Maiden, Mother and Crone: mezzo-soprano Rowan Hellier talks about her interdisciplinary project integrating music & movement exploring the fascinating figure of Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga workshop -Ana Dordevic, Rowan Hellier, Carola Schwab - (Photo: Pascal Buenning/Deutsche Oper)

Rowan Hellier is a mezzo-soprano who, along with her operatic career, is known for creating projects which blur the boundaries of genre, discipline and aesthetic, often centring on women’s stories and her concepts have featured at major venues such as Wigmore Hall. At the Oxford International Song Festival in October, Rowan is presenting her latest project, Baba Yaga: Songs & Dances of Death. This production combines music, dance, spoken word, and a specially commissioned song cycle by Elena Langer. 

Baba Yaga workshop (Photo: Tina Dubrovsky)

For the evening, Rowan will be joined by pianist Sholto Kynoch, dancers Ana Dordevic and Carola Schwab and will be collaborating with choreographer Andreas Heise, whose version of Winterreise with Juliane Banse was a highlight of the 2023 Oxford International Song Festival. Baba Yaga is a co-production between Beethovenfest Bonn and Oxford International Song Festival, and the new cycle by Elena Langer is an Oxford International Song Festival production.

The idea for the show originated when Rowan was reading the writings of Mexican-American writer and Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés, best known for her book Women Who Run with the Wolves (1992). Rowan was interested in Estés' ideas about the wildness and wisdom inherent in women and how these relate to archetypes like Baba Yaga. She was fascinated by the ambiguities which Baba Yaga embodies; a figure from Slavic folklore, you don't know whether she is good or bad. In some tales, she helps people and in others she hinders. She can be seen as an ogress, a snake, a death figure, the shadow self or a matriarchal ancestress. All of which link to the idea of witches. 

Rowan is interested in reclaiming the idea of the witch as an alternative to society's script for older women. In a culture obsessed with youth, this feels like a radical act, she says. The figures of real witches were originally medicine women and healers in the community, yet they were then turned upon and persecuted.

For music, Rowan has turned to folk music, Slavic, Scottish, Lithuanian, so that alongside Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death there will be music by Tcherepnin, Dvorak, Janacek, Jake Heggie and Tori Amos, plus Elena Langer's new commission. 

The Merry Widow meets the Godfather: Scottish Opera brings John Savournin's new production of Lehár's operetta to Opera Holland Park

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Alex Otterburn, Henry Waddington - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Lehár: The Merry Widow; Paula Sides, Alex Otterburn, Rhian Lois, William Morgan, Henry Waddington, director: John Savournin, Scottish Opera, conductor: Stuart Stratford; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 19 June 2025

Scottish Opera brings its New York Mafia Merry Widow to Opera Holland Park in a production where the two principals shine despite distractions and overdone comedy

Viennese operetta was written as escapism, usually based on boulevard comedies with plenty of mistaken identity and pretence, settings were largely exotic. in 1905, librettists Viktor Léon and Leo Stein turned to Henri Meilhac's 1861 comic play L'attaché d'ambassade, to create Die lustige Witwe. They transferred the action to Paris, moving the protagonists' native land to the exotic Montenegro, introducing extra plot involving the baron's wife and transferring the last act to the chic Parisian restaurant of Maxim's. The result seemed to have all the ingredients required for an operetta.

Hungarian composer Franz Lehár wrote music that was inflected by these Parisian and Balkan settings, yet his treatment of the opera's two couples, Hanna and Danilo, Valencienne and Camille, gives them sentimentally touching music that makes their emotional journey's believable. Die lustige Witwe isn't just about comic situations, it is about people, yet these four are surrounded by a welter of determinedly comic, stock characters, and that is the challenge when it comes to bringing the operetta alive on today's stage.

It is tempting to wonder what the original production was like (the original Hanna, Mitzi Günther did in fact record parts of the opera and you can hear her Viljalied on YouTube). Now, I expect that we would find the original tedious and hardly escapism, after all neither Paris nor Montenegro has the same exoticism. ENO has had two goes at getting the piece right in recent decades, neither the John Copley production in 2008 [see my review], nor the Max Webster one in 2019 [see my review] seem to have stuck, though both got some things right. Graham Vick directed it at the Shaftesbury Theatre for the Royal Opera in 1997, an experiment that seems never to have been repeated. At Glyndebourne last year (I only saw the production on video), Cal McCrystal brought his familiar style to the work, keeping the original setting yet overegging the drama.

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Paula Sides - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Scottish Opera, Opera Holland Park and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company have collaborated on a new production of Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow in what was presumably hoped were the safe hands of director John Savournin. Savournin with David Eaton founded Charles Court Opera and have long experience in this game, whilst Savournin and his company have collaborated with Opera Holland Park on a series of Gilbert & Sullivan stagings. For this production Savournin and Eaton produced a new English version.

Having toured the production for Scottish Opera earlier this year [see the review in The Stage]. The cast, the Scottish Opera Orchestra and Chorus, and conductor Stuart Stratford came to Opera Holland Park. We caught the first performance at Opera Holland Park on 19 June 2025. The cast was led by Paula Sides as Hanna and Alex Otterburn as Danilo, with Rhian Lois as Valencienne, William Morgan as Camille, and Henry Waddington as Zeta. Designs were by takis, with lighting by Ben Pickersgill and choreography by Kally Lloyd-Jones.

Savournin (book) and Eaton (lyrics) had the idea to transpose their new English version to Italian-American Mafiosi in New York, with Hanna's fortune coming from Sicily,  so that the second act moved to Sicily, whilst Maxim's was relocated to New York. In an article in the programme book, John Savournin argued cohesively for the new setting, which does make sense intellectually. Unfortunately, the relocation creates dramaturgical and emotional problems.

Enjoyment, exploration & sheer virtuosic fun: Sisters from Karine Deshayes & Delphine Haidan

Sisters: music by Rossini, Viardot, Gluck/Berlioz, Berlioz, Bertin, Bellini, Grandval, Saint-Saens; Karine Deshayes, Delphine Haidan, Orchestre national Avignon-Provence, conductor Débora Waldman; NoMadMusic
Reviewed 13 June 2025

Part celebration, part luxuriant delight: Malibran and Viardot celebrated in a programme that was clearly a joy for both soloists and performers, enjoyment, exploration and sheer virtuosic fun

From around 1825 to 1863 the sisters Maria Malibran (1808-1836) and Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) lit up the operatic stage. Both were daughters of Manuel García, a celebrated tenor much admired by Rossini (he created the role of Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville), and their brother, also Manuel, was also a singer and pedagogue who invented the first laryngoscope.

Malibran was some 13 years the elder and it was only her early, tragic death that forced Viardot to become a professional singer. Viardot had wanted to become a professional pianist, she had had piano lessons with Liszt and harmony and counterpoint lessons with Reicha.

Viardot was just 15 when her sister died, so any idea of them singing together must be restricted to the realm of the personal, and to fantasy. Both singers had fascinatingly unquantifiable voices, large ranges so we might see them as mezzo-sopranos with high extension, both had their names linked to some remarkable roles.

The disc Sisters on NoMadMusic from mezzo-sopranos Karine Deshayes and Delphine Haidan, and the Orchestre national Avignon-Provence, conductor Débora Waldman, celebrates this sisterhood with a selection of bel canto classics that the sisters either sang or might have sang, with music from Rossini's Otello, La donna del lago, Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra and Semiramide, Viardot's own Le dernier sorcier, and Les Monts de Géorgie, Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice in the version arranged for Viardot by Berlioz, Berlioz' Les Troyens, initially written with Viardot in mind, Bertin's Fausto, Bellini's I Puritani, where the composer produced a special version for Malibran, Grandval's Mazeppa and a song by Saint-Saens.

The programme is described a panorama of Italian and French opera, but Rossini is its anchor. Some of Malibran's key Bellini roles are lacking, whilst Viardot is notable for having Sapho written for her by Gounod and more importantly she created the role of Fidès in Meyerbeer's Le prophète. What is does give us is a rather gorgeous and somewhat self-indulgent programme of arias and duets from two luxurious voices.

Early Music Day in Oxford

The Continuo Foundation is joining forces with Oxford Festival of the Arts to present an Early Music Day on Saturday 12 July 2025 at Magdalen College. The day will consist of two afternoon concerts by Continuo grantee ensembles, the Linarol Consort and the Bellot Ensemble, plus a talk by Nicholas Kenyon on the early music revival.

The Linarol Consort is joined by countertenor William Purefoy for a programme celebrating the life and times of Oxford-born Orlando Gibbons, exploring a range of his works, alongside those of his contemporaries, John Bull, William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes. The Bellot Ensemble present Cupid's Ground Bass, which explores the extremities of love, through the ground-breaking works of 17th-century Italy, highlighting both the vocal and instrumental innovations of the time, with soprano Lucine Musaelian and tenor Kieran White.

Then, Nicholas Kenyon's talk, The Pied Pipers of Early Music will be celebrating a century of revolution of musical taste, looking at some of the highlights of this revolution and the richness it has brought to our musical lives, including the significant contributions from Oxford musicians.

Further details from the Continuo Foundation website.

Opera in the heart of Clapham: St Paul's Opera's Summer Opera Festival

Rehearsal images from St Paul's Opera's forthcoming production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore

My local opera company, St Paul's Opera is presenting its annual Summer operatic staging at St Paul's Church, Clapham next month (3 to 5 July 2025) with Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. The director is Eloise Lally who directed English Touring Opera's production of Bellini's The Capulets & The Montagues which we caught in Hackney earlier this year [see my review]. The music director is Adrian Salinero, a London-based Basque Spanish pianist, repetiteur and vocal coach.

The cast includes Ashley Mercer as Dulcamara, Martins Smaukstelis as Nemorino, Theodore Day as Belcore, Fiona Hymns as Adina and Isabella Roberts as Giannetta

L'Elisir d'Amore is an opera that seems to invite directors to come up with imaginative new settings. Whilst there are productions that stay with the original setting of a small Basque village at the end of the 18th century, many more give the piece a new look, finding inventive ways highlighting the class difference between Adina and Nemorino. 

Who can forget the strange effect of Jonathan Miller's American mid-West setting at ENO, though thankfully the recent ENO production set the opera in an English country house during World War II [see my review], whilst Guido Martin Brandis' production for Wild Arts used an inventive 1950s setting simply as a backdrop to the action [see my review]. A similar approach was taken in Victoria Newlyn's riotous modern dress production for West Green Opera [see my review]. Still in the 1950s, Waterperry Opera had Adina running an American wellness spa with Nemorino as the janitor [see my review]

For St Paul's Opera, Eloise Lally's production promises to also be 1950s, this time a hospital ward in post-war Clapham, where Matron Adina as keeps order among patients, staff, and neighbours—while the mysterious Dr Dulcamara offers his "miracle cure" to anyone in need.

There are three evening performances from 3 to 5 July, when you can picnic in the church grounds beforehand, as well as a relaxed matinee on Saturday 5 July which which will be a great opportunity for families to enjoy the comic opera in a family friendly atmosphere.

Full details from the St Paul's Opera website.

The earth moves: Antoine Brumel's 12-part Earthquake Mass & Tallis' 40-part motet from Peter Phillips & The Tallis Scholars

Watercolour of Nonsuch Palace where Tallis' Spem in alium may have premiered

The Earth Moves: Brumel: Missa Et ecce terrae motus, Gombert: Lugebat David Absalon, Josquin: Absalon fili mi, Tallis: Spem in alium; The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips; Cadogan Hall
Reviewed 17 June 2025

Did the earth move for you? The rich textures of Brumel's 12-part Earthquake Mass alongside the spatial and sonic effects of Tallis' 40-part masterpiece.

Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars returned to Cadogan Hall on 17 June 2025 (the concert is repeated on 25 June) for The Earth Moves, an evening that included Antoine Brumel's 12-part Missa Et ecce terrae motus, the so-called Earthquake Mass, alongside Tallis' 40-part motet Spem in alium and motets by Josquin and Gombert.

Antoine Brumel was a younger contemporary of Josquin, an important member of the Franco-Flemish school that dominated Italian sacred music in the 1500s. He is best known for his so-called Earthquake Mass, named not because the work has any sort of depiction of an earthquake, but for the plainchant on which the work is based. But it is notable also for the rich polyphonic textures that Brumel achieves thanks to using 12 voices. The work's most important source (and the earliest) is one created for a performance given by Orlandus Lassus in Munich around 1568 (well after Brumel's death which was probably in 1513). This mammoth manuscript, in some 60 folios, has the adult singers' names recorded in Lassus' hand. The final folios are partially lost as the manuscript had rotted, and thus the work needs some editorial hand. For this performance, The Tallis Scholars' soprano Amy Howarth had created a new edition.

Lieder, songs and sonnets: David Butt Philip in Vaughan Williams, Alma Mahler, Wagner & Britten at Wigmore Hall

David Butt Philip (Photo: Andrew Staples)

Ralph Vaughan Williams, Alma Mahler, Wagner, Britten: David Butt Philip, James Baillieu; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 15 June 2025

In a rare song recital, the dramatic tenor explores a remarkably diverse yet imaginative programme that moved away from his opera repertory

Thanks to the vagaries of programming and that fact the much of his chosen operatic repertoire of Wagner and Richard Strauss is relatively rare on these shores at the moment, tenor David Butt Philip is only something of an occasional visitor to UK opera houses and concert halls. Even more so, the chance to catch him in recital in the relative intimacy of Wigmore Hall was something indeed.

On Sunday 15 June 2025, David Butt Philip was joined by pianist James Baillieu for a programme bookended by British song cycles setting sequences of sonnets. They began with Ralph Vaughan Williams' early The House of Life, setting sonnets by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and ended with Benjamin Britten's The Holy Sonnets of John Donne. In between the repertoire moved to dramatic settings of German with three songs by Alma Mahler and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder.

RVW wrote The House of Life in 1903, roughly around the time he wrote his better known Songs of Travel. This is RVW before he went to study with Ravel and before English folksong began to make such a profound impression on him. This is the RVW whom Sir Charles Villiers Stanford thought was 'too Germanic' and who studied with Max Bruch as well. The House of Life is notable for the fact that the sequence includes Silent Noon, in fact the song was written before the rest and somehow RVW never quite achieves the same magic in the rest of the cycle. 

I have to confess that I have always found Rossetti's poems a bit too wordy for my taste, which means that RVW's settings require a very particular singer to bring off the cycle of six substantial songs. [Kitty Whately has recorded a notable version, see my review]. Here David Butt Philip made it clear that words were very important to him and significantly his diction was such that we never needed the printed words. Each song was a piece of convincing drama, and despite the rather conventional harmonies RVW's relatively free approach to the vocal line was in many ways rather forward looking. These songs are the antithesis of the conventional early 20th century lyrical English song.

Dream Differently: A danced version of Christopher Isherwood, new Sufi music, Mussorgsky with Chinese traditional instruments at the Manchester International Festival

Under the title of Dream Differently, Manchester International Festival is taking over Aviva Studios and spreading across the city from 3 to 20 July 2025 with a wide selection of boundary pushing art and culture. Director and choreographer Jonathan Watkins is recreating Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel, A Single Man as a dance work in collaboration with singer-songwriter John Grant and composer Jasmin Kent Rodgman with songs performed by Grant, and dancers from the Royal Ballet as well as guest artists, and the score performed by Manchester Collective. 

There is a world premiere from renowned Sufi composer Rushil Ranjan, co-founder of the Orchestral Qawwali Project, with the Manchester Camerata and legendary Sufi vocalist Jyoti Nooran. The Hallé and its new principal conductor Kahchun Wong, present Sounds of the East with music by Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung, Debussy and the UK premiere of Kahchun Wong’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition in a version that incorporates Chinese traditional instruments.

Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe present a performance that will only ever be performed once, in the form it takes at the festival. Bringing together live DJing, sound design and voice, with violins, viola and live electronics, Hobbs and Phoebe will explore the question that resonates with us all in the age of attention-obliteration: WHAT DO YOU WANT? 

Part sculptural installation, part soundscape, part immersive experience, Germaine Kruip's A Possibility at The Royal Northern College of Music invites audiences to transcend the immediate and explore a world of infinite possibilities. Tthe piece features music by Emily Howard and Hahn Rowe performed by percussionists using Kruip’s specially made brass sculptures. 

Full details from the festival website. 

The opening work of the Aldeburgh Festival’s 76th edition fell to Colin Matthews’ A Visit to Friends, the composer’s first foray into opera.

Colin Matthews: A Visit to Friends - Lotte Betts-Dean, Marcus Farnsworth - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Richard Hubert Smith)

Colin Matthews: A Visit to Friends; Lotte Betts-Dean, Susanna Hurrell, Marcus Farnsworth, Edward Hawkins, Gary Matthewman, director Rachael Hewer, Aurora Orchestra, conductor Jessica Cottis; Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh Festival
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 14 June 2025

An ‘opera-within-an-opera’, Colin Matthews’ A Visit to Friends draws on Anton Chekhov’s intriguing short story of the same name published in 1898 and William Boyd’s Chekhovian play, Longing 

Over the past few years, the Aldeburgh Festival has ‘opened’ with a chamber opera and one that holds its memory for me is The Hunting Gun by Austrian composer, Thomas Larcher, seen in 2019 [see Tony's review]. His first foray into opera. Based on the novella of the same name by Japanese writer, Yasushi Inoue, the opera explores themes of love, betrayal and death telling the story of a secret love affair through the letters of three people. 

Opening Aldeburgh’s 76th edition, Colin Matthews’ new chamber opera, A Visit to Friends, Matthews’ first foray into opera, too, while the librettist novelist/playwright, William Boyd, follows suit delivering a striking and appealing libretto drawing on his Chekhovian play Longing but, more importantly, Chekhov’s short story, A Visit to Friends, written in 1898, almost as a study for The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov’s last play of 1903) which he was hesitant in publishing because its central character, he felt, was too autobiographical. [Read more in Robert's interview with Colin and William, 'A terrific sense of collaboration']

Colin Matthews: A Visit to Friends - Susanna Hurrell, Gary Matthewman - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Richard Hubert Smith)

Comprising four scenes from a lost ‘opera’ which has been rediscovered in a Moscow archive with no composer’s name attached, the rehearsals of A Visit to Friends involve three people - a couple of dreamy, determined and hopeful young women ‘head-over-heels’ in love with the same ‘dithering’ man who cannot commit himself. A Moscow lawyer, to boot, the girls dream and live in hope that he’ll help them resolve their financial troubles.  

Becoming Tosca: Prologue Opera brings its unique approach to the 2025 Grimeborn Festival

Have ever seen an operatic performance and wondered about a character’s backstory and what drives them?

Tenor Anthony Flaum founded Prologue Opera to answer such questions. Based in Sussex, the company believes opera, as an artform, can enrich lives, and they aim to not only provide quality entertainment to audiences who may not have been exposed to opera previously but also to capitalise on the wealth of local talent in the Sussex area, and encourage positive artistic and emotional experiences through opera and music.

Their productions take a distinctive two-part approach to opera, presenting and original dramatic performance comprising spoken dialogue, newly commissioned music and songs from a range of musical styles, that tell the never-before-seen stories of key characters within the opera before they appear in the original narrative. This part seamlessly leads the audience into the main part of the opera, which is presented as a fast-paced reduction of the original opera.

In 2024, Prologue Opera presented Becoming Tosca, their version of Puccini's Tosca, in Hastings, now the company is reviving the production with performances in Hastings on 26 and 27 August at the Stables Theatre and at the Arcola Theatre on 2, 3, 5, 6 September as part of the Grimeborn Festival.

Becoming Tosca relocates the action to an unspecific Latin American setting in the second half of the 20th century; where religion jostles with the politics of capitalism and self-interest. The production features new music by Frank Moon and was originally directed by Christopher Cowell. Anthony Flaum is Cavaradossi, Anna Sideris is Tosca and Brendan Collins is Scarpia. 

Full details from the Prologue Opera website.

Side-By-Side - Brixton Chamber Orchestra & Lambeth school children, conductor Matthew O'Keeffe - Church of St John the Divine, Kennington

Side-By-Side - Brixton Chamber Orchestra & Lambeth school children, conductor Matthew O'Keeffe - Church of St John the Divine, Kennington

On Friday 13 June 2025 at the Church of St John the Divine in Kennington, the Brixton Chamber Orchestra (BCO) presented the second of two concerts in which they were joined by local school children playing Side-By-Side. The result of a month-long project, they performed together at the Lambeth Country Show on 7 June and at St John the Divine on 13 June. Matthew O'Keeffe conducted and the 19 members of Brixton Chamber Orchestra were joined by over two-dozen young students for an eclectic programme that moved from Sibelius, Vivaldi and Copland, to Joe Hisaishi to arrangements of Alicia Keys, Fela Kuti, Stormzy and Avicii.

We began with an impressive performance of Sibelius' Finlandia and then for complete contrast we had Merry-Go-Round of Life from the music Joe Hisaishi wrote for the film Howl's Moving Castle, and the piece began with a piano solo from Lily. Then it was the chance of the different sections of the orchestra to shine, first the strings in Vivaldi's lively, and very rustic, Concerto in G RV151 'Alla Rustica'. Then the wind and brass turned big band in an arrangement by Misha Mullov-Abbado (who was playing bass in the concert) of Frank Foster's Shiny Stockings, with great fun had by all. Then it was the turn of the percussion, presenting us with a percussion improvisation. Iain Farrington's arrangement of the Hoe-Down from Aaron Copland's ballet, Rodeo brought this section to a lively close.

Then we turned to more popular contemporary artists. Singer Lauren-Grace Ogodo joined the orchestra for a terrific version of Alicia Keys' 2003 song If I ain't got you. Then came Fela Kuti's 1975 track, Water No Get Enemy, the name inspired by a Yoruba proverb, with a violin solo from Josiah. For Stormzy's Blinded By Your Grace, arranged by Nicky Cartel and Ola Akindipe they were joined by Lauren-Grace Ogodo and two other vocalists. We ended with a dance number, Avicii's Levels in an arrangement by Crystal Serghiou.

BCO hopes to expand its Side-by-Side project and work with a wider number of local children, though of course this requires funding.

BCO is taking its Disco Orchestrated programme to British Summer Time in Hyde Park, and then their Summer Estates Tour 2025 takes place from 18 to 27 July 2025, 11 free concerts across two weekends bringing live music to estates across Lambeth, see the BCO website for details..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Redefining "Success" as a Classical Musician

Stevens & Pound - Delia Stevens and Will Pound

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

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

The original master plan:

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

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

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

How do we Define Success in the Classical Music Industry?

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

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

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

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

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

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

CMF Artists Connaught Brass

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Full details from the festival website.

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

Orpheus Sinfonia

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

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

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

Full details from the Orpheus Foundation's website.

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

 

Cambridge Schola

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

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

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

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

Full details from Ely Cathedral website.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apollo's Cabinet in A Birthday Party for the King

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

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

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

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

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

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

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