Bringing music & art into a space which belongs to everyone: Olivia Warburton's The Big House Arts Festival at Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

The Big House Arts Festival is a three day multi-arts festival showcasing chamber music and art in Lincoln Cathedral from 10 to 12 April 2026. The festival's founder is soprano Olivia Warburton, who grew up as a chorister in Lincoln. Her Mum used to refer to the Cathedral ‘The Big House’— it was her way of making something grand and historic feel familiar and part of everyday life. That affectionate nickname stayed with her, and it captures exactly what the festival aims to be about: bringing music and art into a space which belongs to everyone.

To open the festival, Olivia Warburton is joined by actor Eliza Butterworth, guitarist Samrat Majumder and pianist Johan Barnoin, for The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls, an evening of song, poetry and solo music inspired by Shakespeare’s vision of the seven ages of human life. Other concerts include jazz vocalist and clarinetist, Giulia Marro performing songs from her debut album, A Portrait of Giulia, with duo partner, Tom Ward; and the Solem Quartet bring things to a close with quartets by Dvorak, Debussy and Chausson.

There will also be a masterclass from Richard Stokes, Professor of Song at the Royal Academy of Music, working with five young singers.

Full details from the festival website. 

One of the few operas by a woman produced at the Paris Opera in the 19th century. Augusta Holmès' La Montagne noire finally gets its UK premiere

Augusta Holmès' La Montagne noire at Theater Dortmund in 2024

Whilst best known for her orchestral symphonic poems, the French composer (of Irish descent) Augusta Holmès wrote four operas in total, though only one was performed. This was La Montagne noire which was staged at the Paris Opera in 1895, one of the few operas written by a woman to be produced there during the nineteenth century. A four act lyric drama, Holmès wrote the libretto herself. She wrote the opera in 1884-1885, when she was living with the poet Catulle Mendès who wrote librettos for Chabrier, Messager, Hahn and Massenet.

She first heard Wagner's work at the age of 13 and was influenced by Wagner throughout her life. La Montagne noire was poorly received, partly because Holmès' Wagnerian inspiration was viewed as old-fashioned. However, the gender rhetoric of the nineteenth century came into play too. When reviewing her symphonic poem, Les Argonautes, Saint-Saëns remarked on her "excessive virility – a frequent fault with women composers – and flamboyant orchestration in which the brass explodes like fireworks..." When considering the opera, critics criticised her for crossing the boundary into styles which were thought of as masculine territory. The critic Arthur Pougin said that the best pages of the opera were the passages of "gentleness, grace and tenderness", going on to comment that the noisier passages were banal!

The opera received a rare modern revival in 2024 at Theater Dortmund in a production that was nominated for the Best Rediscovered Work by the International Opera Awards. 

Now UK audiences are getting a chance to hear the opera for themselves. That enterprising group the Opera Makers, who performed Ethel Smyth's Der Wald in 2023 [see my review] is giving the UK premiere of La Montagne noire at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge on 8 March 2026. Panaretos Kyriatzidis conducts with Francesca Lauri at the piano and a cast including Matthew Curtis, Felicity Buckland, James Newby, Becca Marriott, Masimba Ushe and Lauren Easton.

For this concert the company has curated a cast that includes three female leads whose careers have all been deeply affected by their choice to become mothers. The decision to start a family remains an impediment to the careers of many singers, particularly those with larger voices whose instruments blossom at precisely the time when it is most likely they will be starting their families.  There is also a diverse chorus of students and volunteers, supported by Trinity Laban. 

Full details from the company's website. 

 

 

 

Keeping it local: David Butt Philip & Friends Gala at St Paul's Opera, Clapham

David Butt Philip & Friends Gala - David Butt Philip - St Paul's Opera, Clapham, 2025 - 'Falke, falke, du wiedergefundener' from Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten

If you want to hear tenor David Butt Philip the chances are that you may well have to travel outside the UK and his performances this year include Milan, Tokyo and the USA. In the UK he is performing the role of Bacchus in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos at Glyndebourne as well as singing Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with the London Symphony Orchestra.

But the good news for his admirers is that David Butt Philip is also patron of Clapham-based St Paul's Opera, and he performs in an annual fundraising gala for the company at their home base of St Paul's Church, Clapham. Previous years, he has treated audiences at the gala to the Emperor's remarkably expansive solo, 'Falke, falke, du wiedergefundener' from Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten and Florestan's solo from the opening of Act Two of Beethoven's Fidelio.

This year's David Butt Philip & Friends Gala takes place on 13 March 2026, when he will be joined by soprano Ellie Laugharne, mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan and bass-baritone Liam James Karai with pianists Susanna Stranders and Eric Melear.

Ellie Laugharne was Adele in Strauss' Die Fledermaus at The Grange Festival last year [see my review]. Niamh O'Sullivan sang the title role in ENO's most recent revival of Bizet's Carmen, and we caught her as Ino in Handel's Semele at Covent Garden last year [see my review] and we first encountered Liam James Karai in Opera North's recent new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro [see my review]

See my review of last year's gala, and full details of this year's event from the company's website. 

A busy summer: from touring The Marriage of Figaro directed by Danielle de Niese to recording Iain Farrington's version of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Wild Arts goes from strength to strength

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin - Emily Hodkinson, Xavier Hetherington - Wild Arts 2025 (Photo: Allan Titmuss)

Wild Arts, the Essex-based musical charity headed by Orlando Jopling, has a busy summer ahead. Their new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro is not only set to be performed at over 20 venues across the south of England but the production will be directed by soprano Danielle de Niese who is making her directorial debut. The tour begins at Layer Marney Tower in Essex and then wends its way across England, with a performance at Opera Holland Park on 22 August, two performances at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall (3 and 4 September), and a performance at Norwich Theatre Royal on 8 September. Alongside this tour, the company is presenting its annual summer Opera Evening with four singers and a string quartet popping up at over 20 venues. Later on in the year, the company's dramatic presentation of Handel's Messiah will be returning [see my review of the original 2023 performances].

We first caught the company in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love in 2023 [see my review of their performance at the Thaxted Festival]. Last year they presented Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in a production directed by Dominic Dromgoole [see my review] 

In addition to this, the company has plans for its first recording. Tenor Xavier Hetherington (who played Lensky in last year's performances of Eugene Onegin) and mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons will be joining Orlando Jopling and the Wild Arts Ensemble in the recording studio this autumn for Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in Iain Farrington's chamber orchestration. Farrington's version makes a full orchestral picture from only sixteen players, using only the instruments in Mahler’s score. It attempts to capture the timbre and balance of the original, as much as the spirit and energy.

We had a lovely preview of the recording at a private event on Thursday 19 February when Orlando Jopling, at the piano, accompanied Hetherington and Fontanals-Simmons in a performance of the work and chatted about the piece. Wild Arts is presenting two performances of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in Iain Farrington's version at St Peter ad Vincula Church, Coggleshall on 22 March, and at Smith Square Hall on 31 March. Both concerts are raising money for the recording, and you can also support the recording via the company's donation page.

Founded as a charity in 2022, Wild Arts has grown rapidly and in 2025 reached audiences of over 15,000 people through over 70 performances at 60 venues with 200 performers and creatives. 36% of their 2025 audiences was made up of first time opera goers.  Their Emerging Artist programme supports talented young performers as well as those interested in the technical and managerial aspects of the production. As part of the company's education and outreach they reached some 500 children nationwide including six weeks of lessons, twelve workshops and two schools performances. 

Full details of Wild Arts presentation of Das Lied von der Erde from the company's website. 

Leonardo Vinci's Artaserse in Chicago: Haymarket Opera Company's Craig Trompeter on countering the tendency for audiences to only listen to music that they know.

Vinci: Artaserse - Craig Trompeter & orchestra of Haymarket Opera Company (Photo: Elliot Mandel)

As Chicago-based Haymarket Opera Company's recording of Leonardo Vinci's Artaserse is released on Cedille Records, we chat to the company's founder and musical director Craig Trompeter about rare repertoire and how he wants to counter the tendency for audiences to get lazy and only listen to music that they know.

The last known opera he composed before his death and widely considered to be his masterpiece, Leonardo Vinci's Artaserse was premiered in Rome in 1730. The opera was the first of over 90 settings of Metastasio's libretto (other composers who set the libretto include Hasse, Gluck, Graun, Galuppi, JC Bach, and Arne). Vinci and Metastasio are known to have collaborated closely for the world premiere of the opera in Rome. It was celebrated as a classic in its time with multiple revivals into the 1750s. The first modern revival of Artaserse was staged at the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy in 2012, and the work was recorded by the same cast with Diego Fasolis conducting Concerto Köln.

The Chicago-based Haymarket Opera Company which specialises in historically informed performance staged Vinci's Artaserse in June 2025, conducted by Craig Trompeter; the work's professional premiere in the USA. The cast featured countertenors Kangmin Justin Kim, Key’mon Murrah, and Ryan Belongie, tenor Eric Ferring, mezzo-soprano Emily Fons and male soprano Elijah McCormack.

Subsequently, the company went into the recording studio and their recording of Vinci's Artaserse is released on Cedille Records in March 2026, a follow-up to the company's 2022 recording of Joseph Bologne’s L’Amant Anonyme, also on Cedille.

Vinci: Artaserse - Elijah McCormack and Ryan Belongie - Haymarket Opera Company (Photo: Elliot Mandel)

The company chose Artaserse because, in Craig's words, it is "such a wonderful opera", but also because there is only one version of it in the catalogues (and that dating from 2012), he felt that it would be a good to have another version disc. Also, Craig thinks that such a classic opera deserves more exposure. It is full of great music, both beautiful and exciting, and shows off the voices so well. The style of music is not well represented in the catalogues.

Farewell to a legendary singer: José van Dam, the definitive Saint François in Messiaen's opera Saint François d'Assise, dies at 85

José van Dam in the title role of Olivier Messiaen‘s Saint François d’Assise, Salzburg Festival, 1998. (Photo: © SF/Bernd Uhlig )

The legendary bass-baritone José van Dam, whose death was announced yesterday, was a singer whose career many knew from recordings and film than live. His discography was wide and extensive encompassing much of the standard repertoire.

I was lucky enough to catch him live on a precious few occasions at Covent Garden. He was an astonishing Wozzeck in Berg's opera in Willy Decker's 1984 revival of Covent Garden's original 1952 production designed by Caspar Neher. In 1986, he was Jokanaan in Strauss' Salome in a revival of August Everding's 1970 production notable for Gwynneth Jones' performance of the title role. And in 1996 he was an unforgettable Philippe in Luc Bondy's French-language (hurrah!) production of Verdi's Don Carlos with Roberto Alagna in the title role.

Perhaps his greatest single role was as Saint François in Messiaen's opera Saint François d'Assise.  José van Dam sang it at the premiere in Paris, conducted by Seiji Ozawa in 1983, and he would again undertake the role in the 1992 Salzburg Festival (at the Felsenreitschule), directed by Peter Sellars with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and revived in 1998. 

"In a certain way, that performance changed my life", the artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, Markus Hinterhäuser recalls. "In this role, José van Dam was not simply a singer, he was an embodiment. He had a quiet authority, a mixture of humility and strength which corresponds exactly to what Messiaen meant when he created the role of his Francis."

Perhaps fittingly, the Salzburg Festival is returning to Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise this year with a new production designed and directed by Romeo Castellucci with Maxime Pascal conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippe Sly in the title role. See the festival website for details.

José van Dam's obituary on the OperaWire website.

Sonic & dramatic splendour: Jonathan Cohen, Arcangelo & a strong cast demonstrate the richness to be found in Handel's Saul to open the London Handel Festival

Handel: Saul - Christopher Purves, Arcangelo (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Handel: Saul; Christopher Purves, Hugh Cutting, Jessica Cale, Emőke Baráth, Linard Vrielink, Liam Bonthrone, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen; London Handel Festival at Smith Square Hall
Reviewed 18 Feburary 2025

One of those performances of Saul where we could let our imagination run riot with a cast who brought out the rich drama of the work alongside the very vibrant, present and intent account the music from Arcangelo

The 2026 London Handel Festival opened on Wednesday 18 February 2026 with a performance of one of Handel's grandest oratorios, Saul. The work was performed by the festival's principal ensemble in residence, Arcangelo, conducted by Jonathan Cohen, the ensemble's founder and the Festival's principal artistic advisor. And the event coincided with the announcement that Arcangelo and Cohen's relationship with the Festival will continue until 'at least' 2029.

The concert took place not at St George's Hanover Square, a favourite venue with the Festival, but at Smith Square Hall which meant that Cohen and Arcangelo could present Saul in all its sonic and dramatic splendour fielding a choir of 30 singers and orchestra with twenty strings plus of course flutes, recorders, oboes, bassoons, trombones, timpani and continuo. The cast had distinct links to Glyndebourne Opera's 2025 revival of Barrie Kosky's 2015 production: Christopher Purves as Saul, Linard Vrielink as Jonathan and Liam Bonthrone as the High Priest were all in the Glyndebourne performances which were conducted by Jonathan Cohen. At Smith Square, they were joined by Hugh Cutting as David, Jessica Cale as Michal, and Emőke Baráth as Merab.

As Ruth Smith points out in her excellent article in the programme book, Handel's Saul was revolutionary in many ways. Only his fourth English oratorio: the first three were Esther, Deborah and Athalia. Saul was also his first dramatic work with a bass lead, something Handel would return to four years later when he wrote Samson with tenor John Beard (Jonathan in Saul) in the title, lead role.

Saul was the longest English music-theatre work to date and Handel used larger forces than any English music theatre work or Italian opera previously performed in England. In our modern age when bigger can seem to be the norm, it is salutary to remember that the sort of large choral/orchestral forces Handel gathered together for Saul were unusual, that people would have to refer back to the Coronation of 1727, when Handel's specially written anthems were performed by significantly large forces.

Handel: Saul - Jessica Cale, Emőke Baráth, Linard Vrielink, Christopher Purves, Arcangelo (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Smith also points out that English oratorio was not acted and that much of the drama can be found in the music. Whilst it is tempting to stage works like Saul, the vision of a director can sometimes seem somewhat reductive and allowing the music space; giving our imaginations free rein is more productive. Not that this performance was lacking in physical drama. Linard Vrielink sang his role from memory whilst Christopher Purves rarely needed his score. Purves' Saul was a character hard to contain and Purves prowled the stage constantly and projected Saul's mental deterioration even when not singing. 

The other singers reacted and expressed. There was a surprising physicality to Hugh Cutting and Linard Vrielink's portrayal of David and Jonathan's relationship. The version of the oratorio performed (which was slightly cut but admirably complete) included David's solo in the Lament which has a remarkable homo-erotic inference. This was oratorio as drama without the necessity of constantly refreshing the stage picture that a fully staged performance can require.

Handel through Mozart’s eyes: Handel Hendrix House offers us a chance to see Mozart studying Handel's music

Mozart's fugue based on Handel (Photo: Handel Hendrix House)

Mozart visited London in 1764-5 as part of a long European tour with his family. At just eight years old, Mozart performed Handel’s music in the presence of royalty, participated in concerts that included Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and experienced live performances of many more works including Alexander’s Feast. 

Mozart went on to study and make new arrangements of Handel’s fugues, dramatic oratorios and odes, finding inspiration in Handel’s mastery of the rules of counterpoint and the expressive power of his music. Mozart was reported to say that ‘Handel understands effect better than any of us…when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.’  

Over 20 years after that London visit Mozart would produce modern versions of Handel's works for performances in Vienna including Acis and Galethea (1788), the Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1790), Alexander's Feast (1790) and Messiah (1789). 

Age 26 in 1782, Mozart would transcribe string quartet the fugue from Handel’s Suite in F for harpsichord (written 60 years earlier). The manuscript for this, beautifully written in Mozart's hand,  is evidence of Mozart’s life-long fascination with Handel’s music and the Baroque master’s influence on Mozart’s own music. 

This manuscript forms the centrepiece of the exhibition, Handel through Mozart’s eyes at Handel Hendrix House from 25 February top 13 September 2026. The exhibition also includes an early printed score of Messiah re-orchestrated by Mozart and 18th-century concert tickets and engravings showing key locations Hanover Square and Vauxhall Gardens where the young Mozart wowed audiences with his keyboard and violin playing in between performances of music by Handel during the child prodigy’s visit to London.

Handel's dining room at Handel Hendrix House (Photo: Christopher Ison)

Full details from the Handel Hendrix House website. 

 

Britain's longest-established string quartet? Sacconi Quartet celebrates 25 years with the line-up unchanged

The Sacconi Quartet - Ben Hancox, Hannah Dawson, Robin Ashwell, Cara Berridge (Photo: Clive Barda)

The Sacconi Quartet is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the line-up unchanged since Ben Hancox, Hannah Dawson, Robin Ashwell and Cara Berridge formed the quartet at the Royal College of Music in 2001, making them seemingly Britain's longest-established string quartet. The quartet will kick off their 25th birthday celebrations with a gala concert at the Wigmore Hall on Friday 20 February 2026.

The Wigmore Hall programme includes the world premiere of Freya Waley-Cohen’s Dances, Songs & Hymns for Friendship, commissioned for the occasion - a testament to "25 years of enduring friendship, all the different twists and turns of life they have seen each other through”. And Waley-Cohen's piece will feature in Sacconi programmes throughout the year. At Wigmore Hall the quartet will also be playing Haydn's String Quartet in C Op. 33 No. 3 'The Bird' and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 15 in A minor Op. 132.

The quartet has given over 30 world premiere performances and made premiere recordings of works by Roxanna Panufnik, Jonathan Dove, Graham Fitkin and John McCabe. The quartet's performance film of Dove’s first quartet Out of Time’ was released on Amazon Prime in 2021 and is now available to all, via the quartet’s YouTube channel.

Three members of the quartet perform on instruments made by the great Italian violin maker Simone Sacconi (1895-1973), who studied fellow luthier Antonio Stradivari extensively during his lifetime. The blend of these instruments, combined with many years of intimate work and understanding, have led to the quartet’s unique sound. 

The Sacconi Quartet is Quartet in Association at the Royal College of Music and Quartet in Residence for the town of Folkestone. The Sacconi Chamber Music Festival in Folkestone, which runs from 14 to 17 May 2026, is now in its 19th year and firmly established among the UK’s major chamber music festivals.

See Wigmore Hall website for details of the birthday concert. 

Shake Up & Smell the Rain featuring children from Belham Primary school on Alex Paxton's new album, Candyfolk Space Drum

Alex Paxton's fifth studio album, Candyfolk Space Drum is released on 3 April 2026 on Jonah Records. As exuberant as ever, Paxton's music on the album features jazz musicians, school children, players from the London Sinfonietta and Riot Ensemble, as well as soloists including Paxton himself on trombone, Jennifer Walshe (voice) and Zubin Kanga (piano).

Candyfolk Space Drum asserts that art should be essential and embedded within society and that a composer can write on an international level while remaining part of the local community in which they live. Alongside virtuosic ensemble writing, the album foregrounds music with school children and jazz musicians who each bring layers of magic from their own performance practice. 

A formative image comes from Paxton’s past life as a primary school classroom music teacher in London, teaching children in groups of 30+, mainly singing in a joyful, ragged unison — full of character, with no attempt to smooth eccentricity into choral cohesion. That spirit runs throughout the album: individuality is preserved, collective energy is amplified and music becomes social and alive. 

As a taster of this approach, the track Shake Up & Smell the Rain has been released featuring an animation by Oz Animation (see video) with performers including the Children’s Chorus of Belham Primary school conducted by Aga Serugo-Lugo, musicians from the London Sinfonietta and Paxton on trombone.

Further information about the album from BandCamp.

Epic Theatre? ENO's incoming music director, André de Ridder at the helm for Brecht & Weill's tricky piece of operatic music theatre, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - English National Opera (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; Rosie Aldridge, Kenneth Kellogg, Mark Le Brocq, Simon O'Neill, Danielle de Niese, director: Jamie Manton, conductor: André de Ridder; English National Opera at the London Coliseum
Reviewed 16 February 2026

Brecht and Weill's fascinating but problematic work in an evening that combined high-energy performance and Brechtian Epic Theatre but was let down by the challenge of performing it in the London Coliseum 

Brecht and Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny might be an iconic work, but it remains tricky to perform and bring off in the theatre. English National Opera last performed it in the 1990s in a production directed by Declan Donnellan [see the review in The Independent], whilst Covent Garden essayed the work in 2015 [see my review]. Now, ENO has chosen the work as a showcase for the talents of conductor André de Ridder, the company's incoming music director.

With just three performances at the London Coliseum, opening on 16 February 2026, this was very much blink-and-you'll-miss-it theatre, but Jamie Manton's stripped back production, designed by Milla Clarke, was clearly intended to be high-energy, leaning into the idea of Brechtian theatre.

Rosie Aldridge was Begbick with Kenneth Kellogg as Trinity Moses, Mark Le Brocq as Fatty the Bookkeeper, Simon O'Neill as Jimmy Macintyre, Alex Otterburn as Bank-Account Billy, Elgan Llŷr Thomas as Jack O'Brien, David Shipley as Alaska Wolf Joe, Danielle de Niese as Jenny Smith, and Zwakele Tshabalala as Toby Higgins. Lighting was by D.M.Wood, and choreography by Lizzi Gee. Sound design was by Jake Moore.

Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - Adam Taylor (dancer) - English National Opera (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Sir Alexander Gibson: Scottish Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra & Royal Conservatoire of Scotland come together to celebrate his centenary

Sir Alexander Gibson

Wednesday 11 February 2026 marked 100 years since the birth of Sir Alexander Gibson (1926-1995). 

Gibson became the first Scot and longest-serving principal conductor and music director of the Scottish National Orchestra (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra) in 1959 (a post he held until 1984). A few years into this role, in 1962, he co-founded Scottish Opera. 

A former student of Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (then the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama), the Alexander Gibson Opera School in Glasgow was established in his memory, along with a fellowship for choral conductors. 

After the War interrupted his studies in Glasgow he served with the Royal Signals Band until 1948 when he took up a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, going on to studied at the Mozarteum, Salzburg under Igor Markevitch, and under Paul Van Kempen at the Accademia Chigiana, Siena.

After a spell as Assistant Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra he became music director of Sadler's Wells Opera, at 31, the company’s youngest. He conducted a total of 26 operas at Sadler’s Wells and made his Covent Garden debut in 1957 with Tosca. In 1959 he returned to Glasgow to take up the post with the Scottish National Orchestra (SNO).

The new Scottish Opera gave its first season in 1962 at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, with productions of Madama Butterfly and Pelléas and Mélisande with the SNO performing in the pit. During Gibson's tenure he conducted four world premieres mounted by Scottish Opera as well as the first production of Les Troyens to perform both halves of the opera in a single night. His final production with the company was Tosca in 1993

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland are coming together on 25 February 2026 to celebrate Sir Alexander Gibson at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh with an event showcasing his achievements and highlighting the work of the companies in continuing to bring world-class opera and music to a diverse range of audiences in communities the length and breadth of Scotland. 

The world premiere of Scottish Opera's new production of Dai Fujikura’s and Harry Ross’ The Great Wave on Thursday 12 February, at Theatre Royal Glasgow was dedicated to Gibson to mark his birthday.

Further information from the Scottish Opera website.

Violinist (and media sensation) Esther Abrami celebrates International Women's Day at Institut français

Esther Abrami

The French violinist Esther Abrami, who studied at Chetham's School of Music, the Royal College of Music and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, is described as something of a 'media sensation': she has over 400,000 followers on Instagram alone. Her 2025 album, Women on the Sony Classical label and made with performers including the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra includes music by women composers ranging from film composers Anne Dudley and Rachel Portman to Ethel Smyth and Pauline Viardot, plus the premiere recording of Irish composer Ina Boyle’s Violin Concerto. All this sounds wonderfully admirable.

However, the review of Women in The Strad is less convinced. Reviewer Charlotte Gardner describes the album as "A triumph of slickness over substance from a social media star", and she goes on to comment, "It’s all very sincerely but also slickly performed and presented. It also all sounds very produced, and significantly more single-flavoured in all regards than such a span of periods, genres and instrumental constellations had the potential to be."

Now there is a chance to hear for yourself. On 5 March 2025, Esther Abrami is giving a recital for International Women's Day at the Institut français in South Kensington on 5 March 2026. No word as to what she is performing, we can hope music by women composers from the album. 

Further details from the Institut français website.

 

A lightness of touch yet shot through with seriousness: a new Marriage of Figaro at Opera North with an engaging sense of ensemble

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro, Act 4 - Gabriella Reyes, James Newby - Opera North, 2026 (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro; Liam James Karai, Hera Hyesang Park, James Newby, Gabriella Reyes, Frances Gregory, director: Louise Muller, conductor: Valentina Peleggi; Opera North at Leeds Grand Theatre
Reviewed 14 February 2026

An updating which balanced act of appealing to old stagers like myself whilst being approachable for those new to the opera, with nary a hint of dumbing down thanks to an ensemble production with the whole cast seeming to enjoy telling us this story

Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro is not just one of the world's greatest operas, it is one of those bread and butter works that companies need in their repertoire. And for a touring company like Opera North, they need a production that is accessible to those who have never seen the opera before whilst at the same time doing the work full justice.

Director Louise Muller's new production for Opera North manages to do just that. Designed by Madeleine Boyd, the staging sets the opera in contemporary England and does so rather imaginatively. The current tour has 14 performances with some double casting and largely younger singers so that casting was very much age appropriate.

On Saturday 14 February at Leeds Grand Theatre we caught Valentina Peleggi conducting, with Liam James Karai as Figaro, James Newby as the Count, Gabriella Reyes as the Countess, Hera Hyesang Park as Susanna, Frances Gregory as Cherubino, Charlotte Bowden as Barbarina, Jonathan Lemalu as Bartolo, and Katherine Broderick as Marcellina. 

The setting was an English country house. The type of venue familiar to most of the audience, yet moving an opera like The Marriage of Figaro into the present is a challenge: the class hierarchies need to remain believable and with this particular opera the droit de seigneur remains an issue.

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro, Act 4 - Liam James Karai, Hera Hyesang Park - Opera North, 2026 (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Muller and Boyd managed the transition admirably, with a setting in a crumbling country pile, complete with buckets for water drips and a guided tour. In an article in the programme booklet, Muller had some interesting things to say about the opera, and it is a pleasure to report that these ideas transferred into a coherent and engaging production.

The power of the ordinary: Phyllida Lloyd's wonderful, stripped-back version of Britten's Peter Grimes revived at Opera North with a fully rounded performance from John Findon as Grimes

Britten: Peter Grimes, Act One, Scene One - Opera North, 2026 (Photo: James Glossop)

Britten: Peter Grimes; John Findon, Philippa Boyle, Simon Bailey, Johannes Moore, Hilary Summers, Stuart Jackson, Nazan Fikret, Ava Dodd, Claire Pascoe, Daniel Norman, Blaise Malaba, director: Phyllida Lloyd/Karolina Sofulak/Tim Claydon, conductor: Garry Walker; Opera North at Leeds Grand Theatre
Reviewed 13 February 2026

Phyllida Lloyd's powerful, stripped-back production revived with a strong ensemble cast and the company in terrific form, centred on terrific performances from John Findon and Philippa Boyle as Grimes and Ellen Orford. 

Phyllida Lloyd's production of Britten's Peter Grimes debuted at Opera North in 2006 and though it was last seen back in around 2013 it has remained one of the productions members of the company most talked about reviving. Now it is back in the care of revival directors Karolina Sofulak [who directed Puccini's Manon Lescaut at Opera Holland Park in 2019, see my review] and Tim Claydon, who is also the movement director. We caught the opening night on Friday 13 February 2026 at the Leeds Grand Theatre conducted by Garry Walker, the company's music director. Designs were by Anthony Ward with lighting by Paule Constable/Ben Jacobs.

Peter Grimes was played by John Findon with Philippa Boyle as Ellen Orford [who we last saw as Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre with London Opera Company in 2023, see my review]. Simon Bailey [seen recently in Rossini's La Cenerentola at ENO, see my review, and a notable Wotan in Dresden Music Festival's historically informed Die Walküre, see my review]. Hilary Summers was Auntie, Nazan Fikret and Ava Dodd were the Nieces, Stuart Jackson was Bob Boles, James Creswell was Swallow, Claire Pascoe was Mrs Sedley, Daniel Norman was Rev Adams, Johannes Moore was Ned Keene and Blaise Malaba was Hobson.

Seeing Lloyd's production for the first time (I did not catch the previous revival) it was fascinating to see how Lloyd caught many of the ideas and themes which have cropped up in more recent productions of the opera. This was a very stripped-back staging with a focus on the performers.

Britten: Peter Grimes - John Findon, Philippa Boyle - Opera North, 2026 (Photo: James Glossop)

Sky with the Four Suns: we get up close and personal with Manchester Collective in the Crypt at St Martin-in-the-Fields

Sky with the Four Suns: Pärt, Purcell, Britten, Mica Levi, Jasmine Morris, John Luther Adams; Manchester Collective; Crypt up-close, St Martin-in-the-Fields
Reviewed 12 February 2026

Moving from Purcell to a new commission, the Manchester Collective's programme brought out the variety and intensity of writing for just four instruments, centred on Jasmine Morris imaginative new piece and John Luther Adams in spiritual mode. 

Manchester Collective's latest tour, Sky with the Four Suns completed with a Crypt up-close evening at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on Thursday 12 February 2026, putting the ensemble in close proximity to a near capacity audience, both seated and promenade, in the crypt space normally reserved for the café.

The ensemble featured a string quartet, Rakhi Singh, Donald Grant, Ruth Gibson, Alice Neary, in a programme that began with Arvo Pärt's Summa and ended with John Luther Adams' Canticles of the Sky, the first movement of which gave the programme its name. In between came music by Purcell, Britten, Mica Levi and a new commission from Jasmine Morris.

Tosca in Oxford: Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra launches new opera company with Sir Bryn Terfel as artistic director

Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra (OPO), artistic director Marios Papadopoulos, has done occasional concert performances of opera, but this September they begin a significant new operatic project. 

In what might be seen as a brave move in an ever shrinking operatic climate, this week, Papadopoulos and OPO announced the formation of Oxford International Opera, a new opera company aimed at drawing on operatic talent from home and abroad.

The company was launched at an event this week with introductions from conductor Marios Papadopoulos, who founded OPO, Sir Bryn Terfel who plays Scarpia in Tosca and who is artistic director of the opera company, and P Burton-Morgan who directs the production of Tosca.

Papadopoulos explained that he had been wanting to put the orchestra in the pit for a long time, and he felt that it was important for an orchestra to have its own voice. Plans for the opera company include concert performances as well as stagings, and Terfel is keen to include lieder in the plans too. The company's principal donor is the Laidlaw Opera Trust, whose newest Trustee is baritone Julien Van Mellaerts.

Terfel commented that had has sung in Oxford on tour with Welsh National Opera but now the company rarely, if ever visits the city whilst Glyndebourne has stopped touring entirely. With OPO he has performed the title role in Mendelssohn's Elijah as well as singing Wotan in Act Three of Wagner's Die Walkure. His appearance as Scarpia in Tosca later this year will be his final staged Tosca.

The first project is a staging of Puccini's Tosca at the New Theatre in Oxford on 24 and 26 September 2026, and to emphasise that this is not a one-off venture, the company has already announced its second production will be Beethoven's Fidelio in November 2027.

In addition to Terfel, the Tosca cast features Carmen Giannattasio in the title role, Saimir Pirgu as Cavaradossi, Fabio Previati as the Sacristan, Colin Judson as Spoleta and two young artists, Jamie Woolard as Angelotti and Steffan Lloyd Owen as Sciarrone. The production will be designed by Anthony Lamble.

Further details from OPO's website.

Miracles & Mysteries: the 2026 Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival

This year's Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival takes Miracles & Mysteries as its theme. For one captivating weekend, 22 to 24 May 2026, Beverley's visitors and residents will be able to enjoy concerts, experience talks by experts and take part in workshops. Miracles & Mysteries intertwines the story of St John of Beverley, one of the most powerful miracle-workers in England in medieval times, with music from a selection of visiting ensembles.

The festival opens with French instrumental ensemble Près de votre oreille directed by gamba specialist Robin Pharo in Lighten Mine Eies, featuring music by William Lawes who enjoyed a brief but dazzling career as a singer and lutenist to Charles I. The concert is based around music from the ensemble's 2025 album [see my review]. Their appearance is part of a European tour supported by the Centre national de la musique with the support of Institut Français du Royaume-Uni. 

Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars highlight the festival theme of miracles and mysteries through music inspired by the stories of the life of Christ, beginning with a depiction of Christ’s birth as envisaged by two of the Renaissance’s most renowned composers, Gabrieli and Victoria. The Telling return to the East Riding Theatre with Purcell: The Musical, a drama by Claire Norburn based on the life of Purcell, featuring assorted instrumental and vocal compositions by him, from bawdy theatre ballads and joyful celebrations of love to slow airs and numbers from his semi-operas.

The festival is especially delighted to welcome a host of emerging young talent, with three NCEM Platform Artists. Pseudonym perform 18th-century French music in a sophisticated intermingling of Italian virtuosity and Polish folk rhythms, with works by Couperin, Rameau and Telemann in their programme, Discret et distrait. Intesa duo (viols and voice) celebrate the union between Armenian and Italian traditions in Voices of San Lazzaro. Medieval ensemble Rune presents Lost in Contemplation, with four remarkable medieval miracle stories paired with music from across Europe. 

Still focusing on young artists, the final visitors to the festival are the Bellot Ensemble, newly appointed New Generation Baroque Ensemble. Their programme, From the Sound of Battle to the Silence of Peace presents a vivid journey from the clamour of conflict to the quiet miracle of peace, with music by Lawes, Schmelzer, Biber and Falconieri.

Full details from the festival website. 

Frederick Waxman & Figure are Side by Side again, with Baroque music alongside the new including a commission from Isabella Gellis

Frederick Waxman and Figure

Frederick Waxman and his ensemble Figure are back at Smith Square Hall on 9 April 2026 with another of their Side by Side events presenting Baroque and contemporary music for strings. There will be Baroque masterpieces including the fifth of Handel's Concerto Grossos Op. 6, his great set of 12 that took Corelli's Opus 6 as its model. Alongside this there will be Heinrich Biber's Battalia, his remarkable battle depiction that is full of unconventional (for the time) techniques, plus music by Muffat and Wassenaer.

Alongside these are contemporary pieces, both new and classics. In the latter category music comes Caroline Shaw's Entr'acte (written in 2011 and revised in 2014) inspired by a Haydn string quartet and Oliver Leith's Honey Siren, written for 12 Ensemble in 2019 and inspired by the sound of sirens (as the composer puts it "I was thinking about sirens; the wailing kind, not the bird women singing on rocks"). Alongside these are two new pieces. Joanna Ward's Sweet Romance was commissioned by Figure in 2025, and a specially commissioned world premiere by Jacob Druckman Prize winner Isabella Gellis. [back in 2024, I chatted to Isabella Gellis about her new opera, The Devil's Den: see my interview]

Full details from the Smith Square website 

Deidamia, Messiah, 20 years of the festival orchestra: International Handel Festival Göttingen 2026

George Petrou's producttion of Handel's Deidamia at Wexford Festival Opera in 2025 with Nicolò Balducci  (Photo: Pádraig Grant)

The International Handel Festival Göttingen returns for 2026 with 96 events across 12 days, from 14 to 25 May 2026, involving around 550 artists. The headline event is a staging of Handel's final opera, Deidamia in a co-production with Wexford Festival Opera directed and conducted by Göttingen's artistic director George Petrou. The production debuted at Wexford last year, see my review, and Bruno de Sá, Sophie Junker, and Nicolò Balducci will be returning to their roles in Göttingen.

The festival opens with a concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of the festival orchestra, and George Petrou conducts them in a programme of excerpts from Rameau's Les Indes Galantes, Bach's Suite No. 3 in D major and Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks. The oratorio this year is Handel's Messiah, conducted by George Petrou with the NDR Vokalensemble and soloists Ana Maria Labin [whom we last heard in Rossini with Jakob Lehmann and Orchestra Révolutionnaire et Romantique, see my review], Lena Sutor-Wernich, Ru Charlesworth and Drew Santini. No word, as yet, of which version of Messiah is being performed.

Visitors to the festival include soprano Julia Lezhneva with lutenist Luca Pianca, recorder virtuoso Dorothee Oberlinger with her Ensemble 1700 and soprano Bruno de Sá, recorder player Erik Bosgraaf and the ensemble filoBarocco exploring the influence of Polish folk music on Telemann, former Artistic Director of the Festival, harpsichordist Laurence Cummings with flautist Rachel Brown, and Shunske Sato and Shuann Chai present a recreation of an historic concert from 1885.

There are also concerts across the region, in Hann. Münden, Friedland, Einbeck, Landolfshausen, Osterode and Duderstadt with music from the era of the Thirty Years’ War, early Baroque vocal music for Pentecost Monday, arias from Handel's operas, a musical dialogue between Handel and Bach, and the prizewinners of the göttingen handel competition.

Moving into the modern era, Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale will be performed alongside a cantata by Matthias Weckmann with video projections by Folkert Uhde. Matthias Weckmann was an organist in 17th-century Hamburg and his cantata, Wie liegt die Stadt so wüste (How Desolate Lies the City), was written in 1663 in response to a devastating plague.  

Full details from the festival website. 

 

Alice's Adventures Underground, Puccini's Golden Girls & masterclass with Louise Alder: Opera Holland Park's Opera in Song returns

Julien Van Mellaerts at Opera in Song in 2022

Opera in Song, baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and pianist Dylan Perez' song recital series at Opera Holland Park, returns for 2026 with three recitals and a masterclass from 22 to 26 June 2026. Tenor Robert Murray and soprano Madeline Boreham join Perez to open the series with a musical reimagining of Lewis Carroll's seminal novel, Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, exploring the nonsensical prose of the novel as well as influences in Carroll’s life and creativity including works by Elgar, Walton and their contemporaries. 

Soprano Louise Alder will be giving a public masterclass with the OHP Young Artists, and then in the evening, she, Perez and the OHP Young Artists will perform works by Mozart, Haydn and Mendelssohn. The final event celebrates OHP's production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West with soprano Olivia Boen joining Van Mellaerts and Perez to perform works by Copland, Previn and Bernstein. Perez and Van Mellaerts will also be celebrating the release of their disc, Dialogues which comes out on Delphian Records in June.

Full details from the Opera Holland Park website. 

Fantastical & surreal: Thaddeus Strassberger's vision of Berlioz' Benvenuto Cellini in Brussels anchored by a heroic performance from tenor John Osborn

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini - Final scene - La Monnaie/De Munt (Photo: Simon Van Rompay)

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini; John Osborn, Ruth Iniesta, Florence Losseau, Tijl Faveyts, Jean-Sebastian Bou, Ante Jerkunica, director: Thaddeus Strassberger, conductor Alain Altinoglu; La Monnaie/De Munt, Brussels
Reviewed 8 Feburary 2026

A fine cast brings life to Thaddeus Strasberger's fantastical and surreal vision of Berlioz' first opera, in its Paris version, balancing the light-hearted with the more thoughtful act of creation with a heroic performance from tenor John Osborn.

In both of his large-scale operas, Benvenuto Cellini and Les Troyens, Berlioz challenged the form of French grand opera, both musically and dramatically. It was a form aligned to the tastes middle class audience of Restoration Paris and to the formal structures of the Paris Opera company.

Both Fromental Halévy, with La Juive in 1835, and Meyerbeer, with Les Huguenots in 1836 and Le prophète in 1849, challenged the socio-political boundaries of the time, exploring historical subjects that put contemporary society under the microscope. Yet neither composer made comparable musical challenges in their operas.

By contrast, Berlioz wrote for himself, for posterity, with little thought to making the work suitable for the Paris Opera. Benvenuto Cellini was premiered at the Paris Opera in 1838 and it failed. It would not be performed again until Franz Liszt revived Berlioz' substantially revised version in Weimar in 1851. 

La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels is known for its explorations of French grand opera so the fact that the company had not so far performed Benvenuto Cellini was a surprise. This lack has been rectified with a new production by Thaddeus Strassberger, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, that opened on 23 January 2026. We caught the fifth performance on 8 February. The production was designed and directed by Strassberger with costumes by Giuseppe Palella, lighting by Driscoll Otto, video by Greg Emetaz and dramagurgy by Sebastien Herbecq.

Cellini was played by American tenor John Osborn, one of the go-to singers for the role at the moment. Teresa was Spanish soprano Ruth Iniesta with Florence Losseau as Ascanio, Tijl Faveyts as Balducci, Jean-Sebastian Bou as Ferramosca and Ante Jerkunica as the Pope.

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini - Cellini (John Osborn) & the 'Muses' - La Monnaie/De Munt (Photo: Simon Van Rompay)

Strassberger's fantastic take on the opera inhabited a fantasy world that took elements of late 19th and early 20th century Italian imperial reimaginings of the Roman Empire and fused them via a very 21st century imagination alongside suggestions of 1970s Italian cinema and the work of artists Pierre et Gilles.

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.