Seeing & hearing: Ben Goldscheider plays Brian Elias's Touching the Quick as part of Anish Kapoor exhibition at Hayward Gallery

Brian Elias: Touching the Quick - Ben Goldscheider at the Anish Kapoor exhibition, Hayward Gallery

Brian Elias: Touching the Quick; Ben Goldscheider; Anish Kapoor exhibition at Hayward Gallery
Reviewed 12 September 2026

Brian Elias's music for solo horn, written in response to Anish Kapoor's artworks and played by Ben Goldscheider amidst the exhibition, creating a remarkable sonic visual mix

Classical music and the visual arts do not mingle as much as they ought to, we tend to listen and look in isolation. As part of Anish Kapoor's exhibition at Southbank Centre's Hayward Gallery [referred to as 'gobsmacking' by The Guardian], horn player Ben Goldscheider is playing Brian Elias's Touching the Quick, a cycle of pieces for unaccompanied horn. Each one of the pieces responds to different parts of the exhibition and Goldscheider responds to this by playing each in a different room.

We gathered at 6pm on Saturday 12 September for a performance (Goldscheider was doing a second at 7pm, and there are further performances on Saturday 3 October), with a heartening number of people not only listening but following Goldscheider around on his perambulation.

We began in the room with Kapoor's black pieces including his experiments with the light-swallowing nanomaterial Vantablack. Goldscheider's quiet, low, sustained notes rather evoked Das Rheingold for me. And the way Elias gradually developed a motif as the music speeded up and rose in pitch brought fanciful ideas of sleeping dragons awaking. But even though more of a melodic line developed, each not felt considered, carefully placed. And ultimately it wound down, back to the beginning.

Here Comes Everybody: composer Alastair White begins his Finnegans Wake project with an overture at London Irish Centre with Ensemble Exposé & Roger Redgate

A drawing of Joyce (with eyepatch) by Djuna Barnes from 1922,
the year in which Joyce began the 17-year task of writing Finnegans Wake

Alastair White:Here Comes Everybody: an overture to Finnegans Wake; Ensemble Exposé, Roger Redgate; London Irish Centre
5 September 2026

"riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."

How to approach James Joyce's Finnegans Wake in music? This is the question that husband and wife team of composer Alastair White and producer Gemma Williams have been asking as they create a new musical treatment of the novel. They launched the project last year at Irish Design Week [see my article] and the first instalment of White's musical adaptation was presented at the London Irish Centre on Saturday 5 September 2026. White's overture was performed by Ensemble Exposé - Rowland Sutherland, flute, Christopher Redgate, oboe, Heather Roche, clarinet, Chris Brannick, percussion, Caroline Balding, violin, Bridge Carey, viola, Clare O'Connell, cello - conducted by Roger Redgate. (Alastair White studied with Roger Redgate at Goldsmiths.)

The full project is planned to last 13 years and come to completion in 2039, the centenary of Joyce's publication of the complete novel. For the long timescale and fragmentary approach, White and Williams take inspiration from Joyce's work on the novel as he published fragments over a period of 17 years only publishing the complete novel in 1939.

By turns illuminating & compelling: the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on terrific form in Britten & Vaughan Williams at the BBC Proms

Britten: Violin Concerto - Simone Lamsma, Andrew Manze, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Chris Christodoulou)

Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis, Britten: Violin Concerto, Carmel Smickersgill: A Brick Thrown with Love, Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 9; Simone Lamsma, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Andrew Manze; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 4 September 2026

From early Britten and Vaughan Williams through to RVW's last symphonic utterance, an evening that was by turns illuminating and compelling, with the RLPO on terrific form and a finely focused yet emotional solo from Simone Lamsma in the Britten

In 1938, Ralph Vaughan Williams (then aged 66) began writing his fifth symphony whilst in the USA, Benjamin Britten (then aged 25) was beginning his Violin Concerto. Britten's concerto would be premiered in 1940, whilst Vaughan Williams's symphony premiered in 1943. But the senior composer showed no sign of slowing down, and his symphonies continued right through to the Symphony No. 9 which he composed during 1956/57, and it premiered in 1958 when he was 86.

It was this fascinating confluence that was at the heart of Andrew Manze and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's BBC Prom at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 4 September 2026. They began with Vaughan Williams's Tallis Fantasia, then came Britten's Violin Concerto with soloist Simone Lamsma, the premiere of Carmel Smickersgill's A Brick Thrown with Love and finally Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 9 in E minor. Another link in the programme is that both the concerto and the symphony conclude with a passacaglia.

When it comes to Vaughan Williams's output, his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis which premiered at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester in 1910 is very much an early work even though the composer was then in his late 30s. Something of a late starter, the piece is his first major work that is unquestionably his. It is hard to regard the work as revolutionary now, but in 1910 after the premiere the young composers Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney were so shaken by the piece they spent the night roaming the streets of Gloucester talking about it.

Andrew Manze, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Chris Christodoulou)

The Royal Albert Hall certainly is not Gloucester Cathedral so we lacked that building's distinctive ambience. But Manze presented the work using the same large body of strings that he used for the Britten and the Vaughan Williams symphony. The result was an opening that was lush yet barely there, leading to a big tune with a fine sense of rubato and orchestral tuttis that were full of rich details. The nine players in Orchestra II (placed behind the main body of strings) seemed to be performing with minimum vibrato, to striking effect, and the solo quartet produced some sweet violin and mellow viola sounds. The ending, when it came, was wonderfully effective and the fine string sound only lacked that extra glow from Gloucester Cathedral's acoustic.

Intriguing connections in Anja Bihlmaier & BBC Philharmonic's Prom including Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Jamie Barton & Clay Hilley, yet perhaps better heard on BBC Sounds

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde - Jamie Barton, Anja Bihlmaier, BBC Philharmonic
BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall (Photo: BBC/Chris Cristodoulou)

Bushra El-Turk: Mosaic, Haydn: Symphony No. 45 in F sharp minor, 'Farewell', Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde; Jamie Barton, Clay Hilley, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier
Reviewed 21 August 2026

A rare performance of one of Haydn's best-known early symphonies alongside Mahler's glorious final symphonic utterance in a concert full of links and references in performances that did not always quite overcome the challenges of the Royal Albert Hall

The BBC Prom at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 21 August might, at first, have seemed a typical Proms programme presenting a diverse trio of works. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and their principal guest conductor, Anja Bihlmaier presented us with Bushra El-Turk's Mosaic, Haydn's Farewell Symphony, and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Jamie Barton and Clay Hilley.

Diverse works, to be sure, but scratch under the surface and we saw the connective tissues. The subject of a farewell linked Haydn and Mahler in a way that was sufficiently contrasting as to be intriguing. And then Bushra El-Turk's work addresses issues of cross-pollination between cultures, finding elements of the rootlessness and otherness that Mahler found in the Chinese poetry he set in Das Lied von der Erde. It was a lavish programme too, the huge orchestra for the Mahler not used in the first half. I did wonder whether Bihlmaier should have had the courage of her convictions and performed Haydn with Mahleresque forces (large body of strings, four oboes, five horns). Go on, it sounds intriguing and after all what are festival for?

Bushra El-Turk's Mosaic was written for the Manchester Camerata for the 2009/10 season. It began with a scurrying shimmer on the strings that was so quiet as to be almost inaudible in the Royal Albert Hall. Dramatic fragments and motifs emerged over, creating an anxious, almost unnerving feel. A gradual build-up led to denser textures but the fragments never quite coalesced, until at the end in ravishing quiet we heard a romantic, rather hymn-like figure emerge. I would have liked to hear the piece in more sympathetic circumstances to bring out the detail.

Because of the circumstances of its first performance, and the rather intriguing meta-theatre woven in to the music in a very contemporary manner, Haydn's Farewell Symphony is amongst the best known of his earlier ones. Yet it has not been performed at the Proms since 1938, and this was only its fourth performance! It was brave of Bihlmaier to decide to do it with a modern instrument orchestra and all credit to her. We should her more Haydn like this.

Haydn: Farewell Symphony - Anja Bihlmaier, BBC Philharmonic - BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall (Photo: BBC/Chris Cristodoulou)

Memories are made of this: Tugan Sokhiev & Vienna Philharmonic in Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet, plus Debussy & Ravel with Lang Lang in Salzburg

Tugan Sokhiev, Vienna Philharmonic - Salzburg Festival (Photo: Marco Borrelli)

Ravel: Piano Concerto in G, Debussy: La Mer, Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet (excerpts); Lang Lang, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Tughan Sokhiev; Salzburg Festival at Grosses Festspielhaus
Reviewed 8 August 2026

Vividly etched movements and a sense of real danced drama in episodes from Prokofiev's ballet alongside Lang Lang in somewhat self-indulgent mood in Ravel

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Tugan Sokhiev are old friends. He has conducted them on several tours as well as the gala concert to celebrate Johann Strauss's 200th birthday, and this year they have a European tour.

On Saturday 8 August, Tugan Sokhiev conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in a matinee concert at the Salzburg Festival in the Grosses Festspielhaus with Ravel's Piano Concerto in G (soloist Lang Lang), Debussy's La Mer, and Sokhiev's own selection of movements from Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet suites.

We began, unusually, with the concerto. Lang Lang started out light, almost reticent, a twinkle rather than dazzle contrasting with crisp jazz in the orchestra. But then with the second subject, his approach was intimate, laid back with plenty of rubato rather leaving blues and jazz behind. Throughout the movement there was this strong contrast between mood and tempo and I confess I found Lang Lang's more laidback passages somewhat self-indulgent. The second movement began quiet, slow and thoughtful, though intensity picked up as the orchestra joined the soloist. Yet overall, it seemed remarkable to sustain the intensity at such a slow temp. The third movement really did give us fast, vivid dazzle, with a strong orchestral personality and fine woodwind solos. The end was so fast it felt like Lang Lang saying 'look at me'.

Lang Lang, Tugan Sokhiev, Vienna Philharmonic - Salzburg Festival (Photo: Marco Borrelli)

A meaty, not to say tough programme: Sakari Oramo, Guy Johnston & BBC Symphony Orchestra in Britten's Cello Symphony, Turnage premiere & Sibelius at the BBC Proms

Mark-Anthony Turnage: Festen Suite - Sakari Oramo, BBC Symphony Orchestra - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Mark Allan)

Mark-Anthony Turnage: Festen Suite, Britten: Cello Symphony, Sibelius: Symphony No. 2; Guy Johnston, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 28 July 2026

Britten's gnarly Cello Symphony gets a rare Proms outing with a poetic solo from Guy Johnston alongside Turnage's engaging (if self indulgent) suite from his recent opera, and Oramo in fine form in Sibelius

For the second of his five BBC Proms this year on Tuesday 28 July 2026 at the Royal Albert Hall, Sakari Oramo conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Festen Suite (a BBC co-commission), Britten's Cello Symphony (with soloist Guy Johnston) and Sibelius's Symphony No. 2. It was a meaty, not to say tough programme with each work being, in its way, substantial and challenging. And in true Proms tradition, the links between the works seemed tenuous, perhaps the thread was simply Oramo himself.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's 2024 opera Festen (with a libretto by Lee Hall) premiered at Covent Garden (winning a 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Award) and was also seen at Finnish National Opera. Turnage's suite from the opera premiered in Copenhagen earlier this year with Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alondra de la Parra. Turnage has constructed an eight movement suite from the second and third acts of the opera, with some movements transferring arias onto the orchestra (solo lines played variously by saxophone and cello). The work is scored for a huge orchestra, triple woodwind, saxophones, brass and considerable percussion.

As with any suite taken from a dramatic work, the question remains do I need to know the original piece. Works like the suites from Bizet's Carmen or Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker work because the composers created such terrific tunes. Turnage's opera doesn't quite have that, but there are underlying popular elements to his music that make it engaging and the suite's movements demonstrate a satisfying variety. His writing demonstrates a fondness for dense, opaque harmonies but also a vivid variety of colour and timbre.

Britten: Cello Symphony - Guy Johnston, Sakari Oramo, BBC Symphony Orchestra - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Mark Allan)

Virtuosity & discipline: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London in Respighi's Roman trilogy & Walton's Cello Concerto

Walton: Cello Concerto - Jonathan Aasgaard, John Wilson, Sinfonia of London - BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall (Photo: BBC / Chris Christodoulou)

Verdi: Overture to La forza del destino, Walton: Cello Concerto, Respighi: Roman Festivals, Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome; Jonathan Aasgaard, Sinfonia of London, John Wilson; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 24 July 2026

Italian warmth and vivid orchestral detail in a concert that gloried in technical virtuosity allied with real control and style, giving us a sense of magic, plus a more intimate view of Walton's concerto

Having seen John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London recently at the Cheltenham Music Festival in an all-English programme [see my review], it was a pleasure to catch their first BBC Prom (they return in September) at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 24 July 2026 for a programme redolent of Italy. They began with Verdi's overture to La forza del destino and ended with Respighi, all three of his Roman tone poems - Roman Festivals, Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. In the middle was Walton's Cello Concerto with soloist Jonathan Aasgaard (principal cellist of Sinfonia of London), a work that Walton wrote whilst living at La Mortella in Ischia.

This was a big band concert, the Walton apart. The stage was full for the Verdi and by the time we came to 'The Pines of the Via Appia' from Pines of Rome things were full to bursting with around 120 orchestral players and sixteen extra brass.

Respighi: Pines of Rome - John Wilson, Sinfonia of London - BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall (Photo: BBC / Chris Christodoulou)

Verdi's overture opened with vivid brass and tight, urgent string sound. What was notable was the clarity of detail that Wilson brought to the music along with a sense of control with singing lines allied to a disturbing undertow, leading to urgent, incisive drama. An insouciant clarinet melody was overwhelmed by urgent brass and strings, the music driven to climax, then crisp excitement to the end. I know that this overture is very much complete in itself, but Wilson's account made you wonder what he'd be like conducting the whole opera.

Style & enjoyment: John Wilson & Sinfonia of London bring Cheltenham Music Festival to a close with a light music programme culminating in Eric Coates's rarity Cinderella

John Wilson & Sinfonia of London at Cheltenham Town Hall, Cheltenham Music Festival
(Photo: Still Moving Media for Cheltenham Festivals)

Sullivan, Delius, Vaughan Williams, Richard Rodney Bennett, Walton, Eric Coates, Elgar, Haydn Wood, Robert Farnon, Vivian Ellis; Sinfonia of London, John Wilson; Cheltenham Music Festival at Cheltenham Town Hall
Reviewed 11 July 2026

Eric Coates rarely performed Cinderella Phantasy was the climax of a delightful summer programme benefitting from the way John Wilson and the orchestra combined technique with style and enjoyment

Last year, Cheltenham Music Festival celebrated its 80th anniversary, bringing the festival to a close with a concert where Gergely Madaras and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales explored music performed at the first festival and music commissioned by the festival, with Elgar, Arnold and Britten [see my review]. For the final concert of this year's festival on Saturday 11 July 2026 at Cheltenham Town Hall, John Wilson conducted his Sinfonia of London. If the 2025 concert was an exploration of British music in the 20th century, the John Wilson and his orchestra seemed to offer an alternative view, taking us from Sullivan and Elgar, through Delius's The walk to the Paradise Garden, Vaughan Williams's Lark Ascending (with Charlie Lovell-Jones), and Walton, to Richard Rodney Bennett, Robert Farnon, Haydn Wood, Vivian Ellis and Eric Coates ending with a rare performance of Coates's tone poem Cinderella.

We began with Sir Arthur Sullivan's overture to The Yeoman of the Guard, one of the few Savoy Opera overtures that Sullivan actually wrote. This is music that benefits from being played by a fine orchestra. Here Sullivan's orchestration sparkled, everything crisp and clear: light strings, classy wind, fine-toned brass and vivid excitement.

In his spoken introduction to the concert John Wilson said for him the best definition of light music was that 'the tune is more important than what you do with it'. What followed in the first half was less light music than composers in more approachable mode. 

Concertos for friends: Colin Currie in Tansy Davies, Tamsin Waley-Cohen in Freya Waley-Cohen with BBC National Orchestra of Wales & Kevin John Edusei at Aldeburgh Festival

Tansy Davies: Earthworks - Colin Currie, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Kevin John Edusei (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Tansy Davies: Earthworks, Shostakovich: Symphony No.10; Colin Currie percussion, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, cond. Kevin John Edusei; Snape Maltings Concert Hall (Friday 19 June 7.30pm)

Rachmaninov: Romance (andante expressivo) from String Quartet No.1 in G minor, Freya Waley-Cohen: Dances, Songs and Hymns for Friendship, Ravel: String Quartet in F; Sacconi Quartet; Orford Church (Saturday 20th June 11am)

Elizabeth Ogonek: Sleep & Unremembrance, Freya Waley-Cohen: Violin Concerto for Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances; Tamsin Waley-Cohen, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, cond. Kevin John Edusei; Snape Maltings Concert Hall (Saturday 20 June 7.30pm)
Reviewed by Tony Cooper

A pair of high emotive concerts from BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the first high octane featuring Colin Currie in Tansy Davies' concerto, and the second more contemplative with Tamsin Waley-Cohen in concerto by her sister Freya, complemented by more Freya Waley-Cohen from the Sacconi Quartet

Opening a ‘noisy’ and high-octane Friday night concert at Snape Maltings as part of the 77th Aldeburgh Festival fell to the well-known minimalist work Short Ride in a Fast Machine by John Adams. Although only lasting a mere four minutes, this bright and driving orchestral fanfare packs a punch like no other and is always exciting and refreshing to hear especially when played by the likes of an orchestra of the calibre as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Kevin John Edusei.

Specifically designed to capture the exhilarating and sometimes terrifying sensation of a high-speed ride in a sports car, I liken the piece to an F1 racing car on the starting grid. Comprising a relentless beat played by a woodblock imitating a metronomic engine, the orchestra weaves complex, overlapping rhythms round a constant percussive pulse with the rush of brass fanfares simulating the fast-paced shifting of gears and the building of speed. This frenzied pace continues without pause thereby creating an energetic and hypnotic wall of sound that Stan Kenton (the innovator of the ‘Wall of Sound’) would have been truly proud of.

BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Kevin John Edusei (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

The percussive beat of this brilliant concert continued with Tansy Davies’ Earthworks, a 25-minute percussion concerto specifically written for the internationally renowned virtuoso percussionist, Colin Currie, the work drew heavily from vast geoglyphs and ancient monuments such as the Uffington White Horse in which Davies imagines these colossal shapes carved into the earth as a form of ancient language, a primal communication, say, between our ancestors and the future.

From Young Apollo to the Cello Symphony to the Poet's Echo to Phaedra: the range of Britten's composing career explored by Britten Sinfonia at Aldeburgh Festival alongside new works

Genevieve Lacey, Gemma New, Britten Sinfonia, Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

Steve (Stelios) Adam: et døgn (one day), Lisa Illean/Binchois: Chansons, Lisa Illean: New works for recorder, strings and pre-recorded sounds, Brett Dean: Carlo, Britten: Cello Symphony; Genevieve Lacey recorder, Laura van der Heijden cello, Britten Sinfonia, cond. Gemma New; Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Britten: The Poet’s Echo, Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death, Ryan Wigglesworth: Till Dawning, Britten: Folksong arrangements on Moore’s Irish Melodies; Sophie Bevan soprano, Ryan Wigglesworth piano; Britten Studio, Snape Maltings.

Britten: Young Apollo, Haydn: Arianna a Naxos, Stravinsky: Apollon musagète, John Woolrich: Ulysses Awakes, Charpentier: 'Quel prix de mon amour' (from Médée), Britten: Phaedra; Britten Sinfonia, Zoë Beyers violin/director, Helen Charlston, mezzo-soprano; Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Reviewed by Tony Cooper (17 & 18 June 2026)

Two programmes curated by Britten Sinfonia featured grand performances of Brett Dean’s Carlo and Britten’s Cello Symphony, and the fresh and youthful mezzo voice of Helen Charlston in an illuminating and uplifting programme

Curated by the Britten Sinfonia, the concert on Wednesday 17 June at the Aldeburgh Festival featured an eclectic and inquisitive programme which opened with a relatively short seven-minute piece conceived by Australian futuristic composer, Steve (Stelios) Adam, who harbours a long-term fascination with music, sound and its associated technologies therefore electroacoustic composition and computer-generated music lies at the very heart of his creative output.

Scored for recorder and electroacoustic engineering, et døgn (one day), a delicately constructed work, created a hauntingly beautiful exploration and fusion of ‘live’ music and computer-generated sound witnessing virtuoso Australian recorderist, Genevieve Lacey, impeccable in her playing, employing the use of four recorders - bass, tenor, descant and treble, handmade by Joanne Saunders and Fred Morgan - which was captivating throughout the performance.

An Australian takeover, this enviable concert also projected a couple of works by Australian composer (now based in UK) Lisa Illean whose arrangement of Gilles Binchois, Chansons featured the fine strings of the Britten Sinfonia who, standing and gathered in a semicircle round their New Zealand conductor, Gemma New, created an intimate environment for what was an intimate and refreshing work originated by this well-loved composer of the 15th century renowned for his settings of secular chansons.

Lisa Illean’s second offering to this well-curated programme Swellsong received its UK première in the presence of the composer. Scored for recorder, strings and pre-recorded orchestral sounds, the mixing engineer on stage finely balanced the delicate acoustic output of the strings which were tenderly heard against a breathy subtle projection of the recorder.

A lovely, inspiring and thoughtful work, however, it incorporated the plainsong melody ‘Fulcite me floribus’ (Strengthen me with flowers), a liturgical text recollecting love and grief transfigured through faith who in Illean’s thought processes reimagines the text in relation to light, water and time thereby crafting a phantasy soundscape occupying another world!

American themes at Aldeburgh: Tony Cooper enjoys a quartet by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson & an absorbing orchestral programme highlighting Elizabeth Ogonek.

Sphinx Piano Quintet: Nathan Amaral, Elena Urioste, Celia Hatton, Sterling Elliott, Amiri Harewood - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: BPA)

Perkinson: String Quartet No.1 ‘Calvary’, Vaughan Williams: Rondo for Piano, Still: Suite for Cello and Piano, arr. Randall Goosby, Cassie Kinoshi: Songs of Kinship, Bridge: Phantasie Piano Quartet, Price: Piano Quintet No.1; Sphinx Piano Quintet (Nathan Amaral, Elena Urioste, Celia Hatton, Sterling Elliott, Amiri Harewood); Britten Studio, Snape Maltings

Elizabeth Ogonek: All These Lighted Things, Ravel: Piano Concerto in G, Ryan Wigglesworth: Piano Concerto, Ravel: La Valse; Steven Osborne, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ryan Wigglesworth; Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 14 June 2026 

In the afternoon at the Aldeburgh Festival, the first quartet by black American composer, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, proved a revelation particularly with its fusion of classical-based music tinged with the genre of jazz and blues.  An absorbing and exciting evening programme came from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra highlighting the music of American contemporary composer, Elizabeth Ogonek. 

I was more than interested to learn more about 1932-born black American composer, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, who was on the bill for the Sphinx Piano Quintet’s concert at the Britten Studio, Snape Maltings. Specifically named in honour of the celebrated Afro-British composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) reflected his parents’ admiration for black excellence in classical music. 

He wrote a couple of string quartets in quick succession and his first quartet entitled ‘Calvary’ was the first item on an excellent programme curated by the Sphinx Piano Quintet, a dynamic artist-driven chamber ensemble formed under the acclaimed Sphinx Organization established in Detroit by Aaron P. Dworkin in 1996. A social justice and educational enterprise, Sphinx is dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts with a specific mission to champion exceptionally talented black and Latinx classical musicians. 

Both men were trailblazers of their day bridging classical music with their respective black heritage. Samuel was a renowned composer in late 19th-century London while Perkinson was a highly-versatile American composer whose work, although based on the classical idiom, also employed the genre of jazz and blues. Therefore, Perkinson’s first quartet, a three-movement work written in 1956, blends a traditional classical-based format with elements of jazz, blues and spirituals.  

Truly captivating: bass baritone Nicola Alaimo & pianist Carlo Rizzi celebrate Opera Rara's Donizetti Song Project with songs by Donizetti, Rossini, Bellini & Mercadante

Carlo Rizzi & Nicola Alaimo at Wigmore Hall (Photo: Russell Duncan)

Donizetti & Friends: Donizetti, Rossini, Bellini, Mercadante; Nicola Alaimo, Carlo Rizzi, Hetty Snell; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 16 June 2026

Superb bel canto technique & brilliant comic timing make Nicola Alaimo's contribution to this concert of early 19th century Italian song something rather special, delightful & captivating.

Opera Rara is celebrating the completion of its Donizetti Song Project, eight discs of songs covering the whole of Donizetti's song output allied to a new edition of the solo songs created by Roger Parker and Ian Schofield. The eighth and final volume of songs, from bass baritone Nicola Alaimo and pianist Carlo Rizzi, has just been released [see Opera Rara website]. To celebrate Nicola Alaimo joined Carlo Rizzi and cellist Hetty Snell at Wigmore Hall on Tuesday 16 June 2026 for a lunchtime recital pairing Donizetti's songs with those of Rossini, Bellini and Mercadante.

I remember talking to a singer about Italian songs from later in the 19th century, particularly those of Tosti. The singer said that the songs were a challenge because they took for granted the singer's technique! This thought came back to me during Nicola Alaimo's recital as I realised that to make these songs work you needed a firm bel canto technique.

Most of the songs in the recital were based around an expressive melody over some sort of flowing piano accompaniment. They were all about the voice, and the way you used the melody for expressive purposes. Whether they were serious and intense or simply comic, Alaimo projected each song with maximum expressivity whilst always ensuring the primacy of expressive line. Yet his diction was admirable throughout, his lyric technique was no barrier to making the words count too. Unlike some opera singers, Alaimo seemed comfortable on the concert platform and proved a delightful companion and guide through the songs.

A day at Aldeburgh: Lise Davidsen's Aldeburgh Festival début in Schubert and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande semi-staged

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande - Myrna Tennant, Camilla Seale, Phoebe Rayner - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Schubert: Gretchen am Spinnrade; Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister; Der Tod und das Mädchen; Erlkönig; Lise Davidsen soprano, James Baillieu piano; Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande; Jacques Imbrailo (Pelléas), Sophie Bevan (Mélisande), Gordon Bintner (Golaud), Sarah Connolly (Geneviève), Nicolas Testé (Arkël), Beth Stirling (Yniold); dir: Rory Kinnear, set/costume designer Vicki Mortimer, lighting designers Paule Constable/Imogen Clark; BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, cond. Ryan Wigglesworth; Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 13 June 2026

Making her Aldeburgh Festival début, Lise Davidsen delivered a memorable afternoon recital of Schubert Lieder brilliantly accompanied by the pianist, James Baillieu. In the evening, the semi-staged performance of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande highlighted the brilliance of the orchestral playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth and the conversational clarity of the singers with Sophie Bevan and Jacques Imbrailo in the title roles. 

[Elsewhere on Planet Hugill, Robert chats to James Baillieu about his new role on the Britten Pears Arts Young Artist Programme and to Ryan Wigglesworth about being Featured Artist at this year's festival]

I was more than proud being a member of the audience when Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen made her Bayreuth Festival début in 2019 as Elisabeth in Tobias Kratzer’s outstanding but unconventional modern staging of Tannhäuser. [see Tony's review] The show featured an odd assortment of characters up to no good either riding a battered old Citroën Type-H van (Venusberg on wheels), nicking burgers from Burger King or siphoning off petrol - and the rest! Get the picture?

Her Bayreuth performance was immaculate, catapulting her into the upper echelons of the opera world while cementing her status as one of the world’s leading Wagnerians. Her Aldeburgh début follows suit. I found it satisfying being in the cosy, comfortable and spartan space of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall harbouring acoustics, I feel, perfect for voice and piano and so ideal for Davidsen singing Schubert Lieder.

James Baillieu, Lise Davidsen - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

Admirably accompanied by James Baillieu on piano, Davidsen opened with such glowing and accurate accounts of Gretchen am Spinnrade and Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, a couple of acclaimed art-songs that Schubert set to texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Vocal fireworks & extreme emotions: Franco Fagioli & the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Versailles in music written for the castrato Velluti

Franco Fagioli with the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Versailles & Stefan Plewniak in Divonne-les-Bains in April 2026 (Photo: Jean-Christophe Cassagnes.)

The Last Castrato: Arias for Velluti - Rossini, Nicolini, Bonfichi, Rode, Zingarelli, Mercadante; Franco Fagioli, Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Versailles, Stefan Plewniak; St Martin in the Fields
Reviewed 13 June 2026

Making its UK debut, the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Versailles is joined by countertenor Franco Fagioli for an evening of early 19th century Italian vocal fireworks exploring repertoire originally written for the castrato Velluti

The castrato Giovanni Battista Velluti (1780-1861) is known for what he was rather than what he sang. Velluti is renowned as the last great operatic castrato, for whom Rossini and Meyerbeer wrote roles. Velluti came at a time when opera itself was changing: many of the composers whose work he sang wrote in a style which still looked back, Rossini and his operatic revolutions would ensure that opera changed and indeed left castrati behind. The title of The Last Castrato realistically goes to Alessandro Moreschi and those castrati who survived in the Papal choir and were recorded in early years of the 20th century. But in terms of operatic castrati, Velluti is definitely the last.

Under the title The Last Castrato: arias for Velluti, countertenor Franco Fagioli has been exploring this repertoire for a while with the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Versailles and conductor Stefan Plewniak. They issued a disc on the Château de Versailles Spectacles label early last year and have been touring the programme. On Saturday 13 June 2026, Franco Fagioli, the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Versailles and Stefan Plewniak presented The Last Castrato: arias for Velluti at St Martin-in-the Fields. Fagioli sang arias from Giuseppe Nicolini's Traiano in Dacia and Carlo Magno, Paolo Bonfichi's Attila, Rossini's Aureliano in Palmira and Mercadante's Andronico, and there was orchestral music by Rossini, Pierre Rode and Niccolo Antonio Zingarelli.

Strauss & Korngold: little known works by well-known composers in passionate performances from Francesca Dego & Alessandro Taverna at Conway Hall

Alessandro Taverna & Francesca Dego

Korngold: Violin Sonata, Schoenberg: Phantasy, Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata; Francesca Dego, Alessandro Taverna; Conway Hall
Reviewed 31 May 206

Youthful Korngold and Strauss before he was Strauss in a remarkable pair of big late-romantic sonatas that remain surprisingly little known, in passionate and committed performances 

On Sunday 31 May 2026, violinist Francesca Dego and pianist Alessandro Taverna brought a pair of big violin sonatas to Conway Hall, both works by well-known composers yet neither work known. This remarkable pairing featured the violin sonatas by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Richard Strauss alongside Arnold Schoenberg's late Phantasy. Beforehand, I gave the pre-concert talk exploring the background to both the Korngold and the Strauss.

A remarkable combination of headlong energy with care & attention: Igor Levit & Leonkoro Quartet in Schumann's Piano Quintet at Wigmore Hall's 125 Anniversary Festival

Schumann: Piano Quintet - Igor Levit, Leonkoro Quartet - Wigmore Hall (Photo: Tom Wright/Wigmore Hall)

Henriëtte Bosmans: String Quartet, Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet; Igor Levit, Leonkoro Quartet; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 31 May 2026

A completely absorbing performance of the Schumann bringing a real sense of urgency to the music and refreshingly lacking romantic self-indulgence. The Quartet's performance of Bosmans' piece made you wonder why it was not better known 

Wigmore Hall's 125th Anniversary Festival continues apace. On Sunday 31 May 2026, pianist Igor Levit joined the Leonkoro Quartet - Jonathan Schwarz and Emiri Kakiuchi (violin), Mayu Konoe (viola), Lukas Schwarz (cello) - for the second of two collaborations. Having performed Brahms's Piano Quintet in F minor Op. 34 together on Saturday evening, Sunday morning saw them performing Schumann's Piano Quintet. The quartet began the concert with Henriëtte Bosmans' String Quartet.

A couple of memorable concerts in this year’s Norfolk & Norwich Festival were delivered by the Britten Sinfonia and Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.

Britten: Les Illuminations - Elizabeth Watts & Britten Sinfonia at Kings Place, London (Photo: Shoël Stadlen)

Britten: Young Apollo, Bowles: Six Piano Preludes, Copland: Clarinet Concerto, Britten: Les Illuminations, Copland: Appalachian Spring; Oleg Shebeta-Dragan (clarinet), Elizabeth Watts (soprano); Britten Sinfonia, led from the violin by Zoë Beyers; St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich.
Walton: Henry V: A Shakespeare’s Scenario, Belshazzar’s Feast; Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, cond: Matthew Andrews, Ashley Grote; Roderick Williams (baritone), Alex Jennings (voice); St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich
Kaija Saariaho: Terra Memoria, Vaughan Williams, Barber, Webern, Mahler; Kleio String Quartet, Berniya Hamie, Andrew Hamilton; Octagon Chapel
Reviewed by Tony Cooper (11, 12, 20 & 23 May 2026)

At this year's Norfolk & Norwich Festival, the Britten Sinfonia concert focused on Britten in America while the Norwich Philharmonic saluted William Walton in all his glory, whilst the young Kleio String Quartet made a big impression in their concerts

Feeling disillusioned with Europe, Benjamin Britten spent a formative and productive period in North America from 1939 to 1942 with Peter Pears where he composed such major works as the song-cycle Les Illuminations, his first opera Paul Bunyan and Sinfonia da Requiem.

Thankfully, Britten’s time in America proved personally and professionally worthwhile paving the way for such grand and exciting works as his Suffolk-based opera, Peter Grimes. And when Britten made the dangerous sea journey back to England in the spring of 1942, he was officially registered as a ‘conscientious objector’.

One of the first works he wrote on arriving in America was Young Apollo based on the final lines of John Keats’ poem Hyperion showing the image of Apollo as a ‘new, dazzling Sun-god, quivering with radiant vitality’. A delightful ten-minute piece and one of the few works Britten wrote for piano and orchestra, the commission came from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Receiving its first performance in August 1939 on CBC Radio with Britten as the solo pianist, the work’s characterized by a scintillating opening fanfare followed by a host of rapid and cascading glissando passages cutting through the sweeping, heroic textures of the strings comfortably played with flourish, flair and everything else by the renowned pianist, Huw Watkins, who often collaborates with the Britten Sinfonia.

Ashley Grote rehearsing the Norwich Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra in Walton's Belshazzar's Feast at St Andrew's Hall, Norwich for Norfolk & Norwich Festival

I felt it appropriate, too, that Copland shared the stage with Britten in this remarkable and well-curated programme as both men enjoyed a close personal and professional relationship. Copland acted as a mentor and friend to Britten assisting him in navigating the American musical scene while introducing him to influential people.

Each song a story to be told: James Newby & Malcolm Martineau's Shipping Forecast at SongEasel in Elephant & Castle

SongEasel at St Matthew's Church, Elephant & Castle
Jocelyn Freeman

The Shipping Forecast - Elgar: Sea Pictures, Chabrier, Duparc, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Bantock, Ireland, Tippett, Eric Coates, Ives, Kurt Weill, Charles Trenet; James Newby, Malcolm Martineau; SongEasel at St Matthew's Church, Elephant and Castle
Reviewed 21 May 2026

A sea theme gives us a feast of story-telling in music from James Newby and Malcolm Martineau with Elgar's Sea Pictures alongside Loewe ballads and a wide-ranging selection of songs

The Shipping Forecast continues to provide a remarkable source of musical inspiration for recitalists. In 2024, Nigel Foster's London Song Festival celebrated the centenary of the first Shipping Forecast to be broadcast on British radio [see my review], and now baritone James Newby and pianist Malcolm Martineau are celebrating with their own take on the subject.

They brought their Shipping Forecast programme to Jocelyn Freeman's Song Easel on Thursday 21 May at St Matthew's Church, Elephant and Castle. The programme featured three of Carl Loewe's ballads (this year is his 230th birthday) along with songs from Elgar's Sea Pictures, and songs by Chabrier, Duparc, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Bantock, Ireland, Eric Coates, Tippett, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Ives, Kurt Weill and Charles Trenet.

The programme was divided into four parts, each one beginning with one of Elgar's Sea Pictures - Mysteries of the Deep, Invitation to Voyage, Exotic Isles and Desert Island Discs.

Every detail mattered: Basel Chamber Orchestra & Vilde Frang in Bach, Mendelssohn & Grieg at Wigmore Hall

Kammerorchester Basel (Photo: Matthias Mueller)

Mendelssohn: String Symphonies Nos. 4 & 10, Bach; Violin concerto in A minor, Violin concerto in E major, Grieg: Holberg Suite; Basel Chamber Orchestra, Vilde Frang; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 20 May 2026

In a varied programme the Basel players brought real vitality the music, making Mendelssohn's early symphonies invigorating and Grieg's Holberg Suite anything but hackneyed. But the centrepiece was a pair of Bach concertos with Vilde Frang in elegant, expressive and plangent form

The name Basel Chamber Orchestra has resonance, it is associated with the patron and conductor Paul Sacher, who founded the Basler Kammerorchester in 1926 and commissioned works from Stravinsky, Bartók, Martinů, Frank Martin, Hindemith, Henze, Lutosławski, Birtwistle and more. The orchestra disbanded in 1987 and Sacher died in 1999 though The Paul Sacher Foundation continues.

The present Basel Chamber Orchestra (Kammerorchester Basel) began life in 1984 as Serenata Basel founded by graduates of Swiss music academies. Since 1999 it has operated without a chief conductor and also that year the name changed to the present one. And listening to the orchestra today, one can safely forget any Sacher resonances, the orchestra is simply one of the best chamber orchestras around.

On Wednesday 20 May 2026 they paid a visit to Wigmore Hall. Directed from the violin by Baptiste Lopez their programme centred on Bach's two violin concertos (in A minor and E major) with violinist Vilde Frang, alongside Mendelssohn's ;String Symphonies Nos. 4 & 10 and Grieg's Holberg Suite.

Sheer joy & plenty of welly: the marimbas of The Wave Quartet join the Academy of Ancient Music for Bach concertos & more

Rhythm Across Time  - Bach: Concerto in A minor for four harpsichords, BWV1065, Concerto in C major for two harpsichords, BWV1061, Bertali, Geminiani, Handel, Festa, Piazzolla; The Wave Quartet, Academy of Ancient Music; Milton Court Concert Hall, Barbican
Reviewed 14 May 2026

Marimba quartet and period strings join together for a sympathetic exploration of Baroque music with a focus on Bach's multi-harpsichord concertos, creating a magical sound world that remained sympathetic to the original yet transported us elsewhere 

The word marimba is of Bantu origin and instruments like the marimba are present throughout the entirety of sub-Saharan Africa. The instrument became popular in Mexico, Central and South America from the 16th century, and it was here that it developed into the modern chromatic instrument. The first chromatic marimba was produced in Mexico in the 1890s. 

The idea of a marimba playing with a period instrument ensemble seems counter-intuitive but marimba player Bogdan Bácanu formed the Wave Quartet in 2008 specifically to explore marimba adaptations of Bach's concertos for two harpsichords and the Quartet has gone on to collaborate with ensembles such as the Mozarteum orchestra in Salzburg and L'Orfeo Barockorchester. In 2019 as part of Sound Unbound: The Barbican Classical Weekender, The Wave Quartet played with the Academy of Ancient Music. Since then, they have performed together in Vienna and Cologne, but the partnership only returned to London last night.

The Wave Quartet (Bogdan Bácanu, Nico Gerstmayer, Christoph Sietzen, Emiko Uchiyama) joined the strings of the Academy of Ancient Music (directed from the violin by Bojan Čičić) for a pair of concerts at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge (13 May) and Milton Court Concert Hall, Barbican (14 May). We caught the Barbican concert where the ensemble played music by Antonio Bertali, Francesco Geminiani, Handel, and Costanzo Festa plus Bach's Concerto for Four Harpsichords in A minor and Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C major, along with movements from Piazzolla's Concerto 'Aconcagua'.