Gerald Finzi: The Dance Continued, recording session - Nick Pritchard, Ian Tindale [Photo: Jan Capinski]
Gerald Finzi is a composer whose music has followed tenor Nick Pritchard from his teens. Having performed as a duo with pianist Ian Tindale since the two met in college, and having included Finzi's music in their programmes from early on, it was perhaps inevitable that for their second disc together that they should turn to Finzi.
2026 is something of a double Gerald Finzi anniversary, marking both the anniversary of his birth in 1901, and death in 1956. And it was partly in reflection of this and partly because the composer is dear to them that Nick Pritchard and Ian Tindale recorded an album of Finzi's songs.
Their disc, Gerald Finzi: The Dance Continuedcomes out on Signum Records on 25 September 2026 and features three of Finzi's song cycles, A Young Man’s Exhortation, Op. 14, Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a, and Oh Fair to See, Op. 13b, along with a selection of Finzi's unpublished songs.
A Young Man's Exhortation, written between 1926 and 1929, is Finzi's only true song cycle, consisting of ten songs setting Thomas Hardy. Finzi was in the practice of not publishing single songs because he thought an individual song might be overlooked by the public and critics. He typically waited until he had a group of ten that were somehow related. During his last year Finzi had a remarkable burst of songwriting, and though, at the time of his death, none of the sets was completed, some two dozen songs were left ready for publication. Some of these were edited into song cycles by Finzi's friend, the composer Howard Ferguson, Finzi's wife, Joy and son, Christopher.
Rather appropriately, a week before we met the news had come through that three deleted songs from Iolanthe had been found hiding in plain sight in the British Library. One song had been performed at the work's New York premiere but was then dropped and the others never made it at all. John points out that because of the Sullivan tradition continuing through the D'Oyley Carte Company, any music not part of the D'Oyley Carte canon effectively disappeared without trace. [Further details]
John raises the fascinating point that if Sullivan's music had disappeared after his death like that of his contemporaries such as Parry and Stanford, then when his music was being rediscovered in the later 20th century we might have chosen a different set of pieces to focus on. As it is, he was revered for one part of his output whilst the rest disappeared from consciousness.
For John's new Sullivan disc on Resonus Classics he is joined by tenor David Webb and the Academy of Ancient Music for a recital that mixes classic tenor arias from the Gilbert & Sullivan operas with numbers from Sullivan's oratorios - The Golden Legend, The Light of the World and The Prodigal Son - a number from The Rose of Persia (which Sullivan wrote with Basil Hood) and the song, The Lost Chord. The result is a mix of writing with Sullivan in comic, lyrical and serious mode spanning virtually the whole of the composer's vocal writing life from The Prodigal Son in 1869 (before his collaboration with Gilbert began) to The Rose of Persia in 1899 (after the collaboration with Gilbert ended). John feels that the programme enables us both to see Sullivan's range and to experience how he evolves artistically, as well as giving David Webb the chance to showcase his variety. Whereas Sullivan's oratorios were written for classically trained singers, his operas with Gilbert were written for singing actors and so the music requires lyricism but also attention to the nuance of meaning. And John adds that when recording this disc it was the first time that he was able to record music that he had been familiar with for decades!
When discussing the use of period instruments in the recording John's eyes lit up. He comments that late-19th century composers were concerned with the timbral quality of the music, exploring sounds and colours. With period instruments the orchestra is able to bring out a greater range of contrast so the gut strings give a transparency around the voice, the narrow bore brass are less dominant (and the instruments used include Gustav Holst's trombone) and there are contrasts in the wind colours. The result is more colourful with the instruments as characters in the drama. Also, John points out that you can enjoy the richness of Sullivan's inner part writing.
The Cheltenham project is the brainchild of Violetta, a violinist whose practice covers a remarkably wide range. Violetta met viola player Dominic Stokes whilst they were both at the Guildhall School, and they worked together including playing in Serenity 2.0, Ben Nobuto's work for string quartet, percussion and electronics that won a Royal Philharmonic Society award in 2023, as well as playing Jasmine Morris's SO-ŌN for string quartet, field recordings and found sounds at the Venice Biennale in 2025. Violetta had commissioned a work from Imogen Davey, Naegleria Fowleri for violin and electronics which premiered in 2023 [The name refers to a pathogenic microorganism, commonly referred to as the ‘brain-eating amoeba’, that can cause fatal brain infection!]
There is only a sparse repertoire for violin and viola, so the idea developed to commission new works. These would be able to include electronics because, as Violetta comments, this both reflects the time we are in and speaks to the younger generation. The three commissions in the concert provide a rich showcase for the combination of violin and viola, showing what it can do. When I spoke to Violetta she had recently spoken to all three composers and been reassured that their pieces were on track.
Grammy-nominated Argentine cellist and composer Sebastian Plano announces the release of his deeply personal new album, Solo, arriving on 26 June.
For more than two decades, Sebastian Plano has built a distinctive musical language that bridges classical tradition, contemporary composition and cinematic atmosphere. Across acclaimed recordings, the Argentine-born, Grammy-nominated cellist and composer has become known for richly layered sound worlds that blend acoustic instruments with electronics, creating music that feels both intimate and expansive. With his forthcoming album Solo, released on 26 June, Plano strips everything back.
His most personal work to date, Solo is the first album of his career composed and recorded entirely for unaccompanied cello. The result is a collection of pieces that reflects a lifetime of movement, memory and transformation, distilled into a single instrumental voice.
Music has always been part of Plano's story. Born in Rosario, Argentina, into a family of musicians - both parents performed in the city's symphony orchestra, while his grandfather was a tango composer and bandoneon player - he began studying the cello at the age of seven and composing by twelve. Alongside his classical training, he developed a fascination with electronic music after discovering artists such as Vangelis, a curiosity that would later become central to his artistic identity. At seventeen, Plano left Argentina alone to pursue studies abroad, earning full scholarships to the United World College of the Adriatic, the Boston Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory. The experience of crossing continents, adapting to new cultures and constantly redefining notions of home would leave a lasting imprint on both his life and his music.
Those journeys form the emotional foundation of Solo. Rather than telling a straightforward autobiographical story, the album unfolds as a continuous musical arc, tracing themes of identity, belonging and change through a single uninterrupted cello voice. The pieces flow seamlessly into one another, creating what feels less like a sequence of compositions and more like a personal meditation on movement itself. That vulnerability lies at the heart of Solo. By embracing the limitations and possibilities of a single instrument, Plano has created a work of remarkable focus and honesty - one that explores not only where he has been, but what it means to continually evolve.
Ahead of the album's release on 26 June, we spoke with Sebastian Plano about improvisation, memory, Bach, belonging and the artistic freedom that emerged from stripping everything back to one instrument.
Joseph Phibbs & Dominic Sandbrook: Mrs T - Lucy Schaufer as Mrs T in rehearsal (Photo: Claire Shovelton)
Whether you love her or hate her, Mrs Thatcher remains an iconic figure but not a character who would immediately make you think of opera. However, ever since John Adams and Alice Goodman's 1978 opera Nixon in China (based on Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China), contemporary politics has proved surprising source-material for new operas. Now composer Joseph Phibbs and historian Dominic Sandbrook have teamed up to place Mrs Thatcher at the centre of a new opera. On 12 June 2026 at Kings Place, Mrs T: The Iron Lady Sings will showcase scenes from their new opera, Mrs T directed by Lucy Bradley, conducted by Lee Reynolds with Lucy Schaufer as Mrs T.
This will be Joseph Phibbs' second opera, his first was Juliana based on an updating of Strindberg's Miss Julie and first performed at the Cheltenham Festival [see my interview with Joseph]. Dominic Sandbrook is an historian best known as the co-host of The Rest Is History podcast. Their new opera is set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1980s, and it explores key events during Mrs Thatcher’s time in office: the Falklands War, the Cold War, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the rise of patriotic nationalism that would eventually foster deep scepticism toward Europe, sowing the seeds of Brexit.
These growing fractures – both political and personal – provide the dramatic impetus to transform a political symbol into a complex woman whose downfall carries the scale, emotional depth, and wit of a Shakespearean play.
At this year's Aldeburgh Festival, which runs from 12 to 18 June 2026, the festival's Featured Artist will be Ryan Wigglesworth and over the 17 days of the festival there will be a chance to experience the various aspects of Ryan's career from concerts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO), of which he is chief conductor, and the Knussen Chamber Orchestra, to a semi-staged production of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande and chamber music with friends and colleagues, all this alongside performances of Ryan's music and the premiere of his Viola Concerto written for violist Laurence Power.
Ryan comments that being Featured Artist means that to some extent he gets the keys to the toyshop and can help shape the festival. His performances are dotted throughout the festival but with hot spots at the beginning and end. The selections of performances bring the various parts of his life together, with orchestral performances, playing chamber music with colleagues which is a rare occurrence, and add in the premiere of his Viola Concerto.
Aldeburgh as a place is somewhere he has been involved with for a long time: it means so much to him, and he has always felt at home there. Oliver Knussen lived there and Ryan spent so much time with him there that the connection goes deep. Ryan adds that it is difficult to pinpoint what it is about Aldebugh, but it is a special place to work and the Aldeburgh Festival returns something of the founding ethos with friends making music together on stage. Britten and Pears created the festival because they wanted to do what they do but at home, and the festival has kept something of that ethos. This is why Ryan is drawn back to the place.
Ryan Wigglesworth conducting the Knussen Chamber Orchestra at the 2025 Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)
Ryan's own works are usually tied to the performers for whom they were written. His Piano Concerto (2019), which he and the BBCSSO perform at Aldeburgh this year with Steven Osborne, was written for Marc-Andre Hamelin but pianist Steven Osborne has performed it a few times. What is important to Ryan are relationships that go beyond just the odd concert together, with performers such as Osborne and violist Laurence Power for whom Ryan has written his Viola Concerto. Ryan takes pleasure in getting to know them as musicians, and this is when the ideas come, when he has a player's particular sound in his head. He comments that Power has a unique sound and that he is built to get a sound out of the viola. For Ryan, Power has such a personal approach to everything he that it is a special gift to hear his own music played by Power. Also at the festival, Ryan and soprano Sophie Bevan are performing Ryan's song cycle Till Dawning (from 2018, setting poetry by George Herbert). The cycle was written for Sophie Bevan and as she is Ryan's wife he describes this as the deepest collaboration of all.
Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in rehearsal - Ellie Neate, Danielle de Niese, Jack Sandison - Wild Arts (Photo: Anastasia Tikhonova)
Wild Arts is a small but dynamic company that presents music and opera, touring from its base in Essex, under artistic director and founder Orlando Jopling. This year the company presenting a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Danielle de Niese making her directorial debut and Orlando Jopling conducting. The cast features Jack Sandison as Figaro, Ellie Neate as Susanna, Timothy Nelson as Count Almaviva, Elinor Rolfe Johnson as Countess Almaviva and Abbie Ward as Cherubino. The work will be sung in a new translation by Danielle de Niese and Orlando Jopling, and accompanied by a ten-piece instrumental ensemble.
I recently went to join the company at rehearsals in South London where Danielle de Niese was working on the end of Act Two with Timothy Nelson, Elinor Rolfe Johnson and Ellie Neate, and afterwards I was able to find out more from Orlando Jopling.
In rehearsal, it was fascinating quite how much stress Danielle de Niese placed on the words. Not only focusing on meaning and sense, but stress too and trying different readings, and it was illuminating to hear how different inflections affect the results. It was also clear that the translation itself was malleable with Danielle de Niese and Orlando Jopling working on alternative readings to achieve the right effect. For much of the scene (the moment from the Count's entry) the attention was on the recitative and focusing on it as dialogue, but when the trio started Danielle de Niese was also paying great attention to the staging logistics, the farce elements.
Afterwards, when I chatted to Orlando he commented that the singers were loving the rehearsal process and really believed in the work. Danielle de Niese has evidently come up with some interesting solutions to the challenges of staging various scenes, and Orlando describes the overall intention as being like good TV drama where details make so much difference. They are rehearsing the recitatives by speaking them so that the music comes in the natural rhythm of speech and pacing. Orlando's aim is that people will forget that the cast is singing and that this will draw the audience into the story. They have also been doing a lot of work on the music of the recitatives themselves, thinking about the placement of the chords, what they mean and whether the chord precipitates the next line or references what has just happened. Orlando adds that Mozart and Da Ponte are so amazingly brilliant that the music gives the right shape to the drama with so much satisfying detail.
Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in rehearsal - Wild Arts (Photo: Anastasia Tikhonova)
As regards the musical side of things, Orlando is the least of controlling of conductors. He feels that if the drama is right then the music will be right. He wants the impulse for the music to come from the singers' minds rather than insisting that they watch him all the time. He thinks that too often in performance control by the conductor is put ahead of the natural organic drama, responding to what the singers are feeling and thinking.
Luis Schmidt & Capella Edina (Photo: Euan Robertson)
Luis Schmidt, a conductor from Munich who has just turned 22, founded Capella Edina in Edinburgh in 2024, the city's first professional philharmonic orchestra in almost ninety years. For its second season in 2026, Capella Edina is presenting four concerts at venues from the Caird Hall in Dundee to the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. The second concert of their season, Spring is at the Usher Hall on 3 June when Luis Schmidt conducts Capella Edina in music by Vaughan Williams, Britten and Copland.
The orchestra and its location came about through a series of circumstances. Luis moved to Newcastle to study for his degree and was introduced to Edinburgh by a friend who was working there. On his first visit to the city, Luis fell in love with it. He also took on board his friend's comment that Edinburgh did not have its own professional orchestra. Also whilst studying in Newcastle Luis met the conductor Robert Ames through the Royal Northern Sinfonia. Amongst Ames's advice to a young conductor was the suggestion that he form his own orchestra, that way you learn who to do things. And Luis would also get the same advice from his teacher in Germany, Bruno Weil.
Luis felt that if he was going to found an orchestra he was going to do it properly and Edinburgh seemed the obvious choice. Not only did it not have a resident professional orchestra but Luis enjoyed the city a lot. There were discussions with the Musicians Union about pay and conditions, something that Luis thought important if the orchestra was to contribute to the local area. Also these conversations helped with the process of finding players.
The orchestra now has a core of players who do most of the concerts. And Luis enjoys the fact that he is meeing different people yet has something in common with them. All the players, he feels, take pleasure in sharing their joy with the audience. The orchestra is reliant on philanthropy and ticket sales for its income, with private support plus support from trusts and foundations. They do not receive anything from the council. Currently the orchestra is run by a small team, there are just three of them (with two of those part-time).
Luis comments that it would be nice to get to the stage where the orchestra was self-sufficient and that donations would elevate them. He would like to be able to afford to do semi-staged operas, and to do outreach work. But he feels that there is an advantage to being lean, and he points out that there is a lot of machinery behind many established orchestras. Orchestras are cost intensive and it is a challenge reducing costs without limiting the artists or artistic quality.
One of the focuses of the orchestra from Luis's point of view is the wish to make music more accessible.
Luis Schmidt & Capella Edina at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh
The Celtic Tenors (George Hutton, Daryl Simpson, Matthew Gilsenan)
The Celtic Tenors is an Irish trio comprising singers Matthew Gilsenan, George Hutton, and Daryl Simpson. Known for their signature harmony-rich style, they blend opera, classical, Irish traditional, and pop influences. The group was founded in 1999 and Matthew Gilsenan is the sole surviving founder member. Their live album The Celtic Tenors: Live at The Empire Theatre is out now on all major streaming platforms. I recently chatted Daryl Simpson to find out more.
Daryl describes their repertoire as 'a mix of everything', though he adds that over the years this has evolved and that in the early days they were more strictly classical crossover with an Irish/Celtic slant. He feels that they are more about harmony-driven music sung by classically trained voices, though they lighten things off for the more pop-influenced numbers. They sing music that inspires and moves them; if it doesn't inspire them then the chances are it won't inspire their audience either.
Their audience largely consists of those aged forty and above, but there are also families with three generations. Daryl points out that this is sometimes off the back of the trio having been in the business 25 years so that they attracted the grandparents first! They were founded in 1999 and Daryl celebrates 20 years with the group in June.
From this year, pianist James Baillieu and conductor/composer Ryan Wigglesworth begin a three-year tenure as Associate Directors of the Britten Pears Arts Young Artist Programme, with both men being significantly involved in this year's Aldeburgh Festival which runs from 12 to 26 June 2026.
For James the appointment is a big honour. He comments that Britten Pears Arts is a wonderful organisation, very collaborative and very collegial. As he sees it, he has been brought on board to take the legacy of Britten and Pears forward, to keep their ideals at the heart of the training but have the teaching and training for the Young Artists responding to what the music world is like today. They are moving away from a 'one size fits all' approach to seeing what each Young Artist needs.
There will continue to be a Festival Academy, a week of masterclasses during the festival. But they will be adding performance psychology, career building, health and wellness and movement, the additional skills that are generally not taught in conservatoires. Typically, the masterclasses have been voice and piano and James wants to add instrumental duos as James feels that there is not a lot of focus on these. For young song pianists opportunities are not as widely available as when James was a young pianist, and they need to develop versatility by having instrumental repertoire too. James wants to look at the versatility of the young musicians and consider what skills they need to help them get working.
Complementary to this, Ryan Wigglesworth's focus will be orchestral and composition. James is also working on strategic partnerships with organisations with similar ideals so that Britten Pears Arts can amplify the exposure that the Young Artists get, helping them get the opportunities they need.
James Baillieu & Benjamin Appl at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2025 (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)
Adrian Partington conducting Mahler's Symphony No. 8 at Gloucester Cathedral as part of the 2022 Cheltenham Music Festival with South Cotswold Big Sing Group, British Sinfonietta
Das Klagende Lied is the earliest of Mahler's large-scale symphonic scores. Mahler wrote his own text based on Der singende Knochen(The singing bone) from the tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Mahler's first version of Das Klagende Lied was finished in 1880, whilst he was still a student. He submitted it for a competition where Brahms and colleagues on the jury dismissed the work. Mahler then revised it in 1893, but it was not performed, and he revised it further in 1898 with the first performance finally taking place in Vienna in 1901.
Gustav Mahler in 1898
When I asked Adrian why he had chosen Das Klagende Lied he explained that the work offers some of the best examples of Mahler but on a compact canvas. Despite being an early work the music is instantly recognisable as Mahler. Adrian explains that for him, though Mahler's style developed his tools did not, so the work uses the off-stage bands, marches and fanfares that reoccur in his later music, albeit with more sophistication.
The South Cotswold Big Sing Group likes to explore music that choral societies cannot do, and the group was set up in order to explore possibilities for co-operation between choral societies on events which would otherwise be beyond individual societies. In previous years, Adrian has conducted them in works such as Berlioz's Te Deum and Grande Messe des Morts, and Holst's Hymn of Jesus.
Adrian had been involved in two previous performances of Das Klagende Lied, rehearsing with the CBSO for performances by Simon Rattle and back in the 1980s with Worcester Festival Choral Society who performed it with conductor Bernard Keeffe. It is a work that stayed in his mind, a most attractive piece with fresh, interesting music. Also whilst you need a lot of voices, it is not too demanding a piece.
Adrian did a lot of research on the piece and its various versions, consulting Professor Jeremy Barham and the New Critical Edition of Gustav Mahler’s works in order to have a performing version that the festival could afford. The 1880 original is an astonishing work for a teenager, but it includes a prominent role for 18-part off-stage band and in fact this version has never been performed. In 1893 Mahler reduced the work from three to two movements and dispensed with the off-stage band. Nothing happened, and this version does not seem to have been performed. Then Mahler revised it again, keeping the two-movement format but restoring the off-stage band; this revision was wholesale enough to need a new manuscript and has become the standard version.
The focus of Finding Light is deliberately spiritual in a more general sense. Irene's choice of music focuses on intimate expression. She herself uses prayer and meditation, and she wanted the disc to make people feel connected to what they feel close to, to reflect. She hopes that the listener will bring their own meaning and reflections to the music, where sacred repertoire can have a sense of meditation and stillness even for the non-religious.
Irene Messoloras & Meridian recording Finding Light at All Hallows Church
On 8 May, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston has a new solo disc out on BIS. It is something of a contrast with her two previous recital discs one of which focused on Purcell and the other on lute song. This time the focus is more Romantic: A Poet's Love, with pianist Sholto Kynoch, features Schumann's Dichterliebe alongside the premiere recording of Héloïse Werner’s Knights Dream.
Though in some ways we associate her voice with earlier repertoire, Helen sings a lot of song recitals and the German Romantic repertoire is important to her. She describes Dichterliebe as 'the piece that made me fall in love with song' and the new disc was her first opportunity to record it. She was asked to perform Dichterliebe at the 2023 Oxford Song Festival, so she and Sholto Kynoch built a programme around it, and she adds that she feels lucky to have found that musical relationship with Sholto. This has led to a three-disc project focusing on Schumann's song cycles, and she enjoys the fact that she is starting Schumann with such a big piece from the canon.
French pianist and composer Sofiane Pamart is redefining modern classical music for a new generation.
Known for blending high fashion,
street culture, and virtuosic piano mastery, Pamart has amassed over a
billion streams worldwide, earning him the distinction of Chevalier of
the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
He studied piano and classical music at the Conservatoire de Lille for sixteen years and the Conservatory Gold Medal at the age of 23. He also has a degree in musicology, a master's degree in law, economics, and management, and in business administration. He is known for contributing to the French rap scene, collaborating with seveeral French and Belgian rappers.
With his latest album, MOVIE, he fuses cinematic grandeur with intimate emotional depth, bringing together seventy orchestral musicians and twenty-four choristers from the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.
In MOVIE, the human voice emerges as a compositional instrument alongside the piano, with Latin lyrics penned by his long-time manager and collaborator Guillaume Heritier, creating a universal, timeless language. From recording in the historic Rudolfinum in Prague to premiering at Paris’s iconic Opéra Garnier, this album represents a convergence of elegance, intensity, and ambition in Pamart’s ongoing mission to bring classical music to younger audiences without compromise.
We spoke with Sofiane Pamart about the making of MOVIE, the challenges and joys of working with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and his vision for a modern classical music that resonates across generations.
Your new album features a collaboration with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. How did this partnership come about, and what drew you to work with them?
Prague is part of my story. A few years ago, I performed there for the royal Lobkowicz family in the Royal Castle. The city has a sense of both history and cinema –it carries the weight I was looking for with MOVIE. We recorded the final sessions at the Rudolfinum: seventy orchestral musicians, twenty-four choristers. Watching my music come to life in that space was overwhelming. As a composer, I had always dreamed of experiencing that exact moment.
How was the process of recording with the choir? What was your approach to integrating them into your compositions?
The voices of the Prague Philharmonic Choir are crystalline, pure, and full of character. I didn’t want to direct them conventionally. I wanted the choir to be an instrument in its own right, not an ornament. Each voice had to carry its own weight while contributing to something larger. I approach all collaborations this way: I don’t ask the voice to serve the piano; I ask it to exist alongside it, fully, completely.
The lyrics were written by your manager, Guillaume Heritier, and are sung in Latin. Why Latin?
Guillaume and I have been building a creative universe together for years. Latin imposed itself naturally because it belongs to no contemporary territory—it predates borders and styles. It is universal. The piece is a tribute to a friend who is gone, conceived as a requiem.
Working with vocals is relatively new for you. How do you use the human voice as a compositional tool?
Every voice carries a soul. I don’t use the piano merely to support it. The piano and voice stand on equal footing, in dialogue. The voice brings fragility, presence, and character; the piano brings elevation, space, and emotion. Together, they tell a story that neither could tell alone.
You are widely recognized for redefining modern classical music. How do you define it, and does your music fit into that category?
For me, modern classical is alive. It retains the rigor and emotional depth of classical music while embracing contemporary textures and codes. My music belongs in that world, but I never start with a category. I start with a feeling, a vision, a desire to create something strong and lasting. I aim to give classical intensity a new shape, one that belongs to my time and story.
Reaching younger audiences is part of your mission. How do you achieve that?
It’s not about teaching classical music as a lesson. It’s about giving younger listeners access to emotion, depth, and intensity through the piano. If they discover a wider classical world afterward, that’s beautiful. I aim to make classical music feel alive, direct, and powerful. Albums and performances alike should speak immediately, without simplifying the emotion, showing that the piano can be magnetic, physical – even spectacular.
Your album premiere took place at Opéra Garnier. Why this venue?
MOVIE lives in a dialogue between elegance, intensity, and ambition. Garnier naturally represents that. It gave the premiere a ceremonial dimension, almost like an official entry into the world the project was meant for.
Your performances often blur classical and contemporary lines. How do you balance traditional orchestral elements with your cinematic style?
I focus on emotions rather than balance. What does the moment need to feel true? Sometimes that’s a full orchestra, sometimes a solo piano. Cinematic and classical aren’t opposites – they both aim to make you feel what words cannot. I follow that feeling wherever it leads.
Reflecting on this album and your artistic journey, what does MOVIE represent?
MOVIE is where everything converged: piano, voices, orchestra, choir, and cinema – all in the same room. If someone listens and feels less alone, or experiences music as sacred in a fast-moving world, then it has done everything I hoped for.
Sofiane Pamart - MOVIE - 88 Touches Production. Released 17 April 2026, further details
Wagner: Tannhäuser - designs by Darko Petrovic, courtesy of Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon
Later this month, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon will be presenting a new production of Wagner's Tannhäuser, opening on 23 April 2026. The theatre's first staging of the work in nearly thirty years. And the production will feature role debuts for Jonathan Stoughton (Tannhäuser) and Annemarie Kremer (Venus), plus Allison Oakes as Elisabeth. Graham Jenkins conducts and Max Hoehn directs with set designs by Darko Petrovic, costumes by Nuno Velez, choreography by Isabel Galriça and animations by Amber Cooper-Davies. I recently chatted to Max Hoehn and Darko Petrovic to find out more about their plans for the production.
Darko has worked on Tannhäuser before, for a production in Cologne. He was pleased to be returning to the work, finding it fascinating and very romantic. For him, it is still a kind of mystery, and he thinks of Wagner as intending to keep a path of mystery in his work. Darko sees their role as one of trying to solve the hidden meanings that add weight to the narrative. Cologne used the first (Dresden) version of the opera and performances were not it in the theatre so they were able to put the extra musicians all around the auditorium.
Whilst Max has not worked on Tannhäuser before, in 2023 he directed Der fliegende Holländer at the São Carlos in Lisbon also with Graham Jenkins conducting. Max comments on the visceral impact of Wagner's sound world, as if you are entering a cathedral of sound with all those layers. The question for him and Darko is how do you create space and images that let the music breathe. An inherently taxing challenge.
Wagner: Tannhäuser - designs by Darko Petrovic, courtesy of Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon
Like many of Wagner's heros, Tannhäuser is very damaged but approachable. With Darko, Max wanted to create a psychological space for the piece focused around Tannhäuser's divided personality. Max is very drawn to the end of the Fin de siècle period and the German Weimar Republic. He and Darko have used the graphic art of the period as the aesthetic for the designs, so the opera becomes part erotic dream and part nightmare. Much of the art of the Weimar Republic, particularly that which the Nazis labelled as Entartete Kunst, has a very nightmarish, surreal quality and Max feels that Wagner's music fits. He and Darko made these decisions early on in the process, before deciding a particular interpretative path.
London based neoclassical composer Julia Thomsen has achieved over 18 million Spotify streams and her music has been featured on flagship programming across Sky and Channel 4, though you rarely come across her music in the concert hall.
But talking to Julia, you get the clear impression that her music is more than this. She sees that there is such a lot going on in the world and feels that people need mental health breaks. Her music is relaxing and not too serious. She wants it to give people hope. The feedback she receives via messages on Instagram and elsewhere tell her what her music has done for people. And this is across the board - mental and physical health. And for busy parents, the music is something to switch off to, helping them sleep.
Julia is part of a generation whose work reaches audiences via streaming across the globe. Something that she finds amazing. Whilst Julia sees her music as having a sense of calm, people have their own reasons for listening to it. And it pops up a lot on people's Instagram Reels. This ability to tie in with visual images is perhaps also why her music is used in documentaries and television programmes. And when writing, she likes to cross genres, creating different types of music.
Oliver chose St Mark's Gospel party because it is the earliest gospel. He was interested in getting closer to the original sources, and did so also by including texts outside the Passion story itself. This was something Oliver did in his Magnificat, his 2014 work for chorus and orchestra, recorded on Convivium Records [see my review] which interleaves the text of the Magnificat, in Latin, from the Gospel of St. Luke with texts from The Book of Mary - Surat Maryam (from the Qur'an), The Infancy Gospel of James and The Song of Hannah (I Samuel: 2).
There is also the fact that St Mark's Gospel originally ended without the Resurrection, finishing simply with the women fleeing from the tomb and the conclusion of the Gospel that we know was added later. Additionally, St Mark's Gospel is very concise and at one time it was thought to be a later paraphrase of an earlier text. And Oliver was attracted to the depiction of Jesus in the Gospel where he is impatient and a bit irascible, chastising the disciples for not getting what he is on about. There is a real urgency to the narrative which drew Oliver to it. And it has rather been overlooked when it comes to passion settings, with not so many famous ones.
St Cuthberts Chapel, Ushaw where Oliver Tarney's St Mark Passion will be performed on 28 March 2026
In his Magnificat, Oliver used the additional texts to bring in aspects of the story not in the Magnificat text, to round out the story and include different viewpoints. He wanted to do something similar for the St Mark Passion, and the libretto created by Lucia Quinault brings greater context by interpolating settings of the parables. The Passion begins with the Parable of the Sower, which can be read as Christ being the seed. With the Parable of the Vineyard which is included later in the Passion, Oliver sees this as a lens through which to apprehend the crucifixion. The whole of St Mark's Gospel has explicit crucifixion predictions. This is the theme of the Gospel: Christ predicts, but his disciples cannot hear it. By including the Parable of the Vineyard, Oliver and Lucia could point to what was going to happen, signposting for the audience.
Welcome to our new series, All-IN-4Art where our Florida correspondent, Robert J Carreras interviews musical figures from across the globe.
Bettina Bermbach, 2026 (Photo: David Ausserhofer)
Bettina Bermbach arrived at Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben (DSM, the German Foundation for Musical Life) from Hamburg State Opera in 2022. With the entrance of Bermbach, DSM entered into a reinventing and restructuring of its managerial operations.
DSM triangulates its support of young musicians: by awarding scholarships and prizes, by providing instruments, and through performance opportunities. DSM provides long-term and tailor-made support for about 300 young musicians, ranging from 12 to 30 years of age.
The foundation's secondary wing is the Deutscher Musikinstrumentenfonds (DMIF, the German Musical Instrument Fund). The instrument fund holds in its collection over 280 instruments of historical significance that are gifted, on loan, to select DSM award recipients. "Every year, we award the valuable instruments at a competition in Lübeck. This year, 49 highly talented musicians auditioned and 34 instruments were re-awarded."
Among the priceless artifacts awarded to DSM musicians in 2026 were a Guadagnini violin and a Grancino cello, both from 18th century Milan.
1.) Ms. Bettina Bermbach, thank you grandly for joining Planet Hugill for All-IN-4-Art.
Please choose a word for the kind of day you want today to be.
Joyful
Please tell Planet Hugill where you are, what time of day it is, about the weather, and what you're doing.
It's Monday, the sun is shining from a cloudless morning sky in Hamburg, and I'm sitting at my desk in the foundation's office writing a letter to a potential sponsor for the extension of an important project with young musicians.
2.) Ms. Bermbach, is there a level of musical talent that can only be understood as a gift?
Behind every great musician lie many years of hard work and discipline. Talent is part of the overall skill set, but without discipline it cannot flourish. However, there are always musicians with incredible natural talent who play with great ease and touch the audience. I truly see this talent as a gift.
3.) How can music effect positive change in the world?
Concerts, opera performances, art performances, choir concerts —live music is always a unifying experience for everyone involved. For the musicians and singers who have worked together and then present the results of their efforts, but also for the audience who experience the music together. This shared experience is something incredibly positive and can have a big impact. I don't have the general hope that music can change the world for the better, but for individual musicians and listeners, it can change everything. It doesn't necessarily have to be classical music; this also applies to all other types of music and across all cultures.
4.) Planet Hugill knows you already do a lot for others – young musicians and audiences – through DSM. Now, you've been granted a wish to do anything life-changing you want for others through your managerial skills, as long as you involve whomever you choose. You can make your wish come true musically, of course.
I would love to find the one foolproof method that introduces people to music and gets them completely hooked. Especially in the field of classical music—many people worry that they don't understand classical music or that this music isn't for them. I would love to break down this barrier. But I'm afraid that to do so, I need a magic wand rather than a management tool. But you asked me for a wish that would come true...
5.) Ms. Bermbach, do you believe there is a greater purpose to musical talent?
No, I don't think so. At least not a higher purpose that gives rise to an obligation. People have so many different talents—musical, scientific, literary, communicative...
6.) In one word, please describe a classical music performance that eclipses all others.
Divine.
How does that happen?
When everything comes together during a concert or an opera performance: the musicians play perfectly in sync, the singers are in top form, and their voices complement each other. That's something you can't plan or force, but when it happens, it's divine.
Take us to one experience of this in your life, only on one.
During a performance of “Tristan and Isolde” in Dresden with Christian Thielemann, there were those magical moments when everything just fell into place.
7.) Pick three classical music luminaries from the past to spend the day with.
A conversation with the young George Frideric Handel in Hamburg about his first opera would certainly be interesting - We would have a coffee at Gänsemarkt, where the first Hamburg Opera House used to stand.
Then I would like to spend a day with Antonio Stradivari in his workshop in Cremona and have him explain how he built his unique instruments and what his secret was.
And of course I would like to meet Maria Callas and ask her for a little private concert.
Finally, Ms. Bermbach, tell the Planet Hugill audience anything you'd like about music.
Music is one of the most important things in my life. Experiencing a concert, accompanying our young scholarship holders, immersing myself in an opera— all these things make me grateful. It is a gift that I have been able to work in the music industry for over 25 years, even though I myself have no artistic talent whatsoever, play the piano very poorly, and cannot sing a single note correctly. But I am a grateful audience member, and so I have not only been able to get to know an enormous repertoire, but also many incredibly talented artists. And I am very happy that I can now support young musicians on their way to the concert stage. I go to the office happy every day!
Handel: Rinaldo - Agustín Pennino in rehearsal - Royal Academy Opera
Handel's Rinaldo was the first opera he wrote for London, in 1711. It was astoundingly popular; the first full Italian opera seria written for London, it went on to have over 50 performances during Handel's lifetime in the period from 1711 to 1731. During this period, the opera went through a remarkable number of revisions. The title role was written for the castrato Nicolini, whose performances in London in the period 1707 to 1717 went a long way towards establishing Italian opera in the city. [Countertenor Randall Scotting's recent disc, Divine Impresario: Nicolini on Stage, explores the castrato's musical world, see my review].
Whilst the title role in the 1731 revival of Rinaldo was also given to another castrato, Senesino, in the intervening period revivals saw the title role sung by both castratos and female altos. During the modern period, revivals have similarly given the role to men and to women; at Glyndebourne Opera, Robert Carsen's 2011 production saw Sonia Prina as Rinaldo [see my review of the BBC Proms performance], but later revivals of the production would see the role given to countertenors Christophe Dumaux, Iestyn Davies [see my review], and Jake Arditti.
On 17 March 2025, Royal Academy Opera is presenting Handel's Rinaldo in a production directed by Julia Burbach and conducted by David Bates. Performances run until 20 March with the title role shared between Uruguayan countertenor Agustín Pennino and Australian-Maltese mezzo-soprano Ella Orehek-Coddington. I recently caught up with Ella and Agustin to find out how sharing a role in a production worked with two different voice types.
Handel: Rinaldo - Ella Orehek-Coddington in rehearsal - Royal Academy Opera
![Gerald Finzi: The Dance Continued, recording session - Nick Pritchard, Ian Tindale [Photo: Jan Capinski]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwKlyKAl2InoLlnEGXjO66BxpQ6Piu3IVIqewBJeVrM_R5eNHS5NoR8kESfuf9NImgI1l9pdjC3O6FopGGaDIvZtp8kh2fpCCuBSScO_lL28vrTYpuLS-RaZi9AWBtO1VU_Hwl2v9XEBXC53myiZqL8W5hIkqot6aszzl9A2dDn-yh1qO94iC5w/s1000/DSC03013.png "Gerald Finzi: The Dance Continued, recording session - Nick Pritchard, Ian Tindale [Photo: Jan Capinski]")
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%20Britten%20Pears%20Arts%20%20(13).jpg "James Baillieu & Benjamin Appl at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2025 (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)")
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