Requiem A is much more influenced by Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Sigur Rós: composer Sven Helbig in his new Requiem A

Premiere of Sven Helbig's Requiem A at the Dresdner Kreuzkirche (Photo: Oliver Killig)

The composer Sven Helbig has been on my radar since at least 2013 when his disc Pocket Symphonies came out [see my review] and I saw him live in Hamburg at the Reeperbahn Festival that year [see my review]. More recently he was one of the three composers to debut the Three Continents cello concerto (created with composers Nico Muhly and Zhou Long) at the 2019 Dresden Music Festival [see my review]. And I have interviewed him twice, first back in 2016 talking about I Eat The Sun And Drink The Rain [see my interview] and again in 2022 to chat about his album, Skills [see my interview].

His most recent work, REQUIEM A was created to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, honouring the victims of war and sending a profound plea for peace. The work was premiered in February 2025 at the Dresdner Kreuzkirche, with Sven Helbig’s live electronics, bass Rene Pape, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Dresdner Kreuzchor conducted by Martin Lehmann. The work is being performed in Vienna at Vienna’s annual memorial event on 8 May 2025 in Heldenplatz at the heart of the city, with the Wiener Symphoniker and the Dresdner Kreuzchor, plus live visuals by Icelandic film artist Máni M. Sigfusson, adding an immersive and dynamic visual dimension to the experience.

Also on 8 May 2025, the work will be released on disc by Deutsche Grammophon and further ahead there will be a performance in the UK in October 2025. We are pleased to include a short interview with Sven exploring the work further.

Sven Helbig( Photo: Claudia Weingart)

Requiem – not the easiest subject to approach. How did you find your way into it?

The classical requiem moved me even before I had experienced deep grief or fully understood its religious content. Its compelling, unmistakable form and overwhelming intensity have always captivated me. Right now, I feel a profound sense of mourning for the ideals I grew up with—ideals of Humanism, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. It felt only natural to turn to the form of the requiem as a way to engage with that loss.

The title REQUIEM A is intriguing. What does the “A” stand for, and how did you come to choose this title?

The “A” in the title stands for the German words Atem (breath) and Anfang (beginning). Requiem A dwells at the edge of grief. It seeks a path back into life. “Beginning” is not meant here as a tabula rasa—that would imply forgetting. After deep, despairing sorrow, forgetting is not possible. Rather, this is a beginning that follows a process of intense, Jungian inner work.

Here, beginning is first a decision—a first note, a first sound, which means nothing yet, only the idea of something new. And this newness inevitably carries the past within it. This beginning starts with a breath.

I found a beautiful passage on the letter A in the Grimm’s Dictionary:

“A, the noblest, most original of all sounds, resounding fully from chest and throat, the sound a child first and most easily learns to produce—rightly placed at the head of the alphabet in most languages.”

Britten Sinfonia, Sinfonia Smith Square and the Choir of Merton College, Oxford, unite for a thrilling and exhilarating concert concluding with Olivier Messiaen’s Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum.

Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum - Britten Sinfonia, Sinfonia Smith Square, Nicholas Daniel - St George's Cathedral, Southwark (Photo: Britten Sinfonia)

Stravinsky: Symphonies of wind instruments; Poulenc: Timor et tremor, Vinea mea electa, Tristis est anima mea; Duruflé: Ubi caritas et amor; Stravinsky: Mass; Messiaen: Vocalise-etude, O sacrum convivium, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum. Choir of Merton College, Oxford, cond. Benjamin Nicholas; Britten Sinfonia, Sinfonia Smith Square, cond. Nicholas Daniel; St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Southwark, London
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 30 April 2025

This concert marked Nicholas Daniel’s final performance with the Britten Sinfonia as principal oboist, a post he has held since being one of the founding members of the orchestra in 1992. 

I think it’s fair to say that this concert featuring a performance of Olivier Messiaen’s monumental work Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum performed by the Britten Sinfonia, and Sinfonia Smith Square with music by Poulenc, Duruflé and Stravinsky with the Choir of Merton College, Oxford, could well be described as a ‘once-in-a-decade’ musical experience.  

For sure, a tremendous piece, Et exspecto is rarely performed nowadays because of the sheer scale of the musical forces required such as the huge sections of wind and brass (no strings) needed alongside an extraordinary range of percussion and ‘knocking’ instruments comprising three sets of cowbells, three tam-tams and six tuned gongs were part of the hardware as well as a set of tubular bells all safely in the strong and skilful hands of half-a-dozen percussionists aka the ‘Heavy Metal Boys’.  

Commissioned by the French Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux, to honour the Fallen of the First and Second World Wars, Messiaen conceived the work to be performed in large spaces such as churches and cathedrals and, indeed, in open-air performances. He found inspiration in writing the piece by the countryside of the Hautes-Alpes (a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of south-eastern France) and by the imposing images of Gothic and Romanesque churches. 

‘I feel that Et exspecto presents a rare opportunity for an unforgettable musical journey for audience and performers alike,’ enthused Nicholas Daniel, who conducted the work while marking his final performance with the Britten Sinfonia as principal oboist, a post he has held since being one of the founding members of the orchestra in 1992. 

He further added: ‘The unique soundscape is immense and powerful and bringing Et exspecto to life in the stunning surroundings of Augustus Pugin’s St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, beautifully designed in the Gothic style, is a lifetime’s ambition for me. I’m tremendously excited to share this experience with some of the great musicians in the UK including the exceptional and gifted young artists of Sinfonia Smith Square.’ 

A conversation between similarities & differences: Jonathan Sells on his disc of Bruckner & Gesualdo with the Monteverdi Choir

Jonathan Sells (Photo: Paul Marc Mitchell)

In April, the Monteverdi Choir released a disc of motets by Bruckner and Gesualdo conducted by Jonathan Sells on the Soli Deo Gloria label. Recorded live in concert in October last year, this release marks the Monteverdi Choir’s 60th birthday and the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth and represents Jonathan's first disc with the choir. Jonathan is perhaps best known as the artistic director of Solomon's Knot, the conductor-less ensemble known for singing everything from memory. As a singer, Jonathan was also a member of the Monteverdi Choir, but more recently has been conducting them and has now been appointed Choir Director.

The new disc interweaves sacred motets by Bruckner and Gesualdo in a programme that begins with Palestrina's Stabat Mater and includes Lotti's Crucifixus a 8. Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) whose motets are influenced by the Cecilian movement for church music reform, and Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613), whose sacred music is notoriously intense and chromatic, might not seem obvious disc fellows, but Jonathan makes a real case for the pairing.

For him, both composers' music triggers similar things and the programme became a conversation between similarities and differences. Amongst their similarities he includes that both wrote motets for the Catholic Church, using similar texts and the motets on the disc focus on the cross, the Crucifixion and Mary. Jonathan finds that both composers have what he calls an expressionist approach to the harmonic language.

An anti-depressant for all: introducing Soundabout, the UK's Learning Disability Music Charity

Joint Workshop with National Children’s Choir of Great Britain in April 2025

'absolute magic, the only side-effect is joy'

Until Thursday (1 May 2025) I had not really heard about the work of Soundabout the UK's Learning Disability Music Charity but at an event in the City of London, trustees, staff and other personnel from the charity along with parents of children who participate, told us about the charity and its work.

Soundabout is 28 years old, they began with just one musician and one teacher, yet during the 2023/24 year they held nearly 1000 sessions with over 3,300 attendees, over 1,500 learning disabled participants and 750 parents/carers. 

They believe that everyone should be able to access music and they use music, sound and silence to develop communication, increase self-expression, health and well-being. improve connectedness. They offer Soundabout Choirs, a national network bringing Learning Disabled people together to share their voices, along with Sounds Virtual which are online music-making sessions accessible live and on demand. There are other projects such as Sounds Together, face-to-face community music making sessions with small groups of Learning Disabled people where they design the project.

Key to this are the young people on their Graduate Emerging Leaders programme. Emerging Leaders is a one-year programme where Learning Disabled people (aged 14+) enhance their leadership skills and confidence while preparing to become the music practitioners of the future. After completing the one-year Emerging Leaders programme, they become a Graduate Emerging Leader with several pathways to follow, including voluntary and paid Work Experience.

Four of Graduate Emerging Leaders (plus a large soft toy) bravely stood up on Thursday and rather than talking about what they do, they demonstrated it, leading a room full of adults in a sing-along session session that began with the 'Hello song' and included 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' supplemented by an array of noise makers.

Anna, who joined a Soundabout Choir in 2020, described how taking part made her happy to make music with her friends. She takes place online, where they sing along or sign, and described being in Soundabout as fantastic and joyful.

We heard from two parents, a film of George with his mother, Davina, where she found that music had a transformative effect on him, 'music starting is like a magic wand creating a sparkle in him'. Whilst the mother of a girl with a complex brain injury, cerebral palsy and blindness, talked about how transformational discovering Soundabout's online resources was, 'completely and utterly life-changing', 'an anti-depressant for all', with the sessions helping her daughter feel seen, reducing her isolation.

You can find more about Soundabout from their website, and pleas do think about supporting them.

The sheer joy of performing together: Music in Secondary Schools Trust's 12th Annual Concert

MiSST Together Orchestra in rehearsal at the Barbican

The Music in Secondary Schools Trust's 12th Annual Concert; Barbican Centre
Reviewed 23 April 2025

Over 300 students from beginners to Grade 8 come together to celebrate 12 years of MiSST with students from 28 different schools across the country demonstrating the sheer joy of performing together

The Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST) was celebrating last month with its 12th Annual Concert at the Barbican on 23 April 2025. The organisation began 12 years ago with just one school and now 30 schools across the UK take part, with over 22,000 students reached through their Andrew Lloyd Webber programme.  The evening involved students from some 28 different schools across the country, ranging from those who only started playing last September to those who have reached Grade 8.

We began with the MiSST Symphony Orchestra, a large ensemble which rose to the challenge of playing movements five and six from Mahler's Symphony No. 3. The orchestra inevitably reflects the players, with a mass of flutes and a single bassoon, with section leaders from the adult teachers. The results were nonetheless impressive. 

Making connections between styles & eras: violinist Holly Harman & friends launch their album Ground with a mix of 17th century violin virtuosity, folk directness & sheer imagination

Holly Harman

Ground: Nicola Matteis, Heinrich Biber, Turlough O'Carolan/James Oswald, Marco Uccellini, Alice Zawadzki, Sid Goldsmith; Holly Harman, Carina Cosgrave, Oliver John Ruthven, Kristiina Watt, Sid Goldsmith; Stone Nest
Reviewed 30 April 2025

Launching her album, Ground, violinist Holly Harman & friends entrance with their mix of Baroque and folk, virtuosity and directness.

Violinist Holly Harman says of her new album, Ground on Penny Fiddle Records that the name might be seen "...as a reference to ground bass, those beguiling, repeating bass lines, present in so much of the music I love, whether it's baroque or folk music. It's also a reference to feeling, at times, ground down by life and industry. This has made me question head-on the expectations I feel the industry has of me, and the expectations I have of myself.... This album is my response to exploring these ideas, and consequently starting to feel a bit more grounded in myself." 

Harman launched the album with a pair of concerts and we caught the second, at Stone Nest on 30 April 2025. For the recital, Harman was joined by the instrumentalists from the recording, Carina Cosgrave (violone), Oliver John Ruthven (harpsichord), Kristiina Watt (theorbo) and Sid Goldsmith (cittern) for a repertoire that moved from Baroque violin to folk and contemporary, with music by Matteis, Biber, and Uccellini alongside Harman and Goldsmith's arrangement of a tune by Turlough O'Carolan as collected by James Oswald and some of Goldsmith's own folk melodies and a new piece by Alice Zawadzki.

Harman began unaccompanied with the Scots reel Balfour Road, a catchy and engaging way to draw us in. Then she followed this with the Passagio Rotto & Fantasia by the Italian composer Nicola Matteis (c1650-1713) who travelled to London in the 1670s and had success with his published music and this piece comes from a collection published in 1676. Harman explained that it was designed to sound improvised, and is began with rather rhapsodic passagework before becoming more strenuous including plenty of double stopping. 

Opinion: Physical music shops have an instrumental role to play for rising musicians

A Major Music Supplies

In this guest posting, Roger Foxcroft of A Major Music Supplies in Staffordshire talks about the important role that physical music shops have to play for rising musicians.

Roger Foxcroft

It’s no secret that the world is moving increasingly online, and music is no exception to that. From streaming services replacing vinyl and CDs to buying sheet music and instruments online, I’ve witnessed the shift first-hand.

At the same time, music education in schools is in decline. A lack of funding and an ever-increasing focus on STEM subjects over the arts is letting our young musicians down.

What we cannot do is let music shops disappear from our high streets. The next generation of musicians depends on them.

UK schools are playing a bum note

It’s widely recognised that musical education is beneficial for cognitive ability. Learning an instrument comes with an extensive rap sheet of benefits, including improved memory, engaging various brain areas simultaneously, and even improved social connection and healthier mental wellbeing.

Yet, according to Ofsted, the trajectory of music education in recent years has been one in which schools have reduced key stage three (11-14 years) provision, and trainee primary teachers have been offered shrinking amounts of music training. The uptake of music education in key stage five, the final two years of secondary school education where many pupils begin to plan their future careers, has fallen over the last ten years.

At our music shop, 40% of our business used to be with schools – that number has fallen significantly. In fact, a 2025 report by independent think tank Demos identified a £161.4m shortfall in the government’s budget for music education.

In Stoke-on-Trent, where A Major is based and where my children live, we struggled to find many schools which even offer a music GCSE. Feedback from schools in the area shows they’re having to cut entire subjects, including music, due to costs.

So, what does this mean for young musicians? Limited access to instruments and equipment, fewer classes and learning opportunities, and loss of specialised teachers.

Why do we need music shops?

Physical music shops are in no way a replacement for well-funded music education in schools. What they do offer young musicians is the opportunity to talk to experts, since most music shops are owned by musicians themselves.

They can give tailored advice, demos of instruments, and troubleshoot problems on the spot.

Musicians can gain hands-on experience with equipment that they may never have seen before. They can touch, play, and hear instruments. They can feel the weight of a guitar, test the keys of a piano, or hear how a saxophone sounds in real life.

Balancing the scales

For all these reasons, it’s vital that music stores maintain a physical presence on UK high streets. That said, having a solid digital presence isn’t just helpful, it’s a game changer for shop owners trying to fill the gaps and keep their business moving forward.

For example, road works outside the A Major store in 2024 caused a noticeable dip in sales. Without an online presence, events that limit in-person sales can be detrimental to the business.

There are clear benefits of an online touch point for customers. We stock over 10,000 SKUs, and offering these online too means the customer base immediately expands from people in your local area to musicians all over the country. That increase in sales supports the physical business financially.

Another benefit is that customers can more easily compare prices. It’s often presumed that online giants like Amazon sell products cheaper, so people don’t even bother making the trip to the shop. In our case, it’s most often not true. So, by listing our products online, customers can clearly compare our stock and prices with other sellers.

Aligning online and physical presence

Currently, our shop strikes about an 80/20 profit ratio, with 80% being in-person sales. It’s our goal to bring this to 50/50, so we can continue to offer a vital in-person service to customers, supporting young musicians and those seeking expert advice. Meanwhile, we can build an online income stream which maintains financial stability during quieter in-store periods.

Last year, we brought on DMAC Media, a digital marketing agency, to help with the shop’s website. We wanted customers to receive the same level of professionalism and expertise that A Major provides in our physical store and reach a wider audience than we’re able to in person.

In one year, our online sales increased by 17% and the value of each order increased by 12%. Sessions rocketed by 109%, meaning there’s more people browsing our products and aware of the business when they’re ready to make a purchase. When profit margins are minimal, this makes a huge impact on our ability to keep the physical store running.

Physical music shops are vital for the industry and for helping fill the gap left by the decline in music education in schools.

But they must move with the times and recognise the role played by having an online presence.

These are not competing business models; they are complementary approaches to achieving the ultimate goal - better access to musical education and instruments.

Roger Foxcroft

Secret rendezvous and Queens in disguise: Pegasus Opera stage Ethel Smyth's Fête galante and Philip Hagemann's The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

Ethel Smyth wrote six operas of which the best-known is The Wreckers though it is hardly common currency. But what about the others, after all she wrote three more after The Wreckers. The Boatswains Mate gets performed, partly because it is a smaller scale comedy though I have seen few productions using Smyth's full orchestration. Fête galante and Entente Cordiale both from the 1920s remain simply names on lists.

Fête galante was recorded by Odaline de la Martinez and Lontano on Retrospect Opera in 2019 [see my review] and the work certainly impressed. Now there is a chance to experience it live. Odaline de la Martinez will be conducting Pegasus Opera in a double bill at the Royal College of Music's Britten Theatre from 25 to 27 July 2025 featuring Smyth's Fête galante and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets by American composer, Philip Hagemann. The operas will be directed by Femi Elufowoju Jr.

Fête Galante, features a libretto by Smyth and Edward Shanks, based on Maurice Baring’s 1909 short story. Philip Hagemann's The Dark Lady of the Sonnets, to his own libretto is based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1910 short story about William Shakespeare stumbling into an accidental meeting with Queen Elizabeth I.

Based in South London, Pegasus Opera provides opportunities for classical artists of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage and promotes opera amongst people of all ages in underserved and culturally diverse communities. Alison Buchanan who leads the organisation and features in this productions is the only Black female Artistic Director of an Opera Company in the UK and Europe. In 2023 and 2024 Pegasus performed to over 3000 people in opera productions, concerts and public events and delivered workshops to 1800 children and young people across the UK.

Full details from the company's website.

Glasshouse in Gateshead announces its 2025/2026 season: from Haydn & Mozart to Kurtág, Gubaidulina & Berio

Royal Northern Sinfonia at the Glasshouse

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music has announced its 2025/26 season. The Royal Northern Sinfonia form a large component of the season, the orchestra celebrating both Dinis Sousa's continuation as artistic leader until 2030 and violinist Maria Włoszczowska's role as artistic partner.

Sousa's concerts with the Royal Northern Sinfonia include working with soprano Louise Alder in Mozart, baritone Bryn Terfel in Schubert (orchestrated songs) and pianists Imogen Cooper and Paul Lewis in Mozart piano concertos. There is also music by György Kurtág and Sofia Gubaidulina as well as a smaller scale event in Sage Two celebrating Luciano Berio. And also in Sage Two, Maria Włoszczowska directs reduced versions of Strauss' Metamorphosen and Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with soprano Hilary Cronin.

Other events include Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale directed by Live Theatre’s Artistic Director Jack McNamara and a collaboration with guitarist Sean Shibe featuring Cassandra Miller’s Chanter. Nil Venditti, principal guest conductor, returns for two concerts including Beethoven and Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto with Maria Włoszczowska.

Haydn runs through the season, Giovanni Antonini conducts the ‘London’ Symphony and Piano Concerto No. 11 with Kristian Bezuidenhout. Dinis Sousa conducts The Creation , and Maria Włoszczowska closes her own season of chamber-scale concerts with Haydn’s Farewell Symphony.

John Wilson (who was born and brought pup in Gateshead) and his Sinfonia of London join the Glasshouse as artistic partners with regular concerts featuring Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Bliss and Delius plus Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Alexandre Kantorow.

Visiting orchestras include: The Hallé under Kahchun Wong; London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Elim Chan with cellist Nicolas Altstaedt; and Vasily Petrenko with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Tom Borrow for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra return with Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 under Domingo Hindoyan.

RNS Moves – Royal Northern Sinfonia’s sister inclusive ensemble – brings its ground-breaking music-making to new audiences this season, making debut appearances at the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester) and King’s Place (London)

Full details from the Glasshouse's website.

Something of a revelation: forgotten songs by Robert Gund & William Grosz receive ardent championship from Christian Immler & Helmut Deutsch

Be Still My Heart: songs by Robert Gund and William Grosz; Christian Immler, Helmut Deutsch; Alpha Classics
Reviewed 29 April 2025

Two Vienna-based late-Romantic composers whose songs have disappeared from sight on a disc where the ardent championship of Christian Immler and Helmut Deutsch ensure that we recognise the quality and imagination present. Highly recommended and something of a revelation

As pianist Helmut Deutsch and bass-baritone Christian Immler write in the introductory note to their new album, Be Still My Heart on Alpha Classics, it is difficult to understand why Swiss-born, Vienna-based composer Robert Gund (originally Gound) should be so comprehensively unknown. On this album, Immler and Deutsch perform a wide selection of Gund's songs alongside those of his younger contemporary William Grosz.

Robert Gund belonged to Brahms’s inner circle – they frequently played through the Liebesliederwalzer together. He was also close to Mahler, became the archivist of the Tonkünstlerverein association founded by Schoenberg, and at Vienna’s illustrious Musikverein he conducted a prizewinning symphony he had composed, and appeared as soloist in his own Piano Concerto. He wrote and published a significant number of songs, and those on this disc stretch from the 1890s through to 1922. His selection of poets seems to veer towards the established and historical, the songs on the disc include Lenau, Kerner, Mörike, Brentano, Herman Hesse, Uhland, Rilke, and Eichendorff.

In terms of style, the young Richard Strauss (born the year before Gund), seems to have been inclined to push the boundaries more, but you can sense Gund exploring the hinterland of late Romanticism. His songs are all well-made, in effect they form a logical extension to the 19th-century Austro-German lied tradition, and perhaps after 1918 it was that very traditional well-made quality which damned them, feeling a little too backward looking in the world of serialism and jazz.

New song cycles inspired by 10th-century Persian poetry, the Magdalene Laundries & Baba Yaga as storytelling in song takes centre stage at this year's Oxford International Song Festival

Konstantin Krimmel (Photo: Guido Werner)

This year's Oxford International Song Festival takes as its theme Stories in Song and from 10 to 25 October 2025, artistic director Sholto Kynoch and his team are presenting 67 events where audiences can explore stories in many different forms, from fairytales and ballads to the human and artistic relationships behind the songs, to the developing stories of national song traditions. Lunchtime, rush-hour and late-night concerts and study events, complemented by choral music, dance, chamber works, and talks.

The festival opens and closes with a pair of great Schubert baritones. Benjamin Appl and pianist Sholto Kynoch open things with an all-Schubert, then Kontantin Krimmel and pianist Ammiel Bushaketiz bring things to a conclusion with Totentanz and evening of Loewe, Wolf and Schubert. But that isn't quite the end, soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou and pianist Keval Shah present one last last-night concert, Danse Macabre with music from Schubert, Sibelius, Schumann, Clarke, Zemnlinsky, Riadis, Kalomiris and of course, Saint-Saens.

As part of an evening exploring the perfumed notion the Romantic poets and composers had of Persian culture, soprano Soraya Mafi and pianist Ian Tindale present music by Schubert, Schumann and Wolf alongside the world premiere of Emily Hazrati's Book of Queens inspired by the 10th-century epic poem by Persian poet Ferdowsi. But Mafi's heritage mixes Iranian and Irish, so the evening also includes songs from Stanford and Britten to Bax and Ina Boyle. Earlier the same day, mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean and pianist Deirdre Brenner explore a different vein of Irish heritage with The Magdalene Songs, a new cycle inspired by the Magdalene Laundries with music by prominent female Irish composers including Elaine Agnew, Rhona Clarke, Eleaine Loebenstein and Deirdre McKay. And what promises to be an amazing day, begins with tenor Hugo Brady and pianist Mark Rogers in the poetry of Thomas Moore set by a range of 19th and 20th century composers.

The previous day at the festival is also a day to note. It closes with Baba Yaga: Songs and Dances of Death, an evening devised by soprano Rowan Hellier who with Sholto Kynoch is joined by dancers Ana Dordevic and Carola Schwab with choreography by Andreas Heise in Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, Music by Tcherepnin, Dvorak, Janacek, Kapralova, Jake Heggie, Tori Amos and the premiere of Elena Langer's Nice Weather for Wtiches. The day begins with tenor Oliver Johnston and pianist Natalie Burch in two substantial cycles by Shostakovich and Britten along with Mahler and more Elena Langer. At lunchtime, speaker Philip Ross Bullock, soprano Katy Thomson and pianist Rustam Khanmurzin explore Shostakovich's life in song, and there is story telling about Baba Yaga herself at the Crick Crack Club.

Schubert is, of course, central to the festival. After Benjamin Appl opens things, there is bass-baritone Stephane Loges and pianist Libby Burgess in 12 songs from Winterreise alongside music from across the globe, whilst the Erlkings (guitar/baritone, cello, tuba, percussion/vibraphone) present an extraordinary new version of Winterreise. The Schubert weekend includes an exploration of Schubert in 1825, a Schubertiade with eight young singers, soprano Nikola Hillebrand and pianist Julius Drake, baritone Thomas Oliemans and pianist Paolo Giacometti in Schwanengesang, and Roderick Williams and the Carducci String Quartet in Williams' a new version Die schöne Müllerin.

There is more music for string quartet as mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston is joined by the Consone Quartet for Bill Thorp's arrangement of Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben along with songs by both Mendelssohns.

Other major moments include soprano Juliane Banse and pianist Daniel Heide in fin de siecle Vienna with Mahler, Berg and Strauss, baritone Christian Immler and pianist Anne Le Bozec in Wolf's Mörike Lieder, and baritone Stephane Degout and pianist Cedric Tiberghien in Schumann's Liederkreis Op. 39. Sir John Tomlinson appears at the Festival for the first time, giving a performance of John Casken’s award-winning The Shackled King.

There is a day of Spanish and Latin American songs including the Uruguayan-Spanish tenor Santiago Sanchéz, two study events, a recital of Catalan song, ‘Cubaroque’ with tenor Nicholas Mulroy and lutenists Elizabeth Kenny and Toby Carr, and a late-night Tango performance with Bandoneon virtuoso Victor Villena. 

The Erlkings (Photo; Peak Motion Films)

Full details from the festival website. 

A genre finding its way: Maurice Greene's Jephtha reveals different English oratorio before Handel consolidate the form

Maurice Greene: Jephtha; Andrew Staples, Mary Bevan, Michael Mofidian, Jeremy Budd, Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn; CHANDOS
Reviewed 28 April 2025

Written well before Handel really welded oratorio in his own form of music drama, Maurice Greene's early experiment combines graceful music with a certain static element in the drama but with some lovely moments and engaging touches

Maurice Greene is one of those composers who, though central to musical life in early 18th century London, has been relegated to the side-lines, his name popping up on the fringes of Handelian history. Eleven years younger than Handel, by the 1730s he was organist of St Paul’s Cathedral, and Organist and Composer to the Chapel Royal, he was also, from that year, nominal Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge and, from 1735, Master of the King’s Music, at which point he held all the major musical appointments in the land. As Master of the King's Music he succeeded John Eccles and was himself succeeded by William Boyce (Greene's pupil), whilst as organist of the Chapel Royal he succeeded William Croft.

His output is mainly in sacred music which is all the more intriguing when he moved into oratorio, at a time when Handel was not entirely committed to the new genre. The new recording from Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company on Chandos is Maurice Greene's 1737 oratorio, Jephtha with Andrew Staples as Jephtha, Mary Bevan as his daughter, Michael Mofidian and Jeremy Budd as the elders.

In 1732 and 1733, Handel produced in relatively quick succession the oratorios Esther, Deborah and Athalia, none of them in the first rank of Handelian oratorio. Then he returned to opera. Not until 1739 did he create another oratorio, Saul but this time the form had settled in his mind and Saul is an undoubted masterpiece, the first of many. Maurice Greene seems to have been heartened by Handel's example and in 1732 he produced his first, short oratorio, The Song of Deborah and Barak. He further extended his range in 1734 with the 'dramatic pastoral' Florimel first performed at the Bishop of Winchester's palace in Farnham with a libretto by the Bishop's son, John Hoadley (also a clergyman). 

In 1737, Hoadly and Greene would write Jephtha, a full scale oratorio on the Biblical subject. It was premiered at a private music society, the Apollo Academy and little is known about its first performance.  A libretto survives with the names of the first performers - men from the choirs of St Paul's and the Chapel Royal, plus Isabella Lampe, wife of Frederick Lampe (Handel's bassoonist and composer of The Dragon of Wantley) and younger sister of Handel's soprano Cecilia Young. Only one manuscript survives, with annotations that hint at subsequent performances.

Sir Nicholas Kenyon to give the inaugural Purcell Lecture at Stationers Hall presented by the Musicians' Company, and the Stationers and Newspapermakers' Company

Stationers Hall

In 1683, a group of musicians and music lovers got together as the Musical Society of London and organised a St Cecilia's Day concert (22 November) for which Henry Purcell wrote Welcome to all the Pleasures. In 1692 he wrote his ode Hail! Bright Cecilia for the same occasion, when it was premiered at the Stationers Hall (which was rebuilt in 1670 following the Fire of London).

In celebration of this, the Musicians' Company, and the Stationers and Newspapermakers' Company are coming together for the inaugural Purcell Lecture which takes place at the Stationers' Hall on Monday 12 May 2025.

The lecture, Henry Purcell: an Orpheus Britannicus for today, is being given by the distinguished writer, director and broadcaster Sir Nicholas Kenyon. There will also be music during the evening, provided by tenor Rory Carver, who performed the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Brighton Early Music Festival while still a student at the Royal College of Music, and guitarist and theorbo player Jonatan Bougt. Jonatan Bougt studied at the Royal College of Music as an RCM Scholar supported by the Musician’s Company Lambert Studentship. 

Full details from the Stationer's Company website.

Immersive Beethoven at Conway Hall: all the major chamber works with piano from Daniel Tong, Sara Trickey and Robin Michael

1803 portrait of Beethoven by Christian Horneman

This weekend, 3 and 4 May 2025, Conway hall is having an immersive event giving us the opportunity to hear hear all of Beethoven’s major chamber works with piano – violin sonatas, cello sonatas and piano trios – across six concerts. The performers are pianist Daniel Tong (pianist in the London Bridge Trio and director of the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival), violinist Sara Trickey (member of the Rosetti Ensemble) and cellist Robin Michael (principal cellist in Les Siecles and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique), and they will be joined by musicologist and broadcaster Richard Wigmore who will be giving illustrated lectures on both days.

The first day takes us from the Piano Trios Op. 1 to the Ghost Trio, along with the Cello Sonatas Op. 5, the Violin Sonatas Op. 12 and the Spring Sonata. The second day picks up with the second Piano Trio Op. 70 and ends with the Archduke Trio, along with the Violin Sonatas Op. 30 and Op. 96, and the Cello Sonatas Op. 69 and Op. 102.

Beethoven was a brilliant pianist as well as a composer, and performed all of his piano parts himself until deafness prevented him from playing in public for the last part of his career. Therefore, through these works, an insight is glimpsed into Beethoven’s unique and ground-breaking genius as it emerged through his chosen instrument and his own fingers at the keyboard. 

What better way to spend a Bank Holiday weekend!

Full details from the Conway Hall website.

More than novelty value: at Conway Hall, the Zoffany Ensemble explores two substantial 19th century French works for nine instruments

Louise Farrenc in 1835

Michael Haydn: Divertimento in G, Louise Farrenc: Nonet in E flat, George Onslow: Nonet in A minor; Zoffany Ensemble - Manon Derome, violin, Rachel Roberts, viola, Anthony Pleeth, cello, Lynda Houghton, bass, Karen Jones, flute, Olivier Stankiewicz, oboe, Anthony Pike, clarinet, Andrea de Flammineis, bassoon, Roger Montgomery, horn; Conway Hall Sunday Concerts
Reviewed 27 April 2025

Two French works for nine players, both from the late 1840s  yet by two very different composers in a concert that imaginatively mines music that has been unfairly neglected

Nine members of the Zoffany Ensemble, leader Manon Derome, treated us to a generous helping of musical rarities at Conway Hall Sunday Concerts on 27 April 2025. The programme paired two French nonets, both written in the late 1840s, by Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) and George Onslow (1784-1853), and prefixed these with Michael Haydn's Divertimento in G. Beforehand, I gave a pre-concert talk, Music Amongst Friends introducing some of the background to the works.

Michael Haydn's Divertimento in G, from 1785, is one of some 20 or so occasional works that he produced for the Archbishop of Salzburg in whose court he worked. Written for the intriguing mix of violin, viola, flute and horn the work consisted of eight short movements, each keeping to the theme of dance. The whole felt like a charming dance suite, very suited to background music for one of the Archbishop's banquets. Graceful and well mannered, the music made effective use of the mixture of instrumental colours and was melodically charming. 

This was a substantial programme, both the nonets are significant works and the Haydn felt a little to extended for its role as a programme opener. That the players had a lot of ground to cover was suggested by some moments of untidiness in faster movements, and there were moments of untidiness elsewhere in what was undoubtedly an ambitious programme.

Creating a fun day out as well as broadening the mind: Jack Bazalgette on his first Cheltenham Music Festival as artistic director

Jack Bazalgette (Photo: Ehimetalor Unuabona)

Jack Bazalgette is perhaps best known as the co-founder and director of through the noise, which since 2020 has programmed more than 130 classical music concerts in non-traditional venues using an innovative crowd-funding model to widen audience appeal [see my review of their noisenight at the 2024 Leeds Lieder Festival]. 

Last year, Jack was appointed as artistic director of the Cheltenham Music Festival and the 2025 festival, which runs from 4 to 12 July, is the first under his stewardship. This year, not only is the festival celebrating its 80th birthday, but also the 150th birthday of local son, Gustav Holst.

When I ask Jack what, for him are the highlights of this year's festival he charmingly demurs but highlights the festival's final concert on 12 July when the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), conductor Gergely Madaras is playing a programme which reflects the festival's early years. For Jack this is important, he points out that so many great pieces were commissioned by or written for the festival and he was keen to highlight these. The 12 July concert will feature Malcolm Arnold's Symphony No. 5 which premiered at Cheltenham in 1961 and which Jack sees is a masterpiece that he seeks to reclaim for the festival. The whole programme has these sorts of links, there is Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, which rather amazingly premiered at the first festival in 1945, a new piece by Anna Semple which has been commissioned specially, and Elgar's Enigma Variations which were in that first ever concert.

From RVW's Sancta Civitas & Bliss' The Beatitudes to Reich's The Desert Music & Birtwistle's Earth Dances, plus 19 premieres: the BBC Proms 2025

This years BBC Proms are the first under the stewardship of Sam Jackson, controller of BBC Radio 3 who took over the Proms this year from David Pickard. Running from 18 July to 13 September, the festival features 72 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and 14 at venues around the UK.

The First Night opens with the Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood, by Sir Arthur Bliss, who died fifty years ago this year. Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in an evening that also include Ralph Vaughan Williams' rarely performed Sancta Civitas which was completed 100 years ago, and the premiere of Errollyn Wallen's The Elements, a BBC commission.

Bliss anniversary celebrations during the season also include his cantata The Beatitudes, premiered in Coventry at the same time as Britten's War Requiem and rather overshadowed by that work. The Beatitudes is well worth exploring and I look forward to hearing the work with Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers in a programme that also includes Ruth Gipps' Death on a Pale Horse.

Major anniversaries include Shostakovich who also died fifty years ago.

Music amongst friends: my preconcert talk at Conway Hall

On Sunday 27 April 2025, the Zoffany Ensemble will be presenting a fascinating programme at Conway Hall for their Sunday concerts series at 6.30pm. The ensemble will be performing two 19th century nonets, by Louise Farrenc and George(s) Onslow. 

Before the concert, at 5.30pm, I will be presenting the pre-concert talk, Music amongst friends, (I regretfully abandoned the idea of 'No, No Nonet' as a title) exploring the background to the two works and looking at the development of the fondness for larger-scale chamber music, as well as tracing a line from Farrenc and Onslow to their teacher Anton Reicha and back to Louis Spohr whose nonet was the first such work to bear that name.

Full details from the Conway Hall website.

Fierce virtuosity and sheer delight: oboist Olivier Stankiewicz, soprano Lucy Crowe, violinist Maria Włoszczowska & friends in a captivating evening of Bach, Zelenka, Handel, Vivaldi

Bach: Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen - Olivier Stankiewicz, Lucy Crowe, ensemble led by Maria Włoszczowska - Wigmore Hall (taken from live stream)

Bach: arias from Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen and Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, Concerto in G minor, Double Concerto in C minor, Zelenka: Sonata No. 3, Vivaldi: Oboe Concerto in F, Handel: arias from Amadigi di Gaula, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Agrippina; Olivier Stankiewicz, Lucy Crowe, ensemble led by Maria Włoszczowska; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 22 April 2024

An evening of Baroque music for voice and oboe; a completely captivating evening of virtuosity and bravura combining with real delight at performing together

Olivier Stankiewicz, principal oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra, and soprano Lucy Crowe joined forces at Wigmore Hall last night (22 April 2025) for a completely entrancing evening of Baroque music focusing on oboe and soprano. Joined by an ensemble led by violinist Maria Włoszczowska, leader of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, they performed arias from Bach's cantatas Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen BWV32 and Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten BWV202, plus the reconstructed Oboe Concerto in G minor BWV1056R and Double Concerto in C minor BWV1060R, Zelenka's Sonata No. 3 in B flat for violin, oboe, bassoon and basso continuo ZWV181, Vivaldi's Oboe Concerto in F RV457 and arias from Handel's Amadigi di Gaula, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Agrippina.

We began with the aria 'Liebster Jesu' from Bach's cantata Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, written for the First Sunday after Epiphany in 1726. Stankiewicz' oboe unwound a long, elegant chromatic line over crisp strings before being joined by Crowe, the two trading phrases, her clear plangent tone contrasting with his darker yet elegant sound, creating something magical. The oboe got the last word with a lovely postlude.

Samling Academy Opera's performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at The Fire Station, Sunderland

Singers from the North East are joined by Dunedin Consort on period instruments and their director John Butt for Samling Academy Opera's performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at The Fire Station, Sunderland on 17 and 19 July 2025.

The opera will be directed by Miranda Wright who was on the Samling Artist Programme in 1999 and teaches at the Royal College of Music, Newcastle University and Durham University.

Dido is sung by Tia Radix-Callixte from Gateshead who takes part in Roderick Williams' public masterclass at Smith Square Hall on 4 June at the fundraiser for Pegasus Opera's Mentoring Programme. Aeneas is Max Robbins with Arielle Loewinger, Laura Postlethwaite, and Davina Halford-Macleod. Over half the cast joined Samling Academy from state schools in North East England.

Founded in 1996, the Samling Institute helps young people who live or study in the North-East to find and develop their talent for classical singing through Samling Academy. Singers aged 14–21 explore all aspects of classical singing and develop wider performance skills, led by expert vocal coaches, song pianists, actors and movement specialists. Samling Academy Opera draws on the expertise of the professional Samling Artist Programme, with Samling Artists acting as directors, musical directors and accompanists. A Samling Artist singer is often included in the cast, to mentor and inspire the younger singers. 

Full details from the Samling website.