, friends as well as contemporaries, which moved from the comic in Telemann's Don Quixote to the obsessive with Handel's Alcina and then the devotedly marital with Handel's Rodelinda with an aria from Telemann's Orpheus bringing things to a virtuoso close.

We began with Telemann's late Overture-Suite: Burlesque de Quixotte which was probably written around 1761 when the composer was 80. In eight French-style movements, the suite began with an overture that really did channel Lully, with Bates and his ensemble giving us vivid rhythms and exciting passagework. The story then unfolded with Quixote's restless, fevered sleep, his fast and furious attack on the windmills, a gentle flute (Leo Duarte who was doubling flute and oboe) over sighing strings for Quixote mooning after Dulcinea, tossing Sancho Panza in a blanket with some great scene painting, and then the two trying to gallop away in what was a pure romp before finally a vividly urgent finish.

Impressive debuts: Opera Holland Park's first Wagner opera, Der fliegende Holländer is something of a triumph

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer - Eleanor Dennis, Paul Carey Jones - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Ali Wright)

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer; Paul Carey Jones, Eleanor Dennis, Robert Winslade Anderson, Neal Cooper, Angharad Lyddon, Colin Judson, director: Julia Burbach, City of London Sinfonia, conductor: Peter Selwyn; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 29 May 2025

The company's first venture into Wagner is a triumph, combining the mythic with the personal in a production that filled the auditorium with vivid drama yet had a quiet intensity in the more intimate moments.

Opera Holland Park opened its 2025 season with a new production of Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, the most compact of his mature music dramas, though this still represented a significant increase in scale for the company with a large chorus with larger than usual orchestral forces. Not only was this Opera Holland Park's first staging of Wagner, but there were two debuts in the cast with Paul Carey Jones (an experienced Wotan most recently at Longborough) making his debut as the Dutchman and Eleanor Dennis singing her first Senta (building on previous experience at Longborough, and as Eva in Die Meistersinger with Saffron Opera Group).

To stage the work, Opera Holland Park turned to the team of director Julia Burbach and conductor Peter Selwyn, who were responsible for Grimeborn Opera Festival's fine Ring Cycle [see my review], with the City of London Sinfonia in the pit. We caught the second performance on 29 May 2025, with Paul Carey Jones as the Dutchman, Eleanor Dennis as Senta, Robert Winslade Anderson as Daland, Neal Cooper as Erik, Angharad Lyddon as Mary and Colin Judson as the Steersman.

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer - Paul Carey Jones - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Ali Wright)

Naomi Dawson's fixed set depicted a world gone awry with nothing quite true and a vast ramp presenting Senta's room at an alarming angle. There was nothing sea-going about it, yet, Dawson and Burbach managed to vividly suggest the sea and the ships where necessary, making full use of the whole Opera Holland Park stage, the chorus scenes in Acts 1 and 3 really have the whole stage erupting into action. Sussie Juhlin-Wallen's costumes were modern without making too much point, whilst the Dutchman wore an outfit that merged the trendy with a suggestion of the East, creating a definite otherness to the character.

Hull Urban Opera gets up close & personal, Emma Wheeler & Anna Appleby bring together two musical worlds: Tête à Tête takes the opera festival to Newcastle

This year Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival not only returns for its 18th edition, but is expanding and there with performances in Newcastle and London. Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival is at Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle on 27 and 28 June, and then moves to the Cockpit in London from 22 September to 5 October.

The Newcastle performances build on Tête à Tête's collaborations with North East artists and the Royal Northern Sinfonia developed over several years. Tête à Tête is partnering with North Tyneside Music Education Hub to deliver QUEST 2025—a fantasy-inspired opera project running over Summer & Autumn 2025 co-created with young people in North Shields, rooted in community storytelling and bold new music-making, culminating in performances on Sunday 19 October at The Exchange 1856 2025. QUEST brings together school pupils, community chorus members, professional singers, and Royal Northern Sinfonia.

At Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle, Hull Urban Opera will be bringing their show It must have been Tuesday. Created by the company's artistic director, Russell Plows as a preparation for performers in an up-close, immersive style of performance, the aim of the show is to remove all potential barriers to communica7on (no set, costume, character or libretto - the words are the singers’ own) resulting in a warm, direct delivery of often sensitive ideas conveyed through both speech and singing. The stories were first presented in Hull in 2021, and in Newcastle the true stories at this performance are written and performed by Neil Balfour and Joanna Gamble accompanied by Ellie Gaynard Evans on violin with music by Russell Plows.

Ghost is built on Emma Wheeler and Anna Appleby’s life experience as queer, neurodivergent women – stories that have not historically been told in opera, tinged with comedy, trauma, and love. This opera is the coming-together of two musical worlds, from Appleby’s Glyndebourne and BBC Philharmonic opera composition history and Emma Wheeler’s rich mezzo vocals, to Norrisette and Rosé Gold’s grungy underground electronica and DIY drag fashion extravagance. Prepare for a ghost story like no other!

Other works include the intriguing Rossini and the Overture, based around the premise of a man impersonating Rossini and failing to finish the opera! This is a work-in-progress sharing as the team test out their new approach to opera. And there are also four festival shorts, operatic extracts and experiments, from Newcastle and the surrounding area.

Full details from the festival website.

William Morris: Chants for Socialists

Until a friend gave me a leaflet for Strawberry Thieves Socialist Choir's event, William Morris: Chants for Socialists, I had been completely unaware that William Morris, along with designing, writing and political activism, wrote music as well. The music was an extension of the political activism as Morris wrote 'chants' to go with the political songs that he wrote. 

On 31 May 2025 at 2.30pm, Strawberry Thieves Socialist Choir will be joined by singer/songwriter Darren Hayman and Florence Boos, editor of the Morris Archive at the University of Iowa for an event devoted to Morris' songs.  

Strawberry Thieves will be performing six of Morris' songs which will be introduced by Florence Boos, who is an expert on William Morris. They will also be joined by Darren Hayman who will perform his versions of Voice of Toil and No Master.

The songs performed include A Death Song for Alfred Linnell. This was created for a pamphlet containing an account of the death of Alfred Linnell, who was killed at Trafalgar Square on 20 November 1887 during a protest, when he was trampled by a police horse. The protest became known as the first ‘Bloody Sunday’. Many of the socialists realised that their hopes of a revolution were unrealistic in the face of establishment opposition and force. Many started to look for a reformist, parliamentary way of making change for the nation’s poor and workers. The pamphlet included a death song composed by William Morris and memorial design by Walter Crane, and the proceeds of the pamphlet were given to Linnell’s family. 

What cometh here from west to east awending?

And who are these, the marchers stern and slow?

We bear the message that the rich are sending

Aback to those who bade them wake and know.

Not one, not one, nor thousands must they slay,

But one and all if they would dusk the day.

You can read more about the protest and Morris' pamphlet at the Cheltenham Museum's website.

Full details of the Strawberry Thieves event from Facebook.