New research links Handel's organist in Dublin with the Scottish fiddler & composer Charles Macklean

Dr Aaron McGregor (Photo: Campbell Parker)

Advertisements for Handel's performances in Dublin in 1741 and 1742 (when he premiered Messiah) give the name of his organist as “Mr M’Lean” or “Mr Maclaine” and that is all we knew. 

Until now, when research by Dr Aaron McGregor of the University of Aberdeen has linked this figure with an 18th-century Scottish fiddler and composer, Charles Macklean, thanks in part to documents arising from Macklean's complex marital history.

Dr McGregor explains: "Charles Macklean has always been a fascinating but somewhat shadowy figure in Scottish musical history. He appears in north-east Scotland as a music teacher, establishes himself among Edinburgh’s leading musicians, produces some remarkable Scottish fiddle music and publishes a collection of violin sonatas, but then seems to disappear from the historical record. Once I started to delve into the sources, the project grew enormously."

Dr McGregor originally began investigating Macklean because of his connections to north-east Scotland, where he taught and was later appointed master of Aberdeen’s music school. Macklean was already known to scholars of Scottish music as a violinist and composer of Scots tunes and Italianate sonatas, but his wider career and connections beyond Scotland remained largely unexplored. 

Central to the discovery was a complex legal petition compiled by Macklean’s wife, Jean Larini, after he abandoned her, and she needed to prove the validity of their marriage. The daughter of a celebrated 18th-century acrobat noted for her ability to perform on a rope, Larini belonged to a travelling performance troupe in which Macklean himself appears to have been involved during the early part of his career. 

The document brought together detailed testimony about Macklean’s travels, employment and personal life, thus allowing Dr McGregor to make the connection to Dublin and Handel, placing Macklean in Handel’s professional circle during the composer’s celebrated Irish season of 1741–42, which culminated in the premiere of Messiah. 

Research also uncovered evidence linking Macklean romantically and professionally with the soprano Christina Maria Avolio, one of Handel’s leading singers. Avolio later appeared in Dublin, where records suggest she performed under the name 'Mrs McLean'. There is evidence that Macklean and Christina Maria Avolio were living together in Edinburgh by 1741, with Macklean’s profession recorded as an organist.

Dr McGregor has completed a scholarly article on Macklean’s life and work, further details from the University of Aberdeen website. 

The research also informs a performance at the Glasgow Barons Early Music Festival, taking place at Govan Old Parish Church on 24 July. The performance will launch the new early music ensemble The Curious Collection, featuring Dr McGregor on violin alongside soprano Mhairi Lawson, cellist Alison McGillivray, and harpsichordist William Cole. Further details from the ensemble's website.

As Ryan Wigglesworth steps down as chief conductor of BBC SSO, his replacement is announced as Antony Hermus, principal guest conductor of Opera North

Antony Hermus (Photo: Marco Borggreve)

Next year, Ryan Wigglesworth completes a remarkable five seasons as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra [see my recent interview with Ryan focusing on his being Featured Artist at the Aldeburgh Festival]. It has now been announced that Dutch conductor Antony Hermus will take over as chief conductor of BBC SSO in September 2027.

Ryan Wigglesworth, commented: "It has been an immense privilege to serve as the BBC SSO’s Chief Conductor, and I thank all my wonderful colleagues for their support, commitment and remarkable musicianship throughout these past seasons. I send my warmest congratulations to Antony and wish him and the orchestra every possible success in their partnership over the years ahead. Stepping down in order to dedicate more time to other projects was always going to be an extremely difficult decision, but I feel very fortunate to have so many exciting collaborations with the BBC SSO still on the horizon."

Hermus completes his tenure as chief conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra this summer and then becomes conductor laureate. Hermus is also principal guest conductor with Opera North. He led the company's powerful concert staging of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra last year [see my review] and he conducts the company's new staging of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde next year.

Hermus made his debut with BBC SSO in 2018 with a programme that paired Ligeti’s avant-garde Mysteries of the Macabre with a 70-minute distillation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.  This autumn, Hermus leads the BBC SSO in performances of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony across Glasgow (8 Oct) and Perth (9 Oct), pairing it with Mors Aeterna a haunting meditation on loss, Mahler, and mortality by fellow Dutch composer Willem Jeths.

Across his career, Hermus has championed outside-the-box projects. He brought Ligeti to over 8,000 festival-goers at Holland’s adventurous outdoor cultural event Lowlands with the North Netherlands Orchestra (of which he is Honorary Conductor for Life), presented Mahler and Stravinsky through Symphonic Cinema at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, initiated the award-winning Scratch concerts bringing amateur voices onto the stage with a professional orchestra, and led Tweetfonie (52 world premieres in a single day) during his residency at the International Kurt Weill Festival in Germany. 

Full details from the BBC SSO website. 

ECHO Rising Stars announced for 2027-28 including Laura van der Heijden, Junyan Chen, Fibonacci Quartet, Aaron Azunda Akugbo

The European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) has announced the artists selected for its 2027-28 ECHO Rising Stars season. As part of the ECHO Rising Stars programme, these artists will perform on the stages of leading concert halls across Europe throughout the 2027-28 concert season. In addition to their concert tours, they will take part in Education, Learning and Participation (ELP) activities, commission a new work by a composer of their choice, and engage in workshops and mentoring opportunities designed to support their artistic and professional growth.

• cellist Laura van der Heijden, nominated by The Glasshouse International Music Centre and Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam
• Laura has a longstanding relationship with Royal Northern Sinfonia, having won BBC Young Musician at The Glasshouse in 2012, performing Walton’s Cello Concerto with the orchestra conducted by Kirill Karabits. 
• On 26 July she joins the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Eva Thorarinsdottir for Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major as part of the Ryedale Festival's gala closing concert
• pianist Junyan Chen, nominated by Barbican Centre, Musikverein Wien and Wiener Konzerthaus
• Junyan was the winner of the inaugural Alexandra Dariescu Award at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2024, recognising outstanding performances of works by female composers
• She is joining Fantasia Orchestra and conductor Tom Featherstonhaugh on 27 June for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 as part of this summer's Proms at St Jude's 
• Fibonacci Quartet, nominated by Gulbenkian Foundation, Barbican Centre, Musikverein Wien and Kölner Philharmonie
• Formed at the Guildhall School, the quartet were winners at the 2024 Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International auditions 
• the quartet were recently appointed as Grand Résident ensemble at ProQuartet in Paris for seasons 2025-2027. The quartet is also featured at the 2026 St Magnus Festival
• trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo, nominated by Palau de la Música Catalana, B:Music, Barbican Centre, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, The Glasshouse International Music Centre
• in 2020 he made his London debut at the Royal Festival Hall playing Haydn's Trumpet Concerto with Chineke!
• he was performing in May with Fantasia Orchestra and Steven Osborne, and was at the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival earlier this month
• pianist Elia Cecino, nominated by Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall and Palau de la Musica Catalana
• clarinettist Arthur Stockel, nominated by Philharmonie du Luxembourg, NOSPR Katowice and Konzerthaus Dortmund

The Sixteen at St James's: a new partnership providing the choir with its first London home

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen & Genesis Sixteen alumni at St James's Piccadilly (Photo: Ian Jones Photography)

The Sixteen first collaborated with St James's Piccadilly back in 2019 when the church became the home for The Sixteen's annual celebration of things choral, Sounds Sublime, an event which focuses on young people and emerging talent. Since then there have been various other collaborative events.

This week the relationship was formalised as it was announced that The Sixteen and St James's Piccadilly are embarking on a five-year partnership supported by The Genesis Foundation. This will be the first time that The Sixteen (found back in 1976) have had a London home. The partnership takes place within the context of St James's ambitious Wren Project which is restoring and renewing the fabric of the church including restoring the organ (which has not been played for 45 years) within its historic organ case. This will require the partnership to decamp to St Pancras Church for two years, from 2027, whilst the St James's Church is closed.

The announcement took place within the context of an event this week at St James's when Harry Christophers conducted The Sixteen in a selection of music which reflected various aspects of the ensembles work. They began with Byrd's Civitas sancti tui which reflected the type of music the ensemble performed in its founding year. 

The Sixteen's residency will mean that the opening performance of the annual Choral Pilgrimage will take place at St James's (previously London performances of the Choral Pilgrimage programme have varied between Croydon Minster, Kings Place and the Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich). Begun in 2000, the Choral Pilgrimage sees The Sixteen setting off on some 25 performances around the country, mainly to cathedrals and collegiate churches. That first tour began in York and ended in Canterbury, but in the future each will begin at St James's. The repertoire involves both the well-known and the lesser known. 

We heard The Sixteen perform Morir no puo il mio core by Maddalena Casulana, the 16th century composer the discovery of whose work has been an important factor in recent years. In complete contrast was Kerensa Briggs' Lead, kindly light, written for this year's Choral Pilgrimage [see my review] and performed at St James's by The Sixteen along with eight Genesis Sixteen alumni.

Also, from December 2027 the Sixteen's annual performance of Handel's Messiah will take place at St James's.

The partnership will involve the wider Sixteen family as well. Sounds Sublime will continue at St James's whilst during the year there will be four choral evensongs sung by The Sixteen, Genesis Sixteen and Genesis Sixteen Alumni ensembles. Genesis Sixteen, the ensemble's young artists programme, continues to provide fully funded places for 22 young singers annually, thanks to the Genesis Foundation. In addition to the year of training (which involves two week-long courses and two weekend courses) the programme helps the young singers develop relationships and many of the young ensembles performing in Sounds Sublime arose because of friendships made in Genesis Sixteen.

And the church will continue to be a home for new choral music commissions performed by The Sixteen and Genesis Sixteen. These commissions have included an impressive 33 works commissioned for The Sixteen by the Genesis Foundation.

St James's will also support The Sixteen's Learning and Participation Programme, Ignite, with a programme of activity within the parish. Plans for Ignite include a new, free digital schools pack and during the evening we heard three works, by Will Todd, Bob Chilcott and Lucy Walker which The Sixteen have recorded as part of this digital pack. And there are plans for a choral academy for 16 to 18-year-olds.

The final two performances at St James's showcased both the new and the old. Another rediscovery was 16th-century Franco-Flemish composer Jean Guyot de Chatelet's Benedicta es caelorum Regina where he had added six extra parts to an existing Josquin motet to remarkable and wonderfully rich effect. The evening ended with James MacMillan's Nothing in Vain, his setting of words by John Henry Newman, commissioned by the Genesis Foundation in 2021 for the canonisation of John Henry Newman and performed at St James's by The Sixteen and the eight Genesis Sixteen alumni, a truly remarkable piece which I first heard at the Choral Pilgrimage earlier this year and really benefits from multiple hearings.

 Further details from St James's Piccadilly's website.

Launch of UK Choir of the Year with applications open from 25 June

A new national competition is aiming to celebrate choral excellence. UK Choir of the Year is inviting amateur choirs in all genres from across the UK to compete with a final at Milton Court on 10 April 2026.

Founded by BAFTA judge and sound editor Lucy Mitchell, UK Choir of the Year aims to celebrate the breadth and quality of amateur choral singing across the UK. From 25 June, choirs are invited to apply. Following a preliminary video audition round, 18 selected finalists in three categories will perform live at Milton Court for the final.

The judges are composer Will Todd, conductor and vocal specialist Dan Ludford-Thomas, conductor and gospel specialist Karen Gibson and West End performer Alice Fearn.

Founder Lucy Mitchell commented, "There are thousands of amateur singers across the UK achieving remarkable things every week. We created UK Choir of the Year to celebrate that talent and provide choirs with a national platform on which to share their work." 

Dan Ludford-Thomas rehearsing for the UK Choir of the Year launch concert at Cadogan Hall (Photo: Jon Webber )

Full details from the UK Choir of the Year website. 

Latvian Music Information Centre launches a new online store with sheet music by Latvian composers

The Latvian Music Information Centre (LMIC) has launched an online sheet music store on its website offering a growing selection of previously unpublished works by Latvian composers. The LMIC sheet music store currently offers nearly one hundred scores by both celebrated Latvian classical composers and contemporary creators, and the list keeps growing week by week.

The Latvian Music Information Centre collects, organises, and disseminates information about Latvian composers, their creative work, and developments within Latvia’s music scene. It maintains the largest online database of Latvian music and musicians, serving as a comprehensive resource for professionals and audiences alike.

Commenting on the LMIC’s new initiative, composer Rolands Kronlaks, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Composers’ Union said: "The launch of the sheet music sales platform marks an important step in improving the accessibility and visibility of Latvian music. It also provides a structured framework for cataloguing Latvian composers’ scores and encourages composers to organise, update, and preserve their sheet music materials."

Further information from the LMIC website.

Mining the contemporary: two American opera releases by Ricky Ian Gordon & Tobias Picker take inspiration from the AIDS crisis & an historical figure of trans identity

Tobias Picker: Lili Elbe - Lucia Lucas - Theater St. Gallen 2023

Ever since John Adams and Alice Goodman focused on Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China, contemporary opera (and contemporary American opera in particular) has mined recent events and politics for themes. Two recordings scheduled for release during July and August highlight this. In July, Bright Shiny Things releases the premiere recording of Tobias Picker's Lili Elbe, first grand opera created for and about a historical figure of trans identity, and then in August Blue Griffin Records issue Ricky Ian Gordon's The Tibetan Book of the Dead: An Opera, a work from 1995 intimately bound up in the AIDS crisis.

Tobias Picker's Lili Elbe centres on the life of Danish painter Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of multiple experimental gender confirmation surgeries, which tragically ended her life. The work was premiered at the Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland in 2023 [see my article] and recorded live at the dress rehearsal. This recording is being issued in August to coincide with the American premiere of the work at the Santa Fe Opera Festival, where Picker's first opera Emmeline premiered 30 years ago.

The work has a libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman, Picker's partner of over 45 years, novelist, and neuroradiologist at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. Much of the material derives from historical sources. Picker who is drawn to writing operas about strong female protagonists, described Lili’s longing to fully inhabit womanhood as profoundly operatic -- a psychological and emotional conflict he sees as no less intense than that of typical operatic tragic heroines.

The title role was written for transgender baritone Lucia Lucas who sings on the recording and at Santa Fe and as does soprano Sylvia D’Eramo in the role of Gerda Wegener. The recording features Modestas Pitrėnas conducting the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen.

Tobias Picker's Lili Elbe is released on Bright Shiny Things on 31 July 2026, and opens at Santa Fe Opera on 1 August.

Ricky Ian Gordon: The Tibetan Book of the Dead: An Opera
Eric Owens, Jonita Lattimore, Frank Hernandez - 1996 (Photo: Jim Caldwell)

Blue Griffin Records' recording of Ricky Ian Gordon's 1995 opera, The Tibetan Book of the Dead: An Opera is based on restored archival recordings made at The American Music Theater Festival in June 1996. The opera was co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera and The American Music Theatre Festival and is inspired by ancient Tibetan Buddhist teachings, depicting epic journey of a dying soul through a series of spiritual and emotional planes along the road of rebirth.

The background to the opera is the AIDS crisis and the libretto dramatises, in seventeen scenes, the death of an individual, the journey through the "bardo," (in between) and the rebirth. The work's origins are intertwined with Ricky Ian Gordon's relationship at the time, with Jeffrey Grossi, who was already living with HIV when they first met. It was Grossi who encouraged the composer to learn Buddhist teachings and immerse himself in Sogyal Rinpoche's 1992 book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. [Sogyal Rinpoche was a Tibetan Buddhist teacher who would eventually become a not uncontroversial figure - see the BBC article on his death in 2019] 

The opera came together relatively quickly. David Gockley, who had asked Gordon for a commission for Houston Grand Opera, suggested the book as a source for an opera and a libretto was created within two days. Despite his illness and largely being confined to bed, Jeffrey Grossi was able to see one of the Philadelphia performances of the opera, where archival tapes were made. 

It was these tapes that became the basis for the new release. Whilst working on his memoir Seeing Through: A Chronicle of Sex, Drugs, and Opera, Gordon wondered whether the archive tapes could be made viable. The final product is the result of painstaking work on the originals. The recording features artists from The Houston Grand Opera studio: baritone Frank Hernandez, bass Eric Owens, sopranos Nicole Heaston and Jonita Lattimore, mezzo-sopranos Beth Clayton and Jill Grove, tenors John McVeigh and Gabriel Gonzalez, and Orchestra 2001 conducted by Charles Prince.

Ricky Ian Gordon's The Tibetan Book of the Dead: An Opera is released on Blue Griffin Records on 14 August 2026.

At just 17, pianist Jacky Zhang becomes the youngest ever winner of the Sheepdrove Piano Competition at Newbury Spring Festival

Jacky Zhang at BBC Young Musician in 2024

In 2024 at just 16 years old, pianist Jacky Zhang reached the final stages of BBC Young Musician with a performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 described by judges as an "incredibly powerful, volcanic interpretation". 

Now 17, Zhang has been named winner of the 2026 Sheepdrove Piano Competition at Newbury Spring Festival, becoming the youngest winner in the competition’s 17-year history.

Zhang was awarded the First Prize of £3,000, donated by the Sheepdrove Trust, following the final of the competition held as part of this year’s Festival programme. As part of the prize, Zhang also gave a recital at Newbury Corn Exchange on Monday 18 May as part of the Festival’s Young Artist Lunchtime Series. 

The Second Prize was awarded to Nicole Wu from Canada, a student at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, while Third Prize went to Mayuko Narutani from Japan, a student at the Royal Academy of Music. Fourth Prize was awarded to Tomos Boyles from Wales, who also received the Audience Prize. 

Established in 2009 by the Sheepdrove Trust, the Sheepdrove Piano Competition is open to pianists aged 26 and under from the UK’s leading conservatoires and forms part of Newbury Spring Festival’s longstanding commitment to supporting emerging artists and young performers. 

Born in the UK in 2008, Zhang studied in the Royal College of Music Junior Department from the age of seven and now studies with renowned pianist Dmitri Alexeev. Alongside his piano work, he is also active as a composer, songwriter and producer, with interests spanning conducting, historical performance and music for screen. 

Newbury Spring Festival continues until 2 May, full details from the festival website. 

A new interdisciplinary research programme for composers, performers, scholars and practitioners

FACT FICTION, a new interdisciplinary research programme has been launched led by composer Alastair White. Aimed at composers, performers, scholars and practitioners seeking to develop original research through artistic practice within an international context, the programme consists of weekly online sessions which will culminate in live events at the annual contemporary music festival in Bled, Slovenia.

The programme has been developed in collaboration with Tempo: The Quarterly Review of New Music and the .abeceda Institute, and organised across three pathways: Introduction to Research, Young Researchers and the Advanced Research Group. Running weekly online throughout the year, these pathways support successive stages of development, from foundational methodologies to advanced interdisciplinary research and dissemination.

The programme culminates at Bled Contemporary Music Week in Slovenia, where participants test their work in a professional festival context. This provides a platform for laboratory experimentation and lecture presentations, ensuring research is shaped through real-world engagement. Selected outputs may be published in the Journal of New Music Research and Development, produced by infra.norma.meta Amsterdam, with further opportunities to engage with the wider discourse offered by Tempo: The Quarterly Review Of New Music. 

Full details from the FACT FICTION website. 

 

Prokofiev Studio: new gallery devoted to the abstract art of Oleg Prokofiev son of the composer & father of composer Gabriel Prokofiev

Composer Gabriel Prokofiev is opening a space dedicated to the art of his father Oleg Prokofiev (1928-1998), son of composer Sergei Prokofiev. Oleg wrote that his father's music inspired in him 'a wave of some wonderful energy...a poetic or artistic impulse'.

Oleg became known for his abstract works created in the 1950s in defiance of the Soviet Union’s strict cultural controls where the doctrine of socialist realism was rigidly imposed. Come the 1960s, Oleg developed a relationship with British art historian Camilla Gray and for a decade Oleg hid his abstract work, so the couple could get married. Granted permission in 1969, the two married but Camilla Gray died two years later. Oleg moved to the UK after her death, but his abstract works were left behind, Oleg believing them lost. Returning to his former home in Moscow in 1994, he discovered that the art works had been kept safe by the house's owner alongside the artist's sketches. 

Camilla Gray's book The Great Experiment: Russian Art 1863–1922, published in 1962, broke new ground in explaining Russian avant-garde art outside Russia. Gray was the daughter of Basil Gray, keeper of Oriental art at the British Museum, and the scholar of art and lettering Nicolete Gray, and granddaughter of the poet Laurence Binyon.

Gabriel Prokofiev has now opened Prokofiev Studio in Hackney which will house his father's archive, featuring abstract artworks from the 1950s alongside letters, postcards, sketchbooks, sculptures and other lost paintings. The opening exhibition, Bending Time will feature a reconstruction of Oleg's 1990s studio in Hackney Wick.

Further information from Prokofiev Studio on Instagram. 

Looking for people who have experience in the music industry to help shape the work of a charity improving health & wellbeing through the healing power of live music

Music in Hospitals & Care

Music in Hospitals & Care is looking for people to join its Board of Trustees 

Music in Hospitals & Care is a charity that brings live music to people in hospitals, care homes and communities across the UK, improving the health and wellbeing of children and adults through the healing power of live music. Their professional musicians share live music with people from across the UK, who may not otherwise get to experience it. This includes those living with dementia, who have mental health problems, or who are seriously ill.

The charity is looking for trustees and would like to find people who have experience in the music industry to help shape their work. You don’t need to have experience as a trustee or being on a board before - they offer a comprehensive induction programme and training and development opportunities as appropriate.

The Board of Trustees provides guidance, advice and support to the Chief Executive and the Senior Leadership Team. Meetings are normally held in London or online via Zoom. The role is unpaid but reasonable travel and subsistence expenses are provided. It is likely that virtual meetings will remain a regular feature of the organisation in the future. 

Full details from Music in Hospitals & Care's website. 

Winners of the National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award 2026

NCEM Young Composers Award - Edward Tait, joint winner of the 19 to 25 years category(Photo: Charlie Kirkpatrick)

Winners of the National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award 2026, presented partnership with BBC Radio 3, were announced at the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) in York last week. BBC Radio 3 invited aspiring young composers to compose a new song setting for soprano, cornett and keyboard, to be performed by The Gonzaga Band (Jamie Savan cornett; Faye Newton soprano; Steven Devine keyboard).

The composers took inspiration from the music of Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, evoked in The Gonzaga Band’s recently released recital programme Love’s Labyrinth. The song setting explored the theme of love through the relationship between the voice and instruments, setting a poem by Lady Mary Wroth (1587-1651), published in 1621 as part of the sonnet cycle A Crown of Sonnets Dedicated to Love – one of the earliest by a female poet.

In this strange labyrinth how shall I turn?
Ways are on all sides, while the way I miss:
If to the right hand, there, in love I burn;
Let me go forward, therein danger is.
If to the left, suspicion hinders bliss;
Let me turn back, shame cries I ought return,
Nor faint, though crosses with my fortune kiss;
Stand still is harder, although sure to mourn.
Thus let me take the right, or left hand way,
Go forward, or stand still, or back retire:
I must these doubts endure without allay
Or help, but travail find for my best hire.
Yet that which most my troubled sense doth move,
Is to leave all, and take the thread of Love. 

NCEM Young Composers Award - Kat Farn, joint winner of the 19 to 25 years category(Photo: Charlie Kirkpatrick)

The eight young finalists took part in a day of workshops at the National Centre for Early Music’s home St Margaret’s Church, a popular year-round music venue. The sessions were led by composer Professor Christopher Fox, composer and Honorary Professor of Music at the University of York, and The Gonzaga Band, who performed the pieces in a public performance at the venue.

This year there were two winners in the 19 to 25 years category:

Kat Farn with LABYRINTH and Edward Tait with My troubled sense doth move.

The winner in the 18 years and under category was Laura Kesiak with In this strange labyrinth how shall I turn.

The winning compositions will be premiered by The Gonzaga Band in a lunchtime concert at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Tuesday 27 October 2026, which will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Early Music Show and BBC Sounds.

NCEM Young Composers Award - Laura Kesiak, winner of the 18 years and under category (Photo: Charlie Kirkpatrick)

The final was live-streamed an is available on the NCEM website, and on YouTube.

The Continuo Foundation announces grants totalling £106,000 awarded to 30 Early Music projects across the UK

The Continuo Foundation round 11 grantees

The Continuo Foundation has announced the recipients of its eleventh round of grants, awarding more than £100,000 to support Early Music projects across the UK. The Foundation received a record number of applications of a very high standard for this round, including some intriguing Purcell project proposals. The grant awards just announced include two projects chosen jointly with the Purcell Society as part of our partnership celebrating their 150th anniversary. 

The first Purcell project is the Monteverdi String Band’s Wandering Prince, Unhappy Queen, created in collaboration with the Roman River Festival. Inspired by Dido and Aeneas, the project combines Purcell’s music with readings from Virgil, songs and ballads to restore the wider dramatic and literary context of the story for modern audiences. Oliver Webber of the Monteverdi String Band says:

‘Since I first performed ‘Dido’ in about 1995, I have had a yearning to expand it to give the audience the cultural and historical background that Purcell’s contemporaries would have had, to appreciate the pathos and drama even more fully. I hope this project will give them a fresh, vivid and poignant experience.’

The second Purcell-focused award will enable Istante Collective to create a new production of King Arthur. The ensemble notes that while the music is regularly performed, the full Restoration masterpiece is rarely presented complete. Their production will restore the spoken word and dance elements that are ‘rarely performed but an essential part of the work’s identity’. 

• Vache Baroque will create a production of Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero (1625), the oldest known opera written by a woman composer, for the Buxton International Festival
• The English Haydn Orchestra is supported for its Haydn’s Musical World concert series at the eponymous festival in Bridgnorth
• Projects from the Bloomsbury Players, Linarol Consort of Viols, The Morley Consort and Wessex Baroque Collective will take performances to venues across the Lake District, Scotland, Wales, Devon, Southwest England, and London. 
• Ensemble Hesperi will work with the Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble in South Africa in what the ensemble describes as ‘an artistic and educational collaboration’ grown from a ‘shared passion… for high-quality, historically informed performance.’
• The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen will make world-premiere recordings of Alessandro Poglietti’s arrangements of motets by Bonifazio Graziani. The ensemble says these recordings will allow audiences to hear ‘these ear-tickling masterpieces’ and compare them with the original monody versions.
• The Royal Sackbut Collective will use its grant to present a launch concert for its debut album. The ensemble comments that the grant, 'allows us to take our debut album project to the next level. Considering the struggles of entering the music industry as a young ensemble, we are beyond grateful to be given this opportunity and we cannot wait to make it happen!’

Further information from the Continuo Foundation's website. 

Planet Hugill featured at no. 3 on FeedSpot 60 Best Opera Blogs to Follow in 2026

I am never really sure about lists of things, the Top 50 Best whatevers. However, finding out that you are in such a list is terribly seductive, even if you wonder how the list has been produced. FeedSpot, the company that produces FeedSpot Reader which allows you to subscribe to all your online media needs in one place, has produced its new edition of 60 Best Opera Blogs to Follow in 2026, and I am pleased to say that we are at number three.

Many thanks to everyone for their support, and please do explore the entries on the list:

https://bloggers.feedspot.com/opera_blogs/

Anna Clyne announced as composer-in-residence with the CBSO for 2026/27 with new viola concerto with Lawrence Power, new recording with Jess Gillam and more

Anna Clyne (Photo: Victoria Stevens)

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has announced that USA-based British composer Anna Clyne has been appointed composer-in-residence for the 2026/27 season. Her work with the CBSO will include major symphonic performances, a world premiere commission and a significant new recording project.

Concert highlights include Restless Oceans in a programme conducted by the CBSO's music director Kazuki Yamada in September 2026, as well as her saxophone concerto, Glasslands, performed by CBSO collaborative artist Jess Gillam under the baton of Alpesh Chauhan, with a Decca recording of the work forming part of the project.     

In March 2027, the CBSO will give the world premiere of Clyne’s new Viola Concerto – Resonant Forms – co-commissioned by the orchestra for Lawrence Power. Her piece Night Ferry will also be performed as part of the CBSO’s Halloween themed Family Concert in October 2026.    

Clyne’s residency will extend beyond the concert platform, with collaborations including a project with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, educational visits to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Shireland CBSO Academy, and involvement in the CBSO’s Orchestral Residency Scheme with young musicians in July 2027, featuring her work PALETTE – a concerto for Augmented Orchestra. 

Clyne's cello concerto DANCE was performed by National Youth Orchestra as part of Shimmer, its January 2026 programme, and she was awarded her first Ivor Novello Award for Orbits, a piece commissioned and performed by The Sixteen and Harry Christophers setting the poem I Live My Life In Growing Orbits by Rilke in a translation by American poet Robert Bly [see my review]. Her piece, The Years, was performed at the BBC Proms in August 2025 by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Fabio Luisi as part of the orchestra's centenary celebrations [see my review].

Clyne's announcement at composer-in-residence comes after recent announcements of Ilan Volkov as principal guest conductor from 2026 to 2029; pianist Alice Sara Ott and saxophonist Jess Gillam as collaborative artists for 2026–28; composer and producer Rushil Ranjan as collaborative artist for 2025-27; along with the confirmation that Kazuki Yamada will remain music director until at least the end of the 2028-29 Season

Full details from the CBSO's website. 

 

Hugill in New York: Laetare Jerusalem at St Patrick's Cathedral

St Patrick's Cathedral, New York (Photo from the Live Stream)

A Facebook contact very kindly alerted me to the fact that the 10:15am Solemn Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York on Sunday 15 March (Laetare Sunday) was going to feature my motet Laetare Jerusalem. Luckily the service is Live Streamed so we were able to eavesdrop on the performance. Bravo and many thanks to the choir and their music director.

The service is available on YouTube, on the cathedral's YouTube Channel.

Laetare Jerusalem is a setting of the Introit for the Fourth Sunday in Lent and comes from Tempus per Annum my sequence of motets for the church's year, setting the Latin introits for Sundays and major feasts. All are available from CPDL.

    Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her:
    rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow:
    that you exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.
    I rejoiced at the things that were said to me:
    we shall go into the house of the Lord.
 

Celebrating in style: current and past City Music Foundation Young Artists in showcase at the restored Great Hall of St Bart's

City Music Foundation 2025 Young Artists in the Great Hall at St Bart's

The City Music Foundation (CMF) was founded in 2012 and has developed significantly into an organisation that supports young artists by offering career development, turning talent into a success. For some years CMF has developed a relationship with St Barts giving concerts in the Great Hall. Following the recent restoration of the hall after extensive conservation and restoration work in the last two years under the direction of Will Palin and Barts Heritage, the Hall and the Hogarth Stair are looking absolutely stunning. By way of a celebration both of CMF and the Great Hall, there was a Meet the Artists event in the Great Hall on Wednesday 25 February where there was a chance not only to see the hall but to meet the CMF team and hear performances from some of the current CMF Young Artists, as well as being able to meet members of earlier cohorts including some of the first.

Proceedings were opened by percussionist James Larter (CMF 2021) playing Asventuras by Alexej Gerassimez, an amazing tour de force for untuned percussion. The first set also included pianist Nikita Lukinov (CMF 2024) playing Mikhail Pletnev's sparkling arrangement of the Adagio from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Suite, mezzo-soprano Joanna Harries (CMF 2024) and pianist Mihai Ritivoiu (CMF 2016) in If I loved you from Rogers & Hammerstein's Carousel, the wind quintet Ensemble Renard in terrific form in two movements from Bartok's Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm from Mikrokosmos Vol. 6 in arrangements by George Strivens, and soprano Caroline Taylor (CMF 2022) and pianist Sholto Kynoch in Schubert's Im Frühling.

The second set featured violinist Basil Alter (CMF 2025) and pianist Jack Redman (CMF 2024) in a bravura account of Tchaikovsky's Valse-scherzo, Intesa Duo (CMF 2025) consisting of Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgetti (viols and voice) in a haunting Armenian traditional song Kakavik where Musaelian whilst playing the viol, Duo Melos (CMF 2024) consisting of Katie Taunton, flute, and Jack Redman, piano) in a fast and delightfully dazzling short piece by Dilys Elwyn-Edwards and a Welsh traditional song, A I want with Tom to Town arranged by Stephen Goss that proved to be rather perky and surprisingly complete, and finally pianist Sofia Sacco (CMF 2024) played Couperin's Le rossignol en amour and Kabalevsky's brilliant, rather neo-classical Prelude and Fugue in C Major, Op.61 No. 2.

The final set opened with soprano Theano Papdaki (CMF 2024) and percussionist James Larter in EL Vito for the lovely combination of voice and marimba. Then pianist Will Harmer (CMF 2025) played one of his own compositions, a fugue that was complex yet rather engaging; cellist Geirþrúður Anna Guðmundsdóttir (CMF 2024) and pianist Antoine Preat (CMF 2021) gave a vibrant, upfront account of the scherzo from Brahms' Sonatensatz; then baritone George Robarts (CMF 2024) and Will Harmer brought things to a lively, light-hearted yet apt conclusion with Noel Coward's There are bad times just around the corner.

The CMF programme of concerts continues on 11 March when cellist Arian Kashefi and pianist Petr Limonov are performing Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata and Amy Beach's Three Pieces, Op. 40 in the Great Hall in Barts North Wing. Full details from the CMF website.

What began as a record of performances has become essential infrastructure for artistic planning: Operabase turns 30

This year Operabase celebrates its 30th anniversary, marking three decades of shaping how the global performing arts community works, collaborates, and connects.  Founded in 1996 by Mike Gibb, Operabase was created to document opera performances on a single platform, and over the past three decades it has expanded beyond that original scope, developing into an essential professional resource.

The platform maintains the world’s most extensive structured record of performing arts performances, covers more than 1.1 million performances, features over 400,000 artist profiles and includes more than 64,000 organisations, ranging from opera houses and concert halls to orchestras, choirs and academic institutions. 

Operabase is now managed by Arts Consolidated ApS, a technology company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The CEO of Operabase is Ulrike Köstinger and we chatted to her when she took over the role in 2023 [see my interview]. About the current milestone, she commented: 

"Reaching 30 years is an extraordinary moment for Operabase. What began as a record of performances has become essential infrastructure for artistic planning, casting and international collaboration. I’m deeply grateful to the artists and organisations who share their data, and to the professionals who rely on Operabase every day. As the sector evolves, our focus is clear: to keep listening, adapting and building the best tools that truly support artistic work worldwide."

Operabase offers a free, publicly accessible database and a premium subscription designed for professionals. While audiences can explore upcoming performances, premium subscribers benefit from advanced tools for career planning, casting and artistic planning decision-making. 

Further information from the Operabase website. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

José van Dam's obituary on the OperaWire website.