Spurred on by the story-telling: conductor Peter Whelan on bringing the Dublin version of Handel's Alexander's Feast to life with the Irish Baroque Orchestra

Peter Whelan conducting Mozart's Symphony No.41 "Jupiter", image taken from video
filmed at the Whyte Recital Hall at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, 9/9/2023. Produced by November Seven Films.

Conductor Peter Whelan is bringing the Irish Baroque Orchestra (IBO), of which he is artistic director, to the BBC Proms this Summer with a performance of Handel's Alexander's Feast. As with their performance of Handel's Messiah at Wigmore Hall in 2023 [see my review], there is an Irish connection, and the ensemble will be exploring the version of Alexanders Feast that Handel produced for his visit to Dublin in 1742. As artistic partner of Irish National Opera, Peter has conducted the IBO in several productions, including two imaginative productions of Vivaldi operas, Bajazet in 2022 [see my review] and L'Olimpiade in 2024 [see my review]. It was recently announced that Peter will be the next artistic director of Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco.

Peter Whelan (Photo: Marco Borggreve)

During an engaging couple of hours that I spent chatting with Peter, we covered a great deal of ground, but what struck me was not just his passion for the music but the way the story behind the music was important to him. He mentions as a child learning about Handel coming to Ireland and being taken with the story, this seems to have sparked an interest not only in music but in the stories behind it.

With IBO, he has produced a striking series of discs in Linn Records exploring Baroque music in Ireland by focusing on the stories of different characters from Irish musical history, illuminating the 18th-century musical life of the country. The most recent is Rachel Baptist: Ireland's Black Syren, and others include Mr Charles the Hungarian: Handel's rival in Dublin, The Trials of Tenducci: A Castrato in Ireland, and Welcome Home Mr Dubourg.

However, we began our chat with Handel's Alexander's Feast. During August, Peter and IBO will be performing this at Kilkenny Arts Festival, Dublin HandelFest, the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh as part of Summer at Snape. To a certain extent, the choice of Alexander's Feast for the BBC Proms was pragmatic; each year at the Proms, there is usually a big work by Handel and by Bach, and you need a grand work to fit the space. The performance would also be a chance to recreate the 1742 Dublin version of Alexander's Feast, which has never been performed in modern times. And there is the additional benefit that the piece is about the healing power of music. Peter also proudly points out that the IBO will only be the second group from the Republic of Ireland to perform at the BBC Proms (the previous one was in the 1970s).

Handel wrote Alexander's Feast originally in 1736, setting an adaptation of John Dryden's Ode for St Cecilia's Day (originally set in 1697 by Jeremiah Clarke), but Handel revised the work for subsequent performances and it was one of the scores he took with him to Ireland in 1742 when he was invited there. Peter has been working with the Handel scholar Donald Burrows on the 1742 version, which had very particular circumstances behind it. Handel intended to use the singing men from St Patrick's Cathedral for his performance, but the Dean objected. The Dean at the time was Jonathan Swift, who was beginning to suffer his mental decline and had become somewhat cantankerous. The result was that Swift wrote what Peter calls an amazing letter to Handel announcing that none of the singing men could take part in the performance.

From Hervé & Folies parisiennes to Louise Farrenc & more: Palazzetto Bru Zane's 2025/26 season

2025 is the bicentenary of the birth of the singer, librettist and composer Hervé [Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger (1825-1892)], a man responsible for a wide selection of opérette and opéra-bouffe that have rather dropped out of the repertoire. Now, Palazzetto Bru Zane has its eye on them. 

His opéra-bouffe, Le petit Faust, originally written in 1869 will receive a new production conducted by Sammy El Ghadab and directed by Sol Espeche with performances the Autumn at Opéra de Tours, Opéra de Reims and in Paris. 

The work premiered a mere three months after Gounod's Faust was finally performed (in its Grand Opera version) at the Paris Opéra. In this new version, Marguerite – not as pure and innocent as the Germanic Gretchen – wreaks havoc at the boarding school to which she is brought by her brother Valentin. She seduces Dr Faust, the elderly professor who has accepted her as a pupil. Méphisto – a breeches role, taken by a light soprano – rejuvenates Faust, and the lovers end up in Hell, doomed to be together forever. Hervé does quote from Gounod, but what impressed critics at time was his inventiveness in parodying the style of the original and its various situations.

To compliment this, in Venice, Palazzetto Bru Zane is celebrating Folies parisiennes with a sequence of concerts exploring Hervé's music alongside Roger, Offenbach, Lecocq, Messager, Boileau, Saint-Saens, Chaminade and many more, from a song recital from Anaïs Merlin, soprano and Maguelone Parigot, piano to operetta for piano, two hands to The Accordion in France with Félicien Brut.

As if that weren't sufficient Folies, Offenbach's Robinson Crusoe returns in a new production at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees with Mark Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre, and directed by Laurent Pelly, featuring Lawrence Brownlee, Julie Fuchs and Laurent Naouri. Other performances include Offenbach's La Perichole in Saint-Étienne, Charles Silver's operatic version of Sleeping Beauty which first premiered in Marseille in 1902, and is also revived at Saint-Étienne. And Christian Lacroix' production of the original version of Offenbach's La Vie parisienne comes to Versailles.

Later in the season, Bru Zane turns its attention to the pianist, publisher and composer Louise Farrenc, who died 150 years ago, with a cycle of concerts in Venice in March 2026. Other novelties include a concert performance of Augusta Holmès' four-act drame lyrique, La Montagne Noire (setting her own libretto) in Bordeaux.

Full details from the Palazzetto Bru Zane website.

Meeting people where they are & sharing something powerful, beautiful & unexpected: CBSO in the City 2025, Birmingham's week of music in unexpected places

CBSO at New Street Station in August 2024 (Photo: Hannah Fathers)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) returns this Summer with the second-edition of CBSO in the City, a week-long musical takeover running from 23 to 28 July 2025. 2024's inaugural CBSO in the City saw over 25 free performances in iconic and everyday locations across Birmingham. This year repeats that winning formula with free, unticketed performances across the city. Performance to look forward to include:

• Pop-up performances for commuters in New Street Station
• A space-themed family concert and string quintet with sitar in the wellbeing space at Library of Birmingham
• Chamber groups showcased in gallery settings at Ikon Gallery and RBSA Gallery
• Flute and harp duets at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
• String quartets & wind quintets in the serene garden surroundings of Birmingham Botanical Gardens
• brass quintets in the historic setting of Black Country Living Museum: 
• A clarinet trio bringing music on the move to West Midlands Metro

Each performance is designed to meet audiences where they are – whether in transit, at leisure, or exploring with family - while showcasing the full diversity of the orchestra. From Star Wars and Brahms in New Street Station, to strings & winds among the blooms at Birmingham’s Botanical Gardens, a string quartet at the Ikon Gallery, and even a clarinet trio riding the West Midlands Metro.

As part of the celebrations, the orchestra is calling on Birmingham residents to nominate their street for the chance to host an unforgettable pop-up performance later this year.

The CBSO's music director Kazuki Yamada commented, “For me, music is about connection. Taking the orchestra outside the concert hall helps us meet people where they are - and share something powerful, beautiful and unexpected.”

Full details from the CBSO website.

Music Moves: John Savournin to Waterperry, Seb Lovell-Huckle to Birmingham

John Savournin

The intriguing game of musical dominos in arts administration continues. Earlier this year it was announced the Guy Verrall-Withers, co-founder and artistic director of Waterperry Opera Festival, was becoming director of audiences & impact at The Grange Festival. Guy takes up the post full-time in September.

It has now been announced that John Savournin will be taking up the role of CEO and artistic director of Waterperry Opera Festival from September, joining the festival's co-founders Rebecca Meltzer and Bertie Baigent. John is currently CEO and Artistic Director of Charles Court Opera but also known as a distinguished and versatile bass-baritone. As a director, he has been flexing his muscles, presenting productions on a larger scale than Charles Court Opera with their collaboration with Opera Holland Park, as well as his work elsewhere with the National Gilbert & Sullivan Company plus the recent production of Lehar's The Merry Widow for Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park [see my review].

From 8 to 17 August, Waterperry Opera Festival present Don Giovanni, Semele, Winnie-the-Pooh Songbook, A World Turned Upside Down, Last Night at the Opera,  with further performances of Semele at Opera Holland Park. Further details.

Seb Lovell-Huckle (Photo: Alex Walker)

And in Birmingham, the late Graham Vick's company, Birmingham Opera Company has announced that Seb Lovell-Huckle is joining the company as General Manager. 

As General Manager, Seb will oversee the day-to-day running of the company, working closely with the General Director, Creative Producer, Music Director and Board to deliver the next generation of internationally ground-breaking productions, support emerging talent through initiatives like Brum Commissions and Sandwell Creates and deepen the Company's relationships with the peoples of Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Seb previously served as Chief Executive of the English Symphony Orchestra, Executive Director of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and has held roles at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia. 

He is a passionate advocate for initiatives that combine artistic excellence with social engagement, playing cello in and organising community orchestras in his spare time.

The company's plans include a new version of Judith Weir, Maya Angelou, Clarissa Pinkola-Estes and Toni Morrison's woman.life.song originally commissioned in the 1990s by Jessye Norman. More information from Birmingham Opera Company website.

A child called Brock who is displaced from her home and wonders if life might be better among the badgers underground: Garsington Opera Youth Company in Hannah Conway's Uprooted

Rehearsal for Uprooted - Garsington Opera Youth Company

On 29 July 2025, Garsington Opera Youth Company joins forces with Sinfonia Smith Square to present Uprooted, a new opera by composer Hannah Conway and librettist Hazel Gould, with 80 9-19 year olds performing alongside a professional soloist and musicians at Garsington Opera’s Opera Pavilion.

The opera deals with one of the most troubling UK social issues of our generation, the housing crisis and its effect on children. Conway and Gould have worked with Bee Squad – a community organisation in Manchester whose mission is to improve the quality of life of children affected by homelessness, and listened directly to the stories of the children whose lives have been shaped by this issue.

The original inspiration for the piece came from Jo Spurling, the director of Bee Squad who noticed the differences in the legal and legislative protections around badgers, compared to those around human beings. If a badger mother is expecting cubs, the set cannot be unsettled; you can be prosecuted for it. That protection doesn’t exist for human beings. You can rehouse a pregnant woman many miles away from her support networks and the children’s schools. Uprooted explores this idea from the perspective of a child called Brock who is displaced from her home and wonders if life might be better among the badgers underground.

The opera features Gweneth Ann Rand as Grace and Olivia Mujuru as Brock, with Garsington Opera Youth Company and musicians from Sinfonia Smith Square in a production directed by Karen Gillingham and conducted by Paul Wingfield.

Full details from Garsington Opera.

Music and arts to transform people’s lives: Britten Pears Arts presents Summer at Snape 2025

Having emerged from the Aldeburgh Festival [see Tony's review of the closing concerts], Snape Maltings is gearing up for this year's Summer at Snape, a month-long celebration of music running from 26 July – 31 August 2025. Over 40 events with something for everyone from orchestral classics and contemporary jazz to folk, choral music and reggae, to ensure that music and the arts transform people’s lives and bring the community together. There are opportunities for audiences to listen to live music, take part in workshops, explore the summer exhibitions and the Suffolk landscape, and enjoy family-focused activities.

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and conductor Thomas Søndergård open the celebrations with Elgar's Cello Concerto (with Maximillian Hornung) and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. Other concerts include the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra and conductor Jonathan Sells [see my recent interview with him] in Handel, Bach and Purcell, Simon Over and Sinfonia Smith Square in Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and the Cello Concerto by the Hungarian Jewish cellist and composer Pál Hermann who died after being interned in 1944. 

Peter Whelan conducts the Irish Baroque Orchestra in Handel's Alexander's Feast (which they also perform at the BBC Proms). The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (who are also visiting the Proms) celebrate Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday, whilst  Stile Antico makes its Snape Maltings debut.  

Other performers include Britten Sinfonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jess Gillam and the BBC Concert Orchestra, the BBC Big Band, and Flowers Band, 2024 National Brass Band Champions of Great Britain. There are recitals from pianist Benjamin Grosvenor in Schumann and Mussorgsky and pianist Imogen Cooper in Beethoven.

There are family concerts with YolanDa Brown and her band, plus the musical story of Blown Away with Concerteenies for an introduction to music. Celebrate the talents of Aldeburgh Young Musicians, and for BPA’s youngest audiences, try the Mini Music Makers sessions. There is a chance to celebrate Aldeburgh Young Musicians, and Mini Music Makers sessions for youngest audience members.

You can join in the Aldeburgh Carnival and the animated performers of The Alehouse Sessions, plus music and mindfulness wellbeing workshops with Quietnote, or head to The Red House on a tour to pore over the extensive art collection and see behind the scenes. There are tranquil boat trips on the River Alde, the Sunday Breakfast Club with live DJ, and the Summer Contemporary art exhibition.

Full details from the Britten Pears Arts website.

From Jamaica to Llareggub: 2025 Presteigne Festival

George Vass & the Presteigne Festival Orchestra (Photo: Presteigne Festival)

This year's Presteigne Festival, which runs from 21 to 25 August 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), among the most influential musical voices of the 20th century, with a retrospective celebrating his powerfully profound chamber works. Alongside these will be an array of works by contemporary composers. The closing concert of the festival features the festival's artistic director, George Vass conducting the festival orchestra in the Shostakovich/Barshai Chamber Symphony Op. 110a alongside the premieres of Huw Watkins' Concertino for Clarinet and string orchestra (with soloist Robert Plane) and Edward Gregson's Aubade (Gregson celebrates his 80th birthday later this month).

One festival highlight is the premiere of Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade's opera Scenes from 'Under Milk Wood' performed by Nova Music Opera, conducted by George Vass. Rather than setting Dylan Thomas' complete play, Cruttwell-Reade has chosen to set scenes in a way that brings individual characters to life. 

Jamaican-born Eleanor Alberga is the composer in residence and her music in the festival includes the premiere of her song cycle Glimpses, Glances performed by mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons and the Goethe Quartet, along with performances of her ;String Quartet No. 2. Her Violin Concerto No. 2 'Narcissus' will be performed by Benjamin Nabarro with the festival orchestra, conducted by George Vass in a concert that also includes Cecilia McDowall's Da Vinci Requiem and Cheryl Frances-Hoad's With what sudden joy. There is also a chance to hear Alberga in conversation with composer Thomas Hyde. [see my 2022 interview with her].

Marta Fontanals-Simmons will also give the premiere of Gavin Higgins' Four Faerie Folk-Songs [extracted from his cantata The Faerie Bride, see my review] with pianist Timothy End in a concert that includes music by John Casken, Thomas Hyde and Mahler, plus Shostakovich's Four Spanish Songs (no, I hadn't come across these before, either). 

The festival is also presenting new commissions by Kerensa Briggs, James Francis Brown, Martin Butler, Dani Howard, Tayla-Leigh Payne, James B Wilson and Derri Joseph Lewis (a member of the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society composer programme). Alongside these will be music by Thomas Adès, Jonathan Dove, Mared Emlyn, Roxanna Panufnik, Steve Reich, Caroline Shaw, Mark Simpson and Judith Weir. 

Full details from the festival website. 

A moving immediacy and directness: British Youth Opera in Britten's Peter Grimes with Mark Le Brocq in the title role

Britten: Peter Grimes; Mark Le Brocq, Emma Bell, Mark Stone, Eugene Dillon-Hooper, Matthew Bawden, Rhian Davies, Oliver Heuzenroeder, Justin Jacobs, Caitlin MacKenzie, Joshua McCullough, director: Will Kerley, Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Harry Sever, British Youth Opera; Cadogan Hall
Reviewed 6 July 2025

British Youth Opera dares Britten's dramatic masterpiece and creates not only a terrific evening in the theatre, but one of the most memorable performances of the opera that I have come across.

The large-scale operatic drama of Britten's Peter Grimes might not seem the most obvious vehicle for the young singers of British Youth Opera (BYO). Yet in collaboration with the Cambridge Philharmonic along with the participation of a trio of well-established singers, they brought off a staging of the work which had remarkable impact and immediacy.

There was also a real sense of community about event. Not only did BYO involve some 22 young professionals with singers and covers, music staff, and members of the Serena Fenwick Programmes for stage managers, conductors and directors, but the orchestra and chorus were provided by the non-professional Cambridge Philharmonic under their music director Harry Sever (himself still under 35). 

We caught the performance at London's Cadogan Hall on Sunday 6 July 2025. Britten's Peter Grimes was directed by Will Kerley, with Harry Sever conducting the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. Mark Le Brocq was Peter Grimes, Emma Bell was Ellen Orford and Mark Stone was Balstrode, with another guest artist, Eugene Dillon-Hooper as Swallow, plus BYO members Matthew Bawden as Rev Adams, Rhian Davies as Mrs Sedley, Oliver Heuzenroeder as Ned Keene, Jessica Hopkins and Anusha Merrin as the Nieces, Justin Jacobs as Bob Boles, Caitlin Mackenzie as Auntie and Joshua McCullough as Hobson. Designs were by Millie Richmond.

The production used the full space of the Cadogan Hall. The chorus was seated on both sides of the balcony overlooking the stage, with the orchestra filling the rear of the stage. There was nothing reduced about the orchestra either, with 48 strings along with the full complement of woodwind, brass and percussion and even an on-stage band. 

Beyond a hundred: Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra & Joanna MacGregor launch 2025/26 season

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra & Joanna MacGregor, June 2025 (Photo: Fernando Manoso)

Having celebrated its centenary in May 2025, Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra has announced its lively 2025/26 season under music director Joanna MacGregor, only the fourth Music Director in the history of the orchestra.

Things kick off in September with MacGregor conducting Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (with soloist Junyan Chen, winner of the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition), Bartok's The Miraculous Mandarin Suite and Ravel's La Valse. Then violinist Elena Jurioste is the soloist in Samuel Coleridge Taylor's Violin Concerto paired with Mahler's Symphony No. 5, conductor Ben Gernon.

Joanna MacGregor is both conductor and soloist in an intriguing and ambitious programme that features James MacMillan's Piano Concerto No.2, alongside Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings (with Mark Padmore and Alexei Watkins), MacGregor's Dowland-based work Mr Dowland's Midnight and Britten's Young Apollo.

Christmas sees the orchestra returning to Dicken's A Christmas Carol, as well as exploring fairy tales via Ukrainian music and Tchaikovsky. Then the New Year brings in Michael Nyman with music from Prospero's Books and The Draughtsman's Contract conducted by Joanna MacGregor alongside Wynton Marsalis' Trumpet Concerto with Aaron Azunda Akugbo.

The orchestra's leader Ruth Rogers performs Pēteris Vasks’ meditation for violin and orchestra Lonely Angel plus Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E Flat major with Romanian violist Sascha Bata in a concert that also features Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 20 in D minor, performed and conducted by Joanna MacGregor.

Cellist Guy Johnston is the soloist in John Tavener's The Protecting Veil alongside music from Max Richter's Vivaldi Recomposed and Vivaldi's original. The final concert of the season sees MacGregor directing the premiere of her own Concerto for Brazilian Percussion and Piano alongside music by Adriano Adewale, Britten and Stravinsky.

In a new collaboration with Brighton College, orchestra principals and soloists will present short masterclasses followed by public recitals for young people, running throughout the season. The first is Joanna MacGregor’s piano recital of Philip Glass, Liszt and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in September. Then later in the seasons the orchestra's string players join MacGregor in Haydn, Frank Martin and Dvořák and percussionist Adriano Adewale and cellist Adrian Brendel joining the players for music from Brazil and Argentina. 

Providing opportunities for young players is central to the orchestra’s vision, and this season it formalises its support with Spring Forward, which enables the best players straight out of college to join the orchestra in four major Dome concerts, receiving professional mentoring and training.

The orchestra’s LoveMusic scheme sees the best available seats for only £13, released two days before selected concerts, saving up to £26 per person. Families can bring children under 18 to any Dome concert in the season for only £1. Newly launched this season, Under 30’s can access £10 tickets along with joining our free Under 30’s club for offers, invitations and behind-the-scenes access. There is also offers a saving of 25% for those booking the full season, and a low-income concession of 50%.

Full details from the orchestra's website.

Some Enchanted Evening: fresh from her cycling concert tour of Britain, viola da gamba player Sarah Small in recital on the lawn of the Chelsea Physick Garden

On Sunday 13 July 2025, Live on the Lawn: Twilight Classical presents viola da gamba player Sarah Small in recital on the lawn of the Chelsea Physick Garden in what promises to be an enchanting evening in one of London's most beautiful and historic gardens.

Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, plant collection remains the only botanic garden collection focused entirely on medicinal, herbal and useful plants.

Disillusioned by the lack of support for sustainable touring within the arts, along with concerns about the impact and cost of audience travel from rural areas to venues in cities, viola da gamba player Sarah Small took matters into her own hands by cycling from venue to venue to share the programme Good Again? with audiences far and wide. The tour has seen her perform in a total of 26 venues, pedalling approximately 4,000 km (2,500 miles) in distance, from Northamptonshire to Stornoway, and from Unst at the top of Shetland down via Cumbria and Wales to Southampton in Hampshire in a total of 69 days.

The programme centres around Good Againe by Scottish composer, viol player and soldier, Tobias Hume (c1579-1645). Alongside other pieces by Hume along with Sainte-Colombe, Marais, Forqueray, Abel and Bach, Small also plays Good Again? by Lillie Harris. Good Again? was written for small and reflects on nature and environmental loss.

We were transported: local history and engaging performances in L'elisir at St Paul's Opera

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore - Martins Smaukstelis & chorus - St Paul's Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera)

Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore; Fiona Hymns, Martins Smaukstelis, Theodore Day, Ashley Mercer, Isabella Roberts, director: Eloise Lally, music director: Adrian Salinero, St Paul's Opera; St Paul's Church, Clapham
Reviewed 5 July 2025

A strong cast make this a warmly engaging evening in the theatre with stylish musical performances from the soloists and a feeling of enjoyment from all.

St Paul's Opera in Clapham leaned into a bit of local history for its Summer opera production. At St Paul's Church in Clapham, Eloise Lally directed Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore (seen 5 July 2025) with a setting, designed by Ted Blackburn, inspired by the South London Hospital for Women and Children. Fiona Hymns was Adina, Martins Smaukstelis was Nemorino, with Theodore Day as Belcore, Ashley Mercer as Dulcamara and Isabella Roberts as Giannetta. Musical director Adrian Salinero directed an instrumental ensemble of seven from the piano in an orchestral reduction by Hamish Brown.

Lally's production reset the opera in the 1950s in a hospital ward, run by Adina (Fiona Hymns), with Nemorino as a junior orderly (Martins Smaukstelis). Belcore (Theodore Day) became the ward's longest resident, a man whose mind remains in the past, with Ashley Mercer's Dulcamara as a visiting quack. In the first act, the subtle reordering of the plot required Adina to go along with Belcore's delusion and devotion, though it gradually became more unclear. Was Nemorino deluded too when he 'signed up' for the Army. Whilst this recasting of Belcore removed the element of danger to Nemorino's peril (Adina didn''t actually save him from anything), what Lally's recasting did was to soften the edges of Donizetti's comedy.

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore - Fiona Hymns, Martins Smaukstelis - St Paul's Opera (Photo: Julian Guidera)

Both Donizetti's major comic operas, L'Elisir d'Amore and Don Pasquale have nasty edges. For much of the opera, Adina is moderately unpleasant to Nemorino and Belcore is downright savage to him, whilst in Don Pasquale, the older man gets treated abominably. In this version of L'Elisir d'Amore, Belcore's actions were not real and so acceptable, whilst Adina had some of her spikes removed. Though, as with other modern updating of the story that I have seen, the production rather blurred the important class element that prevents Adina and Nemorino getting together in the original.

A game changer: as RPS Conductors programme enters a new phase, I chat to founder Alice Farnham & an early participant, Charlotte Corderoy

Alice Farnham with members of the Royal Northern Sinfonia and members of the RPS Women Conductors programme at the Glasshouse including Charlotte Corderoy

In 2014, conductor Alice Farnham formed the Women Conductors programme, initially at Morley College; she joined forces with the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) to create RPS Women Conductors in 2016, then in 2022, in partnership with the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS), a new high-level course was established in Gateshead at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music.

Now the programme is taking a new step and in June 2025 under the new name of RPS Conductors welcomed applications from any conductors at a sufficiently high level who can articulate how – through their lived experience, background or personal characteristics – they have encountered barriers to progress or limited access to an experience like this, and why it would therefore be transformative to their prospects.

This issue of women conductors far from resolved, however. In January 2025, 86% of conductors represented by UK artist managers were male, and 87% of titled conducting roles at UK orchestras were held by men. Addressing this remains a priority for RPS Conductors, and the opportunities presented remain primarily for women, trans and non-binary conductors.

Alice Farnham (Photo: Catherine Ashmore)

I recently spoke to conductor Alice Farnham, about the programme from its early founding to the present day, and I also chatted to conductor Charlotte Corderoy who was part of that first intake, when the first course was run in Gateshead with the RNS.

New kid on the block, New London Harmonia brings two premiered by Welsh composer Charlie Barber to its final concert of the season

Charlie Barber at the premiere of his The Fall of the House of Usher with the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales in 2012

Welsh composer Charlie Barber, who celebrated his 75th birthday last year [see Ty Cerdd's birthday profile] is something of a musical chameleon, working in film, dance, the stage and concert platform. Recent work has included the 2013 music-theatre piece Michelangelo Drawing Blood, whilst his film projects include music for Jean Cocteau’s Blood of a Poet (2006), a surrealist classic of early cinema; Salomé (2009), the 1923 film starring Nazimova; and a new score for Jean Epstein’s 1928 film The Fall of the House of Usher.

On 12 July 2025, London-based orchestra, New London Harmonia, conductor Oi Ching Chan, will be giving the premiere of Barber's Ground Work and the London premiere of his Shut Up and Dance, along with Mussorgsky’s Night On Bare Mountain and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in a programme at Holy Trinity, Sloane Street.

Barber's 2019 orchestral piece Ground Work revisits some of the composer's favourite musical haunts, notably the 17th century form of ‘ground bass’, together with the medieval musical technique of ‘isorhythm’. Shut Up and Dance was premiered in 1994 by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with conductor Grant Llewellyn at St David’s Hall, Cardiff. The title comes from New York nightclub, and the work works in various strands from non-European ideas as well as ‘popular’ dance music; African and Brazilian rhythms glide past Indonesian gamelan with the whole supported by African drumming. 

Founded in 2024 under the artistic direction of Oi Ching Chang, New London Harmonia brings together musicians who play at or near a professional level, with a mission to bring professional-level skills, deep musical knowledge, and an unmatched energy to classical music.

Further details of the concert from the New London Harmonia website.

A quartet of concerts ended a marvellous, fulfilling and enjoyable Aldeburgh Festival

Daniel Kidane: Aloud - Nathan Amaral, Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Karabits - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

Thea Musgrave: Rorate coeli, Britten: A.M.D.G., Palestrina: Rorate coeli, Daniel Kidane: The Song Thrush and the Mountain Ash, Schoenberg: Friede auf Erden, Poulenc: Figure humaine; BBC Singers, Owain Park; Snape Maltings

Britten: Winter Words, Imogen Holst: Weathers, Little think’st at thou, poore flower, Four Songs, Daniel Kidane: Songs of Illumination; Britten: Folksong arrangements; Nick Pritchard, Ian Tindale; Jubilee Hall

Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Daniel Kidane: Aloud, Reinhold Glière: The Zaporozhy Cossacks, Shostakovich: Symphony No.9; Nathan Amaral, Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Karabits; Snape Maltings

Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge, Elgar: Quintet in A minor for piano and string quartet; Allan Clayton, Antonio Pappano, London Symphony Orchestra principals: Benjamin Gilmore /Julián Gil Rodríguez (violins), Elvind Ringstad (viola), David Cohen (cello); Snape Maltings

Berlioz: Overture to Le corsaire; Boulez: Mémoriale, Debussy: Images’, Book II, orch. Colin Matthews, Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; London Symphony Orchestra, Antonio Pappano; Snape Maltings
Reviewed by Tony Cooper: 26-29 June 2025

From the BBC Singers in Britten & Schoenberg, to the RCM Symphony Orchestra on top form, a brace of terrific tenors, plus Berlioz & Boulez from the LSO

A marvellous person! A marvellous composer! When BBC’s Tom Service asked the revered Scottish composer, Thea Musgrave (now in her 97th year) her view of being a woman composer, she replied: ‘Yes, I am a woman; I am a composer, too. But rarely at the same time.’ She admits that pursuing music can be a difficult career and her advice to young composers: ‘Don't do it, unless you need to. And if you do, enjoy every minute of it.’ [see Robert's 90th birthday interview with her].

I think it’s fair to say that Musgrave has enjoyed every minute of her chosen profession and most probably influenced other composers along the way: Judith Weir, for one, who acknowledges Musgrave as a significant influence on her own compositional style while Musgrave, in turn, acknowledges the influence of such luminous composers as Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Berg in her early development.

I always enjoy Musgrave’s work and it was in 1964 when I first encountered her music when the 1964 Norfolk & Norwich Triennial Festival commissioned The Five Ages of Man, a cantata she wrote for soprano, chorus and orchestra, premièred by the Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Norwich Philharmonic Chorus in St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, conducted by Charles Mackerras. The text comes from Hesiod’s Works and Ways, a Greek version of the story of the decline and fall of man.

However, getting up to date, in January last year I enjoyed a rare and captivating production by Oper Leipzig of Mary, Queen of Scots [see Tony's review], the first of four operas Musgrave wrote focusing on historical figures - the others being Harriet, the Woman Called Moses (1985), Simón Bolívar (1995) and Pontalba (2003).

Thea Musgrave: Rorate Coeli - BBC Singers, Owain Park - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

Now reunited with Musgrave at Aldeburgh, I thoroughly enjoyed Rorate coeli, the opening work in the BBC Singers’ concert at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, conducted by Owain Park - Thursday 26 June. I was truly soaking up the atmosphere, intensity and poignancy of the piece as much as I did with Mary, Queen of Scots. Musgrave ended with an exultant, jubilant and dramatic setting of the ‘Gloria’ while Palestrina’s setting of the same work, heard in the same programme, was equally as dramatic offering an extended ‘Alleluia’ to bring the work to a thoughtful and dignified close.

A vivid theatricality that a more conventional treatment might have missed: Bintou Dembélé & Leonardo García-Alarcón collaborate on a remarkable reinvention of Rameau's Les Indes Galantes

Rameau: Les Indes Galantes - Andreas Wolf, Cappella Mediterranea, Chœur de chambre de Namur, Structure Rualité, Leonardo García-Alarcón - The Grange Festival (Photo: Richard Hubert Smith)

Rameau: Les Indes Galantes; Laurène Paternò, Ana Quintans, Alasdair Kent, Andreas Wolf, Cappella Mediterranea, Chœur de chambre de Namur, Structure Rualité, director: Bintou Dembélé, Leonardo García-Alarcón; The Grange Festival
Reviewed 1 July 2025

Rameau's ballet héroïque reinvented as vivid music theatre in a collaboration between period performance and hip-hop-inspired dance at, astonishingly, the works first major UK staging

Full-scale productions of Rameau's major operas in the UK remain vanishingly small. Garsington Opera did Platée last year and Glyndebourne Opera presented Hippolite et Aricie in 2013. With Castor et Pollux making an appearance at ENO in 2011, and Dardanus at ETO in 2017. That's not a lot.

Partly, it is a problem of economics. Handel and Vivaldi's operas, whilst large-scale and somewhat problematic on the modern stage, were written for commercial opera houses, they usually require just a handful of major singers, an orchestra and perhaps a single set. Rameau was writing for the rather more lavishly funded opera in Paris, he presupposed a large orchestra, chorus and dancers, in addition to large-ish casts and plots that call for lavish scenic changes. Whereas in France, opera companies seem to be up to the challenge that Rameau's operas present, this is not the case in the UK.

Rather imaginatively, for its final operatic staging of the season the Grange Festival has partnered with a French company to bring their staging of Rameau's Les Indes Galantes. Amazingly this seems to be the work's first full staging in the UK.

We caught the second of three performances at the Grange Festival on 1 July 2025. Leonardo García-Alarcón directed his ensembles Cappella Mediterranea and Chœur de chambre de Namur with a staging by choreographer Bintou Dembélé featuring soloists Laurène Paternò, Ana Quintans, Alasdair Kent, Andreas Wolf, and Dembélé's dance company, Structure Rualité. Lighting was by Benjamin Nesme and Charlotte Coffinet,

Rameau: Les Indes Galantes - Cappella Mediterranea, Chœur de chambre de Namur, Structure Rualité, Leonardo García-Alarcón - The Grange Festival (Photo: Richard Hubert Smith)

Challenging conventional ideas of vocal performance: Contemporary Vocal Sünds from Eleanor Westbrook & Oskar McCarthy

Two contemporary singers are joining forces to present a recital of experimental vocal music. Eleanor Westbrook and Oskar McCarthy, along with pianist Ben Smith are presenting Contemporary Vocal Sünds at The Uplands, St Leonards-on-Sea (20 July) and Lauderdale House, Highgate (22 July) with playful and radical approach to voice in works from the 20th and 21st century, challenging conventional ideas of vocal performance.

The recital features composers such as John Cage, Iannis Xenakis and Georges Aperghis, alongside pieces by Errollyn Wallen, Judith Weir, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Liz Dilnot Johnson, plus the premiere of an electronic reworking of Jean-Philippe Rameau by Nico Bentley. 

Eleanor Westbrook is an interdisciplinary performer working at the intersection of opera, physical theatre, clowning, and experimental music. She is artistic director of TUFT, producing large-scale performance events in Hastings Castle and Caves, and is currently developing a multidisciplinary production of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. Oskar McCarthy has premiered operas by Avner Dorman, Robert Reid Allan and Bertie Baigent, and commissioned new work including Laura Bowler’s Lines, Letters and Disinformation for baritone and tape, performed at Snape Maltings and Café OTO. A VOICEBOX alumnus [see my article], he trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and recently worked with the Royal Opera House’s Opera Lab, part of the Jette Parker Programme.

Further information about the St Leonards-on-Sea performance, and the Lauderdale House performance.  

Robert & Clara: Stephan Loges & Jocelyn Freeman at SongEasel

Stephan Loges at a SongEasel recital on 22 June 2025
(Photo: Kate Kantur)

Robert & Clara: songs by Clara Schumann & Robert Schumann including Liederkreis, Op. 39; Stephan Loges, Jocelyn Freeman; SongEasel at St Matthew's Church
Reviewed 27 June 2025

An evening of intimate lieder in Elephant & Castle, intertwining songs by Robert & Clara Schumann including his complete Eichendorff Liederkreis

For its latest season, Jocelyn Freeman's SongEasel has been filling South East London with song, bringing distinguished artists such as Helen Charlston, Sholto Kynoch, Juliane Banse and James Gilchrist to give recitals in local venues.

On Friday 27 June 2025 it was the turn of St Matthew's Church, Elephant and Castle, a modern hall-church that is home to a bilingual (Spanish and English-speaking) Church of England congregation. Bass-baritone Stephan Loges (SongEasel's artist in residence for this season) was joined at the piano by Jocelyn Freeman. The focus of these concerts has been Robert and Clara Schumann, including performing Robert's major song-cycles from 1840 and all of Clara's songs. 

For this recital, the first half alternated Clara and Robert's songs, picking up on the themes present in Robert Schumann's Eichendorff Liederkreis which formed the second part of the evening.