New song cycles inspired by 10th-century Persian poetry, the Magdalene Laundries & Baba Yaga as storytelling in song takes centre stage at this year's Oxford International Song Festival

Konstantin Krimmel (Photo: Guido Werner)

This year's Oxford International Song Festival takes as its theme Stories in Song and from 10 to 25 October 2025, artistic director Sholto Kynoch and his team are presenting 67 events where audiences can explore stories in many different forms, from fairytales and ballads to the human and artistic relationships behind the songs, to the developing stories of national song traditions. Lunchtime, rush-hour and late-night concerts and study events, complemented by choral music, dance, chamber works, and talks.

The festival opens and closes with a pair of great Schubert baritones. Benjamin Appl and pianist Sholto Kynoch open things with an all-Schubert, then Kontantin Krimmel and pianist Ammiel Bushaketiz bring things to a conclusion with Totentanz and evening of Loewe, Wolf and Schubert. But that isn't quite the end, soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou and pianist Keval Shah present one last last-night concert, Danse Macabre with music from Schubert, Sibelius, Schumann, Clarke, Zemnlinsky, Riadis, Kalomiris and of course, Saint-Saens.

As part of an evening exploring the perfumed notion the Romantic poets and composers had of Persian culture, soprano Soraya Mafi and pianist Ian Tindale present music by Schubert, Schumann and Wolf alongside the world premiere of Emily Hazrati's Book of Queens inspired by the 10th-century epic poem by Persian poet Ferdowsi. But Mafi's heritage mixes Iranian and Irish, so the evening also includes songs from Stanford and Britten to Bax and Ina Boyle. Earlier the same day, mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean and pianist Deirdre Brenner explore a different vein of Irish heritage with The Magdalene Songs, a new cycle inspired by the Magdalene Laundries with music by prominent female Irish composers including Elaine Agnew, Rhona Clarke, Eleaine Loebenstein and Deirdre McKay. And what promises to be an amazing day, begins with tenor Hugo Brady and pianist Mark Rogers in the poetry of Thomas Moore set by a range of 19th and 20th century composers.

The previous day at the festival is also a day to note. It closes with Baba Yaga: Songs and Dances of Death, an evening devised by soprano Rowan Hellier who with Sholto Kynoch is joined by dancers Ana Dordevic and Carola Schwab with choreography by Andreas Heise in Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, Music by Tcherepnin, Dvorak, Janacek, Kapralova, Jake Heggie, Tori Amos and the premiere of Elena Langer's Nice Weather for Wtiches. The day begins with tenor Oliver Johnston and pianist Natalie Burch in two substantial cycles by Shostakovich and Britten along with Mahler and more Elena Langer. At lunchtime, speaker Philip Ross Bullock, soprano Katy Thomson and pianist Rustam Khanmurzin explore Shostakovich's life in song, and there is story telling about Baba Yaga herself at the Crick Crack Club.

Schubert is, of course, central to the festival. After Benjamin Appl opens things, there is bass-baritone Stephane Loges and pianist Libby Burgess in 12 songs from Winterreise alongside music from across the globe, whilst the Erlkings (guitar/baritone, cello, tuba, percussion/vibraphone) present an extraordinary new version of Winterreise. The Schubert weekend includes an exploration of Schubert in 1825, a Schubertiade with eight young singers, soprano Nikola Hillebrand and pianist Julius Drake, baritone Thomas Oliemans and pianist Paolo Giacometti in Schwanengesang, and Roderick Williams and the Carducci String Quartet in Williams' a new version Die schöne Müllerin.

There is more music for string quartet as mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston is joined by the Consone Quartet for Bill Thorp's arrangement of Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben along with songs by both Mendelssohns.

Other major moments include soprano Juliane Banse and pianist Daniel Heide in fin de siecle Vienna with Mahler, Berg and Strauss, baritone Christian Immler and pianist Anne Le Bozec in Wolf's Mörike Lieder, and baritone Stephane Degout and pianist Cedric Tiberghien in Schumann's Liederkreis Op. 39. Sir John Tomlinson appears at the Festival for the first time, giving a performance of John Casken’s award-winning The Shackled King.

There is a day of Spanish and Latin American songs including the Uruguayan-Spanish tenor Santiago Sanchéz, two study events, a recital of Catalan song, ‘Cubaroque’ with tenor Nicholas Mulroy and lutenists Elizabeth Kenny and Toby Carr, and a late-night Tango performance with Bandoneon virtuoso Victor Villena. 

The Erlkings (Photo; Peak Motion Films)

Full details from the festival website. 

A genre finding its way: Maurice Greene's Jephtha reveals different English oratorio before Handel consolidate the form

Maurice Greene: Jephtha; Andrew Staples, Mary Bevan, Michael Mofidian, Jeremy Budd, Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn; CHANDOS
Reviewed 28 April 2025

Written well before Handel really welded oratorio in his own form of music drama, Maurice Greene's early experiment combines graceful music with a certain static element in the drama but with some lovely moments and engaging touches

Maurice Greene is one of those composers who, though central to musical life in early 18th century London, has been relegated to the side-lines, his name popping up on the fringes of Handelian history. Eleven years younger than Handel, by the 1730s he was organist of St Paul’s Cathedral, and Organist and Composer to the Chapel Royal, he was also, from that year, nominal Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge and, from 1735, Master of the King’s Music, at which point he held all the major musical appointments in the land. As Master of the King's Music he succeeded John Eccles and was himself succeeded by William Boyce (Greene's pupil), whilst as organist of the Chapel Royal he succeeded William Croft.

His output is mainly in sacred music which is all the more intriguing when he moved into oratorio, at a time when Handel was not entirely committed to the new genre. The new recording from Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company on Chandos is Maurice Greene's 1737 oratorio, Jephtha with Andrew Staples as Jephtha, Mary Bevan as his daughter, Michael Mofidian and Jeremy Budd as the elders.

In 1732 and 1733, Handel produced in relatively quick succession the oratorios Esther, Deborah and Athalia, none of them in the first rank of Handelian oratorio. Then he returned to opera. Not until 1739 did he create another oratorio, Saul but this time the form had settled in his mind and Saul is an undoubted masterpiece, the first of many. Maurice Greene seems to have been heartened by Handel's example and in 1732 he produced his first, short oratorio, The Song of Deborah and Barak. He further extended his range in 1734 with the 'dramatic pastoral' Florimel first performed at the Bishop of Winchester's palace in Farnham with a libretto by the Bishop's son, John Hoadley (also a clergyman). 

In 1737, Hoadly and Greene would write Jephtha, a full scale oratorio on the Biblical subject. It was premiered at a private music society, the Apollo Academy and little is known about its first performance.  A libretto survives with the names of the first performers - men from the choirs of St Paul's and the Chapel Royal, plus Isabella Lampe, wife of Frederick Lampe (Handel's bassoonist and composer of The Dragon of Wantley) and younger sister of Handel's soprano Cecilia Young. Only one manuscript survives, with annotations that hint at subsequent performances.

Sir Nicholas Kenyon to give the inaugural Purcell Lecture at Stationers Hall presented by the Musicians' Company, and the Stationers and Newspapermakers' Company

Stationers Hall

In 1683, a group of musicians and music lovers got together as the Musical Society of London and organised a St Cecilia's Day concert (22 November) for which Henry Purcell wrote Welcome to all the Pleasures. In 1692 he wrote his ode Hail! Bright Cecilia for the same occasion, when it was premiered at the Stationers Hall (which was rebuilt in 1670 following the Fire of London).

In celebration of this, the Musicians' Company, and the Stationers and Newspapermakers' Company are coming together for the inaugural Purcell Lecture which takes place at the Stationers' Hall on Monday 12 May 2025.

The lecture, Henry Purcell: an Orpheus Britannicus for today, is being given by the distinguished writer, director and broadcaster Sir Nicholas Kenyon. There will also be music during the evening, provided by tenor Rory Carver, who performed the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Brighton Early Music Festival while still a student at the Royal College of Music, and guitarist and theorbo player Jonatan Bougt. Jonatan Bougt studied at the Royal College of Music as an RCM Scholar supported by the Musician’s Company Lambert Studentship. 

Full details from the Stationer's Company website.

Immersive Beethoven at Conway Hall: all the major chamber works with piano from Daniel Tong, Sara Trickey and Robin Michael

1803 portrait of Beethoven by Christian Horneman

This weekend, 3 and 4 May 2025, Conway hall is having an immersive event giving us the opportunity to hear hear all of Beethoven’s major chamber works with piano – violin sonatas, cello sonatas and piano trios – across six concerts. The performers are pianist Daniel Tong (pianist in the London Bridge Trio and director of the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival), violinist Sara Trickey (member of the Rosetti Ensemble) and cellist Robin Michael (principal cellist in Les Siecles and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique), and they will be joined by musicologist and broadcaster Richard Wigmore who will be giving illustrated lectures on both days.

The first day takes us from the Piano Trios Op. 1 to the Ghost Trio, along with the Cello Sonatas Op. 5, the Violin Sonatas Op. 12 and the Spring Sonata. The second day picks up with the second Piano Trio Op. 70 and ends with the Archduke Trio, along with the Violin Sonatas Op. 30 and Op. 96, and the Cello Sonatas Op. 69 and Op. 102.

Beethoven was a brilliant pianist as well as a composer, and performed all of his piano parts himself until deafness prevented him from playing in public for the last part of his career. Therefore, through these works, an insight is glimpsed into Beethoven’s unique and ground-breaking genius as it emerged through his chosen instrument and his own fingers at the keyboard. 

What better way to spend a Bank Holiday weekend!

Full details from the Conway Hall website.

More than novelty value: at Conway Hall, the Zoffany Ensemble explores two substantial 19th century French works for nine instruments

Louise Farrenc in 1835

Michael Haydn: Divertimento in G, Louise Farrenc: Nonet in E flat, George Onslow: Nonet in A minor; Zoffany Ensemble - Manon Derome, violin, Rachel Roberts, viola, Anthony Pleeth, cello, Lynda Houghton, bass, Karen Jones, flute, Olivier Stankiewicz, oboe, Anthony Pike, clarinet, Andrea de Flammineis, bassoon, Roger Montgomery, horn; Conway Hall Sunday Concerts
Reviewed 27 April 2025

Two French works for nine players, both from the late 1840s  yet by two very different composers in a concert that imaginatively mines music that has been unfairly neglected

Nine members of the Zoffany Ensemble, leader Manon Derome, treated us to a generous helping of musical rarities at Conway Hall Sunday Concerts on 27 April 2025. The programme paired two French nonets, both written in the late 1840s, by Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) and George Onslow (1784-1853), and prefixed these with Michael Haydn's Divertimento in G. Beforehand, I gave a pre-concert talk, Music Amongst Friends introducing some of the background to the works.

Michael Haydn's Divertimento in G, from 1785, is one of some 20 or so occasional works that he produced for the Archbishop of Salzburg in whose court he worked. Written for the intriguing mix of violin, viola, flute and horn the work consisted of eight short movements, each keeping to the theme of dance. The whole felt like a charming dance suite, very suited to background music for one of the Archbishop's banquets. Graceful and well mannered, the music made effective use of the mixture of instrumental colours and was melodically charming. 

This was a substantial programme, both the nonets are significant works and the Haydn felt a little to extended for its role as a programme opener. That the players had a lot of ground to cover was suggested by some moments of untidiness in faster movements, and there were moments of untidiness elsewhere in what was undoubtedly an ambitious programme.

Creating a fun day out as well as broadening the mind: Jack Bazalgette on his first Cheltenham Music Festival as artistic director

Jack Bazalgette (Photo: Ehimetalor Unuabona)

Jack Bazalgette is perhaps best known as the co-founder and director of through the noise, which since 2020 has programmed more than 130 classical music concerts in non-traditional venues using an innovative crowd-funding model to widen audience appeal [see my review of their noisenight at the 2024 Leeds Lieder Festival]. 

Last year, Jack was appointed as artistic director of the Cheltenham Music Festival and the 2025 festival, which runs from 4 to 12 July, is the first under his stewardship. This year, not only is the festival celebrating its 80th birthday, but also the 150th birthday of local son, Gustav Holst.

When I ask Jack what, for him are the highlights of this year's festival he charmingly demurs but highlights the festival's final concert on 12 July when the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), conductor Gergely Madaras is playing a programme which reflects the festival's early years. For Jack this is important, he points out that so many great pieces were commissioned by or written for the festival and he was keen to highlight these. The 12 July concert will feature Malcolm Arnold's Symphony No. 5 which premiered at Cheltenham in 1961 and which Jack sees is a masterpiece that he seeks to reclaim for the festival. The whole programme has these sorts of links, there is Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, which rather amazingly premiered at the first festival in 1945, a new piece by Anna Semple which has been commissioned specially, and Elgar's Enigma Variations which were in that first ever concert.

From RVW's Sancta Civitas & Bliss' The Beatitudes to Reich's The Desert Music & Birtwistle's Earth Dances, plus 19 premieres: the BBC Proms 2025

This years BBC Proms are the first under the stewardship of Sam Jackson, controller of BBC Radio 3 who took over the Proms this year from David Pickard. Running from 18 July to 13 September, the festival features 72 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and 14 at venues around the UK.

The First Night opens with the Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood, by Sir Arthur Bliss, who died fifty years ago this year. Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in an evening that also include Ralph Vaughan Williams' rarely performed Sancta Civitas which was completed 100 years ago, and the premiere of Errollyn Wallen's The Elements, a BBC commission.

Bliss anniversary celebrations during the season also include his cantata The Beatitudes, premiered in Coventry at the same time as Britten's War Requiem and rather overshadowed by that work. The Beatitudes is well worth exploring and I look forward to hearing the work with Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers in a programme that also includes Ruth Gipps' Death on a Pale Horse.

Major anniversaries include Shostakovich who also died fifty years ago.

Music amongst friends: my preconcert talk at Conway Hall

On Sunday 27 April 2025, the Zoffany Ensemble will be presenting a fascinating programme at Conway Hall for their Sunday concerts series at 6.30pm. The ensemble will be performing two 19th century nonets, by Louise Farrenc and George(s) Onslow. 

Before the concert, at 5.30pm, I will be presenting the pre-concert talk, Music amongst friends, (I regretfully abandoned the idea of 'No, No Nonet' as a title) exploring the background to the two works and looking at the development of the fondness for larger-scale chamber music, as well as tracing a line from Farrenc and Onslow to their teacher Anton Reicha and back to Louis Spohr whose nonet was the first such work to bear that name.

Full details from the Conway Hall website.

Fierce virtuosity and sheer delight: oboist Olivier Stankiewicz, soprano Lucy Crowe, violinist Maria Włoszczowska & friends in a captivating evening of Bach, Zelenka, Handel, Vivaldi

Bach: Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen - Olivier Stankiewicz, Lucy Crowe, ensemble led by Maria Włoszczowska - Wigmore Hall (taken from live stream)

Bach: arias from Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen and Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, Concerto in G minor, Double Concerto in C minor, Zelenka: Sonata No. 3, Vivaldi: Oboe Concerto in F, Handel: arias from Amadigi di Gaula, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Agrippina; Olivier Stankiewicz, Lucy Crowe, ensemble led by Maria Włoszczowska; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 22 April 2024

An evening of Baroque music for voice and oboe; a completely captivating evening of virtuosity and bravura combining with real delight at performing together

Olivier Stankiewicz, principal oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra, and soprano Lucy Crowe joined forces at Wigmore Hall last night (22 April 2025) for a completely entrancing evening of Baroque music focusing on oboe and soprano. Joined by an ensemble led by violinist Maria Włoszczowska, leader of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, they performed arias from Bach's cantatas Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen BWV32 and Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten BWV202, plus the reconstructed Oboe Concerto in G minor BWV1056R and Double Concerto in C minor BWV1060R, Zelenka's Sonata No. 3 in B flat for violin, oboe, bassoon and basso continuo ZWV181, Vivaldi's Oboe Concerto in F RV457 and arias from Handel's Amadigi di Gaula, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Agrippina.

We began with the aria 'Liebster Jesu' from Bach's cantata Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, written for the First Sunday after Epiphany in 1726. Stankiewicz' oboe unwound a long, elegant chromatic line over crisp strings before being joined by Crowe, the two trading phrases, her clear plangent tone contrasting with his darker yet elegant sound, creating something magical. The oboe got the last word with a lovely postlude.

Samling Academy Opera's performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at The Fire Station, Sunderland

Singers from the North East are joined by Dunedin Consort on period instruments and their director John Butt for Samling Academy Opera's performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at The Fire Station, Sunderland on 17 and 19 July 2025.

The opera will be directed by Miranda Wright who was on the Samling Artist Programme in 1999 and teaches at the Royal College of Music, Newcastle University and Durham University.

Dido is sung by Tia Radix-Callixte from Gateshead who takes part in Roderick Williams' public masterclass at Smith Square Hall on 4 June at the fundraiser for Pegasus Opera's Mentoring Programme. Aeneas is Max Robbins with Arielle Loewinger, Laura Postlethwaite, and Davina Halford-Macleod. Over half the cast joined Samling Academy from state schools in North East England.

Founded in 1996, the Samling Institute helps young people who live or study in the North-East to find and develop their talent for classical singing through Samling Academy. Singers aged 14–21 explore all aspects of classical singing and develop wider performance skills, led by expert vocal coaches, song pianists, actors and movement specialists. Samling Academy Opera draws on the expertise of the professional Samling Artist Programme, with Samling Artists acting as directors, musical directors and accompanists. A Samling Artist singer is often included in the cast, to mentor and inspire the younger singers. 

Full details from the Samling website.

Planet Hugill featured in FeedSpot Top UK Classical Music Blogs and Top 60 Opera Blogs

I am never really sure about lists of things, the Top 50 Best whatevers. However, finding out that you are in such a list is terribly seductive, even if you wonder how the list has been produced. FeedSpot, the company that produces FeedSpot Reader which allows you to subscribe to all your online media needs in one place, has produced its 30 Best UK Classical Music blogs. 

I am delighted that were are at number two. You can explore the whole list here.

A few monts ago, FeedSpot produced its Top 60 Opera Blogs list. Perhaps one's response should be wow, are there actually 60 opera blogs out there!

Planet Hugill, I am pleased to say, is at number eight. You can explore the whole list here.

A Georgian Party Music Workshop, and Pick a Card: Ensemble Augelletti's family friendly events for Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival

Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival runs from 23 to 25 May. Before the festival, an extra event features a Georgian Party Music Workshop for young people. Young musicians aged between 7 to 12 who play a woodwind or stringed instrument are invited to step back in time and join the fun of a Georgian musical party! Inspired by music, dancing, and playing games of Georgian Beverley's gatherings, musicians from Ensemble Augelletti will teach young people to play authentic Georgian tunes for traditional dances, while revealing quirky facts about the era.

Ensemble Augelletti return to the festival on 24 May when their family event, Pick a Card invites families to indulge in the art of playing cards, one of the Georgians’ favourite activities, and to “pick a card” to influence the musical programme of the day, with music by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann. Families can design their own playing card based on some fabulous 18th century designs, featuring animals, toys, princes and princesses.

The National Centre for Early Music (NCEM), which supports the festival, has a year-round calendar of events for young people. The Minster Minstrels, the NCEM’s youth early music ensemble for school-age musicians run in partnership with York Music Centre, meet regularly and their appearances include a concert as part of the annual York Early Music Festival. Recently they performed at Cliffe Castle in their “Season of Music” as part of the Bradford City of Culture celebrations.

NCEM's I Can Play! programme provides music-making opportunities for D/deaf children across the city of York and also runs I Can Play with Brass Roots, in partnership with Shepherd Brass Band, supporting hearing impaired children and their families to play music in a band environment whilst developing their skills on a brass instrument. In 2024 I Can Play with Brass Roots won the Brass Band Project of the Year Award at Brass Bands England's 2024 Annual Conference in London.

Full details from the NCEM website.

11 days in July: Lichfield Festival 2025

BBC National Orchestra of Wales, cellist Senja Rummukainan & conductor Ryan Bancroft at 2024 Lichfield Festival (Photo: Tyler Whiting)

For 11 days in July, the Lichfield Festival will be bringing music, performance, comedy and dance to venues across the city. Running from 8 to 20 July 2025, the festival features a selection of classical music highlights. Ryan Bancroft conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Beethoven's Eroica Symphony and Bruch's Scottish Fantasy with BBC New Generation Artist, violinist Hana Chang in Lichfield Cathedral. The festival closes with a candlelit recital in the Cathedral by pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason performing Chopin, Debussy, Florence Price, Bach and Beethoven.

The Paddington Trio, Finnish violinist Tuulia Hero, Irish cellist Patrick Moriarty and American pianist Stephanie Tang will be performing a programme including Ravel's Piano Trio. Tenebrae's The Path of Miracles will explore the road to Santiago de Compostella including music by Joby Talbot. Palisander recorder quartet present Double Double Toil & Trouble exploring music and magic with works by Tartini, Bach, and Hildegard of Bingen plus Renaissance consort music.

Bass Willard White will be joining the Brodsky Quartet for an eclectic evening jazz, musical theatre, classical and evergreen standards. Jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth and her trio will have the Carducci Quartet as guests for their evening presenting her new album, Windmills. Lichfield Concert Band celebrate their 40th anniversary at Lichfield Guildhall, whilst the Black Dyke Band will be performing at Lichfield Cathedral.

Baroque ensemble, Apollo's Cabinet present The Comic Muse, a semi-staged performance that explores the life of 18th century actress Kitty Clive through the music by Handel, Thomas Arne and Geminiani. Cgharles Court Opera will be celebrating their 20th anniversary with Around the World (of Gilbert & Sullivan) in 80 minutes. Waterperry Opera will be presenting their family friendly show, Winnie-the-Pooh's Songbook. Actor Tama Matheson joins pianist Clare Hammond for their concert play Don Juan: The Brilliant Irreverence of Lord Byron featuring music by Beethoven, Debussy and Grieg.

Former festival director, and biographer of Sir Arthur Bliss, Paul Spicer will be talking about Bliss to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer's death

This year's young artist programme features recitals from the Talland Quartet, oboist Ewan Millar, two pianist students from the Purcell School, Yazdi Madon and Stephanie Qiao, pianist Ignas Maknickas, violinist Madeleine Pickering, saxophonist Rob Burton, flautist Daniel Shao, cellist James Morley and the Bute Wind Quintet. 

The festival opens with The Lord Chamberlain's Men in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and other performers including the folk group, The Unthanks, Joe Stilgoe, and many more. There are discounted tickets for Under 30s, unwaged, community groups and more. Full details from the festival website.

Dramatic engagement: Francesco Corti directs Bach's St John Passion with the English Concert at Wigmore Hall on Good Friday

Autograph of the first page of the Johannespassion by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bach: St John Passion (1739 version); Patrick Grahl, Rachel Redmond, Jess Dandy, Ashley Riches, Morgan Pearse, the English Concert, Francesco Corti; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 18 April 2025, Good Friday

A profoundly satisfying account with dramatic urgency complemented by intimacy and tenderness in a performance of the Passion that brought a sense of drama and sophisticated music making

Having given us Bach's early alternative thoughts, with Solomon's Knot's performance of Bach's 1725 revision of the St John Passion in February [see my review], for Good Friday (18 April 2025), Wigmore Hall presented the familiar 1739 version of the work with Francesco Corti directing the English Concert with German tenor Patrick Grahl (an alumnus of the Leipzig Thomanerchor) as the Evangelist, bass Ashley Riches as Christus, baritone Morgan Pearse as Pilatus and Petrus, and soprano Rachel Redmond and alto Jess Dandy. There were, in fact, nine singers in all, as the above were joined by Amy Wood, Judy Louie Brown, Peter di Toro and Tom Perkins. All except Patrick Grahl sang in the choruses, Redmond, Dandy and Grahl sang the soprano, alto and tenor solos, respectively, whilst Pearse and Riches shared the bass solos between them. 

The 13 instrumentalists were led by Nadja Zwiener with Corti directing from the harpsichord and Tom Foster playing the organ. Corti seemed to favour admirably strong harpsichord tone and the instrument contributed significantly to the instrumental timbres (something that does not always happen), though Foster's organ was, at times, frustratingly discreet. It is worth digging out Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli Consort & Players' 2000 recording of Bach's Easter Oratorio and Magnificat in D recorded in the Saxon church of Brand-Erbisdorf (just South of Freiberg) which has a fine baroque organ by a pupil of Silbermann (the organ builder who was a friend of Bach), thus giving us the sort of sound world that Bach would have anticipated; one that is rarely reproduced on the modern concert platform. One intensely practical point I noted was that viola da gamba player Samuel Ng (soloist in 'Es is vollbracht') played throughout the evening.

As Andrew Parrott's ground-breaking 2000 book The Essential Bach Choir [available from Boydell & Brewer] explained, the Lutheran tradition in which Bach wrote often supplemented single singers on each voice line with an extra quartet (or quintet). This was Corti's approach, one that worked admirably in a space the size of Wigmore Hall and which preserved the vocal ensemble feel of a performance with just solo voices. Parrott's book includes one intriguing comment that I have never seen or heard implemented, if using an additional quartet of voices then they stand separate from the solo quartet, each group of SATB together and the result must have been an interesting acoustic effect.

We caught Francesco Corti directing the English Concert in Bach in 2023 [see my review] and it was very rewarding to see him back again. His St John Passion began with a long moment of silence, but the work that arose out of this was anything but contemplative and despite the restrictions of having 24 people crammed onto the Wigmore Hall platform, the performance had a vibrant energy and sense of drama, and yes contemplation too.

Searching for possibilities: composer Noah Max on his four string quartets recently recorded by the Tippett Quartet on Toccata Classics

Noah Max (Photo: Richard Ecclestone)

Last month, Toccata Classics released a disc of the four string quartets by the young British composer Noah Max [see details] recorded by the Tippett Quartet (John Mills, Jeremy Isaac, Lydia Lowndes-Northcott, Bozidar Vukotic). This group premiered Noah's String Quartet No. 2 at the Thaxted Festival in 2023, where Noah was composer in residence [see my review]. This is the second disc of Noah's music on Toccata, the first Songs of Loneliness being a disc of varied solos and chamber music [see my review].

The four quartets were all written over quite a short period, yet are remarkably diverse. The first quartet from 2020 is linked to the fable The Man Who Planted Trees written in 1953 by French writer Jean Giono (1895-1970), narrated on the disc by Sir Michael Morpurgo. In three movements, the music is tonal and atmospheric, supplementing the narrative and the work interweaves text and music, sometimes keeping them independent and sometimes as melodrama. The result slows down the narrative somewhat but creates a striking synthesis. The work is ultimately positive, Morpurgo's last words are 'in spite of everything, humanity is admirable', and it forms a strong contrast with Noah's fourth quartet.

Youthful impulse and power: Mozart's Requiem from National Youth Choir, Sinfonia Smith Square and Nicholas Chalmers

The first page of Mozart's autograph score of the Requiem

Mozart: Symphony No. 35, Requiem, Bruckner, Rheinberger; Hannah Dienes-Williams, Bethany Horak-Hallett, Hugo Brady, Peter Edge, National Youth Choir (18-25 Years), Sinfonia Smith Square, Nicholas Chalmers; Smith Square Hall
Reviewed 17 April 2025

Vigour, flexibility and power with a lovely sense of impulse as the young singers of the National Youth Choir come together with the young emerging musicians of Sinfonia Smith Square in Mozart's late masterpiece

As part of its Easter Festival at Smith Square Hall, Sinfonia Smith Square came together with the National Youth Choir (18-25 Years) under the choir's principal conductor Nicholas Chalmers on Thursday 17 April 2025 for a programme centred on Mozart's Requiem with soloists Hannah Dienes-Williams, Bethany Horak-Hallett, Hugo Brady and Peter Edge. The first half of the concert featured Mozart's Symphony No. 35 'Haffner' and motets by Mozart, Bruckner and Rheinberger, with the choral items intriguingly interleaved between the symphony's movements.

This was a programme about youth, the choral singers were all in the 18 to 25 age bracket, the orchestral players are all emerging musicians hardly older than that whilst the four soloists are all rising stars. Sinfonia Smith Square brings together annually 34 young musicians in a programme aimed at bridging the gap between college and full time professional career. The programme aims to give the players real life problems, and the evening's programme was not just a musical challenge, but had been put together in a remarkably short time (a skill that orchestral musicians must learn). Whilst Chalmers and the youth choir had, until a couple of days ago, been on tour in South Africa.

Looking at these modern classics anew: Britten's Canticles at the Barbican with James Way, Natalie Burch & friends

Natalie Burch, James Way and Annemarie Federle at St Mary's Parish Church, Haddington where their recording of Britten's Canticles was made (Photo: Will Coates-Gibson/Foxbrush)

Britten: Five Canticles; Errollyn Wallen; My Lazy Goodheart, Schubert: Auf dem Strom, Des Fischers Liebesgluck; Lotte Betts-Dean, James Way, Ross Ramgobin, Natalie Burch, Alis Huws, Annemarie Federle; Milton Court Concert Hall
Reviewed 16 April 2025

Britten's complete canticles alongside Schubert and Errollyn Wallen in a profoundly satisfying programme that combined musicality and sympathy with a sense of young performers looking at these modern classics anew

Tenor James Way and his duo partner (and wife), pianist Natalie Burch have recorded Britten's five Canticles for Delphian on a very tempting disc [see details] that pairs the canticles with Priaulx Rainier's Cycle for Declamation written for Peter Pears in 1955.

On Wednesday 16 April 2025, James Way and Natalie Burch were joined by other performers from the disc, mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean, baritone Ross Ramgobin, horn player Annemarie Federle and harpist Alis Huws at the Barbican Centre's Milton Court concert hall for an evening the mixed Britten's canticles with two songs by Britten's beloved Schubert, Auf dem Strom (for voice, horn and piano) and Des Fischers Liebesglück , plus Errollyn Wallen's My Lazy Goodheart. The programme represented an intriguing solution to the problem of presenting Britten's canticles in concert, pairing them with Schubert and with Ross Ramgobin (and Annemarie Federle) performing the Schubert and Lotte Betts-Dean not only performing the Errollyn Wallen but taking the alto part in Britten's Journey of the Magi, they ensured a balance of stage time for everyone.

Britten's canticles form an intriguing thread running through his composing career from 1947 to 1974, and as Alexandra Coghlan's article in the programme book points out, each canticle can be linked to Britten's concerns from his then current opera. Strictly, of course, they are not canticles at all, at least not in the Christian liturgical sense, but despite the varied nature of the pieces there is a commonality running through them, perhaps thanks to the focus of having just voice and instruments in a work that is not strictly song with texts that take a somewhat sidelong glance at religious matters.

Cheltenham Music Festival's highly regarded Composer Academy is returning for 2025, the festival's 80th birthday year.

Daniel Kidane

After being placed on hiatus in 2023 owing to funding issues, Cheltenham Music Festival's highly regarded Composer Academy is returning for 2025, the festival's 80th birthday year. 

The talent development programme for early-career composers will take place over an intensive five-day course at Syde Manor in Gloucestershire, alongside the Festival itself. Under the supervision of award-winning alumnus of the Academy, Daniel Kidane, composers will participate in workshops, performances,  sessions and talks. The programme offers key showcase and development opportunities for its participants. 

As well as attending premieres and world-class recitals at the Festival itself, Composer Academy participants will have the opportunity to write a short work for performance before a live audience by the Carice Singers and conductor,  George Parris. This showcase concert will also feature Q&A sessions, offering composers the chance to receive first-hand thoughts and feedback on their music.  

Jack Bazalgette, the festival's artistic director comments, "It’s a really unique opportunity for new composers to meet like-minded people, experience remarkable music and learn an amazing amount – all in the space of a week and in the context of one of the world’s most respected festivals."

The Composer Academy will take place from 7-11 July 2025. Applications open online on 25 April and close at 5pm on 12 May. Early-career composers interested in applying should visit the Cheltenham Festivals website for more information. 

This production, will undoubtedly be remembered for years to come: Massenet's Werther in Paris with Marina Viotti, Benjamin Bernheim & Marc Leroy-Calatayud conducting Les Siècles

Massenet: Werther - Marina Viotti, Benjamin Bernheim - Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Photo: Vincent Pontet)

Massenet: Werther; Marina Viotti, Benjamin Bernheim, Sandra Hamaoui, Jean-Sébastien, director: Christof Loy/Silvia Aurea De Stefano, Les Siècles, conductor: Marc Leroy-Calatayud; Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris
Reviewed by Andreas Rey

From Paris, our correspondent Andreas Rey feels that it is a long time since Massenet's Werther has been staged to such a high standard in the city.

From March 22 to April 6, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées presented a new production of Jules Massenet's Werther, directed by Christof Loy and revival director Silvia Aurea De Stefano (a co-production with Teatro alla Scala), with Marina Viotti as Charlotte and Benjamin Bernheim as Werther [Robert saw Bernheim in the role in Zurich in 2024, see review], and Marc Leroy-Calatayud conducting Les Siècles.

It's probably no exaggeration to consider it one of the best of the first quarter of 2025, at least. In fact, it's been a long time since a Werther has been staged to such a high standard in Paris. The few comments that follow should not distract readers. First of all, we must salute the German director's fine work, in terms of set design, costumes and acting.

Massenet: Werther - Act 1 - Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Photo: Vincent Pontet)

A new bandoneon concerto amidst the musical delights of Christian Blackshaw's festival, Hellensmusic in an historic Herefordshire village

Hellens Manor, Much Marcle, Herefordshire

Hellensmusic is a music festival that takes place every May at Hellens Manor, St Bartholomew’s Church, and The Walwyn Arms in the historic Herefordshire village of Much Marcle (the name comes from the Anglo Saxon word for field). 

Founded by pianist Christian Blackshaw and Adam Munthe (chair of the family trust that runs Hellens Manor), the festival returns this year for its 12th edition from 8 to 13 May 2025 featuring a world premiere for bandoneon and strings by Omar Massa and music by Lera Auerbach, Bartók, Beethoven, Rebecca Clarke and Dohnányi.

For 2025, Blackshaw is joined as artistic director by violinist Maya Iwabuchi (leader of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra) and Matthew Hunt (Principal clarinetist of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen) and they have invited colleagues from round the world to join them to present a four day programme of concerts.

The Festival opens in St. Bartholomew’s Church on Thursday 8 May with a folk music inspired programme showcasing music by JS Bach, Biber, Bartók and Rebecca Clarke. Early evening on Saturday 10 May in The Great Barn at Hellens Manor will feature world premiere by Argentinian composer and bandoneon player Omar Massa in a programme that includes music by Dohnányi, Mozart and Haydn. The Saturday evening concert sees the festival performers joined by Hellensmusic Masterclass Students for Mozart's Serenade in E flat and Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence, and in the Walwyn Arms pub in Much Marcle, Julien Quentin, Omar Massa and Matthew Hunt perform 300 years of the Greatest Hits.

Full details from the festival website.

 

 

Pegasus True Masters: masterclass with Roderick Williams as fundraiser for Pegasus Opera Mentoring Programme

Pegasus Opera's mentoring programme with Danielle de Niese in 2024

Pegasus Opera is being joined by baritone Roderick Williams for True Masters, the first of its public masterclass series and a fundraiser for Pegasus Opera Mentoring Programme which empowers the next generation of opera singers from global majority heritage backgrounds.

On Wednesday 4 June 2025 at Smith Square Hall, Roderick Williams will be joined by six emerging classical artists from global majority heritage, Tia Radix-Callixte (soprano), Julian Chou-Lambert (baritone), Neeharika Gollapalli (soprano), Joshua Elmore (countertenor), Masimba Ushe (bass), and Aivale Cole (soprano), and collaborative pianist Avishka Edirisinghe, for an evening focusing on interpretation and performance of arias and songs, including Mendelssohn's Hexenlied, Strauss' Morgen and arias from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Wagner's Tannhäuser and Handel's Rinaldo and Semele.

Pegasus Opera launched its opera mentoring programme in 2020 in response to the continued under-representation of classical artists of global majority heritage on the UK opera stages. Now run annually, the programme pairs each mentee with established global majority mentors who are seasoned opera professionals delivering one to one coaching on repertoire, vocal technique and career advice. This year's programme, whose successful applicants have just been selected, is being run in partnership with Glyndebourne Opera House.

All proceeds of the event will directly support the ongoing work of Pegasus Opera Mentoring Programme. Full details from the Sinfonia Smith Square website.

Henning Kraggerud announced as the Irish Chamber Orchestra's new artistic partner

Norwegian violinist and composer Henning Kraggerud is joining the Irish Chamber Orchestra as its new artistic partner from August 2025. Kraggerud joined the orchestra this month for concerts in Ireland presenting Between the Seasons, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons alongside three of Kraggerud's own works. This will be Kraggerud's third tour with the orchestra, in 2022 he joined them for a programme highlighting music from Kraggerud's native Norway and then last year they performed Kraggerud's orchestration of Bach's Goldberg Variations.

Henning Kraggerud is artistic director of the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra in Tromsø. His recording with them, Between the Seasons featuring Vivaldi and his own compositions came out on Simax in 2018 [see my review]. He is a Professor of Violin and Viola at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he also teaches improvisation. 

He is also the Chair of Violin and a Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester. I caught him and the RNCM Chamber Orchestra at RNCM's Original Voices Festival in 2023 including movements from his version of the Goldberg Variations. [see my review]

Further details from the Irish Chamber Orchestra's website.

Celebrating Creativity in Hospitals: Michael Stimpson's work inspired by his stay in ICU at hear of this concert for Horatio's Gardens

A concert to thank the NHS and to raise money for Horatio's Gardens, who produce beautiful gardens at NHS spinal injury centres to aid patients with their recovery, at Sinfonia Smith Square on 2 May 2025 will not only feature the Woburn Piano Trio (Emily Davis, Karen Stephenson and Sophia Rahman) in Beethoven's Piano Trio No.1 in E-flat major, and Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No.1 in D minor, but also features composer Michael Stimpson's Tales from the 15th floor inspired by his own time in ICU at Charing Cross Hospital after a life-changing illness.

Composer Michael Stimpson was 29 when he contracted Guillain-Barré Syndrome, the rare neurological condition that left him unconscious and paralysed in intensive care for four and a half months. His Tales from the 15th floor for cello and piano reflects this time in his life.

As a thank you to NHS workers and volunteers, they able to buy tickets at the discounted price of £5. All money raised at the concert will go towards Horatio’s Garden. Because of their link with spinal injury, wheelchair users and their carers can attend the concert for free.

Horatio’s Garden builds and looks after extraordinary gardens in in the heart of NHS spinal

injury centres. They lead gardening sessions to grow and cultivate plants, arts workshops to discover new skills and a programme of live music and events. Designed to be enjoyed all-year-round, the gardens offer a warm, welcoming place for family and friends who may have travelled hours for a visit. They have now opened gardens in seven of the 11 NHS spinal injury centres in the UK and their vision is for everyone with a spinal injury to have a Horatio’s Garden as part of their rehabilitation care. 

Full details of the concert from Sinfonia Smith Square website.

Yorkshire Calling: Ben Crick & the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra open Bradford Live for Yorkshire Day as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture

The ballroom at Bradford Live

A restored 1930s Art Deco building in Bradford will be reopening in August after being saved from demolition and restored as a cultural hub for the city. As part of events for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, Bradford Live will host the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, conductor Ben Crick on Yorkshire Day, 1 August 2025.

For the event, called Yorkshire Calling, Crick and the orchestra will be joined by poet Ian McMillan, the BBC’s Bantam of the Opera Choir and Leeds-based pianist Yuanfan Yang.

Crick will conduct his own music in A Northern Score featuring featuring poems written and narrated by Ian McMillan, celebrating influential northerners through the ages. The Bantam of the Opera choir features fans of Bradford City AFC, known as ‘the Bantams’ who have been taught to sing opera to celebrate Bradford’s UK City of Culture year, as part of a BBC Radio Leeds programme. Pianist Yuanfan Yang is an alumnus of the 2015 and 2018 Leeds International Piano competition (known as The Leeds). He is the Piano Ambassador for the Wharfedale Festival of Piano which includes the annual Waterman Piano Recital Series in memory of The Leeds co-founder Dame Fanny Waterman. 

Established in 1975 by the Yorkshire Ridings Society, Yorkshire Day commemorates Yorkshire’s historic contributions; for the last 40 years, Yorkshire Day, has been managed by the Yorkshire Society.  This year the Yorkshire Society is working in partnership with Bradford 2025.  

Further information about Yorkshire Calling from the Trafalgar Tickets website.

Compelling and magisterial: Sunwook Kim directs Chamber Orchestra of Europe from the piano in Beethoven's third and fourth piano concertos

Sunwook Kim & Chamber Orchestra of Europe - Barbican Centre (Photo: Ed Maitland-Smith/Barbican Centre)

Anna Clyne: Stride, Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3, Rondino in E flat, Piano Concerto  N. 4; Sunwook Kim, Chamber Orchestra of Europe; the Barbican Hall
Reviewed 12 April 2025

Orchestra and soloist both on terrific form in a pair of concerto performances remarkably unified in intention and surmounted by the responsive yet definite piano playing of Sunwook Kim

Pianist Sunwook Kim won the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, the competition's youngest winner for 40 years and its first Asian winner. This means that he is still remarkably youthful despite his 20 year career in the spotlight. As part of a tour of Europe and South Korea, Sunwook Kim joined the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, directing Beethoven piano concertos from the keyboard. Kim and the orchestra's tour concluded with two UK performances, at Saffron Hall and the Barbican, the orchestra's first UK appearances since they performed at the 2017 BBC Proms.

On Saturday 12 April 2025, at the Barbican Hall, Sunwook Kim directed the Chamber Orchestra of Europe from the piano in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Piano Concerto No. 4, the strings of the orchestra played Anna Clyne's Beethoven-inspired Stride, and eight wind players performed Beethoven's  early Rondino in E flat major.

Sunwook Kim & Chamber Orchestra of Europe - Barbican Centre (Photo: Ed Maitland-Smith/Barbican Centre)

We began with Anna Clyne's Stride, written as part of the Beethoven 250th anniversary celebrations in 2020. Premiered by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Clyne drew inspiration for the work from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathétique' with the name Stride arising because Clyne felt the left-hand octaves in the sonata were reminiscent of stride piano.

Letter from Florida: Sarasota Opera's Winter Festival

Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro - Sarasota Opera, 2025 - (Photo: Robert Millington for Sarasota Opera)

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, Verdi: Stiffelio, Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia, Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo: Pagliacci: Sarasota Opera; Sarasota Opera House, Sarasota, Florida
Reviewed by Robert J Carreras, 25-29 March 2025

In our latest Letter from Florida, Robert J Carreras enjoys Sarasota Opera's 2025 Winter Festival and considers what next for this enterprising company and its quirkily diminutive performance space

What’s next for Sarasota Opera? In recent years, this company seems to have covered all the proverbial operatic bases, advancing from a specialized regional outfit to something like a full-throated and fully invested international opera theatre. Sarasota Opera defies the typical classification of regional company as it has come to be known in the United States, existing more like a top-tier company homed in a quirkily diminutive performance space.

Of late, Sarasota's performers are more well-rounded, with exciting voices the rule. The stage direction is more concentrated, more diffusely assumed across even supers, and more topically informed. The music-making has kept pace, with visiting conductors adding spicy stylistic touches to already stellar orchestra playing. What’s next?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the answer to that question for many opera companies. Three of Mozart’s operas take up spots in the top ten most performed operas in the world since the millennium according to OPERABASE. Le nozze di Figaro, sixth on that count, is in repertory for Sarasota’s 2025 Winter Festival.

An incredible feeling when you get it right; horn-player Martin Owen on performing Mozart's complete horn concertos with Manchester Camerata

Martin Owen, Manchester Camerata, Gábor Takács-Nagy at the Stoller Hall (Photo; Rob Everett)

When horn player Martin Owen and I met to chat about his performances of Mozart's Horn Concertos with Manchester Camerata, our conversation began with the slightly unlikely topic of a health scare that Martin had a few years ago. The context being that he feels that to do full justice to Mozart's concertos you need life experience, nothing helps more than love and loss, pain and heartache in your life. In fact, Martin played and recorded the fourth concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra around 20 years ago but his current concerts with Manchester Camerata, and Gábor Takács-Nagy at The Stoller Hall in Manchester (Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, plus Concert Rondo on 2 April, Concertos Nos. 3 & 4 on 23 May) represent the first time he has performed all the concertos and after the second concert, they will be going into the studio to record them for Chandos, a logical extension to the orchestra's Mozart Made in Manchester series.

His approach to Mozart is very different now from what it was 20 years ago, you have different expectations and a different approach as you get older so the way a performer copes is inevitably different. When he was younger, he would have gone hell for leather at the concerto's opening, aiming for excitement and adrenalin, but his approach is now more considered. Martin is performing on a modern instrument but whilst he feels that modern values in Mozart veer towards the ideal of smooth tone, he is interested in getting a real variety of dynamics in the performance. He comments that he no longer thinks that aiming for perfection is the only idea. He points out that when Mozart wrote his concertos, the invention of the valve was 35 years away; Mozart's friend, Joseph Leutgeb for whom the concertos were written, played a natural horn. That is a horn with no valves, whereas Martin's modern instrument features valves of titanium and it also has a larger bore than older historical instruments.

Martin Owen (Photo: Davide Cerati)

Yet Martin's performances also include nods to historical information, not just the notes as Mozaart's scores for Joseph Leutgeb are littered with jokes and swear words. In some concertos, Mozart used different coloured pens, and Martin feels that the scores demonstrate quite how much fun Mozart and Leutgeb were having, and this personal link seems to separate the horn concertos from Mozart's other major concertos. In the slow movements of the horn concertos, Mozart has written some of his most beautiful music, music which is so difficult to bring off. You need to be able to turn a phrase so beautifully and so perfectly, and Martin finds it an incredible feeling when you get it right.