Letter from Florida: Verdi reminds us to grieve for and remember soldiers everywhere - the Messa da Requiem from Cleveland Orchestra

Verdi: Requiem - Asmik Grigorian, Deniz Uzan, Joshua Guerrero, Tareq Nazmi, Cleveland Orchestra, Taichi Fukumura - Adrienne Arsht Center (Photo: Alex Marlow)

Verdi: Requiem; Asmik Grigorian, Deniz Uzan, Joshua Guerrero, Tareq Nazmi, The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra, Taichi Fukumura; Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami
Reviewed by Robert J Carreras, 24 January 2026

Notwithstanding the indisposition of Franz Welser-Möst, Robert J Carreras enjoys the immensity of Verdi's Messa da Requiem as part of the Cleveland Orchestra's residency in Miami

Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem is a mighty musical memorial to mortality that reminds us both of our fate, and our promise. Though much of a human life takes place in a minor key, those of us graced with enough major key modulations remember the same in Verdi’s Requiem. 

This pilastro of opera reworked his sad and blue minor key moments, transposing them into and transmuting them through the best of times. Verdi became a mighty “soldier of culture” – for Italy, and for all man. Through his life with his art, Verdi reminds us that all, every one of us has expiration dates; every breath you take is one less you have. What will you do with your breaths? 

The collective breaths of those in attendance this evening were held for a moment when Cleveland Orchestra President and CEO Andre Gremillet came out to announce the indisposition of Music Director and Principal Conductor Franz Welser-Möst. Taichi Fukumura, Cleveland’s Assistant Conductor and Music Director to the Youth Orchestra, took to the podium in his place. 

No one will ever catch Cleveland Orchestra musicians underprepared, so Fukumura only needed to provide a solid beat and a little heat to get through the night well. The Japanese-American conductor surpassed that baseline, as Joshua Guerrero can attest. Portraying the tenor part in this Requiem, Guerrero admired Fukumura’s conducting at many points during the evening.

Verdi: Requiem - The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus - Adrienne Arsht Center (Photo: Alex Marlow)

Immense sympathy for rather overlooked work: Elgar's The Kingdom from David Temple, Crouch End Festival Chorus & Hertfordshire Chorus

Elgar: The Kingdom; Francesca Chiejina, Sarah Connolly, Benjamin Hulett, Ashley Riches, Crouch End Festival Chorus, Hertfordshire Chorus, London Orchestra da Camera, David Temple; Royal Festival Hall
Reviewed 29 January 2026

Having recorded the work last year, David Temple and Crouch End Festival Chorus reconnect with their original soloists and are joined by Hertfordshire Chorus for a performance that champions Elgar's underrated final oratorio and showcases an immense sympathy for the work from all performers.

There is something rather Wagner-like about Elgar's development of his final two oratorios, The Apostles and The Kingdom. For a start, his increased exposure to Wagner's music led to an increased fluidity in his approach to the drama. But in his creation of the works, Elgar's process rather resembled that of Wagner when that composer developed The Ring from a sketch for a single opera. The idea for the oratorios came to him in late 1899 when he received the commission for the 1900 Birmingham Festival that would lead to The Dream of Gerontius. Plans continued in 1902 when he was planning a large scale work, notionally The Apostles, for the 1903 Birmingham Festival. In the event, there was too much material and what had been planned as the final part of The Apostles (which now ended with the Ascension) developed into The Kingdom which premiered in Birmingham in 1906. His original ideas had included a third part, covering the 'Last Judgement & the next world as in Revelations'. Whether this would have come to pass is anyone's guess, but Elgar seemed to lose confidence in the idea and The Kingdom would be his last oratorio.

The Kingdom has long had its champions with many averring that the work is finer and more sophisticated than The Dream of Gerontius. But there is another difference, The Kingdom is firmly Bible-based, telling the story of the Apostles evangelising using a text that Elgar assembled from purely Biblical sources. Gerontius by contrast uses Cardinal Newman's imaginative reconstruction of the journey of a soul. Whilst this had a little too much Roman Catholic dogma in it for some of Elgar's contemporaries, the story itself has perhaps more resonance for the non-religious. Gerontius is about the trial of a soul, a concept that perhaps can be appreciated by many in its allegorical form. By contrast, The Kingdom is firmly Biblical and requires you to at least know the Acts of the Apostles. Elgar tells the story, but his expansion of the Biblical text is done in a way that creates a work that is contemplative rather than adding narrative clarity.

The conductor David Temple is amongst those who believe strongly in The Kingdom. He and Crouch End Festival Chorus (CEFC), which Temple co-founded in 1984, recorded The Kingdom for Signum Classics last year with soloists Francesca Chiejina (soprano), Dame Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Benjamin Hulett (tenor) and Ashley Riches (bass), and the London Mozart Players. Temple and CEFC were joined by the same soloists and Temple's other choir, Hertfordshire Chorus, plus London Orchestra da Camera for a performance of Elgar's The Kingdom at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 29 January 2026.

In sparkling form: Kate Lindsey joins The English Concert for an evening exploring Handel in Italy ending with something of a rarity

Kate Lindsey, The English Concert, Harry Bicket at Wigmore Hall (Photo from Kate Lindsey's Instagram feed)

Corelli: Concerto Grosso in D Op.6 No.1, Vivaldi: Trio Sonata in D minor Op.1 No.1 RV63 'La follia'; arias from Handel's Agrippina, Handel: Overture-Suite from Rodrigo, Handel: Donna, che in ciel; Kate Lindsey, The English Concert, Harry Bicket; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 28 January 2026

A sparkling programme focused on Handel's early years in Rome with mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey in fine form in arias from Handel's Agrippina and a rare performance of a relatively unknown cantata celebrating Rome's deliverance from an earthquake

The last time we saw mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey she was playing Elisabetta in Ulrich Rasche's astonishing staging of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda on the wide-open spaces of the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg [see my review]. On Wednesday 28 January 2026 she was performing in rather different repertoire in a more intimate space. Lindsey joined Harry Bicket and The English Concert for a programme of Italian Baroque music from the early 18th century centred on Rome. Lindsey sang three arias from Handel's opera Agrippina and his cantata Donna, che in ciel, and the orchestra played a suite from his early opera Rodrigo. Alongside this was instrumental music by Corelli and Vivaldi.

Rodrigo (1707), Donna, che in ciel (1707) and Agrippina (1709) all date from Handel's amazingly productive and fertile period in Italy where his music, particularly the cantatas, became a testing ground for later operatic developments. Alongside these we had Corelli's Concerto Grosso in D Op.6 No.1. Handel would model his own Opus 6 concerti grossi on Corelli's influential set (printed in 1714) and Corelli played in the orchestra for some of Handel's premieres in Rome (and the two famously had a dispute in rehearsal). Also in the programme was a Vivaldi trio sonata published in 1705. Not Roman but a complete delight as it is a set of variations on the well known tune, La Follia.

We began with Corelli and a very full stage. The orchestra fielded a whopping 13 strings (4, 4, 2, 2, 1) which gave us a wonderfully rich sound in the hall.  But given my chat with conductor Jakob Lehmann about early 19th century Italian orchestras using a surprising number of cellos [see my interview], I did wonder whether there should have been more bass instruments in the mix.

The end of an era: after 57 years Jeffrey Skidmore to step down from Ex Cathedra with James Burton announced as the new Artistic Director

James Burton conducting Ex Cathedra at Birmingham Town Hall 2025

Ex Cathedra, the Birmingham-based choir, has announced that its founder Jeffrey Skidmore will retire as Artistic Director in Autumn 2027 after 57 years, with James Burton joining the organisation in Spring 2026 as Artistic Director Designate, marking a major leadership transition for the choir.

Burton recently spent eight seasons as Choral Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and four years as Director of Orchestral Activities at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. Now based in the UK, Burton made his debut with Ex Cathedra in a concert in Birmingham Town Hall in October 2025.

He conducted the Schola Cantorum of Oxford for 15 years and founded both the Hallé Youth Choir and the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir. His past leadership roles include serving as Choral Director of the Hallé, and Music Director of the St. Endellion Easter Festival. His compositions are published by Edition Peters.

The 2026-27 season will be Jeffrey Skidmore’s 57th and final season as Artistic Director and Conductor, after which he will become Founder and Conductor Emeritus. Ex Cathedra will celebrate his extraordinary legacy with a series of concerts highlighting the repertoire for which the choir has become internationally renowned, beginning with a French Baroque programme on 15 February 2026, coinciding with his 75th birthday. 

Further details on the Ex Cathedra website. 

Rooted in contemporary Russian poetry that confronts war, forced migration, collective guilt, & political protest: Maria Konoshenko's Walkabout from Songs of Exile

Next month, Helsinki-based mezzo-soprano, pianist and composer Maria Konoshenko releases Walkabout, the first official single from her forthcoming song cycle, Songs of Exile. The full album is scheduled for release in later this year on Michael J McEvoy’s label, Rezzonator Music, Maria Konoshenko is a striking new voice at the crossroads of classical art song, jazz harmony and cabaret-inflected storytelling, and the recording features jazz saxophonist, Paul Booth on clarinet, and Michael J McEvoy on guitar and bass.

Launched on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the lyrics are based on the poem, Прогулка by theatre director/playwright and poet, Evgenia Berkovich, who is currently incarcerated in a Russian prison on false allegations of "justifying terrorism" for her involvement in a play, Finist the Brave Falcon. Walkabout is intended as an act of solidarity with Evgenia Berkovich, whose authorship is fully recognised.  

In 2022, Konoshenko left Russia with her young son. Like many artists and musicians who publicly opposed the Putin regime and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she was ultimately forced into exile, relocating to Helsinki. This personal and political rupture became the catalyst for Songs of Exile, an evolving body of work rooted in contemporary Russian poetry that confronts war, forced migration, collective guilt, and political protest.  

Born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Konoshenko’s musical life has unfolded alongside a parallel career in linguistics. She is currently a researcher in the Department of General Linguistics at the University of Helsinki, specialising in prosody — the melody and intonation of speech — particularly in multilingual West African societies. This dual identity informs her songwriting, where text, sound and meaning are inseparable. 

Pre-save Walkabout. 

Steel City Choristers, the Sheffield charity pioneering a new grassroots cathedral-style choir, celebrates its 5th birthday

Steel City Choristers at Berlin Dom

Last week, Steel City Choristers, the Sheffield charity pioneering a new grassroots cathedral-style choir, celebrated its 5th birthday. Steel City Choristers formed following the closure of Sheffield Cathedral Choir in 2020: members wanted to keep singing together and to share their music more widely, but never thought they’d be going this strong five years later.

On Friday, the Choristers marked their 5th Birthday with a party at The Victoria in Neepsend, the city’s industrial quarter. Speeches were given, video birthday wishes were screened from supporters across the city and the choir performed directed by its director of music, Eleanor Jarvis.

The diversity of the choir’s schedule makes singing with the choir really engaging. The focus on tailoring its contribution to serve the needs of each host community makes it doubly rewarding. Music education provided to the choir’s 28 diverse choristers under the direction of Eleanor Jarvis includes twice-weekly term-time rehearsals, one-to-one singing lessons, music theory classes and small group ensemble work. The choristers, aged 6-18, come from nine Sheffield postcode areas: 37% speak another language at home; 41% are non-white; 70% are female; 15% have a special need, 86% are educated in the state sector and 14% at home. 

Since 2020, the choir has been invited to sing a huge variety of contrasting performances:

• At nine cathedrals to date, including at St Paul's Cathedral in London and Berlin Dom
• Sharing their passions for the choral tradition at tiny places such as Hooton Roberts in Rotherham, a beautiful tiny little church threatened with closure
• On the same day they sang at both the Bishop of Sheffield's garden party and then straight afterwards at Norwood community allotments where they sang for a summer solstice service led by a pioneer minister for social inclusion charity, PXI projects
• Introducing music for the first time at the Lord Mayor’s installation
• Singing the first ever choral service at St Swithun’s Church on Sheffield’s inner city Manor estate 
• Singing Bach's St John Passion with English Touring Opera and St Matthew Passion with the choir of St John’s Ranmoor
• Singing at church services of all kinds for Anglican, Catholic, Anglo-Catholic churches, and for URC and Methodist churches that would never normally have a robed choir

In celebration of its fifth birthday and with a vision for a long and sustainable future, Steel City Choristers is launching a new Firm Foundation campaign with a focus on raising regular giving from committed supporters to help fund a new choir manager. 

See the choir's website for details. 

The Continuo Foundation invites applications for its 11th round of funding with £106,000 available including a partnership with The Purcell Society

Continuo Foundation grantee Chelys Consort with Gwendolen Martin (soprano) & David de Winter (tenor) at Banbury Early Music Festival in September 2025 (Photo: Daniel Meikle)

The Continuo Foundation is inviting UK-wide applications for its 11th round of funding for Early Music projects. There is £100,000 available as grants ranging from £2,000 to £6,000 for projects taking place from May to November 2026. There is an addition grant of £6,000 in partnership with The Purcell Society.

Continuo’s grants aim to bring high-quality Early Music to communities across the UK – particularly in areas with limited access to classical music – opening access to hundreds of years of music heritage while strengthening the Early Music sector for the future.

All UK-based professional period-instrument ensembles with three or more instrumentalists are eligible to apply. Project proposals will be assessed based on artistic quality, audience reach, and long-term impact and there will be a dedicated category for emerging groups, formed since 2020, reflecting Continuo’s commitment to supporting the next generation of performers. 

A new collaboration with The Purcell Society, offering a £6,000 project grant, celebrates the Society’s 150th anniversary in 2026. The grant will fund one or more performance or recording projects exclusively or predominantly featuring the music of Henry Purcell. Selected projects must take place in 2026 and will use the Society’s authoritative editions for works it publishes. Any hire and performance costs associated with the use of these editions will be met by The Purcell Society in addition to the grant award.

Full details from the Continuo Foundation's website. 

Reviving the Queen of Sheba: American Romantics record a suite from Goldmark's once-popular first opera

Goldmark: The Queen of Sheba Suite; American Romantics, Kevin Sherwin
Reviewed 26 January 2026

Highly popular during his lifetime and up until the 1930s, Goldmark's first opera has languished rather. Here revived in an abbreviated concert suite, American Romantics give us a lovely taste of the opera's melodic charms and ingratiating manner 

Composer Karl Goldmark remains known if at all, for his Rustic Wedding Symphony. Born Károly Goldmark in 1830, his father was a cantor to the Jewish congregation at Keszthely in Hungary. Moving to Vienna in 1844 to study at the Vienna Conservatory, he found himself on his own after 1848 when the Revolution of 1848 forced the Conservatory to close down. Goldmark was largely self-taught as a composer and survived doing menial jobs, eventually becoming a member of Vienna's Carl Theatre in 1850. He also pursued a side career as a music journalist. Johannes Brahms and Goldmark developed a friendship as Goldmark's prominence in Vienna grew.

His output includes symphonies, concertos, and seven operas. His first opera, Die Königin von Saba (The Queen of Sheba) remains his best known and the work was celebrated during his lifetime and for some years thereafter. Though he had begun it in 1860, it was not premiered in Vienna until 1875. The work proved so popular that it remained in the repertoire of the Vienna Staatsoper continuously until 1938, clocking up some 250 stagings in Vienna alone.

Goldmark's footprint on disc remains relatively frustrating. You can find his Wedding Symphony, a disc of Symphonic Poems and his Violin Concerto No. 1 (paired with that of Korngold). Die Königin von Saba has been recorded: 

• a live 1970 performance of the work by the American Opera Society Orchestra conducted by Reynald Giovaninetti with Arley Reece as Assad and Alpha Floyd as the Queen of Sheba
• a 1980 studio recording by the Hungarian State Opera, conducted by Ádám Fischer with Siegfried Jerusalem as Assad and Klara Takács at the Queen of Sheba on Hungaraton 
• Oper Freiburg on CPO from 2016

However, it does not seem to be easily available, and the opera has slipped down the cracks. 

A first La bohème, The Elixir of Love returns, Peter Rabbit and music in the ballroom: Waterperry Opera Festival announces full details of its 2026 season

Mozart: Don Giovanni at Wateerperry Opera Festival in 2025 (Photo: Julian Guidera)

Waterperry Opera Festival has announced details of its 2026 season, the first under new artistic director John Savournin. Headline productions are Puccini’s La bohème and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, both performed in English.

For the company's first ever production of La bohème, Faryl Smith makes her debut as Mimì, with Robert Forrest as Rodolfo, Ceferina Penny as Musetta and Jolyon Loy as Marcello, conducted by Bertie Baigent, and directed by Ruth Knight [who directed Handel's Rodelinda at Garsington last year, see my review].

The Elixir of Love [which was first performed by the company in 2021 in a production by Dan Ayling, see my review] sees the return of the creative team behind 2025’s Don Giovanni - director John Wilkie and conductor Charlotte Politi. There will be a new English libretto by David Eaton [John Savournin's co-conspirator from Charles Court Opera], and the production features Daisy Brown as Adina, Matthew McKinney as Nemorino, Matthew Kellett as Dulcamara and James Geidt as Belcore. 

There will be a revival of the hugely popular 2023 family production, Peter Rabbit’s Musical Adventures, a lively and accessible show introducing children to live classical music and storytelling in the enchanting setting of the amphitheatre, performed by festival favourite Oskar McCarthy. 

A brand new concert series, Music in the Ballroom, gives audiences the chance to experience exceptional singers up close, in the charming ballroom of Waterperry House.  Performers will include the festival’s artistic director, bass-baritone John Savournin, and baritone Roderick Williams, along with two recitals performed in collaboration with young artists from Opera Prelude. 

Other events include Last Night at the Opera, an exuberant celebration of operatic highlights, and Serenades, an afternoon of music by Mozart and Dvořák in a beautiful outdoor setting, plus free events including a sing-along Come and Sing workshop, children’s Craft Workshops, and the Young Artist Gala, celebrating the work of the festival’s Young Artist cohort.

Another addition for 2026 is a new summer venue: the intimate, atmospheric church of Saxon origin, St Mary the Virgin, beside Waterperry House. The festival will present Living Light: Visions of an Abbess, space specific performance inspired by the music and writings of Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th-century abbess, composer, and polymath. Directed by the festival's Rebecca Meltzer, and rooted in Hildegard’s concept of the umbra viventis lucis - the reflection of the living Light - this immersive performance reflects Waterperry’s growing commitment to reimagining how vocal performance can be experienced. 

Full details from the festival website.

Sounds of Blossom returns to Kew Gardens this spring with music from Royal College of Music

Sounds of Blossom returns to Kew Gardens this spring, from Saturday 14 March to Monday 6 April 2026. A collaboration between Kew Gardens and the Royal College of Music will see the colourful flowering trees in Kew’s blossom hotspots enhanced by evocative soundscapes from composers from the Royal College of Music. 

Spring at Kew Gardens is a spectacular season as trees begin to flower. Visitors can see clouds of cherry blossom alongside naturalised tulips in the Cherry Walk and Asano Avenue, whilst the Japanese Landscape features a great white cherry (Prunus 'Taihaku'), a species that was thought to be extinct until the 1920s when an English plant collector, Collingwood Ingram, matched a tree growing in Sussex to a Japanese painting of a white cherry. Princess Walk will also be transformed by the annual spectacle of magnolias in bloom alongside the soundscapes.

This year's composers are :

• Muhamad-William Cannon: an Indonesian-born composer whose works have been performed by the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra, including performances at Manchester’s Stoller Hall
• Jamie Smith: His work has been performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra as part of the BBC Proms 2024
• Xiaoxuan Gao: a Chinese composer whose music draws inspiration from the human mind, emotional experience, and inner soundscapes
• Josh Clark: Awarded the Royal College of Music’s Clifton Parker Award, he writes music for film and concert contexts, blending acoustic instruments with electroacoustic elements 
• Huixin Zhang: a Chinese composer exploring the integration of electronics with Baroque instruments. Twice composing and performing for the Royal College of Music Consort 21 project
• Felix Sladen-Jewell: explores new ways of creating music, often using unexpected elements and unconventional scores. His work has been performed by several leading musicians
• Alexander Lea: Working across instrumental and electronic media, he blurs boundaries, reimagining arts of the past within contemporary digital contexts

There are also live weekend recitals featuring the Roselle String Quartet, the Ormonde Wind Quintet, the Cordelia String Quartet, Versa Winds and Levanto Wind Trio.

Full details from Kew Gardens website. 

The Roundhouse's Three Sixty Festival launches with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Harry Baker and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Tom Fetherstonhaugh

This year the Roundhouse is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the venue's resurrection. Used as a performing arts venue from 1964, it was largely unused after 1983 and reopened in 2006 after a multi-million pound redevelopment. On 8 April 2026 the Roundhouse kicks off its second Three Sixty Festival after the festival's successful launch last year.

An eclectic mix of one-off events creating a month-long vibrant mix of music, spoken word, literature, theatre, visual arts, podcasts, and club nights, the festival launches with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, pianist and composer Harry Baker and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Tom Fetherstonhaugh in a programme spanning styles and centuries, from Henry Purcell to Laura Mvula, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Finzi to classics by The Beatles. 

Tom Fetherstonhaugh is the founder of the Fantasia Orchestra [see my 2024 interview with Tom] and their 2024 BBC Proms debut featured arrangements of classical, jazz and pop by Harry Baker (whose Proms debut it also was)

Other events in the festival include hip-hop dance company Boy Blue presenting their show Cycles, along with PROJECT rEVOLUTION, a dance theatre production created by young artists in collaboration with Boy Blue and Roundhouse, an evening with singer/songwriter Imogen Heap, along with plenty of free events.

Full details from the Roundhouse website. 

A River Runs Through It: Opera Montana is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Norman Maclean’s beloved elegy to family and fly fishing in Montana with a new opera by Zach Redler

A River Runs Through It: Michael Kuhn & Schyler Vargas (who play brother Paul & Norman in Zach Redler's new opera) on the Yellowstone River, August 2025 (Photo: Charlotte Mae Ellison)

Norman Maclean’s novel A River Runs Through Itis a semi-autobiographical account of his relationship with his brother Paul and their upbringing in early 20th century Montana where "there was no clear line between religion and fly-fishing." First published in 1976, it is recognized as one of the definitive American stories of the twentieth century and a classic depiction of the American West. The story is perhaps best known through Robert Redford’s Academy Award-winning 1992 film adaptation starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, and Tom Skerritt.

Now, in celebration of the book’s 50th anniversary in 2026, Opera Montana is presenting the premiere of an operatic adaptation. Commissioned from composer Zach Redler with a libretto by Matt Foss and Kelley Rourke, A River Runs Through It premieres in September 2026 at the Ellen Theater in Bozeman, with additional October performances in Missoula, where some of the story is set. Opera Montana's artistic director Michael Sakir conducts with stage direction by Foss, scenic and video design by Kristin Ellert, and lighting design by Stephen Sakowski. Montana PBS will film the world premiere performances for a future broadcast. 

A special preview performance and workshop will take place on 20 May, 2026, at National Sawdust Theatre in Brooklyn, NY. A collaboration between National Sawdust, Seagle Festival, and Opera Montana, this performance will feature John Maclean, the son of A River Runs Through It’s author Norman Maclean, reading passages from the novella paired with the corresponding musical pieces from the opera.  

The opera will feature an instrumental ensemble of 24 and a cast of seven including Schyler Vargas, Michael Kuhn, Christine Taylor Price, Ryan Bryce Johnson, Megan Marino, Phyllis Pancella, and David Pittsinger 

"For me, at its core, A River Runs Through It is an opera about family, faith, and the beauty we all share," said composer Zach Redler. "The music is composed with the intention of being incredibly accessible for a variety of audiences. Bluegrass, country, jazz, honky-tonk, Copeland, Maslanka, and others served as inspiration to create both the breadth and romantic nature of the Montana land- and river-scape as well as the intimacy of a marital feud and the boisterousness of a tin-roofed backwoods bar."

Zach Redler is a composer whose work moves between musical theatre and opera. He spent fifteen years working on the music teams of musicals on Broadway, regionally, and globally. His opera The Falling and the Rising has had over 20 productions across the USA. As a musicologist, Redler's research on and publications of Marcel Tyberg’s music has culminated in multiple premieres and recordings. [Tyberg (1893-1944) was an Austrian composer born into a musical family in Vienna, and who died in Auschwitz-Birkenau/]

Founded in 1979, Opera Montana is Montana’s first professional opera company. From its early days presenting one grand opera per year, Opera Montana has grown to present two operas and one musical theatre production each season and a statewide school tour featuring Indigenous artists and music. The Opera Montana Veterans Chorus brings local veterans together through music. Its free ticket program “Opera for All” is intended to make professional performances financially accessible for the community.

Its 2025-26 season includes Pauline Viardot's Cinderella, Tosca and a music theatre piece based on E.L. Doctorow's book Ragtime. 

Further details from the Opera Montana website. 

Romances by Arensky & Rachmaninoff: Anastasia Prokofieva & Sergey Rybin explore songs by teacher & pupil in a recital celebrating their new disc on SOMM

Anton Arensky

Still probably best known for his chamber music, Russian composer Anton Arensky (1861-1906) managed to fit an enormous amount into his relatively short life. He wrote three operas, a ballet (which was reused by Diaghilev and Fokine for the Ballet Russes' Cléopâtre starring Anna Pavlova and Ida Rubenstein in 1909), two symphonies, three orchestral suites, two concertos, and significant amounts of chamber music. All in addition to teaching at the Moscow Conservatory for twelve years, then becoming the director of the Imperial Choir.

However, Rimsky Korsakov, who was Arensky's teacher, was less complimentary in his autobiography alleging that drinking and gambling undermined Arensky's health. Arensky died from TB aged 44. Rimsky Korsakov might have been his teacher, but it was his relationship with Tchaikovsky that was a big influence on Arensky's music [the Tchaikovsky research website has a selection of Tchaikovsky's letters to the younger composer].

Another side to Arensky's output was song. He wrote some 86 songs in all, a significant number. A new disc on SOMM from soprano Anastasia Prokofieva and pianist Sergey Rybin features a selection of Arensky's romances alongside those of his pupil, Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff studied with Arensky from the age of 12 to 15. The relationship between teacher and pupil was unusually close: while Arensky had a reputation for impatience and a fiery temper, he treated Rachmaninoff with encouragement and respect, praising his talent and marking him out of the crowd. 

But Arensky could be difficult too. Scriabin, who was also a pupil, clashed with Arensky. Their relationship ended poorly, with Arensky expelling the young composer from his class. The contrast between the experiences of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin highlights Arensky’s mercurial temperament as a teacher: he could be inspiring when he sensed talent aligned with his own values, but intolerant when confronted with students whose musical instincts diverged from his

Last night (22 January 2026), Anastasia Prokofieva and Sergey Rybingave a private recital to celebrate the launch of their disc, performing romances by Arensky and Rachmaninoff. The selection of songs on the disc highlights the commonality between the romances by the two composers, and also brings out the links to Tchaikovsky. 

The recital included a selection from Arensky's Five Romances, Op. 70 from 1900, and the five-song cycle Reminiscence, Op. 71 circa 1905. This latter was a setting of poems by Konstantin Balmont (1867–1942) based on Shelley's To Jane: The Recollection. A song cycle in all but name (it is called a suite), this was a form rather unusual in Russian lyric music with Mussorgsky being virtually the only composer to create song cycles. At the performance, Prokofieva and Rybin interleaved the songs with readings by Jasper Dweck of Shelley's original poems. 

Given that we had the printed Russian text along with Rybin's excellent translations, this was a fascinating exercise in quite how far from Shelley Balmont strayed. [Balmont's free Russian translation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Bells formed the basis for Rachmaninoff's choral symphony]. The evening also included other familiar poems in translation, Rachmanoff's Op.8 No. 2 being a setting of Aleksey Plescheyev's version of Heine's Du bist wie eine Blume along with Plescheyev's version of Heine's Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland in Rachmaninoff's Op.8 No.5. Op.21 No. 4 featured Lev Mey translating Victor Hugo's Comment disaient-ils (Autre guitare), a poem also set by Liszt, Lalo, Bizet, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Massenet.

Anastasia Prokofieva & Sergey Rybin's Arensky & Rachmaninoff Romances is on SOMM Records. I am very grateful to Sergey Rybin's excellent liner notes [PDF] for some of the information in this article.

Salzburg Festival 2026: celebrating Messiaen & Kurtág, a new Carmen, Ariadne auf Naxos on Mars, Henze, Dusapin & more

Donizetti: Maria Stuarda - Nino Gotoshia, Lisette Oropesa - Salzburg Festival 2025 (Photo: SF/Monika Rittershaus)

For the 2026 Salzburg Festival, the Intendant, Markus Hinterhäuser has taken Roland Barthes' 1977 book A Lover's Discourse: Fragments (Fragments d’un discours amoureux) as his inspiration. Realistically, virtually any opera could be shoehorned into Hinterhäuser's themes of relationships, vulnerability and love. But he has put together a rather tempting array of productions, new and old, which cast away any doubts.

Hinterhäuser describes Bizet's Carmen as the 'darkest and most brutal of the 2026 operas', whilst of course it also explodes with energy and great tunes. The new production with be conducted by Teodor Currentzis with his Utopia orchestra, and directed (and choreographed) by Gabriela Carrizio with her Peeping Tom dance company. Soprano Asmik Grigorian is Carmen with Jonathan Tetelman as Don Jose, Kristina Mkhitaryan as Micaela and Davide Luciano as Escamillo. There is no word, yet about versions and editions but as the production takes place in the Grosses Festspielhaus we should expect something grand. Before we get too agitated we should remember that just before his death, Bizet had signed a contract with the Vienna Court Opera, and it was this that generated the grand opera version of Carmen produced by Bizet's friend Ernest Guiraud. Carmen might have started out as opéra comique, but it was always going to go on a journey.

A second new production is Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos in the familiar revised, 1916 version. This opera is one of the most popular of Strauss's operas in the Salzburg Festival canon. After the revised version was premiered in Vienna in 1916 (where it was performed 93 times in the years up to 1934), it was performed in Salzburg in 1926 with Lotte Lehmann as Ariadne, conducted by both Clemens Kraus and Richard Strauss.

The new production is directed by Ersan Mondtag (who also designs), making his Salzburg debut, with Manfred Honeck conducting and the Wiener Philharmonker in the pit. Mondtag is a director, designer and visual artist; he recently designed the German Pavilion for La Biennale d’Arte di Venezia. Mondtag relocates 'Naxos' to Mars, using it as a metaphor for modern ruthlessness. Kate Lindsay is the Composer with Elina Garanca as a mezzo-soprano Ariadne, plus Eric Cutler as Bacchus and Ziyi Dai as Zerbinetta.

Hinterhäuser describes the third new production as a gigantic act of faith, going on to say that it is a privilege to do it in Salzburg. This is the opera Saint François d'Assise by Olivier Messiaen. After the work's premiere in 1983 at the Paris Opera it was not staged again until 1992 when it was performed at the Salzburg Festival in the Felsenreitschule, directed by Peter Sellars with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the production was revived in 1998. Hinterhäuser describes seeing this production at Salzburg as a transformative experience for him.

For the 2026 production, again in the Felsenreitschule, Romeo Castellucci directs and designs with Maxime Pascal conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker. The production marks the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi. Lauranne Oliva is L'Ange and Philippe Sly is St François with a cast including Sean Panikkar, Russell Braun and Willard White.

The festival is having a focus on Messiaen this year. In addition to the opera, Visions de Messiaen features pianist Pierre-Lauren Aimard in movements from the Catalogue d'oiseaux, organist Olivier Latry in a feast of Messiaen's organ music, Igor Levit and Markus Hinterhäuser in Visions de l'Amen and the Quartet for the End of Time.

Theatre-goers leaving the Haus für Mozart with Festung Hohensalzburg in the background.

A satisfying recital in so many ways: Katie Bray & William Vann explore the whole of Kurt Weill - In Search of Youkali

In search of Youkali: The songs of Kurt Weill; Katie Bray, William Vann, Murray Grainger, Marianne Schofield; CHANDOS
Reviewed 20 January 2026

A profoundly satisfying and intelligently put together recital tracing Weill from Weimar Germany to pre-War Paris to American and Broadway. The songs all beautifully performed, capturing the essence of style and never losing sight of the words or Weill's music 

After Kurt Weill's death in 1950, his widow Lotte Lenya devoted time to resurrecting Weill's music, notably the works written in Germany including scores which had been lost. She was persuaded to sing the songs, including taking the role of Jenny in Mark Blitzstein's English version of The Threepenny Opera. But her voice had deepened considerably and limitations meant that she used a lot more sprechstimme than Weill himself might have imagined. This led to a cabaret-style of performance in Weill's music, notably the works with Brecht, which became almost standard. Weill himself saw no difference between his German and his American works, viewing the whole as a continuum.

The challenge of performing Weill nowadays is exemplified by Nanna's Lied (words by Brecht), written for Lotte Lenya, but she never sang it in public though there are records of private performances. It is a song, it needs to be sung, yet also needs that attention to the words that all of Weill's Brecht settings do.

I first heard mezzo-soprano Katie Bray singing Kurt Weill with pianist William Vann in 2019 at Pizza Express in Chelsea [see my review], and we caught the pair in a similar programme at the Oxford Lieder Festival in 2021 [see my review]. Now this programme, suitably matured has been caught on disc with In search of Youkali: the songs of Kurt Weill on Chandos where Bray and Vann are joined by Murray Grainger (accordion) and Marianne Schofield (double bass). 

The programme uses Youkali, a tango-habanera that began life as an instrumental for the play Marie Galante in 1934 (with Weill then in Paris) before being turned into a song, the music reappearing in the 1935 operetta Der Kuhandel as well as the early American musical Johnny Johnston (1936). The song is about a land of lost content, and Bray and Vann use this as a sort of emblem, the programme being linked by four short improvisations on Youkali before we hear the song at the end. In a way it is emblematic of Weill's own journey towards a musical ideal.

ORA Singers opens applications for its 7th Young Composers' programme for students at non fee-paying schools across the UK

The 2025 Young Composers' Workshop with ORA Singers

The vocal ensemble, ORA Singers, has opened applications for its seventh national Young Composers' programme. This offers secondary students free composition coaching with professional composers, and the chance to have their music performed and recorded in concert by ORA Singers. It is open to students in years 7-13 at non fee-paying schools across the UK, welcoming 50 students each year onto the programme. The scheme has now mentored over 250 students across the UK from a whole variety of backgrounds.

Young Composers: 

• Receive the flagship package of one-to-one coaching with professional composers, who guide them through the process of writing a new piece
• Attend a Workshop with ORA Singers and a professional composer, where they have their ideas and sketches sung by our professional musicians who offer tailored feedback
• Write a new piece which ORA Singers perform and record in concert
• Receive a video recording of their new piece + feedback from a panel of industry experts.

Apprentices: 

• Receive first-class mentoring through a course of online Zoom workshops with composer, Rory Wainwright Johnston
• Receive coaching on composition skills, history, harmony, texture, writing for voices, and more
• Receive regular feedback on tasks and compositions
• Opportunities to meet with professional composers and undergraduates to learn about the music industry, and gain tips on applying to University/Conservatoire. 

Full details from ORA Singers' website. 

The Benedetti Foundation on this week's BBC Radio 4 appeal

The Radio 4 Appeal is a weekly 3-minute programme highlighting the work of a charity and appealing for donations to support its activities. 

This week the focus is on the Benedetti Foundation, with a short feature with violinist Nicola Benedetti broadcast on Sunday 18 January 2026 and repeated on Thursday. 

You can also catch the feature on BBC Sounds, and you can also catch a celebratory video on the Foundation's Instagram page.

You can give to the appeal on the BBC Radio 4 appeal page. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Benedetti Foundation (@benedetti_foundation)

Así que pasen cinco años: Edward Lambert's Federico Garcia Lorca-based opera, In Five Years' Time debuts at The Space Theatre

Federico García Lorca finished his play Así que pasen cinco años in 1931, five years to the day before he was executed. If was never produced during Lorca's lifetime and he said it would be impossible to stage. Now composer Edward Lambert has risen to the challenge and is presenting the work, as In Five Years’ Time, a drama in song about the Poet searching for an identity in the 'forest of life' with a cast of 8 singers playing some 14 roles.

Lambert and his company, The Music Troupe are presenting In Five Years' Time at The Space Theatre, London E14 3RS from 24 to 28 February 2026. The production is directed by Walter Hall with music director Alistair Burton and cast Rosalind Dobson, Lucy Gibbs, Mae Heydorn, Fiona Hymns, Jean-Max Lattemann, Chris Murphy, James Schouten, and Thomas Stevenson.

Edward Lambert (b. 1951) has written 21 small-scale operas for professional performance and since 2013 has successfully mounted 15 of them with The Music Troupe. The group's first project was Six Characters in Search of a Stage and this work received a new production in Moscow, December 2025. In 2023 The Last Siren was commissioned by the University of West London as a dementia-friendly opera and the following year the group made its first appearance at The Space, London, with The Duchess of Padua, an adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. 

Full details from The Space Theatre's website. 

Celebrating 150 years of British women composers in song: SWAP'ra's Rebecca Clarke Song Competition

This afternoon (19 January 2026) SWAP'ra's wonderfully enterprising Rebecca Clarke Song Competition reaches its semi-final rounds as 17 duos compete for a place in the final, which takes place at the Royal Overseas League on Saturday 24 January 2026.

The competition, celebrating 150 years of British women composers in song, is open to professional singer and pianist duos who are based full-time in the UK or the Republic of Ireland with no age-limit. Regarding the lack of age limit, SWAP'ra has pointed out that '50% of our applicants are over 30—and so are two-thirds of our semi-finalists. Most competitions set an age limit of 30, just as singers hit their artistic stride. We wanted to do something different: shine a light on the composers, not limit the artists who can champion their work.'

For the semi-finals, competitors will perform at least two songs by Rebecca Clarke and at least one song by a living British female composer. For the finale, they will perform three songs by Clarke alongside one by a living British female composer.

There are prizes for singers and for pianists, along with a prize for the performance of a song by living composer.

And if you think Clarke did not write enough songs to warrant a competition then think again. Kitty Whately, Nicholas Phan and Anna Tilbrook's terrific The Complete Songs of Rebecca Clarke on Signum Classics includes nearly 60 songs from her first completed song in 1903 to her 1976-1977 revisions to an earlier song. Do explore. 

Full details from the SWAP'ra website. 

 

Our East Anglian-based correspondent, Tony Cooper, reports on the Norwich Philharmonic Society returning to their roots at St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, after a two-year absence.

Manuscript score, signed by the composer and the performers of the premiere

One of England’s greatest choral works, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, has excitingly been put centre stage in Alan Bennett’s brand-new film The Choral but a ‘live’ performance coming up in Norwich in March, staged by the Norwich Philharmonic Society, promises to be just as exciting. 

Sir Edward Elgar’s mighty, inspiring and fulfilling choral work, The Dream of Gerontius, a setting of Cardinal John Henry Newman’s 1865 poem exploring Catholic beliefs about the afterlife and so forth, traces the soul of Gerontius, a devout being, as he experiences death guided by his Guardian Angel, facing demons and encountering God before settling in Purgatory. The work has forged, perhaps, a new audience through Alan Bennett’s 2025 film aptly entitled The Choral.  

A staple of choral societies up and down the country, especially the Norwich Philharmonic Chorus, but for the Huddersfield Choral Society, Gerontius - which Elgar considered his finest piece - has become more than a masterpiece, it has become a living act of remembrance.  

Founded in 1836, the Huddersfield Choral Society remains one of Britain’s best-loved and most historic choirs. Its connection with Elgar runs deep as it first performed Gerontius in 1905 with a further performance in 1907 and again, of course, under Elgar in 1917 while making the first complete recording of the work in 1945. 

Le Piano Symphonique, Lucerne: from Martha Argerich & friends to Jean Rondeau in self-indulgent form

Beethoven: Cello Sonata - Mischa Maisky, Martha Argerich - KKL Luzern (Photo: Luzerner Sinfonieorchester/Philipp Schmidli)

Beethoven: Cello Sonata in G minor, Op.5 No.2, Violin Sonata in major Op.47 'Kreuzer', Debussy: En blanc et noire, Prelude a l'apres-midid d'un faune; Mischa Maisky, Janine Jansen, Martha Argerich, Stephen Kovacevich; Le Piano Symphonique at KKL Luzern
Sisyphus; Jean Rondeau, Ocubo; Le Piano Symphonique at KKL Luzern
Reviewed 16 January 2026

Any appearance from Martha Argerich is a joy, and here at the festival where she is associated artist, she chose a programme notable both for its variety and for her collaboration with various friends. By way of contrast, the evening ended with Jean Rondeau bringing the harpsichord into the 21st century

The evening concert on Friday 16 January 2026 at Le Piano Symphonique at KKL Luzern placed the emphasis firmly on pianist Martha Argerich. She was joined by friends, cellist Mischa Maisky and violinist Janine Jansen for a pair of Beethoven's instrumental sonatas, and then pianist Stephen Kovacevich joined her for a pair of Debussy works for two pianos. In a surprising and enterprising leap, the final section of the evening was devoted to harpsichordist Jean Rondeau giving a very contemporary spin on the instrument with his improvisation Sisyphus.

Jean Rondeau - KKL Luzern (Photo: Luzerner Sinfonieorchester/Philipp Schmidli)

The more subversive amongst us might have noted that it was an evening of 'big hair', not just Martha Argerich's famous mane (though she indulged in little mane tossing), but Mischa Maisky seemed to be channelling an ageing member of Queen, whilst Jean Rondeau brought more recent bad-boy images to mind, notably Kurt Cobain.

Le Piano Symphonique, Lucerne: pianist Alexandre Kantorow in a marathon from Prokofiev to Alkan & Medtner with an Anders Hillborg premiere

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 - Alexandre Kantorow, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester - KKL Luzern (Photo: Luzerner Sinfonieorchester/Philipp Schmidli)

Bach: Partita No. 2 in C minor, Haydn: Andante mit variationen in F minor; Alkan: Symphonie pour piano seul, Op. 39; Schaghajegh Nosrati; Le Piano Symphonique at Hotel Schweizerhof, Luzern
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Dvorak: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Alkan: Preludes Nos. 3, 13, 18, Anders Hillborg: Kalamazoo Flow; Medtner: Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 5; Alexandre Kantorow, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Robin Ticciati; Le Piano Symphonique at KKL Luzern
Reviewed 15 January 2026

Thursday evening's concert at Le Piano Symphonique at KKL Luzern (15 January 2026) was something of a marathon for French pianist Alexandre Kantorow. He opened the evening with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and conductor Robin Ticciati (standing in for an ailing Christoph Eschenbach) in Prokofiev's mammoth Piano Concerto No. 3. Ticciati and the orchestra followed with Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 (replacing the planned Brahms' Piano Quartet No. 1 in Schoenberg's orchestration). Then Kantorow returned with a solo recital moving from Alkan to an Anders Hillborg premiere to Medtner. Finally finishing with a Chopin encore at 10:20pm, some three and a quarter hours after launching into the Prokofiev. Le Piano Symphonique concerts are certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Dvorak: Symphony NO. 8 - Robin Ticciati, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester - KKL Luzern (Photo: Luzerner Sinfonieorchester/Philipp Schmidli)

At the helm of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, Robin Ticciati gave no sense of being a last-minute stand-in. His relation with Alexandre Kantorow was flexible and lively, the two men bringing feeling of vibrant youth to the concerto. This is young man's music, Prokofiev completed the work age just 30 having begun it some five years earlier, and he was the soloist in the premiere in Chicago. Ticciati's concern for detail in the orchestra by no means overwhelmed hi rapport with Kantorow. This was a performance that wore the technical demand lightly, Kantorow's performance being notable for the detail as a much as volume.

Le piano symphonique, Lucerne: Im Klaviergeiste Mozarts with Alexandra Dovgan & Robin Ticciati

Le Piano Symphonique - Robin Ticciati & Luzerner Sinfonieorchester (Photo: Luzerner Sinfonieorchester / Philip Schmidli)

Mozart: Overture to La Clemenza di Tito, Piano Concerto No. 20, Bach: Toccata in E minor, Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor; Alexandra Dovgan, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Robin Ticciati; Le Piano Symphonique at KKL Luzern
Reviewed 14 January 2026

A change of soloist brings a refocusing of the programme, and allows 18-year-old Russian virtuoso Alexandra Dovgan to move from poised Mozart to dazzling textures in Chopin 

The third evening of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra's festival, Le Piano Symphonique at KKL Lucerne was intended to begin with Mozart conducted by Robin Ticciati including the D minor piano concerto, then move on to solo piano works by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. Whatever programming logic there was to the evening was disturbed, however, by the illness of pianist Beatrice Rana. In the event, the concerto soloist Alexandra Dovgan took over the whole programme, bringing the evening to a close with Bach and Chopin.

We began with Mozart, the overture to La Clemenza di Tito with Robin Ticciati bringing out the incisive drama of the piece, the opening full of expectancy. There was plenty of fine detail alongside the drama. Whilst the solo wind passages were lovely indeed, the larger ensembles were somewhat too string dominated for my taste, however the orchestra and conductor brought thing to a conclusion with vivid brilliance.

Le Piano Symphonique - Alexandra Dovgan (Photo: Luzerner Sinfonieorchester / Philip Schmidli)

The young Russian pianist Alexandra Dovgan is only 18, yet her approach to Mozart proved to be surprisingly mature and poised. As might be expected, Ticciati and the orchestra brought a serious sense of drama and intensity to the brooding orchestral introduction. By contrast, Dovgan's first entry was characterised by simplicity and clarity, and throughout the concerto she avoided big Romantic gestures. For all the orchestral sturm und drang, particularly in the development section, she projected cool poise and elegance. This sense of elegance continued with the slow movement. At first Dovgan's approach was very classical, but as the movement developed we had some serious fun too. There was a vivid directness to the finale, the vivacity of Dovgan's playing matched by the orchestra. On stage, Dovgan cut a poised and somewhat reticent figure, this image rather belied by her ability to pedal in killer heels.