Polite pastoral: Handel's Tolomeo from Baroque Encounter

Handel: Tolomeo; Carmen Lasok, Glenn Kesby, Lucy Thomas, John  Lofthouse, director: Christopher Tudor, conductor: Asako Ogawa; Baroque Encounter at St John's Smith Square
Reviewed 16 September 2023

A production given in period style that never quite managed to break out of the decorative pastoral entertainment and demonstrate the underlying drama of Handel's opera

Premiered in 1728, Handel's Tolomeo was the last opera he would write for the great triumvirate of singers, castrato Senesino and sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. Handel would revive it in the 1730s, but its modern performance history is rather sparse. English Touring Opera did it in 2006 (revived 2009, see my review) and its best claim to fame, rather bizarrely, is that composer Arthur Somervell adapted on of the arias from the opera as the song Silent Worship.

The opera made a welcome return to the London stage when Baroque Encounter performed it at St John's Smith Square on Saturday 16 September 2023. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Tudor and conducted from the harpsichord by Asako Ogawa, the production featured an admirably experienced cast, albeit not particularly well-known, with Glenn Kesby as Tolomeo, Carmen Lasok as Seleuce, Lucy Thomas as Elisa, John Lofthouse as Araspe and Alexander Hutton as Alessandro.

Tolomeo is a rather strange work, combining elements of the pastoral and dynastic types of opera seria - the hero and heroine - Tolomeo (Glenn Kesby) and his wife Seleuce (Carmen Lasok) - are both in disguise (separately) as shepherds on Cyprus. What little plot concerns their attempts to find each other with the librettist (Nicola Haym, based on the libretto from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's Tolomeo et Alessandro) inserting various devices to delay the inevitable conclusion. But there is dynastic struggle too, Tolomeo has been banished by his scheming mother, Cleopatra, who has usurped his throne and also on the island is Tolomeo's brother Alessandro (Alexander Hutton), whilst the King of Cyprus, Araspe (John Lofthouse) and his sister Elisa (Lucy Thomas) have designs on Tolomeo and Seleuce themselves. It can work, John Conway's production at ETO (where Tolomeo and Seleuce were street people) showed that, but it requires a sure hand to bring out the drama. The compressed nature of the libretto means that any subtleties in the original are lost.

Mesmerising chamber drama: Dani Howard & Joseph Spence's The Yellow Wallpaper from The Opera Story

Dani Howard: The Yellow Wallpaper - The Opera Story (Photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen)

Dani Howard and Joseph Spence: The Yellow Wallpaper;  Clare Presland, Valerie Ebuwa, Berrak Dyer, Midori Jaeger, director: Amy Lane; The Opera Story at Lilian Baylis Studio

In a remarkable change of pace, The Opera Story returns with an intense, focused and mesmerising chamber drama with Dani Howard's music teasing out the layers in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 19th-century horror story

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, The Yellow Wallpaper (first published in 1892) is part of a tradition of horror fiction that dates back to Sheridan Lefanu, but it is also an icon of feminist literature as Perkins Gilman's reasons for writing it were to highlight the iniquities of the (male) insistence on rest cures for women to solve all sorts of problems.

In a move away from the company's focus on story-telling based on mashups of myths and fables, The Opera Story presented composer Dani Howard and librettist Joseph Spence's new opera The Yellow Wallpaper at the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler's Wells (seen 15 September 2023). It is a chamber piece with mezzo-soprano Clare Presland, dancer/choreographer Valerie Ebuwa, pianist Berrak Dyer and cellist Midori Jaeger, directed by Amy Lane, designed by Emma Ryott and lighting by Charlie Morgan Jones. The production was first presented earlier this year at Amy Lane's Copenhagen Opera Festival.

Barcelona Youth Symphony Orchestra gives a Pablo Casals memorial concert in London

A young Pau Casals, by Ramon Casas

The great Catalan cellist Pablo Casals (Pau Casals i Defilló in Catalan) died 50 years ago in 1973 at the age of 96. To help commemorate this, the Barcelona Youth Symphony Orchestra (La Jove Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona), conductor Carlos Checa, is giving a concert at London's Cadogan Hall on 5 October 2023. They will be joined by the young cellist Laura Peribañez Artero for Bruch's Kol Nidrei and Laura Peribañez Artero in fact organised the concert.

The programme begins with Casals' Sardana 'Sant Martí del Canigó' inspired by the music of his native Catalonia and written the early years of self-imposed exile from Spain, and named for a place in his native Catalonia—a region to which he had a deep emotional attachment. This is followed by the Intermezzo from Enrique Granados’ opera Goyescas.  Granados was a close friend of Casals, who often played the cello and piano version of this work. Casals was also the first to record Bruch's Kol Nidrei, the work that closes the first half of the programme. The evening is completed with Brahm's Symphony No. 1.

The Barcelona Youth Symphony Orchestra will also be giving this programme on 1 October at l’Atlàntida de Vic, Barcelona in benefit for Associació TEA/Asperger Osona, and on 8 October at Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona in benefit of AFAB (Barcelona Association for relatives of people that suffer Alzheimer and Dementia). An additional outreach concert in the UK is also planned.

The orchestra was founded in 2015 by conductor Carlos Checa and it is currently made up of 60 young musicians.

Full details from the Cadogan Hall website.

Music for youth: young bassoonists, an early-career organist and free concerts for Secondary Schools

Rising start organist Matthew Walters is the first Associate Artist at Fairfield Halls, the Royal College of Music is launching a free Young Bassoon Programme whilst the Liverpool Philharmonic is offering free concert tickets to local Secondary Schools.

23-year-old rising star organist Matthew Walters has been appointed the first Associate Artist at Fairfield Halls in Croydon to launch the venue’s new Associate Artists programme which will support early-career performers and artists whilst further expanding the cultural offering for Croydon. Walters' residency at Fairfield will include playing two lunchtime organ recitals, as well as his own headline concert in the 2023-24 season. For his debut concert on 26 November, he will play music from Bach to Buxtehude, along with new works and improvisations including the sounds of iconic film soundtracks and mashups featuring contemporary popular music. He will perform also alongside the halls’ resident orchestra, the London Mozart Players (LMP) in A Very Croydon Christmas on 8 December 2023.  Further details from Fairfield Halls' website.

The Royal College of Music (RCM) is launching the RCM Young Bassoon Programme, a free initiative giving young players the opportunity to join like-minded musicians to explore the instrument. This will provide 11–18-year-olds with the opportunity to join a community of young bassoonists and learn from world-leading teachers. Participants will spend time with bassoon teachers exploring new repertoire in ensembles, masterclasses and creative collaborations, as well as learning more about breathing techniques and reed making. They will also gain valuable advice about how to prepare for auditions, develop performance skills and receive peer-to-peer support from other young bassoonists in a welcoming environment. The inaugural 2023/24 programme will take place on 19 November 2023, 21 January, 4 February, 3 March and 28 April 2024. Further information from the RCM website.

Liverpool Philharmonic is is offering over 400 free concert tickets to local Secondary Schools. Students will have the opportunity to experience the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra perform in the iconic Philharmonic Hall including Beethoven's Mass in C, Brahms' Double Concerto, Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, Poulenc' Gloria and an all-Mozart programme. Concerts have been chosen for their alignment with the main GCSE and A Level curriculum boards, supporting teachers and students with their musical education. The initiative builds upon the success of last year's programme, which provided 434 free tickets to school groups in the region. Feedback from participating schools highlighted the positive impact seeing the live Orchestra had in supporting their musical education and inspiring them to further musical study and enjoyment. All secondary schools within the Liverpool City Region are eligible to apply for tickets to these performances. Further information from the Liverpool Philharmonic website.

A glimpse into the lively musical life of 18th-century Dublin: Smock Alley from Carina Drury's ensemble Irlandiani

Smock Alley: Tommaso Giordani, Thomas Roseingrave, Domenico  Scarlatti and Geminiani; Irlandiani - Carina Drury, Poppy Walshaw, John-Henry Baker, Nathaniel Mander, Eimear McGeown; First Hand Records

Centring on a group of cello duos by an 18th century Italian composer based in Dublin, this disc engagingly explores the life of Irish and Italian musicians of the period in the city

Tommaso Giordani (1730-1806) was a composer born in Naples to a musical family. Though trained in Naples, his father and family travelled in Europe, ending in London in the 1750s. In 1764, he accepted an invitation to act as musical director of the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, where he stayed for the next three years, performing comic operas and co-producing the first ever opera seria to be performed in Ireland, L'eroe cinese (1766). In 1767 he returned to London but was back in Dublin in 1783, taking part in the lively musical life there until his death.

Amongst Giordani's works are his Six Duos for Two Cellos, Op. 18, which were written in London in 1780. And these form the centrepiece of Smock Alley, a disc on the First Hand Records label from Irlandiani - Carina Drury and Poppy Walshaw, baroque cellos, John-Henry Baker, violone, Nathaniel Mander, harpsichord, and Eimear McGeown, Irish flute.

This is the second disc from cellist Carina Drury focusing on 18th century Ireland and the exploration of the influence of Irish tunes on Italian composers. The first disc featured works for solo cello [see my record review], whilst the idea behind this new disc is to further capture something of the lively musical life in Dublin in the late 18th century, centring on musicians associated with Smock Alley and in particular the set of cello duos from Giordani, alongside music by Thomas Roseingrave, Domenico  Scarlatti and Geminiani and traditional Irish tunes collected and published by musicians in 18th-century Dublin.

We cannot afford to live on what you are paying us: Freelancers Make Theatre Work's Big Freelancer Survey 2023

Freelancers Make Theatre Work is an inclusive, independent community for the 200,000+ self-employed and freelance workers from all areas of theatre, opera and live performance, and freelancers make up 70% of the UK theatre workforce.

In June this year they released The Big Freelancer Survey 2023 based on data from 1156 freelancers who responded to the survey, generating 224 pages (83,000+ words) or data! The results are a bit scary, here are the highlights:

• The average income for freelancers working in opera is 11% under the UK average income. We are underpaid.
• There is a gender pay gap of 28% for opera freelancers. We are paid unfairly.
• The average income does not change, whether you have 10, 20 or 30 years’ experience in this industry. In fact, it goes down a little. We have little hope of salary progression.
• 68% of opera freelancers report feeling that their work is quite or very insecure. 68% of opera freelancers earn less than half of their income from actually working in opera. We have chronic job insecurity.
• 78% of London-based opera freelancers are earning less than the average London rent. That is just rent – no other costs. 61% are earning less than the London Living Wage. They could literally make more money working in a posh coffee shop. We cannot afford to live on what you are paying us.

Full report from Freelancers Make Theatre website.

In celebratory mood, the Cambridge Music Festival notches up its 30th anniversary this year. East Anglian music writer, Tony Cooper, reports.

Takács String Quartet (Photo: Amanda Tipton)

Cambridge Music Festival's autumn concert series (Sunday 17 October to Wednesday 15 November 2023) offers a carefully curated programme of exceptional and unusual performances showcasing everything from traditional Syrian music to classical and early music with performances taking place in some of Cambridge's most historic venues such as King's College Chapel and Trinity College Chapel.

"In a city with so much music-making, Cambridge Music Festival stands apart for the exceptional quality and variety it brings" enthused festival director, Justin Lee. "Variety that takes one from JS Bach to Judith Weir and, indeed, to Syrian traditional music performed by a wide range of world-acclaimed artists including the Takács String Quartet, Angela Hewitt, the BBC Singers, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Maya Youssef."

This year's 'opener' falls to the Takács String Quartet (Sunday 17 October at West Road Concert Hall) playing Haydn's String Quartet, Op.71 No.2 and Beethoven's Razumovsky Quartet. They'll also present a commissioned piece by Stephen Hough demonstrating the festival's commitment to innovation and new creations. And on Friday 3 November at King's College Chapel, the choirs of King's College and New College Oxford join forces with the Philharmonia Orchestra to perform Haydn's choral masterpiece The Creation under the baton of Daniel Hyde.

A significant tribute to Sir John Tavener can be enjoyed on Friday 10 November at King's College Chapel (being recorded for broadcasting on BBC Radio 3) featuring the BBC Singers, cellist Natalie Clein and organist Paul Greally. They'll explore Tavener's profound works commemorating the composer's legacy on the tenth anniversary of his death while virtuoso pianist, Angela Hewitt, will perform JS Bach's iconic Goldberg Variations at Trinity College Chapel on Monday 13 November.

Sharing her sense of belonging through her spellbinding music, Quanun player/composer, Maya Youssef, [whom Robert interviewed in May this year] will be joined by a small ensemble in what promises a marvellous and interesting concert at the Old Divinity School of St John's College on Wednesday 15 November. By using the delicate and mystical sound of the quanun (Arabic zither) she'll create a sound world that stems from Middle Eastern traditions but encompasses styles including that of jazz and flamenco.

Maya Youssef (Photo Igor Studio)

Jumping ahead to next year, the February spring series offers more extraordinary performances by the likes of pianist Stephen Hough, early music ensemble Arcangelo, 12 Ensemble, master sitarist Jasdeep Singh Degun, the acclaimed American Bugallo-Williams piano duo and vocal ensemble Tenebrae. Furthermore, a unique installation arrives in Cambridge during February half-term inviting members of the public to experience the Philharmonia Orchestra's virtual reality orchestra.

And in celebration of the festival's 30th anniversary, nine stunning new films have been commissioned in collaboration with percussionist Joby Burgess featuring new music from such luminous creatives as Gabriel Prokofiev, Dario Marianelli, Graham Fitkin, Dobrinka Tabakova, John Metcalfe, Yazz Ahmed and Tunde Jegede.

Other highlights of the festival's special (and festive) anniversary season include performances from Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, London Mozart Players, pianist Stephen Hough, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, the Takács String Quartet and Chineke! Chamber Ensemble as well as two Cambridge institutions - the Choir of King's College Cambridge and the Academy of Ancient Music.

Founded in 1991, the current director of the Cambridge Music Festival, Justin Lee, has been in post since 2012 and under his leadership, the festival has featured an array of leading artists ranging from Murray Perahia to Nigel Kennedy and from the Philip Glass Ensemble to the Borodin String Quartet in orchestral, choral and chamber-music concerts running alongside a well-planned programme of education and community events.

As the Cambridge Music Festival receives no public subsidy or Arts Council support whatsoever, a generous and dedicated core of sponsors and individual donors regularly come to the rescue by providing at least 70 per cent of the festival's income. This feat alone needs to be loudly applauded. Bravo!

As an aside, a couple of artists appearing at the festival this year, Mahan Esfahani and Angela Hewitt, have just released their latest recordings on the Hyperion label, a lively, independent and forward-thinking British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods ranging from the 12th to the 21st century.

The first and only harpsichordist to be a BBC New Generation Artist (2008-10), Esfahani's recording of JS Bach's French Suites are simply sublime and prospective listeners to this wonderful new set should be rest assured that any hint of the routine remains as distant a threat as ever. [Buy Mahan Esfahani's Bach: The French Suites from Amazon]. 

On the other hand, Hewitt sensitively captures so well the distinctive writing and detail of Mozart's Piano Sonatas K310-311 and K330-333 [Buy Angela Hewitt's Mozart Sonatas from Amazon]. Her voyage of discovery through these wonderful pieces are so engaging and such a joy to hear offering the listener vital and alert accounts of the works in question while respecting their scale and sensibility and, indeed, revealing the influences of Mozart's orchestral and concerto writing of the period.

Online booking: https://cambridgemusicfestival.co.uk/

info@cambridgemusicfestival.co.uk

Tragédie lyrique given with great sympathy and style: Passion from Véronique Gens with Les Surprises, Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas at Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival

Passion - Véronique Gens, Les Surprises, Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo: bayreuth.media)

Passion: Lully, Henry Desmarest, André Cardinal Destouches, Rebel, Charpentier; Véronique Gens, Les Surprises,  Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at Ordenskirche St Georgen

Immense style and mesmerising performances in the wonderful selection of music from tragédies lyriques by Lully and his contemporaries

Véronique Gens recorded her programme Passion with Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas and Les Surprises in 2021. It is an exploration of music written for two singers who inspired Lully, Mademoiselle Saint Christophe and Marie Le Rochois, focussing on music by Lully and his younger contemporaries.

Véronique Gens, Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas and Les Surprises brought Passion to the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival and performed it on Sunday 10 September 2023 in the splendour of the Ordenskirche St Georgen, Bayreuth. Véronique Gens was joined by an instrumental ensemble of eleven, directed from the harpsichord and organ by Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas with a vocal ensemble of five.

Divided into five acts, each with a theme, the programme explored Lully's music from Persée, Proserpine, Armide, Atys, Amadis, Alceste along with his dance music, plus Henry Desmarest's Circé and La Diane de Fontainebleau, André Cardinal Destouches' Les Elements, Pascal Collasse's Achille et Polyxène and Thétis et Pélée, Rebel's Le Ballet de la Paix and Charpentier's Médée. Each act flowed continuously in the manner of a tragédie lyrique, with Gens' solos focusing on a series of strong women.

Continental Drift: BCMG's new season sees collaborations exploring the music of South Korea, Japan and China

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) is celebrating collaborations across cultures and genres with Continental Drift its 2023/24 season. The traditions of the Far East feature quite strongly during the season. Things kick off when BCMG visits South Korea later this month for concerts at the Tongyeong International Festival, performing the music of Julian Anderson and creating a collaboration of centuries-old traditional Korean music and the cutting-edge music of today, with the world-renowned Ensemble TIMF.

Then on 26 September, back in the UK, BCMG join forces with Noh Reimagined and composers Hollie Harding and Ben Nobuto for an interactive workshop in Noh theatre. Then on 23 June 2024, BCMG performs Noh Reimagine New Music, a concert of new work by Nobuto and Harding inspired by their visits to Japan in winter 2023 and written under the guidance of Noh’s most skilled interpreters.

Moving on to China, in October BCMG joins forces with Ensemble Contempo Beijing as they perform the UK premieres of four brand new compositions by young Chinese composers, each work is a winning piece from the 10th China ConTempo Composition Competition, open to composers aged under 35. These new works are performed on erhu, sheng, guzheng and pipa as well as the more familiar classical instruments of flute, cello and violin.

As part of the Ligeti 100 celebrations, BCMG is inviting people to take part in a performance of Ligeti’s Poéme symphonique for 100 metronomes, enhanced by the cutting-edge technology of BEAST, the Birmingham Electro Acoustic Sound Theatre. Anyone with an old-fashioned mechanical metronome is invited to take part in the performance.

Further ahead during the season there is an innovative new work led by visual artist Haroon Mirza. Artist and performers are working together without a director or conductor, drawing on disciplines including sculpture, music, dance and costume, to create a new performance. And in Let Me Tell You A Story BCMG gives the world premiere of Hilda Paredes’ Abalorios - a magical 21st century guide for young people to the contemporary ensemble, echoing Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This theatrical piece is performed alongside Ondrej Adamek’s Let Me Tell You A Story for Korean–style soprano voice and ensemble, for a concert full of story-telling.

Full details from BCMG's website.

Celebrating one of King's Lynn's most distinguished residents: the Charles Burney Early Music weekend returns

Charles Burney by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1781

Following the success of the annual Early Music Days in King's Lynn in July and the inaugural Charles Burney Early Music weekend in 2022, the second Charles Burney Early Music Festival returns to King's Lynn from 29 September to 1 October 2023. The festival celebrates the life of one of King's Lynn's most distinguished residents, the traveller and writer Charles Burney who was organist at St Margaret's Church (now King's Lynn Minster) for almost 10 years in the middle of the 18th century.

The festival opens with Apollo's Cabinet in Charles Burney, Baroque Travel Blogger, a musical voyage following Burney on his journey: a kaleidoscope of European Baroque music with compositions from each of the countries he visited, some famous, others seldom heard, interspersed with readings of his original 18th century diary entries. And the concert will also celebrate the ensemble's release of a CD of the same programme.

Matthew Truscott (violin) and Steven Devine (fortepiano) explore the newly emerging 18th-century galant style with its yearning sensitivity of expression, as exemplified by JS Bach's sons Johann Christian Bach who Burney knew in London and Carl Phillipe Emmanuel who Burney met in 1772 in Hamburg. And in a second concert Truscott and Devine turn their attention to Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, and introduce Joseph Woelfl (1773 – 1812), a well-respected in musician in his time and whose music continued to be performed by Chopin and Liszt. A pupil of Michael Haydn and probably of Mozart, Woelfl was a friendly performing rival of Beethoven. Steven Devine and soprano Kate Semmens will also present Tea with Dr Burney, light-hearted programme explores the famous and not-so-famous composers and musicians Charles Burney encountered in the social gatherings and salons of Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The Festival also features a lecture about Frances Burney, daughter of Charles Burney and best known as the novelist Fanny Burney, and there will be a walk around King's Lynn introducing the historic buildings known and used by the Burney family.

Full details from the King's Lynn Festival website.

From Purcell and Handel to Ignatius Sancho and Duke Ellington: American countertenor Reginald Mobley at Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival

Christine Plubeau, Violaine Cochard, Reginald Mobley - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo Bayreuth.Media)

Purcell, Handel, Ignatius Sancho; Reginald Mobley, Violaine Cochard, Christine Plubeau; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at the Schlosskirche, Bayreuth
9 September 2023

Dramatically engaging Handel cantatas alongside discoveries of music by Ignatius Sancho, plus Duke Ellington meets notes inégales

The American countertenor Reginald Mobley made his German debut at a concert on Saturday 9 September 2023 in the restrained 18th-century splendour of the Schlosskirche in Bayreuth as part of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival. Mobley was joined by harpsichordist Violaine Cochard and viola da gamba player Christine Plubeau for a programme of music by Purcell, Handel and Ignatius Sancho. The three performers performed the same programme earlier this year, when Reginald Mobley made his solo debut in Paris.

We began with Purcell's O Solitude, taken at quite a steady tempo. Mobley was warmly expressive, making much of the words yet providing a richer coloured sound than is often found in this repertoire, with an intriguing expressive use of the change between middle and chest registers. Crown the altar from Celebrate this Festival Z 321 (the 1693 birthday ode for Queen Mary) was lively with the accompaniment bringing out the French influence in Purcell's music, over which Mobley's voice flowed with an easy fluidity. Here the deities approve from Welcome to all the pleasure Z 339 (the 1683 ode to St Cecilia) was poised and strong, followed by a solo piece for the instrumentalists with a singing viola da gamba line leading to imaginative divisions.

Extravagantly theatrical: Handel's Flavio revived by Bayreuth Baroque in the splendour of the 18th-century theatre

Handel: Flavio - Rémy Brès-Feuillet (in bath), Yuriy Mynenko - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo: Clemens Manser)

Handel: Flavio; Julia Lezhneva, Max Emanuel Cencic, Monika Jägerová,  Yuriy Mynenko, Rémy Brès Feuillet, director: Max Emanuel Cencic, Concerto Köln, conductor Benjamin Bayl; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at the Margravial Opera House, Bayreuth
Reviewed 9 September 2023

An undeserved Handel rarity in a lavish production highlighting the historical background and managing to combine comic and serious

Having revived a real rarity in Vinci's Alessandro nell'Indie in 2022 [see my review], the 2023 Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival opened with, if not a rarity, a work from the Handelian fringes. Handel wrote Flavio for the end of the 1722/23 season, a season that had included the premiere of Handel's Ottone and the sensational London debut of soprano Francesca Cuzzoni. Flavio, which starred Cuzzoni alongside castrato Senesino, received eight performances, and was revived by Handel in 1732. Then it was never performed until 1967 in Göttingen, since when there have been occasional revivals including the Irish Opera Theatre Company in the 1990s and English Touring Opera in 2009 (both productions directed by James Conway).

We caught the second performance, on Saturday 9 September 2023, of Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival's production of Handel's Flavio at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth directed Max Emanuel Cencic and conducted by Benjamin Bayl with Concerto Köln in the pit. Sets were by Helmut Stürmer with costumes by Corina Grämosteanu and lighting by Romain De Lagarde. Max Emanuel Cencic took the Senesino role of Guido with Julia Lezhneva in the Cuzzoni role of Emilia. Yuriy Mynenko was Vitige, Monika Jägerová was Teodata, Rémy Brès Feuillet was Flavio with Sreten Manojlovic and Fabio Trümpy as Lotario and Ugone.

Handel: Flavio - Julia Lezhneva, Max Emanuel Cencic - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo: Falk von Traubenberg)

Handel's taste in opera was always more varied than that of his patrons and he seems to have had a fondness for that Venetian-style opera mixing comedy and tragedy. During his period at the Royal Academy of Music in the 1720s he tried and failed to persuade his backers to produce Partenope (which he would finally do when he became his own master). His librettist, Nicola Haym seems to have played cello in performances of Flavio in Rome in the 1690s and this may be the origin of Handel's idea to stage it. Flavio is something of a surprise alongside the heroic tragedies of the 1720s. Mixing comedy, pathos and sentimentality with satire and real tragedy, it is a pacey, short piece that pokes fun at opera seria itself.

Operatic arias & overtures by Frederick the Great's court composer, Graun, in the opera house built by the king's sister

Carl Heinrich Graun

Carl Heinrich Graun: opera arias; Valer Sabadus, {oh!} Orkiestra, Martyna Pastuszka; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at the Margravial Opera House
Reviewed 8 September 2023

Exploring the entirety of Graun's career in Berlin, this evening of opera overtures and arias from the Romanian-German counter-tenor and Polish orchestra gave us a welcome chance to explore Graun's late-Baroque stye

Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759) had a long and fruitful artistic partnership with King Frederick the Great of Prussia. Graun wrote the music for Frederick's marriage celebrations in 1733, taking up a position at the then Crown Prince's rather limited court in 1735 (Frederick was kept on quite a short rein by his father, King Frederick William I).  Things blossomed in 1740 when Frederick became king and sought to re-established Italian opera in Berlin. Whilst Frederick sanctioned the use of 'singing capons', he preferred a more naturalistic stye and Graun's Berlin operas can been seen, with those of Jomelli, to be important experiments in the move towards Reform espoused by Gluck and Calzabigi.

It was thus apposite that the second event of this year's Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival on 8 September 2023 turned its focus to Graun with an evening of Graun's operatic music performed in the Margravial Opera House, (built by King Frederick the Great's sister, Wilhelmine) by Romanian-German counter-tenor Valer Sabadus with {oh!} Orkiestra directed from the violin by Martyna Pastuszka. We heard music from Rodelinda, premiered in 1741 before there was even a new opera house in Berlin, through Cesare e Cleopatra, which inaugurated the Berlin State Opera (Königliche Hofoper) in 1742, to Montezuma from 1755 with a libretto by Frederick the Great himself.

Graun: opera arias - Valer Sabadus, {oh!} Orkiestra, Martyna Pastuszka - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo: Clemens Manser)

Composition workshop at Morley College led by Edward Henderson from Bastard Assignments

The Solid performed by Edward Henderson for Bastard Assignments

Composer Edward Henderson (one of the lively minds that make up Bastard Assignments) is now leading the composition workshop at Morley College. The new term starts on 18 September and the course is aimed at those age 19 and over. The course will "enable students to build completed pieces of music through a mixture of taught techniques and utilisation of students' own musical ideas. Students will be given frameworks in which to write pieces and there will be continuous tutor feedback and class discussion of the works as they build up. Performances of pieces will happen in class, or with Morley groups that composers write for."

The entry requirements are fluid, again from the website - "a solid theoretical background (ABRSM 6+ or equivalent) and fluent reading and writing of standard music notation are useful but not essential. Experience with music and sound software is useful but not essential. The ability to contribute to musical performances (even rudimentary ones) is strongly encouraged"

Full details from the Morley College website.

Blair Coron's 'A Carrying Stream': a new collection of music and companion public exhibition

Blair Coron - Photo by Skaiste Klaniute

Blair Coron is a musician and poet from Springfield, a small village in Fife, Scotland. His quiet and intimate music blends modern classical, storytelling and traditional melodies, with themes of nature, people, time and place. Through music, words and cinematography, Coron's primary intention is to create enchanting atmospheres that sets course for introspection and connection to the landscapes surrounding us. 

His debut album was On The Nature of Things and his second was Cairn a celebration of Scottish heritage which had an accompanying film and was in collaboration with the School of Scottish Studies Archives and National Trust for Scotland. Cairn included new music set to archival interviews of those living in the Highlands and Islands during the early 20th century discussing local legends, childhood reminiscences and traditions long forgotten.

Blair Coron's latest project is A Carrying Stream, a new collection of music and companion public exhibition from the Scottish Archives. Blair describes it thus: 

"For the past while my mind has been seaward, accompanying the previous generations amongst their days. With drowned sailors, tales of the sea, songs of lament by parted lovers and all that lives on the carrying stream of Scotland's history and heritage. And now it brings me so much joy to finally introduce the culmination of everything, A Carrying Stream. A new exhibition and EP commissioned by the School of Scottish Studies Archives and Edinburgh University. I was invited to curate a deep, immersive, listening experience, through haunting sound and visual installations inspired by materials in the archives, offering fresh perspective on Scotland's rich oral tradition." 

The exhibition is open until September 30, at 30 George Square, Edinburgh, further information from the University of Edinburgh website. Blair's EP was issued last month and is available to stream [lnktree] or via BandCamp.

Still banned after all these years: Gay theatre company, Homo Promos has its Wormwood Scrubs performance of an opera about Ivor Novello in prison cancelled at a few days notice

Peter Scott-Presland's gay theatre group Homo Promos was founded in 1988 as a response to Section 28, which forbade councils from ‘intentionally promoting homosexuality’ and the group still marches on. 

Currently they are in the midst of a long-term project, A Gay Century presenting a cycle of chamber operas about events during the 20th century, with music by Robert Ely. This year's contribution is 1944: Home Fires. 

It is 1944, Ivor Novello has been banged up for a month for fiddling his petrol coupons.  Novello was a combination of matinee idol and Andrew Lloyd-Webber, formidably popular.  Now he faces ruin - and a psychotic cell-mate in 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, later to be hitman for the Richardson gang.  But his dead mother watches over him...

The show is being presented at the Cockpit Theatre and the Tower Theatre, but visit to perform the work at Wormwood Scrubs has been cancelled at a few days notice, despite month's of planning. The visit, which had the full support of staff at the prison, has been stamped on by ‘senior leaders in the prison service’, according to Jake Booth, the Neurodiversity Support Manager at the Scrubs organising the visit. No reasons have been given.

Homo Promos final performance of 1944: Home Fires is at the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington on 6 September, full details from the Homo Promos website.

Music while you dine: Pizza Express Classical Song Series is back at the Pheasantry, Chelsea

Pianist William Vann is back with a further song series as part of Pizza Express Live at The Pheasantry in Chelsea. The three-concert series opens on Tuesday 12 September 2023 when William Vann is joined by soprano Carolyn Sampson for a programme of French song including Ravel's Shéhérazade setting free-verse poems by Tristan Klingsor inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite, Milhaud's Catalogue des fleurs setting seven flower descriptions by Lucien Daudet, Fauré's Cinq Mélodies de Venise setting poems by Verlaine which Fauré began writing in Venice, and Poulenc's La Courte Paille, which sets children's verse by Maurice Carême and which Poulenc wrote for the singer Denise Duval and her young song. The programme is completed by songs by Poldowski and Satie. Further details from the Pizza Express Live website.

Further ahead, Vann is joined by mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately for an evening of English song by Rebecca Clarke, Madeleine Dring, Herbert Howells, John Ireland, Elizabeth Maconchy and Vaughan Williams on   10 October 2023, and by tenor James Gilchrist on 7 November for songs by Ivor Gurney, Herbert Howells, Ivor Novello, Roger Quilter and Robert Schumann.

Doors open at 6.30pm with the show at 8.00pm and you can choose to simply go for the show or have a pizza beforehand. Details from the Pizza Express Live website.

Prom 64: An evening of compelling drama and wonderful music making, Dinis Sousa conducts Berlioz' Les Troyens at the BBC Proms

Berlioz: Les Troyens, Act 2 - Alice Coote, Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Dinis Sousa - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise)

Berlioz: Les Troyens; Alice Coote, Michael Spyres, Paula Murrihy, Lionel Lhote, Adèle Charvet, Alex Rosen, Ashley Riches, Beth Taylor, Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Dinis Sousa; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall

From Alice Coote's mesmerising entry as Cassandre to Paula Murrihy's moving final notes as Didon, this was an evening of compelling drama and wonderful music making, all brilliantly presided over by Dinis Sousa

This was a much anticipated performance that threatened to be overwhelmed by the non-musical events surrounding it. But in the event, Berlioz proved once again that he is impossible to upstage, and from the opening notes of the opera, it was clear that this was to be a thrilling and mesmerising event. There were, in fact, two major changes to the performers; on Sunday 3 September 2023, Dinis Sousa conducted the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in Berlioz' Les Troyens at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, with Alice Coote as Cassandre, Michael Spyres as Énée, Paula Murrihy as Didon, Lionel Lhote as Chorèbe, Adèle Charvet as Ascagne, Alex Rosen as Narbal, Ashley Riches as Panthée, and Beth Taylor as Anna. The semi-staged production was by Tess Gibbs with lighting by Rick Fisher.

This was not only a rare chance to hear Berlioz' masterpiece in London, but the first opportunity to hear it her performed on period instruments. John Eliot Gardiner conducted the work at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris in 2003 with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (on DVD on Opus Arte), which was the first time since the 19th century that the ensemble of saxhorns was used for the stage band, and this was repeated, to thrilling effect, in this performance (alas, no pictures of the saxhorn ensemble).

Berlioz: Les Troyens, Act 4 - Laurence Kilsby (Iopas), Alex Rosen (Narbal), Beth Taylor, Paula Murrihy, Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Dinis Sousa - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise)

Baroque rarity: Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre's Céphale et Procris at the Grimeborn Festival

Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre: Céphale et Procris
Ensemble OrQuesta

Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre: Céphale et Procris; Ensemble OrQuesta, Marcio da Silva; Grimeborn Festival Arcola Theatre
Reviewed by Florence Anna Maunders, 30th August 2023

Rare production of baroque opera from a female composer

Premiered in 1694, French composer Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre's Céphale et Procris was not a success and only ran for five or six performances before disappearing from the stage. The work was revived in the late 20th century and is, however, still rarely staged. Were it not for its milestone significance in being the first published French opera by a female composer, it has little to distinguish it musically from other post-Lully stage works of the late 1600's, with an almost stereotypical plot set in classical Athens.

Jacquet de La Guerre's Céphale et Procris was performed at Arcola Theatre's Grimeborn Festival (seen 30 August) by Marcio da Silva's Ensemble OrQuesta with Kieran White as Céphale and Poppy Shotts as Procris. The dynamic one-man force of nature that is Marcio da Silva has committed everything in his power towards the success of this production, directing, conducting, producing a new edition of the score, performing in the orchestra and even appearing in the small role of Arcas. It can't be denied that the production has some successful moments. Although the nature of the drama strived and ultimately failed to escape its 17th Century sensibilities, it still had plenty of elegance, style and moved through the many short musical episodes with a surefooted and rapid pace.

In case you missed it: August on Planet Hugill: Ruddigore, Fedora, Alice and the Sphinx

Wagner: Tannhäuser - Le Gateau Chocolat - Bayreuth Festival (Photo: Bayreuther Festspiele / Enrico Nawrath)

Welcome to our newsletter August on Planet Hugill, a month which saw the start of the BBC Proms, and the end of the Opera Holland Park season. Our correspondent Tony was in Bayreuth whilst we caught up with IF Opera in Bradford on Avon, and the London Song Festival included a remarkable Granville Bantok premiere.

Interviews include Catherine Larsen-Maguire the new music director of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland, Cameron Menzies, the artistic director of Northern Ireland Opera and John Wilkie who directed Giordano's Fedora for IF Opera.

Read more in our newsletter, August on Planet Hugill, via Mad Mimi. If you don't already subscribe then sign up, http://madmimi.com/signups/21101/join