Enjoying it for its own sake: there is much we don't know about 17th-century Exeter organist John Lugge but on this new disc William Whitehead leaves us engaged & intrigued

The Forbidden Fruit: organ music by John Lugge; William Whitehead; Editions Hortus
Reviewed 15 December 2025

Using a French organ that provides a sound world as close as we can get to early 17th century Exeter, William Whitehead explores the organ music of John Lugge, by turns fascinating, dazzling and imaginative. We don't know much about the composer, but his music is well worth investigating.

17th-century composer and organist John Lugge is not a well known name, and his organ music was written for a type of instrument that no longer exists in England. For this new disc from Editions Hortus, Forbidden Fruit, organist William Whitehead travelled to Bolbec in Normandy, France to record a selection of John Lugge's surviving works, ten of his plainchant-based pieces and three of his free voluntaries, early examples of the so-called 'double voluntary'.

We don't actually know that much about John Lugge. Born in Barnstaple in 1580, the son of a shoe-maker, he first shows up in the historical record in 1602 as Organist at Exeter Cathedral where he remains until 1647 after which it is presumed he must have died. There is no record of his early musical training or experience, though stylistically his music can be linked to that of composers from the Chapel Royal including John Bull and Whitehead's article in the CD booklet points out that Arthur Cocke, Exeter Cathedral's Organist from 1689 was appointed to the Chapel Royal in 1601.

Lugge was highly regarded, being described as a 'rare organist' by one Lieutenant Harrison in 1635. As to the instrument Lugge was playing, well Whitehead has needed to look abroad to find something suitable. When it comes to two (or more) manual instruments in the UK, very little remains intact on any scale from before the 18th century, and we know that in the 1630s Exeter had a particularly splendid organ. The organ at Saint-Michel de Bolbec was originally built in 1630 by the organ builder William Lesley (Guillaume Leslie) for a church in Rouen. Lesley was Scots but based in Rouen. The organ was enlarged in 1728-30 and moved to Bolbec in 1792. There were 19th-century interventions, but the 1999 restoration took it back to its 1792 state. It has pipework contemporary with Lugge, retains its four keyboards and a 30-note "à la Française" pedalboard, and is tuned to an uneven temperament (Savior, 1701).

The disc begins with ten of Lugge's plainchant-based voluntaries, six Gloria tibi trinitas, Christe qui lux, Miserere, In nomine and Ut re mi fa sol la. This was a genre that developed during the 16th century when the organist would play chant-based voluntaries alternating with the sung chant. This would hardly be happening in Exeter in the 17th century when the Reformation was in full swing, so it is not clear why Lugge wrote these works which hark back to the work of organists like Tallis, Byrd and Bull. 

Aldeburgh Festival 2026: our East Anglia-based correspondent Tony Cooper takes a deep dive into the delights on offer at next year's festival

The 77th edition of the Aldeburgh Festival comes round in flaming June while marking the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death and, therefore, the festival will not only celebrate his music but also the legacy he and Peter Pears established by their commitment in helping to develop the careers of young outstanding artists.

The opening event - a semi-stage performance of Debussy’s delicate, dreamlike and mysterious five-act opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, directed by Rory Kinnear - promises a hot ticket coming as it does with a stellar cast featuring Jacques Imbrailo as Pelléas and Sophie Bevan as Mélisande while Gordon Bintner, Sarah Connolly and John Tomlinson take on the roles of Golaud, Geneviève and Arkel with Ryan Wigglesworth in the pit with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.  

The French libretto was adapted from Belgian/Flemish-born playwright Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist and enigmatic play of the same name, a work full of symbolic and ambiguous meanings peppered with shadowy characters and perfect for the likes of the composer in his innovative approach to opera and for his startlingly new musical language.  

His only completed opera, he finished it in 1902. The critics were rather perplexed by its content but over the course of time Pelléas has become one of the most admired works in the repertoire beguiling audiences time and time again with its elusive shimmering beauty.  

Beyond St Cecilia: Purcell's large-scale ode alongside superb anthems by his contemporaries Humfrey & Blow from The English Concert & Harry Bicket at Wigmore Hall

The Stationers' Hall where Purcell's Hail, Bright Cecilia was premiered in 1692

Humfrey: O Lord my God, Blow: I was glad, Purcell: Three Parts upon a Ground, Hail bright Cecilia; Amy Carson, Alexander Chance, Anthony Gregory, Nicolas Brooymans, The English Concert, Harry Bicket; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 16 December 2025 

Purcell's largest ode for St Cecilia alongside music by two of his contemporaries brings a striking element of compare and contrast in fantastically vivid performances. 

There is a grim element of 'last man standing' about English music in the late 17th century. Pelham Humfrey, John Blow (two years younger than Humfrey) and Henry Purcell (ten years younger than Blow) all learned their trade as trebles in the Chapel Royal, reconstituted by King Charles II after the Restoration. The Interregnum meant that there were few senior composers in their way and for a few years, life must have seemed exciting and full of promise. Humfrey was sent to France and Italy by the King. But his time was short-lived, he died aged only 27 in 1674. Three years later, Matthew Locke died, one of the few pre-Civil War composers to return at the Restoration. This left Blow and Purcell, but Purcell's precocious talent meant that Blow stood aside for his talented pupil and friend. Only, Purcell died at the age of 36. 

Playing 'what if' we can wonder what English music would have been like if Purcell had lived. But take that further and consider an England where Humfrey lived too, making English music the province of a trio of friends and colleagues.

The latest concert at Wigmore Hall from The English Concert and Harry Bicket on 16 December 2025 brought these thoughts to the fore as they performed Purcell's large-scale ode Hail, bright Cecilia alongside substantial anthems by Humfrey and Blow. The ensemble was joined by soprano Amy Carson, countertenor Alexander Chance, tenor Anthony Gregory and bass Nicolas Brooymans for Humfrey's O Lord my God, Purcell's Three Parts upon a Ground, Blow's I was glad and Purcell's Hail, bright Cecilia.

The English Concert was directed from the harpsichord by Harry Bicket with an ensemble led by Charlotte Spruit (single strings plus oboes/recorders, trumpets and timpani) with a continuo group including Sergio Bucheli (theorbo), Jonathan Byers (cello), Alexander Jones (bass) and Tom Foster (harpsichord/organ). The four soloists were joined by four ripieno singers, Ailsing Kenny, Nathan Mercieca, Edward Woodhouse and Christopher Webb to make a vocal ensemble of eight.

'The Lord gave the word': communicability to the fore in Handel's Messiah from Academy of Ancient Music & Laurence Cummings

The chapel of the Foundling Hospital where Handel performed Messiah annually

Handel: Messiah; Nardus Williams, Reginald Mobley, Thomas Walker, Ashley Riches, Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings; Barbican Hall
15 December 2025

A traditional version of the score and fleet speeds, but communicability was to the fore here with soloists and choir projecting both word and meaning, supported by instrumental virtuosity that was understated but definitive

Handel's Messiah is one of those perennials that in one sense always remains the same yet is always different. During Handel's lifetime this was literally the case as the composer adjusted the work for each new batch of soloists, which means that conductors have a whole host of choices. Few people go for some of the more obscure versions, except for those occasional performances that aim to recreate a particular version. The Academy of Ancient Music's performance of Messiah at the Barbican has become something of a regular (if not annual) event, with Laurence Cummings opting for a fairly traditional version of the score.

On Monday 15 December 2025, Laurence Cummings conducted the chorus and orchestra of the Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican Hall with soloists soprano Nardus Williams, countertenor Reginald Mobley, tenor Thomas Walker, and bass Ashley Riches. We saw their performance of the work last year [see my review] but a new set of soloists bring a different feel to the work.

With a choir of 18 and an orchestra based on 14 strings, Cummings opted for speeds that were often on the fleet side, but nothing ever felt rushed. The faster choruses were simply that, and there was plenty of space for expressivity. One bonus was that the gaps between movements were kept to a minimum so that this was a performance that really flowed. 

One feature of previous performances from Cummings at the AAM has been the emphasis on words and communication. The same was true at this performance. Granted, many of us could probably quote Messiah almost word for word, but soloists and choir were all highly attuned to projecting word and meaning.

Pianist Alessio Bax leads the inaugural London Festival of Chamber Music at Smith Square Hall as its Doors Open project gathers momentum

Smith Square Hall (Image: Burrell Foley Fischer)

The inaugural London Festival of Chamber Music takes place 25-29 March 2026 at Smith Square Hall, welcoming international artists and audiences to a series of concerts curated by 2026 Festival Artistic Director, pianist Alessio Bax. The musicians invited by Alessio Bax include Sarah Aristidou (soprano), Alena Baeva (violin), Lucille Chung (piano), François Leleux (oboe and conductor), Eugene Lee (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Natalia Lomeiko (violin), Nabil Shehata (double bass and conductor), Paul Watkins (cello and conductor) and Radovan Vlatković (French horn).

The festival opens with a mix of orchestral and chamber music with Sinfonia Smith Square in Strauss's Horn Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, followed by an immersive late-evening performance with music by Schubert, Messiaen, and Berio, ending with Elgar's Piano Quintet. Thursday features Schubert's Trout Quintet with soprano Sarah Aristidou opening the evening with culture-spanning songs drawing on European, Middle Eastern and Indian traditions.

Schumann's Fantasiestücke and Clara Schumann's late Three Romances are combined with their friend Brahms's Horn Trio, whilst Beethoven's Second Cello Sonata is a prelude to his Triple Concerto performed with Sinfonia Smith Square. 

During the day on 28 March, Festival Artists join musicians from Sinfonia Smith Square for a day of public workshops focusing on chamber repertoire and ensemble craft, giving audiences insight into the collaborative process. The Festival closes with 19th century oboist, Antonio Pasculli’s Donizetti-inspired Oboe Concerto, alongside Respighi, Ligeti and Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, performed by Sinfonia Smith Square.

This is also an exciting time for Smith Square Hall. Over the next few years, an ambitious restoration project, Doors Open, will breathe new life into Smith Square Hall, revitalising its spaces to be fully accessible and welcoming for audiences, performers, guest artists. Recently it was announced that it has been awarded £500,000 from The Julia Rausing Trust in support of the ‘Doors Open’ project, marking a significant milestone in the campaign,

Full details of the London Festival of Chamber Music from the Smith Square website.

David et Jonathas: New Sussex Opera to present Charpentier's tragédie en musique in 2026

Having given us rarities by Offenbach and Saint-Saëns, New Sussex Opera is turning its attention to 17th century France for its offering in Autumn 2026. They will be staging Charpentier's David et Jonathas with performances in Lewes (11/10/26), Cadogan Hall, London (20/10/26), Eastbourne (23/10/26) and Winchester (25/10/26). The opera will be conducted by Toby Purser and directed by Paul Higgins the team responsible for their performances of Lampe's The Dragon of Wantley n 2024 [see my review]. 

 The orchestra will be the Bellot Ensemble, who played in The Dragon of Wantley. The Bellot Ensemble has just released their debut CD, Cupid's Ground Bass [see my review].

Lully's monopoly on writing music for the Paris Opera during the 17th century meant that Marc-Antoine Charpentier's access to the operatic establishment was limited. Most of his works in the genre tend to be smaller pieces; though he did write Médée for the Paris Opera, many more pieces were written for aristocratic patrons. His opera David et Jonathas was in fact written for the Jesuits, for the Collège Louis-le-Grand, Paris. It had a libretto by by Father François Bretonneau, is based on the Old Testament story of the friendship between David and Jonathan. At its first performance the opera was performed with a spoken drama Saul. The intended effect was to be edifying and instructive. It must have succeeded because other Jesuit colleges also performed the work.

Surprisingly, Charpentier wrote in the form of a typical French tragédie en musique though the dance episodes are, inevitably, limited. The work is being performed in a new English translation by Christopher Cowell.

Full details from New Sussex Opera's website. 

Powerful & intense: the music of Elena Firsova & Dmitri Smirnov reflects their friendship with Rudersdal Chamber Players but also links back to Schnittke, Gubaidulina & Denisov

Love and Loss: Elena Firsova, Dmitri Smirnov; Rudersdal Chamber Players; OUR Recordings
Reviewed 15 December 2025

The Danish contemporary music ensemble pays tribute to its friendship with Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov with a programme of powerful and uncompromising yet surprisingly lyrical music

There is a fascinating transnational quality to Love and Loss on OUR Recordings. Performed by Rudersdal Chamber Players, one of the Nordic region’s leading ensembles for contemporary music. The disc represents a special tribute to their friendship with the composers, Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov, which dates back to 2019. Both born in Russia, Firsova and Smirnov met and fell in love while studying at the Moscow Conservatoire, but despite some success they ran afoul of officialdom and were denounced as members of The Seven, a group of non-conforming composers that included Denisov, Firsova, Smirnov, and Gubaidulina, at the 6th Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers. They moved to England in 1991, and their daughter is Russian-British composer Alissa Firsova.

Founded in 2017 by violinist Christine Pryn at the suggestion of Russian-American composer Lera Auerbach, Rudersdal Chamber Players has become the ensemble-in-residence at Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter based in the Danish municipality of Rudersdal some 20 kim north of Copenhagen. The core of the ensemble is a piano quartet, but the instrumentation is flexible and can be adapted to suit different venues and programmes and on this disc we hear Jonas Frølund, clarinet, Christine Pryn, violin, Marie Stockmarr Becker, viola, John Ehde, cello, and Manuel Esperilla, piano.

A piece close to his heart: pianist Julian Chan on recording Leopold Godowsky's Java Suite for the Royal Academy of Music’s Bicentenary Series on Linn Records

Julian Chan

The Royal Academy of Music’s Bicentenary Series on Linn Records offers industry-level recording experience and the chance to release their music to students and since 2020, over 20 digital recordings have been released as part of this series. This month for the latest in the series, pianist Julian Chan marks the centenary of the completion and publication of Leopold Godowsky’s Java Suite with the release of his recording of the complete work.

Born in Malaysia, Julian studied at Wells Cathedral School before taking his place at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). In 2024–25, Julian was recipient of the Aud Jebsen Fellowship at the RAM, where he previously studied with Ian Fountain and Michael Dussek. Julian has been awarded prizes at competitions in Nanyang and Singapore, as well as receiving the Royal Over-Seas League Collaborative Piano Award. He made his solo debut at Wigmore Hall in June 2024 performing Godowsky's Java Suite.

Born in what was then Russia but is now Lithuania to Jewish parents, Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) was a virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher, who became an American citizen in 1891. An important pedagogue, his pupils included the pianist Heinrich Neuhaus. Godowsky devoted his time to teaching and giving concert tours. Much of the 1920s was spent touring around the world; apart from concert appearances in Europe and the United States, Godowsky also gave extensive tours of South America and East Asia.

It was as a result of spending time in Java and experiencing gamelan music that Godowsky came to write his Java Suite. The suite consists of twelve movements, divided into four parts, and is not commonly performed complete. The first full recording of the work only dates from 2020.

The piece is very close to Julian's heart; he discovered it when he was beginning his studies at the RAM and during the holidays he explored a lot of music on YouTube. The work's blend of East and West was close to Julian's life experience, growing up in Malaysia and the UK. He sees the piece as being shaped by Godowsky's travels and different experiences. Julian points out that everyone experiences life differently; you cannot separate Godowsky from his travels and experiences abroad.

Challenges & rewards: Tredegar Town Band celebrates the brass music of Robin Stevens with Brass Odyssey

Robin Stevens: Brass Band Odyssey, Mancunian Fanfare and other works; Tredegar Town Band, Ian Porthouse; World of Sound
Reviewed 9 December 2025

Not a brass player himself, Robin Stevens' music revels in the challenges of writing for brass band and Tredegar Town Band do him proud on this new disc

Composer Robin Stevens studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and at Birmingham University with John Joubert. A cellist and teacher by trade, debilitating illness took him out of circulation for 17 years. Thankfully fully recovered, he has devoted himself to composition since 2017.

This new disc from Tredegar Town Band and Ian Porthouse on World of Sound showcases Robin Stevens' writing for brass band and for brass instruments. In his introduction in the CD booklet, Stevens is candid about the challenges of writing for brass instruments and brass band: "a composer writing for an instrumental family outside his or her comfort zone can, potentially at least, bring an unorthodox freshness of approach which is conducive to creative energy and vitality. As a music-college-trained cellist myself it is a common experience for me to present a wind or brass player with a challenging and unconventional passage and be received with an initial frown or two: then, with goodwill and give and take on both sides, adjustments are made to the passage which preserve its expressive essence, make it playable and bring into being music which, because it is not obviously idiomatic, probably would not have been conceived by a composer writing for their own instrument."

The disc opens with Brass Odyssey (from 2012-2013) for brass band and eight percussionists. The longest piece on the album, it is well over 20 minutes in duration, with Stevens structuring it in two parts, Elegy and Towards Rejoicing. It begins in a serious, bleak vein, with Stevens' use of note clusters giving density to the sound and providing an uncompromising air. There are percussion interjections, but often his use of the instruments is relatively discreet. Change comes gradually, with moments of colour and movement leading, eventually, to fanfares, yet at one point things collapse into a bleak solo. Finally, the music takes off unashamedly, with vivid, busy textures and eventually something of a swing to the rhythms, leading ultimately to a terrific clamour.

The human voice as a powerful vehicle for storytelling: Music in the Round's Sheffield Chamber Music Festival 2026 guest curated by soprano Claire Booth

Claire Booth (centre) and Music in the Round

Stories and story-telling are at the heart of the 2026 Sheffield Chamber Music Festival, which runs from 15 to 23 May. Presented by Music in the Round, this year's festival is guest curated by soprano Claire Booth, bringing a focus on celebrating the human voice as a powerful vehicle for storytelling. 

The festival opens with Booth in Judith Weir's remarkable one-woman grand opera, King Harald's Saga, in an evening that also includes Birtwistle's theatrical Cortège and a chamber adaptation of Brahms' Serenade No. 1.  Festival favourites, the dawn and sunset recitals return with Baroque evocations of nightingales by Couperin to Messiaen’s transcriptions of wild birds at Dawn in Sheffield's General Cemetery and Weber’s Clarinet Quintet, Mozart’s Oboe Quartet and Korngold’s Piano Quintet at Sunset. The friendship of Morton Feldman and Samuel Beckett is celebrated when Vicky Featherstone directs an evening featuring Feldman’s Samuel Beckett, Words and Music which was originally a radio play

Opera continues with Booth and pianist Christopher Glynn in Poulenc's one-act opera based on Jean Cocteau, La Voix Humaine, paired with settings of Cocteau's poetry. Booth and Glynn also decamp to the Chatsworth Estate and are joined by violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen for an all-day event that combines Grieg's Violin Sonata and his song-cycle Haugtussa in the morning with songs by Percy Grainger and Gavin Higgins' recent song-cycle Speak of the North in the afternoon, interspersed with guided walks! And Booth will be joined by Waley-Cohen, back in Sheffield, for Kurtág's Kafka Fragments.

The closing day of the festival world features the premiere of Julian Phillips’ children’s opera Henny Penny performed by a choir of Sheffield primary school children, followed by an evening recital of Strauss’s Four Last Songs alongside a new work by Ellen Sargen, Strauss’s Sextet from Capriccio, Sibelius’s En Saga in a reconstruction of the original chamber version and Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll.   

 Other events at the festival include a visit from Gwilym Simcock and friends, Beethoven's Septet as well as an evening devoted to music by his contemporaries, a folk evening focused on birds and bird song

There is a relaxed concert featuring Claire Booth in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, as well as a family concert featuring Izzy Gizmo. And the Prokofiev along with Ravel and Debussy feature in an evening concert too, and there are songs without words from Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov, Brahms, Knussen and Dohnanyi.

 Full details from the festival website.

Robert Gromotka & Jonas Hain - The Unspoken

In the middle of the night. Somewhere in Berlin. 

In one of the last great halls of the old AEG turbine factory, a moment of rare musical meditation emerges. The vast industrial architecture lies in darkness, with only a single light falling on a piano.

In this silence, composer/pianist duo Jonas Hain and Robert Gromotka perform The Unspoken from their upcoming album Between Us - two pianists, two voices, a dialogue carried entirely through the piano, revealing a sense of intimacy that words could hardly match.

"Sometimes silence speaks louder than any words. That’s exactly the silence we wanted to make audible", says Jonas Hain.

The album is released on 23 January 2026 on the Neue Meister label. 

Pre-order: https://nm.lnk.to/betweenusID 

From 30 January to 7 February 2026, Hain and Gromotka will be touring Germany, further details. 

Back to the Baroque master: Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival returns to Handel for 2026 with a new production of Handel's Floridante

Handel: Flavio - Rémy Brès-Feuillet (in bath), Yuriy Mynenko - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2023 (Photo: Clemens Manser)

Handel's Floridante is one of those opera more heard of or heard on disc rather than experienced in the theatre. The first modern performance, took place at the Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon in 1962 [see my article] and since then revivals have included Cambridge Handel Opera in 1989 and the Handel Festival, Halle in 1984 and then again in 2009.

Handel wrote it in 1721 with the great castrato Senesino in the cast. Winton Dean suggests that Handel was not completely engaged with the libretto. The previous season, Bononcini's Astarto had been a great success. In response, Handel temporarily abandoned his grand heroic style from Radamisto produced the previous year (and resumed in Giulio Cesare in 1723) and concentrated on graceful tunes, light accompaniments and something less learned and more crowd-pleasing. 

A success?

Well, Charles Burney certainly thought so: "I mention the slow songs in this opera [Floridante] particularly, as superior in every respect to those of Bononcini, who has frequently been extolled by his admirers for unrivalled excellence in airs of tenderness."

And audiences clearly agreed. Floridante received fifteen performances that first season, and was revived seven times the following season. It came back again in 1727 for two performances, and then seven in 1733. 24 is a respectable number of performances for an opera in Handel's lifetime, and we can add to this the eleven performances in Hamburg in 1723 (with German recitatives and arias in Italian).

Dramatically, however, the opera has limitations and Winton Dean places responsibility for this squarely in librettist Paolo Rolli's court. Rolli based the work on a late 17th century Venetian libretto, but barely kept anything but the bare bones. The result, in Dean's words, is full of obscurities and inconsistencies. But recent revivals of some of Handel's 'problem' operas have demonstrated that they can work on the modern stage.

Now audiences will get the chance to judge Floridante for themselves as Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival has announced that the centrepiece staging in 2026 will be Handel's Floridante. The festival will run from 4 to 13 September 2026 with performances in the Margravial Opera House, Bayreuth, along with other historic venues in the town. Floridante will be directed by the Festival's artistic director, Max Emanuel Cencic and Markellos Chryssicos conducts Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, the Festival's orchestra in residence for 2026.

This is the festival's second Handel production. In 2023, Cencic directed Handel's Flavio in an extravagantly theatrical production, see my review.

Floridante is being produced as a co-production with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and the International Handel Festival Karlsruhe, where it will be performed in 2027. Max Emanuel Cencic takes on the title role with Eva Zalenga (Rossane), Sonja Runje (Elmira), Bruno de Sá (Timante), Pavel Kudinov (Oronte), and Yannis François (Coralbo).

There are six performances of Floridante alongside a programme of concerts and recitals in the Margravial Opera House and other venues including the newly opened Friedrichsforum and the Palace Church.

Full details from the festival website.

Seele, vergiß sie nicht: poet Friedrich Hebbel, composer Peter Cornelius and his Requiem

Friedrich Hebbel - death mask

The German poet and dramatist Friedrich Hebbel (1813-1863) is not, perhaps, a well-known name today. But Hebbel's friendship with the composer Peter Cornelius (1824-1874) was an important one and on Hebbel's death, Cornelius made a choral setting of one of Hebbel's poems, Seele, vergiß sie nicht creating a work now known as Requiem, and their story creates a thread with links to Liszt, Wagner and the 'New German School'.

Hebbel was the son of a bricklayer, but studied at grammar school in Hamburg and went to university in Heidelberg and Munich. He made his name with his drama Judith, and spent time in Paris thanks to a stipend from King Christian of Denmark. Support from Prussian noblemen enabled him to settle in Vienna and mix with intellectuals. He had a high opinion of his artistic endeavours and something of a horror of the hand-to-mouth existence of the itinerant artist. As a result, he abandoned his friendship with a woman who had helped and supported him during his poverty-stricken period in Munich and married a rich actress. With much self-justification about the duty of the artist. He wrote a series of tragedies as well as comedies and short stories. Perhaps most interestingly, his final work is a trilogy, Der Nibelungen from 1862 which won the Schiller Prize.

Cornelius is not the only composer to have been inspired by his music, Max Reger wrote a Hebbel Requiem whilst Schumann's opera Genoveva is based on Hebbel's tragedy from 1840. The Belgian-Danish composer Eduard Lassen (1830-1904) who was music director at Weimar for most of his career and conducted the first performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde outside of Munich, wrote incidental music to Hebbel's Die Nibelungen in 1873. In 1878/79 Franz Liszt combined music from the Die Nibelungen setting with excerpts from Lassen's incidental music to Goethe's Faust, in a single piano transcription, Aus der Musik zu Hebbels Nibelungen und Goethes Faust (S.496). [Hear Leslie Howard's performance of it on YouTube]

Friendship seems to have been important to Peter Cornelius, and his life is notable for these interactions. The son of actors, he had early contact with the stage and with dramatic literature. His uncle was the painter Peter von Cornelius (1783-1867) and the young Peter lived with his uncle in Berlin and met luminaries such as Alexander von Humboldt, the Brothers Grimm, Friedrich Rückert and Felix Mendelssohn. Five years in Weimar included a period of study with Liszt, who remained a big influence. Whilst in Weimar, Cornelius started writing music criticism for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik whose editor, Franz Brendel coined the term 'New German School'. Brendel had taken over editorship of the journal in 1845, following on from Robert Schumann.

Then in Vienna, Cornelius became friends with Richard Wagner, often defending the man in the press. So much so that Cornelius moved to Munich at Wagner's behest, though the relationship was not entirely straightforward: Cornelius did not attend the premiere of Tristan und Isolde, using the premiere of his own opera Der Cid as an excuse.

Peter Cornelius

Cornelius' major work is, perhaps, his comic opera Der Barbier von Bagdad which premiered in Weimer in 1858 under Liszt's direction. Though, intrigue surrounding the premiere robbed the piece of initial success and led to Liszt's resignation in Weimar. Cornelius' second opera Der Cid, for which he wrote his own libretto, also premiered in Weimar

However, in the UK his best-known piece is Ivor Atkins' choral adaptation, The Three Kings, which is based on one of Cornelius's Weihnachtslieder setting his own texts. These were written in 1858 but revised at least twice: Cornelius's insecurities led him to be a great reviser of his music. It was Liszt's suggestion that Cornelius add the Lutheran chorale in the bass, ‘Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern’.

Cornelius's Hebbel setting, Requiem ('Seele, vergiß sie nicht') seems to have remained in manuscript, and Cornelius revised it at least once, in 1872. It is known thanks to its inclusion in the 1904 published anthology of Cornelius’s music, which was edited by Max Hasse (1859-1935). Ben Byram-Wigfield, in his excellent modern edition of the work, suggests that Hasse may have completed the piece.

It is one of the composer’s most personal, profound and intense musical expressions, its music reflecting Cornelius's period of study with Liszt and particularly the influence of Liszt's religious music. Commenting in 1867 on this, Cornelius wrote, "Liszt trod … the path of the thorough reform of church music, which had declined through secularism and unbelief". For those who know Cornelius only through The Three Kings or perhaps his operatic comedy, Requiem is a window into a very different, very intensely late-romantic world.

Wagner too remains a thread that runs through this narrative. Cornelius's final, uncomplete work was an operatic project, Gunlöd, based on the Norse eddas, notably the story Hávamál. The opera's story and psychology has similarities to both Wagner's Ring Cycle and Lohengrin. It was completed by composer Karl Hoffbauer for its 1879 publication. But it was not performed until 1891, when it was presented at the Hoftheater, Weimar with new orchestrations by our old friend Eduard Lassen.

London Concord Singers, conductor Gerard Lim, perform Peter Cornelius' Requiem as part of their concert Seele, vergiß sie nicht at St Saviour's Church, Pimlico on Friday 12 December 2025, further details from TicketSource.

Virtuosic, full of drama and contrasts and, I hope - good tunes: Richard Blackford's first piece for brass band, Orbital

Whilst composers of new music for brass band have often got brass band experience, there are also intriguing examples of composers from outside the brass banding world taking the plunge with remarkable results. A collaboration between five British championship brass bands and BBC Radio 3 is aiming to extend this by commissioning new music from establish composers who have not yet written for brass band, inviting them to write a new work which fits the precise format required for national and international championship competitions and thus ensuring a minimum of five performances.

This innovative project is spearheaded by the Cooperation Band, Cory, Flowers, Foden’s and Tredegar Town Band alongside conductor Martyn Brabbins who learned to play the euphonium during his youth at Towcester Brass Band. The first composer is Richard Blackford, whose new work for brass band Orbital is premiered at the International Brass Band Festival at the Royal Northern College of Music by the Cory Band, conductor Philip Harper on 25 January 2026 with a broadcast in February and further performances throughout the UK during 2026. 

The Festival runs from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 January 2026 and is definitely worth exploring: there are premieres of works by Claire Cope, Phil Lawrence, Bruce Broughton, Jacob Vilhelm Larsen, Simon Dobson, Helena Zyskowska, and Dorothy Gates along with works by established composers such as Paul Mealor, Per Nørgård, Derek Bourgeois, Thea Musgrave, Errollyn Wallen, George Lloyd.

Orbital is based on Samantha Harvey’s 2024 Booker Prize winning novel which follows six astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they orbit Earth, reflecting on subjects including the existence or nature of God, the meaning of life, and existential threats such as climate change. Blackford describes his new piece as "virtuosic, full of drama and contrasts and, I hope - good tunes."

Philip Harper, speaking on behalf of the five championship bands commented: "We’re delighted to be working on this project together. At several moments across brass band repertoire history, new voices have emerged which injected energy, innovation and new ways of thinking into our music. Composers such as Gilbert Vinter, John McCabe and Philip Wilby were all well-established before they wrote for brass band later in their careers, with such huge and long-lasting impact".  

Full details from the RNCM's website.

 

Sixteen premieres, celebrating Britten, Feldman, Henze & Kurtág and Ryan Wigglesworth as featured artist: 77th Aldeburgh Festival

Ryan Wigglesworth & BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at BBC Proms in July 2025 (Photo: BBC/Mark Allan)

The 77th Aldeburgh Festival, which will run from 12 to 28 June 2026, marks the 50th anniversary of Britten's death. The Festival celebrates both Britten's music and the legacy he and Peter Pears established here, particularly their commitment to developing outstanding young artists. Conductor, composer and pianist Ryan Wigglesworth is this year’s featured artist. He and pianist James Baillieu also begin a three-year tenure as associate directors of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme.

Headlining the Festival are semi-staged performances of Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande, where Wigglesworth conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (of which he is chief conductor). The production is directed by the actor Rory Kinnear who made his directing debut in 2017 with the premiere of Wigglesworth's opera The Winter's Tale at English National Opera [see my review]. The production features Sophie Bevan and Jacques Imbrailo as the lovers.

Wigglesworth and the BBC SSO will also be in concert, joined by pianist Steven Osborne for Ravel's Piano Concerto in G and Wigglesworth's own Piano Concerto, plus music by American composer Elizabeth Ogonek. For the final weekend of the Festival, Wigglesworth joins the Knussen Chamber Orchestra for the world premiere of his Viola Concerto with violist Laurence Power, Britten's early Double Concerto, more Wigglesworth and Brahms. The BBC SSO will be welcoming young people and school-aged children, alongside grown-up audiences for two of Britten's most approachable works, the Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra with a new narration from Rory Kinnear, and Welcome Ode, written for the Queen's visit to Aldeburgh in 1977, and sung by the Aldeburgh Festival Chorus which brings together local amateur singers

Wigglesworth turns to the piano, joined by cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, soprano Anna-Lena Elbert, and violinist Benjamin Marquise Gilmore for Birtwistle's Nine settings of Lorine Niedecker, Britten's Cello Sonata (written for Rostropovich) and Shostakovich's Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Bloch (written for Rostropovich and his wife Galina Vishnevskaya), plus the UK premiere of Tom Coult’s Craftsmen and Clowns. Wigglesworth is joined by his wife, soprano Sophie Bevan, for Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, Britten's The Poet's Echo and Wigglesworth's George Herbert settings, Till Dawning.

The Festival features six world premieres in total, of which three are Britten Pears Arts commissions, plus five co-commissions and five UK premieres, including new works by Eleanor Alberga [see my 2022 interview with her], Lera Auerbach, Tansy Davies, Brett Dean, Lisa Illean, Nathalie Joachim, Cassie Kinoshi, Freya Waley-Cohen [see my 2024 interview with her], and others.

The Festival is also marking three other important anniversaries, the centenaries of Morton Feldman, Hans Werner Henze and György Kurtág. London Sinfonietta performs Henze's Voices, which it commissioned in 1973. Christian Karlsen conducts with mezzo-soprano Carina Vinke and tenor Benjamin Hulett. Pianist Steven Osborne performs a recital of Feldman and Crumb, whilst Pierre-Laurent Aimard returns to Snape Maltings to perform a piano recital featuring a number of miniatures from Kurtág’s Játékok. The Carducci Quartet performs Kurtág’s 12 Microludes for String Quartet Op.13, alongside Webern and Bach. Cellist Guy Johnston will be performing Kurtág’s Signs, Games and Messages as part of Vilde Frang's recital of Hungarian and German chamber music.

Britten Sinfonia's visit to the Festival features Gemma New conducting music by Lisa Illean, Brett Dean and Steve Stelios alongside Britten's Cello Symphony with Laura van der Heijden, and then they are joined by mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston for a programme inspired by the classical world including Haydn's Ariana a Naxos, Britten's Phaedra, John Woolrich's Ulysses Awakes, Stravinsky’s Apollon Musagète and Britten’s early Young Apollo.

Other visitors include the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the world premiere of Tansy Davies' Percussion Concerto with Colin Currie, the premiere of Freya Waley-Cohen's Violin Concerto with the composer's sister Tamsin, plus John Adams, Shostakovich, more Elizabeth Ogonek and Rachmaninoff.

Alex Ho and Rockey Sun Keting's collective Tangram [see my 2024 interview with them] have created a new choral theatre piece for the choir Sansara, conductor Tom Herring. David Bates and La Nuova Musica perform Handel's early Italian oratorio Il Trionfo del Tempo. Dunedin Consort joins forces with Mahogany Opera for a theatrical staging of cantatas by neglected Baroque composer Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. 

Full details from the festival website. 

Dog days: Opera Rara & The Hallé to collaborate on the UK premiere of Offenbach's political satire, Barkouf

Offenbach by André Gill, 1866, with Barkouf in the bottom right

By 1860, Offenbach had written countless one-act operas for the Bouffes-Parisiens along with longer works such as Orphée aux enfers and Geneviève de Brabant, but his three-act opéra bouffe, Barkouf was his first work for the Opéra-Comique. 

In Barkouf Offenbach wrote in a more complex vein, with modern harmonies and complicated part-writing while remaining with the spirit of opéra-bouffe. The reactions of the critics were violently opposed to the work, and after its first run it was not revived. However, the work's modern editor Jean-Christophe Keck has suggested that Offenbach had never pushed his musical language so far, and would not go further – until Les Contes d'Hoffmann.

Most of Barkouf survived in manuscript in the hands of Offenbach's descendants, and editor Jean-Christophe Keck has tracked down the missing pages. The work received its first performance since 1861 in 2018 at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg.

Now Opera Rara is giving us a chance to hear it as in collaboration with The Hallé they will be presenting the work's UK premiere on 4 October 2026 at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester in association with a recording of the work using Jean-Christophe Keck’s critical edition. The Hallé will be conducted by Paul Daniel who led the award-winning revival of Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde (ORC63) [see my review], with the chorus of English National Opera. The cast includes Anne-Catherine Gillet, Antoinette Dennefeld and Katia Ledoux, who all appeared in La Princesse de Trébizonde, and they are joined by Opera Rara newcomers Mathias Vidal, François Piolino, Philippe Talbot and Thibault de Damas.

The opera is a political satire which seems alarmingly prescient today. A dog, Barkouf, is appointed governor of a fictitious place called “Lahore”, whose population has reached its wits’ end with the corruption and incompetence of successive leaders. This wasn't the first time that Offenbach had featured a dog as a character, Orphée aux enfers features Cerbère (Cerberus), three-headed guardian of the underworld who barks though the scene may have been cut

Full details from the Opera Rara website. 

The Seal Man: Rebecca Clarke's song reinvented with shadow-puppet animation by Jeremy Hamway-Bidgood,

The Seal Man is Rebecca Clarke's best-known song. This new animated film from Daniel Norman's Positive Note features shadow-puppet animation created by Jeremy Hamway-Bidgood, to music performed by mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately, violist Max Baillie and pianist Anna Tilbrook. The project was created as part of The Everyday Listeners, a research initiative led by Dr Kate Guthrie (University of Bristol), supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The film will be distributed to schools across the UK, inspiring children to create their own creative responses to Clarke’s powerful story and music.

Composed in 1922 to a text by John Masefield, The Seal Man tells a dark, otherworldly tale of a selkie — a mysterious half-man, half-seal creature — who lures a young woman away from her world to the depths of the sea. Clarke’s music is both lyrical and unsettling, filled with longing, danger, and irresistible beauty. 

The Seal Man also appears on The Complete Vocal Works of Rebecca Clarke, a new album by Kitty Whately, Nicholas Phan and Anna Tilbrook, released 7 November 2025 on Signum Records  

From Eisenach to Venice to London to Scotland: Rachel Podger & Friends in an engagingly eclectic programme at Highgate International Chamber Music Festival

Rachel Podger, Charlotte Spruit - Highgate International Chamber Music Festival, St Anne's Church, Highgate (Photo: Hannah Lovell)

Rachel Podger & Friends: Johann Bernhard Bach, Vivaldi, Bach, Nicola Matteis, Marcello, Purcell, arrangements of Scots airs; Rachel Podger, Charlotte Spruit, Jane Rogers, Jonathan Byers, Edward Mead, Ashok Klouda, Tom Foster, Sergio Bucheli; Highgate International Chamber Music Festival at St Anne's Church
Reviewed 6 December 2025

Rachel Podger and Friends in an engaging and eclectic Baroque programme that moved from Eisenach to Venice to London to Scotland, all bookended by music from Bach's older cousin Johann Bernhard Bach

Under artistic directors Natalie Klouda (composer and violin), Irina Botan (cello) and Ashok Klouda (cello) the 13th Highgate International Chamber Music Festival, which ran from 3 to 7 December 2025 at St Anne's Church, Highgate, explored everything from folklore, silent films, Schubert in song and chamber music and the art of the cello, ending with a finale featuring Shostakovich, Beethoven, Dvorak and Brahms. The festival's basis is a group of performers coming together with guest artists for each concert.

On Saturday 6 December 2025 focus shifted to the Baroque as violinist Rachel Podger made a welcome return visit to the Festival along with a group of friends, Charlotte Spruit (violin), Jane Rogers (viola), Jonathan Byers (cello), Edward Mead (cello), Tom Foster (harpsichord) and Sergio Bucheli (lute), and they were joined by Festival co-director Ashok Klouda, playing a Baroque cello borrowed from the Royal Academy of Music. The programme was an eclectic mix of both the known and the relatively unknown with works by Johann Bernhard Bach, Vivaldi, Bach, Nicola Matteis, Marcello, and Purcell plus arrangements of Scots airs.

Ashok Klouda, Sergio Bucheli - Highgate International Chamber Music Festival, St Anne's Church, Highgate (Photo: Hannah Lovell)

Christina Rossetti: Nigel Foster's London Song Festival turns its focus on the poet with soprano Susan Bullock and speaker Janine Roebuck

Christina Rossetti, drawn in 1866 by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The Life and Loves of Christina Rossetti: Parry, Arthur Somervell, Juliana Hall, James Scott Irvine, Michael Head, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Frederic Cowen, Charles Wood, Maude Valerie White, Martin Shaw, Thomas Dunhill, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Margaret Wegener, Ned Rorem, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles Ives, Liza Lehmann; Susan Bullock, Janine Roebuck, Nigel Foster; London Song Festival at Hinde Street Methodist Church
Reviewed 5 December 2025

In a rare recital appearance, Susan Bullock really brought out the sense of sung poetry in a programme dedicated to poet Christina Rossetti with settings of her poetry that focused largely on early 20th century British composers

Having celebrated the life and loves of American poet Sarah Teasdale as part of its current season [see my review], Nigel Foster's London Song Festival focused its attention on another poet, English this time. On Friday 5 December 2025 Foster was joined by soprano Susan Bullock and speaker Janine Roebuck for The Life and Loves of Christina Rossetti on what would have been the poet's 195th birthday. There were songs by Parry, Arthur Somervell, Juliana Hall, James Scott Irvine, Michael Head, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Frederic Cowen, Charles Wood, Maude Valerie White, Martin Shaw, Thomas Dunhill, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Margaret Wegener, Ned Rorem, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles Ives and Liza Lehmann.

Born in 1830, the youngest of four siblings with poet/painter Dante Gabriel as one of her brothers and the sister of Lord Byron's friend and doctor, John William Polidori, as her mother, Christina Rossetti had a life full of just three things, illness, religion and poetry. A long teenage illness seemed to turn Rossetti towards an intense, austere type of religion, where she would come close to marriage twice, yet both times reject the suitor for religious purposes.

Much of her later work is devotional, but composers seem to have chosen widely from her output, and the evening wove together song and spoken text to narrate Rossetti's life. Janine Roebuck read from Rossetti's poetry and letters, whilst Nigel Foster filled in more practical gaps. The songs were chosen to link to this narrative, creating a sense of exploration. Parry's My heart is like a singing bird coming after she fell in love with Charles Cayley, Charles Wood's Boats sail on the rivers coming after Rossetti's description of Hastings where she went for her health, Martin Shaw's Over the sea and Thomas Dunhill's If hope grew on a bush after she rejected Cayley as he was an agnostic. The recital ended with a setting of one of Rossetti's best known poems, When I am dead, my dearest by Liza Lehmann.

Il pomo d'oro: the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik celebrates its 50th anniversary with Cesti's extravagant opera

Stage set for the underworld scene in Antonio Cesti's opera Il pomo d'oro, performed in Vienna in 1668

In 1652 the composer Antonio Cesti became a member of the court of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria in Innsbruck and Cesti's opera, La Dori premiered in Innsbruck in 1657. Cesti is, however, best known by reputation for his opera Il pomo d'oro (The Golden Apple) which was written for the wedding in Vienna of Emperor Leopold I in 1666, and first performed in 1668, in a famously lavish production, with a large orchestra, numerous choruses, and various mechanical devices used to stage things like gods descending from heaven (deus ex machina), naval battles, and storms. 

Rather appropriately the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik is celebrating its 50th anniversary by staging Il pomor d'oro complete - five acts and a prologue, roles performed by 20 singers, with dance and choral sections. The surviving manuscript in Vienna is famously incomplete, so the festival's musical director, Ottavio Dantone, has also composed the missing music for Acts III and V. The production is directed by Fabio Ceresa, with costumes designed by Giuseppe Palella, and sets by Nikolaus Webern, with dancers from Street Motion Studio and the NovoCanto choir.

A new production of Handel's Atalanta will feature young performers from the 2025 Cesti competition. The production is directed by François de Carpentries and Karine Van Hercke under the musical direction of Andrea Buccarella. Making their debuts in the opera will be, among others, Cesti winner Salvador Simão and third-place winner Pierre Gennaï. 

The Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik runs from 24 July to 30 August 2026, full details from the festival's website. 

Fatto per la Notte di Natale: the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin in festive Baroque mood

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Biber, Vivaldi, Locatelli, Corelli, Telemann, Dall'Abaco, Bach; Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 3 December 2025

A programme that was seasonally Baroque, played with a lovely sense of collective engagement. But whilst we might have come for the Corelli, it was Locatelli's ravishing concerto gross that stayed in the memory

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin with concertmasters Georg Kallweit and Mayumi Hirasaki brought Christmas to Wigmore Hall on Wednesday 3 December 2025 with a programme of Baroque works evoking the season, centred on Corelli's Christmas concerto. 

The programme opened with the 'Ciacona' from Biber's Mystery Sonata IV in D minor 'The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple', and continued with Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in E RV270 'Il Riposo per il Santo Natale', Locatelli's Concerto grosso in F minor Op. 1 No. 8, Corelli's Concerto grosso in G minor Op. 6 No. 8 'Fatto per la Notte di Natale', Telemann's Overture in F 'à la Pastorelle' TWV55:F7, Evaristo Felico Dall'Abaco's Concerto a più istrumenti in B minor Op. 6 No. 4, and Bach's Double Concerto for 2 violins in D minor BWV1043.

A journey through music shaped by migration: Roman Mints' Another Music Festival at St John's Waterloo

Roman Mints' Another Music Festival

Stefania Turkewich (Turkevycz) was the first Ukrainian woman composer. Born in Lemburg, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine) in 1898, she fled Lviv in 1944 and moved to the UK in 1946 where she died in 1977. In the late 1940s, Turkewich returned to composing and created a significant body of work. From time to time she acted again as a pianist, in particular in 1957 in a series of concerts in Ukrainian communities in Britain, and in 1959 at a concert of piano music in Bristol. She was a member of the British Society of Women-Composers and Musicians (which existed until 1972).

Stefania Turkewich in 1920

Yet, amazingly, her music is hardly heard. Like a host of other émigré composers, Turkewich found a refuge in the UK, but did not really find a musical home. Some composers like Andrzej Panufnik seemed to integrate into British musical life, but others like Berthold Goldschmidt did not. 

On 18 January 2026, young Ukrainian musicians Ira Marchuk and Maksym Artemenko will perform Turkewich’s violin sonata in the UK for the first time. They will perform from a photocopy of the manuscript, as the work has still not been published. The performance takes place at St John's Waterloo as part of Roman Mints' Another Music Festival which over three days explores the rich legacy of composers who have lived or continue to live in exile.

There will be music from historical giants – Chopin, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Enescu, Bartók to neglected composers, including Ukrainian composer Theodore Akimenko (1876-1945), who was Stravinsky's first composition teacher. 

The programme features works composed both before and after emigration, highlighting the continuity and evolution of the composer’s artistic voice, including premieres of Alexey Kurbatov’s Quartet, Boris Filanovsky’s Supremus 3, and two UK premieres: Stephania Turkevych’s Sonata for Violin and Piano and Leonid Desyatnikov’s Leaden Echo.  

Such artistic enterprise does not come cheap, and the festival has a fund-raiser to help defray expenses. Do contribute at their GoFundMe page. 

Another Music Festival is at St John's Waterloo on 18, 21, 23 January 2026, full details from the festival website. 

Electric Voice Theatre's Winter Carols by Candlelight

If you are looking for something seasonal but that bit different, then Electric Voice Theatre's Winter Carols by Candlelight might be for you. At Conway Hall on Thursday 11 December 2025, Electric Voice Theatre - Laurence Panter (tenor & piano), Amy Kearsley (mezzo), Gwion Thomas (baritone), Frances M Lynch (soprano) - will be joined by Union Chapel Community Singers, the Dragon Cafe Singers and Christopher Hatton Primary School Choir.

From the beautiful Peace on Earth by Emily Josephine Troup (1853-1913) who was an active member of South Place Ethical Society, to a rousing Merry Christmas from singer and composer Harriet Kendall (1857-1933). Come "a-rambling" with Imogen Holst, celebrate the angels with Judith Weir and listen to some lovely Starlight rounds for children by Nicola Lefanu, sung by the choir of Christopher Hatton Primary School. Expect the unexpected, and of course some beautiful music by Conway Hall’s cherished composer Eliza Flower (1803 – 1846) echoing her own celebrated concerts at South Place Unitarian Chapel. 

Full details from the Electric Voice Theatre's website.

Stories of incredible women from Iranian history and literature: Daughters of Persia created by Margaret Fingerhut and Farhad Poupel

Daughters of Persia is a new evening of music and words, created by British pianist Margaret Fingerhut and rising Iranian composer Farhad Poupel, at Kings Place on 26 January 2025 performed by Margaret Fingerhut (piano), Bradley Creswick (violin) and Guy Johnston (cello), and a narrator to be announced. [see my 2022 interview with Farhad Poupel].

The evening uses a script by screenwriter William Nicholson which weaves together the stories of incredible women from Iranian history and literature with music by a mix of composers from Iran and elsewhere, featuring a new commission from Farhad Poupel The Laughter of Gordafarid for narrator and piano, long with music by fellow Iranians Reza Vali, Aftab Darvishi and Golnoush Khaleghi (1941-2021), one of the first female conductors in Iran.  There will also be much-loved music by Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev, Ravel and Pablo Casals.

The concert aims to not only entertain but inspire, deepen understanding and knowledge.  All proceeds from the show will help create scholarships for exceptional young women artists from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. In partnership with British-Iranian Jaleh Esfahani Cultural Foundation, the Daughters of Persia Scholarship Fund will give these women living in the UK access to opportunities in the arts they might not otherwise be given. 

Full details from the Kings Place website. 

The internationally-renowned German-Colombian conductor Anna Handler to become new Chief Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra

Anna Handler (Photo: Peter Rigaud)

The Ulster Orchestra has announced that German-Colombian conductor and pianist Anna Handler will be its new chief conductor. Handler will join the Orchestra from September 2026, initially on a three-year contract, in time for the Orchestra's 60th anniversary season.

In 2019/20 the Ulster Orchestra appointed Daniele Rustioni as its chief conductor and in 2022/23, marking the strength of the relationship, he was appointed the Orchestra’s music director. Rustioni held that position until May 2024, when he became music director Laureate, and Anna Handler will succeed him, taking up the position of chief conductor in September 2026.  

Last month, Handler her Boston Symphony Orchestra subscription series debut at short notice, with violinist Joshua Bell. Handler was Gustavo Dudamel Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 23/24 season and is currently Assistant Conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She also began her tenure as Kapellmeister of Deutsche Oper Berlin in September 2025 and she is scheduled to conduct eleven operas during her first season.  

Handler grew up in Munich and initially studied piano and conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich before continuing her studies at the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar, the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale di Imola and the Folkwang University of the Arts. She completed her master's degree in conducting at the Juilliard School in New York in May 2023. At Juilliard, she was the first conductor ever to receive the prestigious Kovner Fellowship.  

Anna Handler’s first concert as chief conductor of the Ulster Orchestra will be the opening concert of the Orchestra’s 60th anniversary Season, in the Ulster Hall on Friday 25 September 2026. 

Full details from the Orchestra's website.