Hyperion Records celebrates The Romantic Piano Concerto with two 50 CD boxed sets

In 1990, a meeting between Hyperion Records and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra discussed recording plans. The results were three discs with Jerzy Maksymiuk conducting, Piers Lane in piano concertos by Moskowski and Paderewski, Nikolai Demidenko in piano concertos by Medtner, and Stephen Coombs and Ian Munro in Mendelssohn's concertos for two pianos. Hyperion's The Romantic Piano was born. The project’s modest initial aim had been only to restore to the public a few glories of the Romantic concerto repertoire. By its close it covered 235 works, 185 of them piano concertos. By 2023, volume 87 featured pianist Simon Callaghan, in his fourth disc for the project, in concertos by Reinecke and Sauer with Sinfonieorchester St Gallen, conductor Modestas Pitrėnas.

Now Hyperion Records is planning to issue two 50CD boxed sets to bring together the discs from the series. The first release, The Romantic Piano Concerto 1991–2007 Edition, lands on 10 April 2026, with a second set following on 16 October 2026. 

The project brought about a renewal of the repertoire which has helped works to return to global concert programmes after long absences and for the narrowed canon of concerto works to be widened, enabling the public to appreciate, for example, all five of the Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos [recorded by Stephen Hough with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Sakari Oramo along with four other concertante works on volume 27] rather than just the 2nd and occasionally the 5th. Or for Busoni’s vast Piano Concerto [recorded by Marc-André Hamelin with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Mark Elder on volume 22] to be successfully programmed at the London Proms.

Bearing this out, the pianist Piers Lane, whose Moszkowski and Paderewski Piano Concerti formed the very first album in the series and who made seven discs, recalls that he has since regularly played the Moszkowski in concert. He comments: "This epic series of recordings is a glorious testament to Hyperion’s curatorial and archaeological approach to less-known repertoire, and also to Mike Spring’s boundless enthusiasm, instinct, knowledge and curiosity about all things piano."

The 1991–2007 Edition brings together Volumes 1 to 43 of the series, alongside a handful of bonus concerto recordings from the same period. Artists featured include Sir Stephen Hough, Marc-André Hamelin, Piers Lane, Steven Osborne, Howard Shelley and Martin Roscoe, performing with orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Each boxed set is presented as a 50 CD original-jackets collection with a newly compiled booklet. Alongside introductory texts by Stephen Hough and Piers Lane, new essays by producer Andrew Keener and series founder Mike Spring reflect on the project’s origins, its practical challenges, and the painstaking research involved in manually locating and preparing rare orchestral materials.

One of the series’ champions, Sir Stephen Hough [who recorded four volumes including not only the Saint-Saëns volume, but complete Tchaikovsky concertos, and works by Sauer, Schwarenka, Mendelssohn], reflects on the symbiotic expansion in the size and power of the instrument and the music composed for it in the Romantic era: "Hyperion’s celebrated series of recordings highlighted this phenomenon with enormous enthusiasm and zest over the past decades, with scores of scores unearthed, revealing some astonishing yet unknown works. As they are gathered together in a box it gives us another opportunity to marvel at the sheer variety and fecundity of the form."

The Romantic Piano Concerto 1991–2007 Edition - Hyperion Records, see website for further details.

The vision of a healthier, higher-achieving future: In Harmony Liverpool Philharmonic recognised by Association of British Orchestras with their Impact Award

In Harmony Liverpool 13 Birthday Concert, 2022 (Photo: Mark McNulty)

Launched in February 2009, In Harmony Liverpool Philharmonic uses orchestral music making to improve the life chances of children by increasing confidence, wellbeing, skills and resilience, enhanced by opportunities to travel, learn, perform and collaborate with professional musicians, international artists and other young people. In Harmony Liverpool Philharmonic’s vision is a healthier, higher-achieving future for North Liverpool.  The programme enables over 1,800 children and young people aged 0–18 to learn music every week, free of charge. 

This week, the Liverpool Philharmonic's work with the programme was recognised when they were awarded the Impact Award for Learning and Development by the Association of British Orchestras for the In Harmony Liverpool Philharmonic programme.    

The programme reaches communities experiencing socio-economic disadvantage and works closely with schools and local partners to provide safe spaces where young people can make music and develop essential life skills, equipping them for broader educational and social outcomes.

This year, Liverpool Philharmonic is expanding its 11–18s programme, with new Youth Hubs opening across the city, including Walton, Kensington, Central Liverpool and Bootle. Designed in consultation with young people, In Harmony Youth Hubs support those for whom formal education can be challenging. They provide safe, welcoming spaces to make music, spend time with friends and access high-quality musical, creative and technical opportunities — all completely free of charge. 

Further details from the In Harmony Liverpool Philharmonic website.

Ethel Smyth's String Trio on Solaire records: Trio d'Iroise draw our focus onto this neglected piece

Ethel Smyth: String Trio in D Major, Op. 6; Trio d'Iroise; Solaire Records
Reviewed 2 February 2026

Smyth's early and relatively unknown string trio is the focus for the engaging yet sophisticated EP where the players' style and sophistication draw you in

For the second of Solaire records new series of EPs they turn to relatively unusual 19th century repertoire as Trio d'Iroise (Sophie Pantzier, Violin, François Lefèvre, Viola, Johann Caspar Wedell, Cello) perform Ethel Smyth's String Trio.

The German-French Trio d'Iroise was founded by Sophie Pantzier, Francois Lefèvre and Johann Caspar Wedell in the summer of 2017 at the Rencontres musicales d'Iroise chamber music festival in Brittany. Sophie Pantzier and François Lefèvre are members of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Caspar Wedell is solo cellist of the ensemble reflektor. Previously on Solaire, the trio joined forces with the Syriab Trio for a fascinating synthesis of Bach and Arab music in Goldberg [see my review].

The trio was composed in 1884 when Smyth was 26, but not performed until 2008! Smyth would not write her first opera, Fantasio, until 1892-94 (premiered 1898) and a lot of her early music focuses on chamber music and song. Whilst her period studying at the Leipzig Conservatoire left her disillusioned she remained attached to Leipzig and her private studies with Heinrich von Herzogenberg would bring her contact with Clara Schumann and Brahms. Von Herzogenberg's wife Elizabeth von Stockhausen, who would become a friend of Smyth's, was a pupil of Brahms and the composer corresponded extensively with the couple. Elizabeth von Stockhausen introduced Smyth to her sister, Julia and Julia's husband, Henry Bennet Brewster (HB). He was the philosopher and poet who became a friend, mentor and perhaps lover to Smyth and would be involved in creating her operas. 

A Child's Dream: pianist Alexandra Dariescu's 10th album, on Signum Classics, launched at the Romanian Cultural Institute

A nine-year-old girl goes on stage to make her concerto debut in Mozart's Rondo for piano and orchestra in D Major, K. 382 but as she steps onto the stage she trips and sends things flying. Rather than crying and giving up, she smiled and carried on. 

That little girl was pianist Alexandra Dariescu and now, 30 years, later, her latest disc (her tenth album), A Child's Dream on Signum Classics, celebrates this by opening with Mozart's Rondo, written when he was just 17, performed with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. The disc mixes pieces that Dariescu has played all her performing life alongside new works and discoveries. 

Last night (3/2/2026) A Child's Dream was launched at the Romanian Cultural Institute in London with a short recital from Dariescu preceded by a discussion between her and Simon Webb, Head of Orchestras and Choirs at the BBC, and finishing with celebratory drinks and cake! 

Dariescu talked about being blessed not only with a supportive family but also by being adopted by the UK. She explained that at the age of 17 she won a competition which took her to study at a school in the middle of Yorkshire. There the careers master encouraged her to take an audition at the Royal Northern College of Music. There result was a scholarship at the RNCM, and she followed this by studying at the Guildhall School, where she returned more recently for their creative entrepreneurship course.

She wanted the disc to not only reflect the pieces that she performed during her childhood and throughout her performing life, but also to reflect the diversity of the society we live in, so the mix includes female composers, contemporary composers and composers of colour. There is a new piece by the American composer James Lee III whom Dariescu met and bonded with whilst performing in Detroit and the result was a new concerto, Shades of Unbroken Dreams, commissioned by the Detroit Symphony and the BBC Philharmonic. After this, Lee wrote her a short piano solo, Humble Birth which is on the disc.

More unusual repertoire on the disc came about partly because during Lockdown, with no concerts, Dariescu set herself the task of finding new and rare repertoire with the emphasis on neglected women composers.  Emmy Schäfer Klein is a composer about whom so little is known. She published her Christmas Album in 1882 and Dariescu plays A Child's Dream from this on the album

The Mozart Rondo was recorded with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, performing without a conductor which Dariescu described as requiring a different type of listening. After the performance and subsequent recording she became good friends with the orchestra, had cake and all was well. Two other works on the disc involve members of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Cellist Richard Harwood joins Dariescu for Nadia Boulanger's Three Pieces for Cello and Piano, whilst violinist Tomo Keller joins her for Clara Schumann's late masterpiece, her Three Romances for Violin and Piano which were written for Clara's friend violinist Joseph Joachim.

After saying that she hopes everything she does will inspire the next generation, and commenting that she hoped the album put a smile on our faces, she sat down and played three pieces from the disc.  Emmy Schäfer Klein's charming A Child's Dream, James Lee III's highly atmospheric Humble Birth (which almost had Michael Tippett-like hints at times) and a Romanian folk dance by Tudor Ciortea (1903–1982), a composer who studied with Nadia Boulanger and Paul Dukas. Vigorous and highly rhythmic, the work was evidently Dariescu's party piece as a child.

A Child's Dream is released on 6 February 2026. Full details from Signum Records website.

Anonymous no more: Seven uncredited 16th century works from a choirbook created in Arundel & now residing in Lambeth, here given voice for the first time

The Lambeth Anonymous:  Recordings from the Arundel Choirbook; Iken Scholars, Matthew Dunn; RUBICON
Reviewed 3 February 2026

Seven anonymous, hitherto unrecorded works from the Arundel Choirbook now in Lambeth Palace Library now given voice by this group of young singers in a most engaging and illuminating way

Thanks to the vagaries of history, the sources of the music on this lovely disc bandy around rather a variety of names. A pair of choirbooks were likely produced at Arundel College in Sussex in the early 16th century. The college was dissolved in the reign of Henry VIII, but the site was acquired by the Earl of Arundel and has had a variety of uses since.

One of the Arundel choirbooks is now housed in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and is hence known as the Caius Choirbook though the contents relate to Arundel. The manuscript is an important source for works by Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford. The other Arundel choirbook is now housed in Lambeth Palace Library and variously known as the Arundel Choirbook and the Lambeth Choirbook. With me so far?

The Arundel (Lambeth) and the Caius Choirbooks are linked by significantly overlapping repertoire, similar exceptional size and layout, and shared scribe. More recently, a manuscript roll was discovered in Arundel Castle, written by the same scribe and containing music by Ludford. It is believed the Caius Choirbook was a presentation copy from Arundel College to St Stephen’s, Westminster (from whence it ended up at Gonville and Caius), while the Arundel (Lambeth) Choirbook remained at the college and is thought to have been used in services there before making its way to Lambeth Palace in the late 16th or early 17th century.

Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford contributed at least ten of the nineteen pieces in the Arundel (Lambeth) Choirbook and there are seven anonymous pieces. It is with these seven anonymous works that this disc is concerned.

On the disc, The Lambeth Anonymous, from Rubicon, Matthew Dunn conducts the Iken Scholars in Salve Regina, Ave dei patris filia, Vidi aquam egredientem, Ave mundi spes Maria, Gaude flore virginali and two Magnificats from the Arundel (Lambeth) Choirbook, all anonymous. Recorded in what was likely the 500th anniversary of the creation of the choirbook, the recording took place in the chapel at Lambeth Palace. The works cover four votive antiphons to Mary, and an antiphon for Eastertide as well as the Magnificats. They are nestled in the choirbook between mass settings by Fayrfax and Ludford on either side and followed by three other Marian devotional pieces by Walter Lambe, Fayrfax and Edmund Sturton.

200 singers, 25 nationalities: Edinburgh Royal Choral Union joins forces with the Brussels Choral Society for Poulenc & Bruckner in Edinburgh

Edinburgh Royal Choral Union joins forces with the Brussels Choral Society for Poulenc & Bruckner in Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Royal Choral Union (ERCU) will join forces with the Brussels Choral Society for a collaborative concert at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on 15 March 2025, bringing together some 200 singers for music on a grand scale. Michael Bawtree, ERCU's chorus director since 2005, will conduct the choirs along with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera in Francis Poulenc’s Gloria and Anton Bruckner’s Mass in D minor. Solo roles will be performed by the Sòlas Ensemble, a young vocal quartet formed at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

The collaboration follows a sold‑out performance of the same programme by ERCU and Brussels Choral Society at the renowned Bozar concert hall and arts venue in Brussels in December 2025, which received a rapturous response from the audience.

Founded in 1979, the Brussels Choral Society is Belgium’s largest amateur symphony choir, comprising around 100 singers from over 25 different nationalities and known for its wide-ranging repertoire from Baroque masterpieces to contemporary works. Founded in 1858, the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union ( is one of Scotland’s oldest choral societies. A mixed choir of around 120 voices, it is best known for its annual New Year performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Usher Hall, a tradition established in 1888 and continued without interruption, even through two World Wars, alongside an ambitious programme of large-scale choral works and international collaborations.

Further details and tickets from Culture Edinburgh website.

 

Rhapsodies and Variations: the current cohort of LSO Conservatoire Scholars show what they are capable of in their showcase recital at LSO St Luke's

LSO Conservatoire Scholarships 2026 showcase at LSO St Luke's

Last night, 2 February 2026, was the LSO Conservatoire Scholarships 2026 showcase at LSO St Luke's when this year's LSO Conservatoire Scholars gave a recital featuring music by Paganini, Stravinsky, Glinka, Jessie Montgomery, Lutoslawski, Ernst Sachse, Madeleine Dring, Franck Angelis and Bottesini.

Launched in 2023, the LSO Conservatoire Scholarships aim to ensure that musicians of all backgrounds have access to conservatoire training. Each year, the LSO awards ten new individuals with scholarships to contribute to living and maintenance whilst studying, lasting for the duration of their postgraduate course. There are also professional development opportunities with mentoring, coaching, side-by-side rehearsal and performance opportunities.

Deniz Sensoy - LSO Conservatoire Scholarships 2026 showcase at LSO St Luke's

So far, the scheme has supported over 31 artists and applications are now open for the 2026/2027 cohort. Before the recital, we heard from three previous scholars about how significant the support from the scheme was in terms of allowing them space to concentrate on their postgraduate study without the pressure to teach and work as well.

The recital featured 17 of the 18 artists in the current cohort with a diverse range of instruments including seven violinists, a double bass player, pianists, a harpist, an accordionist and a trombonist. Entitled Rhapsodies and Variations, the recital had these two forms threading their way through the music, with Paganini also a feature.

We began with a passionate account of Paganini's famous Caprice No. 24 from violinist Deniz Sensoy, then pianist Nikita Demidenko demonstrated virtuosity of a different type with Guido Agosti's positively outrageous transcription of the Danse Infernale from Stravinsky's Firebird. In a rather more civilised style, Tannaz Beigi demonstrated great poise with Glinka's Variations on a theme of Mozart for solo harp.

Violinist Ugnė Liepa Žuklytė made Jessie Montgomery's Rhapsody No. 2 for solo violin into something vivid and up-front, relishing the cascades of notes. Violinist Alix Vaillot-Szwarc and pianist Alexander Doronin gave us a forceful, passionate account of Bartok's Rhapsody No. 1. The first half ended with an element of wit and whimsy when pianists Mikhail Kaploukhii and Kasparas Mikužis played Lutoslawski's Variations on a Theme by Paganini.

During the interval there was a panel discussion with Kathryn McDowell (managing director of the LSO), violinist Olwen Miles (one of the current cohort of scholars), violinist Maxine Kwok (from the LSO), Jonathan Vaughan (principal of the Guildhall School), and James Williams (principal of the Royal College of Music). Miles emphasised the difference the scholarships made, allowing the recipients time to work at lessons and absorb information properly. Kwok pointed out that when she was a student, the only aim was to be a better violinist, but nowadays, players need to be so much more than that.

Vaughan used a football analogy, commenting that in expecting postgraduate musicians to study and work meant we were expecting Premiership players to work in non-League conditions. Williams highlighted the differences between London and the areas outside where availability of good teachers can be a problem.

The creative industries in the UK brought in 125 billion, and if we want to preserve that share of the creative economy we need to train for it.

Nikolai Demidenko, José Pedro Teixeira - LSO Conservatoire Scholarships 2026 showcase at LSO St Luke's

The second half began with something of a novelty for the non-trombonists in the audience, the Allegro Moderato final movement of Ernst Sachse's Trombone Concertino in B flat played by bass trombone player José Pedro Teixeira and pianist Nikolai Demidenko. Sachse (1813-1890) was a German trombonist and composer who was based in Weimar, worked with Liszt and played in the premiere of Wagner's Lohengrin. The movement from the concertino proved to be a delightfully jaunty piece, the progressively more complex variations putting a smile on your face.

Another lesser known piece was Madeleine Dring's Three Fantastic Variations on 'Lilliburlero' for two pianos, played by Radu-Gabriel Stoica (from the current cohort of scholars) and Michael McHale from the LSO. We heard the final two variations, the first richly romantic and the second full of perky wit.

Accordionist Alise Siliņa played the Fantasie on a Theme of Piazzolla - Chiquilin de Bachin by the French accordionist and composer Franck Angelis (born 1962). A piece that was full of melancholy romanticism alongside some lovely detailed writing for the instrument. Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889) is known for a handful of virtuoso works for the double bass, though I also discovered that he conducted the premiere of Verdi's Aida in Cairo. His Grand duo concertante is perhaps one of his best known piece. Here played by Iohan Coman (violin), Strahinja Mitrović (double bass) and Henry Lewis (piano), it was a piece that combined fun with virtuosity, especially watching Mitrovic's left hand dashing all over the fingerboard and producing all manner of dazzling notes.

Strahinja Mitrovic - LSO Conservatoire Scholarships 2026 showcase at LSO St Luke's

We ended with a bit more fun. Irish composer Paul Frost's arrangement of Paganini's Caprice No.24 for four violins, here played by three of the current cohort, Olwen Miles, Emil Hartikainen and Elfida Su Turan plus Maxine Kwok from the LSO. Not so much a transcription as a reworking, Frost gives a catchy jazz-slant to Paganini's piece. Great fun.

But that wasn't the end and everyone joined together for a stirring rendition of the famous slow variation from Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini.

Presenting an incredible series of concerts ranging from classical to contemporary music, the Strijkkwartet Biënnale Amsterdam punches well above its weight to the delight of its admiring international audience

Strijkkwartet Biënnale Amsterdam at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam (Photo: Marco van Es)

Strijkkwartet Biënnale Amsterdam; Muziekgebouw Amsterdam
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 26-28 January 2026

The swishy, comfortable and ultra-modern Muziekgebouw Amsterdam provided the perfect setting for the 5th edition of the Strijkkwartet Biënnale Amsterdam held over the course of eight action-packed days with concerts taking place from early morning to late evening featuring some of the world’s most renowned quartets while highlighting emerging young talent pushing the next generation forward

The Strijkkwartet Biënnale Amsterdam, a pretty impressive and world-beating event, features a host of international ensembles of the likes of the Belcea Quartet, ADAM Quartet, Cuarteto Casals, Engegard Quartet, Quatuor Ebene, Quatuor Arod, Malion Quartett, Chiaroscuro Quartet, Maxwell Quartet, Barbican Quartet, Pavel Haas Quartet, Quatuor Van Kuijk, PUBLIQuartet, Marmen Quartet, Leonkoro Quartet, Animato Kwartet, Belinfante Quartet, Attacca Quartet, Signum Quartet, Chaos String Quartet and North Sea String Quartet as well as String Quartet Competition winners from Trondheim, London and Banff.

Overall, the festival featured four Dutch premières by David Lang, Brett Dean, Denise Onen and Dizu Plaatjies and also presented twelve other world premières by Samuel Adams, Richard Ayres, Alexander Raskatov, Mathilde Wantenaar, Boris Bezemer, Eleanor Alberga, Primo Ish-Hurwitz, Vinthya Perinpanathan, Frieda Gustavs, Hanna Kulenty, Aftab Darvishi, Jan-Peter de Graaff while special guests included Elisabeth Hetherington (soprano), Tabea Zimmermann (viola), Klaus Makela (cello), DIzu Plaatjies (African instruments), Ales Brezina (musicologist), Olga Pashchenko (fortepiano), Olli Mustonen (piano), Khorshid Dadbeh (tanbur), DOMNIQ (percussion), Ariane Schluter (actress), Julian Steckel (cello), Bruno Monsaingeon (documentary film director), Takehiro Konoe (viola), Naomi Shaham (double-bass), Katy Hamilton (presenter). What a tally!

Animato Kwartet with Khorshid Dadbeh (Photo: Juri Hiensch)

All the concerts took place at the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam, commissioned and funded by the city of Amsterdam in the eastern docklands as opposed to the historic Concertgebouw of 1888 which was funded by six prominent Amsterdam citizens to build a world-class concert hall to elevate and enhance the city’s cultural life.

Therefore, the Muziekgebouw complements so well its larger and mature neighbour while providing the perfect venue for the Strijkkwartet Biënnale founded by Yasmin Hilberdink in 2018. She established the festival based on years of experience in organizing chamber-music concerts at the Concertgebouw to create a more vibrant and spontaneous environment in which string quartets can healthily thrive.

Gracing the banks of the river IJ, the Muziekgebouw, designed by the esteemed Danish architectural firm, 3XN, emphasizes openness with its expansive glass façade inviting sunlight to penetrate the building’s interior thus creating a connection to the surrounding harbour and well beyond.

125 years young: Wigmore Hall celebrates its anniversary with two weeks of goodies from Igor Levit & Lisa Davidsen to Rhiannon Giddens & Stockhausen's Stimmung

Foyer of Wigmore Hall in 1901 when it was Bechstein Hall (Photo courtesy of Wigmore Hall)

Like many major cities, London's concert halls are largely recent phenomenon and old halls have had a habit of disappearing. Kingsway Hall (beloved of recording companies) was deemed unsafe and demolished in the 1990s, Aeolian Hall still exists but is now Sotheby's in Bond Street, whilst the Queen's Hall in Langham Place was demolished thanks to bomb damage. But there is one hall that has stuck it out and, in terms of ambience and sound, remains thankfully unchanged. This is Wigmore Hall. 

Opened as Bechstein Hall in 1901, the venue is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.  The building was designed by Thomas Collcutt (whose other buildings included the Palace Theatre and Lloyd's  Register of Shipping) for piano manufacturers Bechstein to showcase their pianos, and the interior still features the mural The Soul of Music in the cupola, designed by painter and muralist Gerald Moira, as striking then as it is today.

The opening concert was on 31 May 1901, and to celebrate Wigmore Hall is having a 125th anniversary festival from 25 May to 7 June, full of all sorts of goodies. Things kick off at lunchtime on 25 May when the Modigliani Quartet joins forces with the Leonkoro Quartet, winner of the 2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, for Mendelssohn's Octet. The festival closes with violinist Christian Tetzlaff celebrating his 60th birthday with unaccompanied Bach, the Six Sonatas and Partitas.

There will be the launch of Julia Boyd's book, There is Sweet Music Here, celebrating 125 years of the Hall. On 31 May 1901, the opening concert featured Busoni, Ysaye and other distinguished soloists in a programme of Beethoven, Schubert, Bach, Schumann, Brahms and more. A gala concert with Thomas Adès (piano), Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cedric Tiberghien (piano), Louise Alder (soprano) and Joseph Middleton (piano) will reproduce many of the elements from that first concert, missing out the songs by Delayre, Wekerlin and Auber and adding music by Thomas Adès.

Soprano Lise Davidsen and pianist James Baillieu will be giving an all-Schubert recital on the very day of the anniversary. Another anniversary gala, the day after, features pianist Igor Levit in Ravel's Kaddisch, Shostakovich's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor and Liszt's Après une lecture du Dante 'Fantasia quasi Sonata'. And soprano Carolyn Sampson and pianist Joseph Middleton will be exploring songs from 1901, the year the hall was born, from Bonis, Hahn and Massenet to Strauss and Schoenberg, plus Mahler, Debussy and Charles Bordes.

The festival features two grand old men of Early Music. Jordi Savall directs his ensemble Hesperion XXI and singers from La Capella Reial de Catalunya in a programme of Monteverdi and his contemporaries, whilst William Christie directs Les Arts Florissants in Handel's Acis and Galatea.

Soprano Asmik Grigorian and pianist Lukas Geniusas create a programme that begins with Rachmaninov's Vocalise and explores that genre ending with Strauss's Four Last Songs. Baritone Christian Gerhaher and pianist Gerold Huber's programme centres around Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte and Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Piotr Anderszewski will be performing two great Schumann cycles, Dichterliebe and Liederkreis Op. 24

The pianistic line-up also includes Alexandre Kantorow [whom we heard last month in recital in Lucerne, see my review] in Liszt, Medtner, Chopin and Beethoven; Yunchan Lim, the youngest ever winner of the Van Cliburn Competition in 2022, in fantasies by Chopin, Schumann and Schubert; Angela Hewitt in Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert; and Lukas Sternath in Liszt and Schubert  

Pianist Igor Levit also joins the Leonkoro Quartet for two programmes which include Brahms' Piano Quintet in F minor, Op.24 and Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat, Op.44, whilst violist Tabea Zimmermann joins the Belcea Quartet for quintets by Mozart and Brahms.

London Voices, which was founded back in 1973 by Terry Edwards and which is now directed by Ben Parry, will perform Stockhausen's classic Stimmung. Vocalist Elaine Michener joins lutenist Elizabeth Kenny for a programme that mixes Dowland, Strozzi and Robert Johnson with Bob Marley, Joni Mitchell and Robert Johnson the Blues maestro. Other guests at the festival include singer, composer, fiddle player and banjo virtuoso Rhiannon Giddens, and cellist Abel Selaochoe and his Bantu Ensemble

Full details from Wigmore Hall's website.

Creating places to explore contemporary music: Standard Issue helps launch prx.live, new venture from contemporary music magazine PRXLUDES

Standard Issue

PRXLUDES is an online contemporary music magazine that sees its work as serving as a public platform where emerging and early-career composers can showcase their work. Now they are going live with prx.live part live gig, part conversation, part social gathering. The launch is on 5 February 2026 at Folklore, Hoxton in partnership with the ensemble Standard Issue and production partners, Stomping Ground.

I chatted to Standard Issue's artistic director Michelle Hromin (clarinets) and creative director Tilly Coulton (flutes) to find out more about the ensemble and their plans for prx.live. Standard Issue is a contemporary music collective with a Pierrot ensemble at its core. They want to bring the best of music to the community. They perform mainly living composers and are interested in creating places to explore contemporary music in different ways, making inclusive and accepting spaces for new music. Their repertoire is a mix from contemporary classical to ambient drone to avant-garde. Repertoire is decided in various ways, Michelle Tilly are involved along with members of the ensemble, but sometimes composers make suggestions, and they are intrigued by the ideas.

Rather than simply playing pieces, Standard Issue wants to create a social gathering around music, so that people can talk about music. Events are not just concerts, audience members can meet new people and connect with other musicians. They want the audience to feel part of a collaborative process by opening a dialogue with the audience, what the audience liked and disliked, explaining what Standard Issue's process was like.

For the prx.live launch, Standard Issue will be performing Ipod Variations by Iranian-American composer Kian Ravei, Soundclash by London-based composer, producer and DJ Blasio Kavuma, Skew by Holly Gowland, a composer/sound artist from Manchester who is studying for her PhD at University of Birmingham, Heartstrings by composer and vocalist Rylan Gleave, The Wooden Web by Scottish composer, arranger and podcaster Aileen Sweeney and a new commission, supported by Vaughan Williams Foundation, Snow Sprites by Millicent B James. The evening will include an introduction from Zygmund de Somogyi, artistic director of PRXLUDES, as well as conversations with the composers about their process, then after the talking and the music there will be a social gathering.

Tilly and Michelle both studied at the Royal College of Music (RCM) where Michelle curated a concert featuring music by women composers as part of the RCM's Music and Migration series. Chatting together after the event, they realised that they shared a love of new music, of working with composers and wanted to do more working with people that they knew. From there the suggestion of making it a group was the next step. The launch concert was in 2022, creating a space for them to come together performing contemporary and experimental music.

Further details and tickets for prx.live from Dice.