We had no idea that this Lenten music would become so poignant in today’s turbulent world - Tom Herring of SANSARA reflects on music for St John’s Smith Square’s Easter Festival

SANSARA (Photo Theo Williams)

In the guest posting, Tom Herring of SANSARA reflects on how music programmed for St John’s Smith Square’s Easter Festival resonates in today’s turbulent world, tormented by disease and destruction

In 2020, SANSARA was fortunate to record Marco Galvani’s setting of the Lamentations during a brief window between lockdowns. At the time, lines such as ‘How desolate lies the city that was so full of people’ took on new meaning in the context of the pandemic, capturing the reality of people’s experiences all over the world.

Today, Jeremiah’s Lament for the lost city of Jerusalem resonates anew, especially as we enter Holy Week with a series of concerts at St John’s Smith Square’s Easter Festival. In addition to three late-night, candlelit services exploring Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responses, we have teamed up with Fretwork for a programme of ancient and modern works - Arvo Pärt and Robert White.

For centuries, composers have been inspired by the Passiontide story to write some of their most striking and heart-wrenching music. Fuelled by great emotional intensity and universal themes, the choral music of Holy Week invites engaged reflection on our own personal path as well as wider society’s trajectory. Watching the nightly news of suffering and destruction on the edge of Europe, this music speaks to us with a vivid immediacy, particularly in the context of Arvo Pärt’s life journey.

Arvo Pärt was born in 1935 in Estonia, then part of the USSR. He started composing in the late 50s, writing music for children, films, documentaries, puppets and animations.This culminated in Credo (1968), a controversial work in the Soviet Union, which resulted in a creative block for 8 years. In that time, Pärt rejected conventional compositional techniques and turned his attention to the music of earlier periods: Gregorian chant and renaissance polyphony.

In 1972, he joined the Russian Orthodox church and his profound religious belief has guided everything he has written since.  One of his most often-performed works has become Fratres, written without specific instrumentation in 1977.

In 1980, Pärt moved to Vienna, and then to West Berlin before returning to Estonia in 2010. In 2006-7, he dedicated all his performances to the murdered human rights activist and journalist Anna Politkovskaya. His 4th Symphony is dedicated to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and to ‘all those who are imprisoned without rights in Russia’. His music is the most performed of any contemporary composer.

Part’s Stabat Mater was originally composed in 1985 for three voices and three instruments - violin, viola and ‘cello. Richard Boothby has created an arrangement of the Stabat Mater for viols which was recently approved by the composer, who commented:

“Music must exist in and of itself…the mystery must be present, independent of any particular instrument…the highest value of music lies beyond its mere tone colour.”

It is fascinating performing Arvo Pärt’s music alongside the Lamentations of Robert White who was born in 1538. They represent one of the high points of English vocal music of the time. The Lamentations of Jeremiah have become associated with Lent, though they are not directly related to the Easter story.

As with the Galvani mentioned above, White’s text laments the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Each Chapter has 22 verses, corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The siege of Jerusalem, between 589 and 587 BCE, was the decisive event in the Jewish-Babylonian war, in which the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem. The city fell after an 18-month siege and the Babylonians pillaged and destroyed the city and burned the First Temple. After the fall of Jerusalem, the Judeans were exiled to Babylon and Judea was annexed as a Babylonian province.

Fretwork

At the time of programming these concerts with Fretwork, we had no idea that this Lenten music would become so poignant in today’s turbulent world.   

Further information from the St John's Smith Square website.

Historical stagecraft & modern sensibilities: a powerful Tamerlano from Cambridge Handel Opera Company

Handel: Tamerlano - James Laing, Leila Zanette, Christopher Turner, Caroline Taylor - Cambridge Handel Opera Company (Photo: Jean-Luc Benazet)

Handel: Tamerlano - James Laing, Christopher Turner, Thalie Knights, Caroline Taylor, Leila Zanette, director: Dionysios Kyropoulos, conductor Julian Perkins; Cambridge Handel Opera Company at The Leys
9 April 2022 (★★★★½)

Cambridge Handel Opera Company (CHOC) debuted in 2018 with Handel's Rodelinda (but the company inherited the mantle of Cambridge Handel Opera Group which ran from 1985 to 2013). CHOC's follow up production was intended to be Handel's Tamerlano in 2020, but events got in the way and the production finally debuted last week at the Great Hall, The Leys, Cambridge (seen 9 April 2022). The opera was directed by Dionysios Kyropoulos, conducted by Julian Perkins (CHOC's artistic director) and designed by Rachel Szmukler. James Laing was Tamerlano and Christopher Turner was Bajazet with Caroline Taylor as Asteria, Thalie Knights as Andronico, Leila Zanette as Irene and Jolyon Loy as Leone.

Tamerlano might be a great masterpiece but it remains something of a challenge for 21st century performance conventions and for modern audiences - the sheer concentration of the plot, five people confined together exploring their mutual interactions, the length of the arias and the time it takes to work things through. CHOC's solution was to approach Dionysios Kyropoulos. 

He is Professor of Historical Stagecraft at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama [see my interview] and is very interested in combining historical stagecraft with modern performance, in fact one of his descriptions of his course at the Guildhall is acting for singers. Certainly there was nothing self-consciously historical about the production. The eclectic costumes were loosely 20th century, the set was simply black curtains with a fallen column (used variously as a place of reclining and a throne). The acting style was certainly well away from the idea of singers standing and striking a pose. Instead, there was a repertoire of gestures and poses worked into the drama and used according to rhetorical principles. Kyropoulos did not have the luxury of a long rehearsal period (though there were some workshops beforehand) and it was clear that some singers were more accustomed to using the repertoire of gestures and poses than others. But there was a vivid sense of engagement to the performance, with the ensemble scenes having a sense of active drama as those listening responded in a way that drew them (and us) into the drama.

Handel: Tamerlano - Thalie Knights, James Laing- Cambridge Handel Opera Company (Photo: Jean-Luc Benazet)

There was no extraneous business, no sense of the audience needing to be entertained during the long arias, and certainly a solution to the problem of what to do with the singers' hands. In this production, the throne room scene (the longest sequence of secco recitative that Handel wrote) was positively gripping throughout.

Of course, none of this would work without strong performances and CHOC's cast was strong and well balanced.

The Third Orchestra: how Peter Wiegold and Club Inégales are creating an orchestra with a diverse and inclusive approach that is embedded in the very musical practices.

Peter Wiegold and The Third Orchestra

Pre-pandemic, one of the highlights of the season would be going to a small basement club near Euston Station when Club Inégales, led by Peter Wiegold, took place. There, the resident ensemble Notes Inégales would be joined by a guest artist or two - there would be Indian food, drink and music of an undefinable kind. The line up of Notes Inégales was flexible, it might include one or two Japanese musicians, perhaps and tabla player, perhaps someone Scandinavian along with classically trained musicians and those who came from a jazz background. All were intellectually and musically curious, and would make music together in a semi-improvisatory fashion.

Even before lockdown, Peter and Club Inégales had decided to expand the concept and create The Third Orchestra which had a spectacular residency at the Barbican. Now, they have launched The Third Foundation to support the orchestra, with a Crowd Funding page and a launch concert at Grand Junction on 5 May 2022.

So, what is The Third Orchestra. Well, it will be "an inclusive, multi-cultural orchestra which sets out to dissolve boundaries between cultures and build acoustic bridges between style and genre. With a unique methodology, the sound of the orchestra is shaped by each musicians' vibrant background, embodying a futuristic step within contemporary music and live performance." Now, that statement (from the Crowd Funding page) has an element of airy-fairy media-speak about it, except that I know from personal experience that Peter and his musicians can produce truly remarkable, vibrant, genre-bending music.

There are other admirable things about the orchestra too, it is gender balanced, 50% Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, with members aged 20-72. Perhaps most importantly, the diversity extends to the genres as well. We are not talking about ethnically diverse classical musicians, but those from a variety of cultural/musical backgrounds.  Peter says of their approach "I like the think that we have a diverse and inclusive approach that is embedded, not just in our membership, but in the very musical practices – which allow for the chemistry of difference, as much as ‘fusion’."

This means that they mix all kinds of personal and lineage experiences. A classical violinist also is involved in collaborations with Norwegian folk musicians (Max Baillie) or an Indian musician who started with a traditional tabla upbringing now with a drum and bass duo and writing for traditional brass band! (Shri Sriram).

In the present world with its fractured politics and divergent cultures, such examples are important. The day after they made the video on the Crowd Funder page, the life of Alina, the ensemble's harpist changed radically. She is from the Ukraine and has elderly parents there, and relatives who are taking part in the fighting. 

You can support The Third Foundation via its Crowd Funder page (but hurry, there are just two days left), and further details of their concert from the Grand Junction webpage.

Alcina and Arminio to Kurt Cobain and Kaija Saariaho to Werther and Wozzeck, the Royal Opera House's new season

The Royal Opera has announced plans for its 2022/23 season, with 11 new productions split between the main stage and the Linbury. New main stage productions will be Handel's Alcina, Dvorak's Rusalka, Verdi's Aida and Il trovatore, Berg's Wozzeck and the UK premiere of Kaija Saariaho's Innocence. Whilst the Linbury programme includes Handel's Arminio with cast and creative team from the Jette Parker Young Artists, Britten's Rape of Lucretia as a collaboration between the Jette Parker Young Artists and the Britten Pears Young Artists Programme. Also at the Linbury, Oliver Leith's Last Days based on the Gus Van Sant film (loosely based on the final days of Kurt Cobain), Brian Irvine's Least Like the Other from Irish National Opera.

The operas for main stage new productions are a brave (or foolhardy) selection, as previous productions have had a strange whiff of the elephants' graveyard about them, as many of the previous production at Covent Garden failed to catch fire. 

Handel's Alcina was performed back in 1962 with Joan Sutherland in a production by Zeffirelli that solved the opera seria problem by turning it into a concert. Stephen Wadsworth's 1992 production featured another fine Australian soprano in the title role, Yvonne Kenny, a set that led one critic to comment that Alcina's island looked as if it had been sprayed with Agent Orange, and production concept devoid of magic. This time Richard Jones is in charge of the production and we are intrigued. Though, judging by his production of Rodelinda at ENO [see my review], his approach to Handelian opera seria might not be for everyone and with his production of La Boheme revived in 2022/23 and his new production of Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila forthcoming you worry that his style might be being somewhat over exposed. A terrific cast includes Lisette Oropesa, Emily d'Angelo, Mary Bevan and Rupert Charlesworth, conducted by Christian Curnyn.

Amazingly, the Royal Opera's first production of Dvorak's Rusalka only came in 2012. This was a fairly unlovely modernisation of the piece, deriving from a 2008 Salzburg Festival production. The new production has been entrusted to Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee, and again we promised a contemporary re-imagining. But it is conducted by Semyon Bychkov, with a terrific cast including Asmik Grigorian, Sarah Connolly, David Butt Philip, Matthew Rose and Emma Bell.

Neither Verdi's Aida nor Il Trovatore have achieved long-running productions at Covent Garden and it would be wearisome to list the failures and almost-rans. The new Aida is directed by Robert Carsen, but it has musical attractions with a strong double cast and conducted by Mark Elder. Il Trovatore is being directed by Adele Thomas whose previous successes here have been in Baroque opera (Handel's Berenice in 2019 and the recent production of Vivaldi's Bajazet), so it will be interesting to see what her take on this warhorse is. 

With Wozzeck we are back on safer ground. The Royal Opera has a strong track-record in this opera, dating back to 1952 (and I was lucky enough to see the 1984 production by Willy Decker using Caspar Neher's original 1952 costumes and sets, and the new production is being entrusted to Deborah Warner, with Christian Gerhaher in the title role.

Main stage revivals don't really feature any novelties and many are bread-and-butter revivals, but there is plenty of interesting casting. Lise Davidsen and Stefan Winke headlining the revival of Stephen Wadsworth's production Wagner's Tannhauser, Bryn Terfel in Rossini's Barber of Seville, Ermonela Jaho as Liu in Puccini's Turandot, Malin Byström as Salome, Puccini's La Boheme with casts including Juan Diego Florez (the very same), and Danielle de Niese, and Jonas Kauffmann returns to the role of Werther in the production where he created the role in Paris (to great acclaim). The revival of Tosca has a lot of interest, Natalya Romaniw sings the role at Covent Garden for the first time (hurrah!) with casts also including Malin Byström (also in the title role),  Gwyn Hughes Jones, Freddie De Tommaso and Erwin Schrott. It is great to see Paula Murrihy back, this time as Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni to Luca Micheletti's Don. Lovely to see that Ailish Tynan pops up as First Lady in The Magic Flute and Berta in The Barber of Seville.

It is in the smaller roles that some of the most satisfying casting comes. Besides welcome returns for Jette Parker graduates including Dominic Sedgwick, Thomas Atkins, Michael Mofidian, Blaise Malaba, we also look forward to Ross Ramgobin as Schaunard (La Boheme) and Gamekeeper (Rusalka), Rowan Pierce as Papagena (The Magic Flute), Sam Furness and Rosie Aldridge as Andres and Margret in Wozzeck, Ella Taylor as Tebaldo in Don Carlo (a strong revival with Brian Jagde, and Lise Davidsen), Anna Stephany as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro.

Full details from the Royal Opera House website.

The Handmaid's Tale: Poul Ruders operatic version of Margaret Atwood's dystopic tale returns in a stark new production with an astonishing performance from Kate Lindsey in the title role

Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - English National Opera (Photo: Catherine Ashmore)

Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale; Kate Lindsey, Emma Bell, Camille Cottin, Robert Hayward, Pumeza Matshikiza, Rhian Lois, Elin Pritchard, Frederick Ballentine, Avery Amereau, director Annilese Miskimmon, conductor Joana Carneiro; English National Opera at London Coliseum
Friday 8 April 2022, (★★★★) 

Poul Ruders' opera The Handmaid's Tale is over 20 years old and is based on a book by Margaret Atwood published in 1986, yet the story it tells is remarkably prescient and, perhaps, even more scarily relevant -today than it seemed in 2000 or 1986. The opera debuted, in Danish translation, at Det Kongelige Teater, Copenhagen in 2000, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. And English National Opera gave the work's premiere in English (the language of Paul Bentley's libretto in Lloyd's production in 2003.

Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - Robert Hayward, Kate Lindsey
English National Opera (Photo: Catherine Ashmore)

Now, Poul Ruders and Paul Bentley's The Handmaid's Tale is back at English National Opera, directed by Annilese Miskimmon (her first production as the company's artistic director), conducted by Joana Carneiro, designs by Annemarie Woods, lighting by Paule Constable and video by Akhila Krishnan, with Camille Cottin as Prof Pieixto, Kate Lindsey as Offred (her role and ENO debut), Emma Bell as Aunt Lydia, Pumeza Matshikiza as Moira, Rhian Lois as Janine, Robert Hayward as the Commander, Avery Amereau as Serena Joy, Frederick Ballentine as Nick and Elin Pritchard as Ofglen.

There is a coolness to Atwood's book that, for all its narrative faithfulness, was missing from the recent television series. And Ruders and Bentley successfully keep some of this coolness, partly because they preserve Atwood's tripartite time-structure. Professor Pieixto in the future (after the fall of Gilead), Offreds' present and her recent past before the creation of Gilead.

In the original score, Offred past and Offred present were played by different singers (at ENO in 2003 by Heather Sharp and Stephanie Marshall) but here Kate Lindsey sang both thanks to a mix of inventive staging and video flashbacks (with pre-recorded soundtrack and live accompaniment) which included a memorable scene where Offred has a duet with her earlier self (both played by Kate Lindsey).

For all the opera's large cast (ENO used 21 singers, 1 actor and a child), this is very much a one-woman show. It is Offred's narrative and we keep coming back to her. The other roles are relatively compact, often little more than vivid cameos, all well cast her. The final 'character' is the orchestra itself. Ruders' orchestral underpinning and interludes provide a strong character and help delineate the repressive nature of Gilead. He writes eclectically and uses style to delineate character and purpose, in a highly effective and dramatic way.

Tiresias 2.0: in an open workshop at Stoller Hall, composer Dominic Matthews will present snippets of his new opera, and talk about his compositional journey

Manchester-based composer Dominic Matthews is collaborating with librettist Sam Redway on a new opera, Tiresias 2.0 which Matthews describes as a 'climate change themed sci fi opera'. Matthews is something of an experimental composer and the new piece will be combining ancient and modern sounds to create both a contemporary and timeless soundscape.

On Easter Monday (18 April 2022), Matthews will be presenting a free drop-in workshop at Manchester's Stoller Hall to present parts of Tiresias 2.0. It won't be simply a presentation of excerpts, and Matthews will talk about his compositional journey, which has centred on exploring and combining ancient and modern sounds.

Ancient music specialist Mina Salama will bring a selection of Neys, a type of ancient Egyptian bamboo flute, as well as a vulture bone flute replica which has been created from a 30,000 year old design.  The workshop will also feature Royal Northern College of Music and University of Manchester Alumni performers alongside Mark Pilkington, an electro-acoustic performer, composer who is also director of the Manchester-based record label, Thought Universe Music. And mezzo-soprano Lehlin Thai will also be participating, helping develop the title role Tiresias 2.0, an immortal cyber prophet who remains on a post apocalyptic Earth to act as a warning beacon, repeating a message of mankind's destructive nature.

The Stoller Hall's Sounds of Nature is a celebration of music and the natural world, with live music events and workshops taking place throughout 2022. Tiresias 2.0’s themes complement current programming and the venue has generously part funded the workshop.

Back on the road again: pianist James Lisney celebrates his 60th birthday with a concert tour in repertoire from Beethoven & Chopin to Scriabin & Stevenson

James Lisney (Photo: S Maeder)

The pianist James Lisney is celebrating his 60th birthday by going on tour, and the concerts also celebrate Lisney's return to live performance. The concerts, in Norwich, Birmingham Royal Conservatoire, Stoller Hall, Manchester, St George's Bristol, Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham, Rose Theatre, Tunbridge Wells and St James' Piccadilly (presented by the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe), will feature works that are the fruits of the pandemic, including Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and Scriabin's Vers la flamme, alongside music that he has performed for four decades including Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor and Ronald Stevenson's Peter Grimes Fantasy, and Lisney describes the programming as 'a gift to myself'.

Lisney's ...petits concerts series at the 1901 Arts Club in London will be resuming this month. These concerts, inspired by the annual recitals given by Charles-Valentin Alkan at the Erard Showroom in Paris in the 1870s are intended to present classical music in an intimate and convivial setting, as well as supporting two charities, Help Musicians and The Amber Trust (a charity which provides musical opportunities for blind and partially sighted children, and children with more complex needs, of which Lisney is patron).

Full details from James Lisney's website.

Schoenberg in Hollywood: Tod Machover's opera finally gets its European premiere in Vienna

Tod Machover's 2018 opera Schoenberg in Hollywood takes as its starting point the moment when, having fled Nazi Germany and taken refuge in Los Angeles in 1935, the composer had a meeting with film producer Irving Thalberg (brokered by Harpo Marx!). The project was a soundtrack for the film The Good Earth, but it quickly ground to a halt as Schoenberg wanted total control of the film score.

Simon Robson's libretto does not so much examine Schoenberg's life in Hollywood as to consider what it is to be an artist with the tension between integrity (including Schoenberg's unfinished opera Moses und Aaron) and bringing great artistic development to the masses but needing some compromise.

Machover's opera was commissioned by Boston Lyric Opera and received its premiere in 2018 [see Boston Classical Review's review of the 2018 premiere]. The planned European premiere was delayed by COVID, but this is finally happening and rather appropriately the opera is having is European debut in Vienna. The Vienna Volksoper gives the European premiere of Tod Machover's Schoenberg in Hollywood on 9 April 2022 at the historic Kasino (just across the road from the home of Arnold Schoenberg's archive). The new production is directed by Helen Malkowsky.

Full details from the Vienna Volksoper website.

When words fail music speaks

Solace : Concert in Support of SOS Children's Villages Ukraine Relief is an event bringing together a number of distinguished musicians in support of the SOS Children Villages' Ukraine Appeal. Organised by the Polish Cultural Institute along with several partners, the concert takes place at Wigmore Hall on 21 April 2022, and will feature Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Lucas Krupinski (piano), Leticia Muñoz Moreno (violin), Kacper Nowak (cello),  Kathryn Rudge (mezzo-soprano), Maria Tarasewicz (piano) and members of the Orion Orchestra. 

The programme features music by composers who themselves experienced the fate of migrants, refugees, and were vocal critics of war and violence, including works by Frederic Chopin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991), Roxanna Panufnik and the Ukrainian composers Platon Mayborda (1918-1989) and Myroslav Skoryk (1938-2020).

The event is in response to the refugee crisis that is touching tens of thousands of children and vulnerable families affected by war in Ukraine. More than 162,000 Ukrainian children are institutional or foster care and more than 16, 000 are in need of immediate support in terms of safe heaven, evacuation, food and medical and psychological assistance.

Full details from the Wigmore Hall website.

Radiant Poison

Radiant Poison - Misha Penton from Misha Penton on Vimeo.

Soprano and composer Misha Penton has released a new EP, Radiant Poison. Set in a dream-world of city and ocean-scapes,  Radiant Poison is an exploration of our ephemeral, delicate bodies  against the sparkling and hidden worlds of natural and urban landscapes. The music is a complex multilayering of contributions (see Misha's note below), to create three tracks Visible Darkness, Shore Pines & Spider Silk and Radiant Poison which are available from Bandcamp, but Misha has also released videos, see her Vimeo channel.

Project Notes from Misha: 

Radiant Poison was created by composing and recording the multi-layers of voice first, focusing on an exploration of the sonority of my poetry. Then, electronic musician Chris Becker lent me beats and atmospheres to play with and his generosity gave me leeway to manipulate his tracks: to weave his sounds in and out of my voice layers—ebbing, flowing, emerging from, and receding into the many layers of my voice. Lastly, I sent these draft mixes to guitarist George Heathco, asking him to add his guitar tracks with free rein over his contribution. Once George sent me back his tracks, I used an exquisite corpse-like process to shape the final works. Todd Hulslander, at Houston Public Media, polished the final mix and mastered the recordings. 

Music Lights the Way

 

Music Lights the Way is a celebratory piano concert at the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) in Toronto, Canada which takes place on 27 April 2022, but worry not the concert is also being live streamed. The performers will include RCM Artist in Residence Stewart Goodyear, Jan Lisiecki, RCM Honorary Fellow Lang Lang , International Fryderyk Chopin Competition laureate Tony Yang, and Angela Hewitt.

And the focus of the celebrations is the launch of the RCM's Celebration Series®, Sixth Edition piano books, which contain a selection of exciting new pieces by 73 living composers from 20 countries. The series includes music of 54 American and 47 Canadian composers, and includes 32 newly commissioned works published for the first time, which continue one of RCM’s core missions to support living artists.

Further information about the new piano books from the RCM website, and details of the live stream of the concert also from the RCM website.

Manchester Guitar Festival: Sean Shibe, Craig Ogdon, the Ukulele Uff Trio, flamenco and more

The Manchester Guitar Festival at Stoller Hall, 20-22 May 2022 is a celebration of all things guitar from classical and jazz, acoustic, electric and flamenco. Opening the festival will be guitarist Sean Shibe, who will be pairing music for classical guitar by Bach and Mompou with two works for electric guitar, Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint and Julia Wolfe’s LAD, originally composed for nine bagpipes and arranged by Shibe for the electric guitar.

Other performers over the weekend include the Daniel Martinez Flamenco Company, and the Spanish theme continues throughout the festival with Spanish food and drink available. The Northern Chamber Orchestra is joined by Australian guitarist, Craig Ogden, as well as students from Chetham's School of Music for Malcolm Arnold's Guitar Concerto and music by RVW, Grainger, Sculthorpe and Elgar. There will also be performances from two guitarists who are former Chetham’s School of Music students Whitford Rees and Alexandra Whittingham. 

Moving away from classical entirely, there are performances Rochdale born percussive "fingerstyle" guitarist Becky Langhan, up-and-coming folk guitarist Gwenifer Raymond and the joyous Ukulele Uff Trio, who specialise in obscure and wonderful 1920s/30s jazz, Tin Pan Alley songs and traditional Hawaiian music.

There are workshops and talks, and even an Early Years Flamenco Workshop complete with story-telling, music and art where pre-school aged children and their families can learn about the artform.

Full details from the Stoller Hall website.

British Piano Concertos: Simon Callaghan revives six undeservedly neglected mid-Century works

British Piano Concertos: John Addison, Arthur Benjamin, Elizabeth Maconchy, Humphrey Searle, Edmund Rubbra, Geoffrey Bush; Simon Callaghan, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Martyn Brabbins; LYRITA
Reviewed 6 April 2022, (★★★★)

An amazing disc, six works which have managed to fall under the radar, here revived in stylish and brilliant fashion

This new disc from pianist Simon Callaghan, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Martyn Brabbins on Lyrita takes is firmly into mid-Century Britain with six concertante works by British (or UK-based) composers from 1927 to 1939. The composers are John Addison, Arthur Benjamin, Elizabeth Maconchy, Humphrey Searle, Edmund Rubbra and Geoffrey Bush. All but one of the six works are first recordings, which says something about the way 20th century British music still has a lot to reveal, beyond the composers in the standard narrative.

We begin with John Addison and his Wellington Suite, written for the centenary of Wellington College in 1959 and first played by the College Orchestra, conducted by the composer. Addison trained at the Royal College of Music with Gordon Jacob, and returned as a professor before moving to Los Angeles in the 1970s. He won an Oscar for his score for Tom Jones (1963), was nominated for his score for the film Sleuth (1972), wrote the signature tune for the TV series, Murder She Wrote!

Alertness and vivacity: Geoffroy Jourdain and Les Cris de Paris in Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) - David & Salomon; works from Psalmen Davids sampt etlichen Moteten und Concerten, Op. 2 (1619), Cantiones sacræ, Op. 4 (1625), and Symphoniæ sacræ I, Op. 6 (1629)
Les Cris de Paris, Geoffroy Jourdain; HARMONIA MUNDI
Reviewed: 4 April 2022, (★★★★)

We don't hear anything like enough Schütz, a large part of his richly imaginative output remains largely unexplored; I don't mean that it is unrecorded, just that there are simply not enough performances given the sheer quality and imagination of the music. This new disc from Geoffroy Jourdain and Les Cris de Paris on Harmonia Mundi, David et Salomon, brings together works from Psalmen Davids sampt etlichen Moteten und Concerten, Op. 2 (1619), Cantiones sacræ, Op. 4 (1625), and Symphoniæ sacræ I, Op. 6 (1629).

Jourdain uses a vocal ensemble of 22 singers, who also provide the solo singers, plus 23 instrumentalists, a sort of proto-orchestra that includes harp, theorbo/guitar, harpsichord and organ. And Jourdain avails himself of the freedom that Schütz seems to allow performers in his preface to Psalmen Davids. This work was published after his three years in Venice, spent studying with Giovanni Gabrieli and the music from Psalmen Davids is imbued with the spirit of Venetian cori spezzati, yet with German words and, as revealed in the preface, a degree of practicality; Schütz recognised that few German courts would have the resources to perform this music with a full range of instrumental colours.

New head of classical music, new resident ensembles: Southbank Centre launches its 2022/23 season

Manchester Collective at the Soutbank Centre (Photo: Vic Frankowski)

The Southbank Centre's recently announced Autumn/Winter 2022/23 classical music season is its first under the new head of classical music, Toks Dada. There are two new resident ensembles; Aurora Orchestra and Chineke! Orchestra join the existing group of resident orchestras, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Orchestra. Resident artists for the season include cellist Abel Selaocoe, violinist Daniel Pioro, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson and Manchester Collective. There will be a day celebrating the music of Xenakis (8 October 2022), whilst the Emerson Quartet bring to an end their year-long exploration of Shostakovich's quartets.

The opening weekend, 22 to 25 September features a positive cornucopia of events including 

• Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in John Adams with soloist Víkingur Ólafsson, plus music by Anna Clyne and Mahler
• organist Iveta Apkalna, principal organist of the Elbphilharmonie, plays the RFH organ
• pianists Graham Fitkin, Kathryn Stott, Clare Hammond and Ruth Wall perform music for eight hands including Steve Reich, Unsuk Chin, John Adams, Anna Meredith, and a new work by Fitkin
• Bjarte Eike and Barokksolistene with Mary Bevan present one of their Alehouse Sessions
• Pararochestra performs Steve Reich
• Edward Gardner conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Schoenberg's Gurrelieder
• the Manchester Collective presents a multimedia production by Michael Gordon
• the weekend ends with the Philharmonia Orchestra and violinist Caroline Widmann in Korngold's Violin Concerto, plus music by George Walker and Mahler, whilst cellist Abel Selaocoe begins his residency with a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Full information from the Southbank Centre's website.

Alexander Gadjiev receives the 2022 Terence Judd-Hallé Award

Alexander Gadjiev,

The Terence Judd-Hallé Award commemorates the work and tragically short life of pianist Terence Judd (1957-1979), a remarkable talent who passed away at the age of 22. After the establishment of a trust in his name, the award has been presented in association with the Hallé since 1982, with notable past recipients including Stephen Hough, Nikolai Lugansky and Elisabeth Brauss.

In 2021, the award was relaunched as an annual partnership with the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, to support the continued development of an outstanding young pianist coming to the end of their time on the scheme. Each year, one of the young pianists is selected by the BBC to become a recipient of the award. The winner receives a concerto performance with the Hallé, a chamber recital with Hallé musicians at Hallé St Peter’s, a solo recital as part of the Manchester Mid-day Concert Series and a cash prize of £7,000.

This year’s winner, Alexander Gadjiev, has been on the BBC New Generation Artists scheme since 2019. He won first prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition and second prize in the Chopin Competition in 2021. He will make his debut with the Hallé in the 2022-23 season.

Alexander Gadjiev said of Terence Judd, "I must add a few words about the figure of Terence Judd: after his tragic end we are thankfully left with a handful of recordings of his; no wonder he was so beloved by the Russian audience at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1978. He was a performer of true passion, incredible temperament and dedication towards his art and music in general. I do hope not only to share an important date in his life (he passed away on the same day as my birthday) but I would like to think that this award also means to carry on a legacy of uncompromising piano playing, filled with utmost dedication and true passion."

Back on the road: Scottish Chamber Orchestra's Summer tour visiting 30 towns and cities across Scotland

After a two-year break, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is going back on tour round Scotland, visiting 30 towns and cities between 9 June and 14 September 2022, presenting a mixture of orchestral concerts, chamber concerts, family events, education and community projects. The tour opens in Inverness (9/6/2022) and Drumnadrochit (10/6/2022) when the orchestra's principal flautist, André Cebrián directs his chamber version of Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 alongside music by Lutoslawski and Ligeti,

Then other events include Greg Batsleer and the SCO Chorus in six centuries of choral music culminating in a new work by Anna Clyne (SCO Associate Composer), the SCO leader, Stephanie Gonley, directing a programme of Elgar, Schubert, and American composers Arthur Foote (1853-1937) and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004), and the SCO Wind Soloists in a wide ranging programme.

The orchestra's former principal bassoon, Peter Whelan returns to conduct Haydn, CPE Bach and Beethoven, whilst current principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev will be directing programmes including Weber's Clarinet Concerto No. 2, and Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major. Other conductors include Catherine Larsen-Maguire from the UK and Kristiina Poska from Estonia.

The education and creative learning activities include school workshops, and events for under 10s as well as chamber concerts for young people from SCO Wind Soloists, plus a come-and-play for amateur musicians to play core orchestral repertoire alongside SCO musicians. 

Full details from the SCO website.

Six world premieres, celebrating RVW and Abba, a pop-up Handel opera: Ryedale Festival returns with 52 concerts

Sledmere House - one of the venues for this year's Ryedale Festival

Having kept last year's festival deliberately low key [see my interview with artistic director Christopher Glynn, A gloriously offline moment] the Ryedale Festival returns in July 2022 for 52 concerts involving some 300 performers. As ever, the festival mixes a variety of historic venues, from quieter churches in out of the way places, to iconic venues such as Ampleforth Abbey, Hovingham Hall and Castle Howard.

There is a focus on the new and the old this year. There will be premieres from Julian Philips, Errollyn Wallen, Tarik O’Regan, Roxanna Panufnik, Joseph Howard, Roberts Balanas and Callum Au, plus celebrations of RVW's 150th birthday as well as celebrating the 50th birthday of Abba! There is a pop-up production of Handel's pastoral gem Acis and Galatea which will visit three ancient churches.

Artists in residence include baritone Roderick Williams, the Maxwell Quartet, San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque (their first UK tour in over a decade), the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and the Gesualdo Six, but there is also a chance to hear Dame Janet Baker in conversation, and pianist Stephen Kovacevich in recital, whilst the festival opens with the seven Kanneh-Mason siblings in concert.

There is a strong focus on Ryedale Festival Young Artists. Violinist Roberts Balanas performs a late-night candlelit concert, while the Scottish accordionist Ryan Corbett sets out on a ‘troubadour trail’ bringing music, from Bach to Tchaikovsky, to beautiful and little-known churches across Ryedale. Siân Dicker, soprano, and Krystal Tunnicliffe, pianist, create a relaxed, informal and interactive concert for people living with dementia, their friends, family and carers – and anyone else who would like to attend. And bassoonist Ashby Mayes collaborates with Krystal Tunnicliffe in an enterprising programme performed at one of the festival’s many Coffee Concerts. 

A new partnership with the Richard Shephard Foundation is working in primary schools to is transform the festival’s engagement with children across Yorkshire and supports Seven Mercies, a new Community Song Cycle by Joseph Howard and Emma Harding, inspired by the famous murals of Pickering Church. A celebration of local heritage and talent, about countering difficult times through small acts of kindness, Seven Mercies will be performed on 21 May at the Church of St Peter and St Paul Pickering, and is one of two major elements of the festival taking place outside the main festival period in July.

In October, the Hallé Orchestra and Chorus, Natalya Romaniw, Alice Coote, Thomas Atkins and James Platt with conductor Sir Mark Elder come together to perform Verdi’s Requiem in York Minster. 

The Ryedale Festival runs from 15-31 July 2022, full details from the festival website.

'Ghostly stuff' - the Tippett Quartet and Emma Abbate in Elgar's Piano Quintet at Conway Hall

Sir Edward Elgar by William Rothenstein in 1919
(courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery)

Haydn: Quartet in D minor Op. 103, Brahms: Quartet in C minor Op. 51 No. 1, Elgar: Piano Quintet; Tippett Quartet, Emma Abbate; Conway Hall
Sunday 3 April 2022

The Tippett Quartet's last concert, before things went crazy in early 2020, was for Conway Hall's Sunday Concerts Series (a programme that included a new work by Freya Waley-Cohen) and the quartet returned to the hall on Sunday 3 April 2022 for a programme that moved from Haydn's last quartet, the unfinished Quartet in D minor Op. 103, Brahms' first published quartet, Quartet in C minor Op. 51 No. 1 and Elgar's Piano Quintet in A minor Op. 84, with pianist Emma Abbate. The quartet consisted of John Mills and Jeremy Isaac, violins, Daisy Spiers, viola and Bozidar Vukotic, cello, with Daisy standing in for the quartet's regular viola player Natalie who was recovering from an operation.

And before the concert, I gave a pre-concert talk, It 'runs gigantically and in a large mood', filling in some of the background to Elgar's remarkable group of late chamber music works.

The very particular sound-world of 17th century London: Blow's Venus and Adonis from Early Opera Company

The Old Palace of Whitehall (where Blow's Venus and Adonis was premiered)
by Hendrick Danckerts, c. 1675

John Blow: Venus and Adonis (1683)
Anna Dennis, Jonathan McGovern, Miriam Allen, Early Opera Company, conductor: Christian Curnyn
St John's Smith Square 2 April 2022 (★★★★)

John Blow's Acis & Galatea is the fascinating intersection of two traditions, the English Masque and Italian opera. Probably written in 1683, the earliest surviving manuscript source describes it as 'A masque for the entertainment of the king' and as such it had the requisite structure with an emphasis on dance and the participation of members of the Royal court (King Charles II's illegitimate daughter, Lady Mary Tudor, and her mother, the former actress Moll Davies). 

But musically it is through composed and coherent in structure in a way that earlier 17th century Royal masques were not, and Blow was clearly influenced by the idea of opera; both Italian and particularly French opera which was experienced to a greater extent by the English aristocracy during the interregnum when the future Charles II spent time at the court of King Louis XIV. 

All this makes the work iconic and a little gem, but it doesn't make it easy to perform. The last time I saw it, Blackheath Halls Opera gave the work an inventive modern spin in a staging that did a lot to solve the work's problems. 

On Saturday 2 April 2022, Christian Curnyn directed the Early Opera Company in a performance of Blow's Venus and Adonis at St John's Smith Square, with Anna Dennis as Venus, Jonathan McGovern as Adonis, Miriam Allan as Cupid and a small chorus of children as the little Cupids. 

The 2022 Edinburgh International Festival celebrates the festival's 75th birthday, the final programme by artistic director Fergus Linehan and a return to a full programme in indoor spaces

Edinburgh Festival Theatre (Photo Wikimedia)

The final concert of the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival was a performance of Wagner's Gotterdammerung. It could not have been more apt. The 2020 festival did not happen, and 2021 was in somewhat reduced format with the majority of events taking place in semi-outdoor spaces. This year, the festival's 75th anniversary year and Fergus Linehan's final year as artistic director (next year the Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti takes over the role), things are back to normal with a full programme of events in indoor spaces. There is no overall theme, except perhaps one of joy and celebration and as if to emphasise that change from last year, the opening concert will feature 300 people on the stage of the Usher Hall. I spoke to Andrew Moore, the festival's Head of Music to find out more about what will be on offer.

Whilst the festival's venues this year return to normal, with the Festival Theatre, the Usher Hall and the Queen's Hall featuring heavily, they do not rule out bringing back one of the 2021 special venues for particular projects as they are able to fulfil a role that the regular festival venues cannot. 

For this year, the festival is trialling large-scale residencies, having visiting groups for longer rather than simply flying in and out. This was something that happened in the past, and has two advantages. In terms of climate responsibility, having visitors coming for longer makes sense, and in artistic terms there is the possibility of engaging more deeply with audiences. In 2017, the Teatro Regio Torino came for ten days which was a very special event. So this year, two orchestras will be having residencies, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Performers for Peace: Ukrainian and Russian artists performing together in aid of the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

A group of London-based artists with both Russian and Ukrainian roots are coming together on Sunday 10 April 2022 at the theatre at Rudolf Steiner House in Marylebone for Performers for Peace, a fundraising event for the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. 

Performers will include the Ukrainian baritone Yuriy Yurchuk [we very much enjoyed his 2017 disc of Rimsky Korsakov's Romances, see my review], violinist Ben Gilmore, pianists Mikhail Shilyaev and Olga Jegunova, dancer and choreographer Kirill Burlov, and actors from the London-based Russian theatre company Xameleon, in a mixed repertoire of Russian and Ukrainian works. There will also be a performance from young musicians from the London Russian School of Music.

Full details from the Performers for Peace website.

London Handel Festival's Acis & Galatea at Stone Nest, a vividly performed evening that moved Handel's piece well away from the pastoral

Handel: Acis & Galatea - London Handel Festival (Photo Matthew Thompson)

George Frideric Handel: Acis & Galatea (1718)
Anthony Gregory, Madison Nonoa, Will Thomas, director: Andy Staples, La Nuova Musica, music director: David Bates
London Handel Festival at Stone Nest, 1 April 2022 (★★★★)

We don't know much about the first performance (in 1718) of Handel's pastoral Acis and Galatea but there is a tradition that it was premiered in the gardens of Cannons, the grand house created by the Duke of Chandos, under whose patronage the work was created. This lack of specifics (even the work's form is up for grabs) provides both a challenge and an opportunity for directors. 

The London Handel Festival's production of the Cannons version of Handel's Acis and Galatea was presented in the distressed grandeur of Stone Nest, a former church turned night club now reinvented as an arts venue. We caught the second performance on 1 April 2022. Andy Staples directed with La Nuova Musica, musical director David Bates, with Anthony Gregory as Acis, Madison Nonoa as Galatea, Will Thomas as Polyphemus, James Way as Damon, David Webb as Coridon and dancers Sean Murray and Patricia Langa.

So, what exactly does the Cannons version mean? Well, five singers (soprano, three tenors and a bass) who double as chorus and soloists, a tiny instrumental ensemble with one instrument to a part (Matthew Truscott & Andrej Kapor violin, Martyna Jankowska cello, Judith Evans double bass, Katharina Spreckelsen & Sarah Humphrys oboe/recorder, Sergio Bucheli theorbo, William Cole harpsichord, directed from the harpsichord by David Bates). In addition to Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus there are two extra characters, Damon and Coridon whose arias counsel patience to the impetuous Acis. Coridon would disappear in Handel's revisions to the work in the 1730s.

Handel: Acis & Galatea - Madison Nonoa, Anthony Gregory - London Handel Festival (Photo Matthew Thompson)

This version is variously described as a serenata, a pastoral, and a masque. The text (by John Gay with additions by John Hughes and Alexander Pope with borrowings from Dryden's translation of Ovid) clearly nods at the masque form but is influenced by the more recent tradition of pastoral opera and compared to late 17th century English opera there is a remarkable lack of dance movements.

A tradition of excellence in danger of being eroded: the Continuo Foundation started simply as an idea to support the UK's period instrument groups

Continuo Foundation: A collage from all activities taken place in the first grant round

The Continuo Foundation's aims are 'to enable a flourishing of live period performances in every region of the country, and to help period-instrument ensembles and musicians engage and inspire ever-larger audiences of all ages.' Despite having only existed since 2020, the foundation has already awarded over £350,000 in grants to 51 period music ensembles. The foundation was created by Tina Vadaneaux and she is its CEO. Tina's career began in corporate finance on Wall Street, going on to various leading City firms following a move to London. Yet, music and more specifically Early Music was something that she loved, and she always chose to go to Early Music concerts and got to know musicians over the years. With the coming of the pandemic, she became aware that not only were events cancelled but that musicians' diaries for the foreseeable future were completely empty.

Tina felt that the UK's tradition of excellence in this field was in terrible danger of being eroded as musicians went off elsewhere to earn a living. She was also aware that there was a desire amongst performers to get together and perform even with no live audience. So she decided to try and do something; the Continuo Foundation was created to raise money to give grants to help groups create projects. Tina didn't know whether it would work but thanks to some amazing patrons, advisors and trustees, the foundation goes from strength to strength. The initial target was £100,000 and the first round of grants was launched in January 2021.

A Schubertiade with Dame Imogen Cooper, birdsong from Tamara Stefanovich, Vijay Iyer improvising - the London Piano Festival 2022

Imogen Cooper (Photo: Sussie Ahlburg)

Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen's London Piano Festival is coming back for its seventh edition at Kings Place this Autumn (6-9 October 2022). Where did the time go, I chatted to Katya and Charles back in 2016 for the first festival [see my interview]. This year features the usual combination of fine pianism, distinguished guests, imaginative programming and piano teamwork.

The festival opens with Tamara Stefanovich interweaving the birdsong-inspired pieces of Messiaen and Rameau, and ending with Messaien’s Cantéyodjayâ. Then Dame Imogen Cooper is joined by Katya Apekisheva, Charles Owen and Dominic Degavino, pianists who have all benefitted from her skill and unique insights through masterclasses and teaching sessions over the years, for an evening of piano duets. The four pianists will take to the stage in different pairings to perform Schubert’s piano duets whilst recreating the atmosphere of an intimate social gathering.

On the Saturday, Katya Apekisheva and Noriko Ogawa explore contrasting 20th-century preludes, by Shostakovich and by Debussy, then pianist and composer Vijay Iyer will perform a solo improvised set. The festival ends with Liszt, concert pianist and lecturer Paul Roberts presents a lecture-recital with Charles Owen celebrating Liszt’s passionate response to the poetry of Francesco Petrarca 

Full details from the festival website.

"An often beautiful and fascinating work" - Robert Hugill's Passion as part of The Liturgy of Good Friday at Chichester Cathedral

 

I must confess that I am more than excited, my Passion - The Passion of Our Lord according to St John is part of The Liturgy of Good Friday at Chichester Cathedral on 15 April 2022, sung by members of the choir of Chichester Cathedral, organist and master of the choristers Charles Harrison. 

"The young British composer Robert Hugill's setting of the Passion - a text he compiled from St John's Gospel, interspersed with poems by Carl Cook from The Tranquil Lake of Love - has turned out to be one of the most original realisation of this subject for some time... there is a timeless element in the modern setting which relates perfectly to the timeless quality of the passion story itself. 

An often beautiful and fascinating work."

Robert Matthew-Walker writing in Musical Opinion in 1999 after the premiere of Passion by The Burgundian Cadence.

Further details of the service from Chichester Cathedral website. 

Bringing the House Down: bass Brindley Sherratt on the gala at Glyndebourne for The Meath

Brindley Sherratt with his daughter Amy (Photo Colin Hart)

In March 2020, I interviewed bass Brindley Sherratt in advance of a gala concert at Glyndebourne, Bringing the House Down, in aid of The Meath, a residential care home for people with complex epilepsy where Brindley's daughter, Amy lives. The pandemic caused the cancellation of the concert, but it is finally taking place. 

On 10 April 2022 Brindley Sherratt will be joined by Fleur Barron, Jennifer France, Elizabeth Llewellyn, Sally Mathews, Huw Montague Rendall, Rachel Nicholls, Alexandra Oomens, Mark Padmore CBE, Brindley Sherratt, Nicky Spence and Freddie De Tommaso. The singers will be accompanied by pianists Matthew Fletcher and Caroline Jaya Ratnam, Chris Addison will compère and the pledge-master will be Adrian Biddell. The singers will perform popular arias and ensembles from opera and musicals and there will be a short screening of a film of The Meath Choir, made up of residents from The MEath. Full details of the concert from The Meath website.

Below, I reprint the original interview. I have edited it slightly, but left the basic elements, so the article covers the planned gala concert and Brindley looking forward to Wagnerian debuts in 2020 and 2021, some of which happened and some of which did not.

Brindley Sherratt

The whole gala started simply as an idea. As Amy lives at The Meath, Brindley and his wife Christina received a booklet, which The Meath had sent to family and friends, containing a wishlist of the things that they would like to acquire to help improve the quality of life of the residents, from a toaster to a people carrier. Brindley thought, why not a concert and decided to ask his friends to help. At the time he was performing the role of Baron Ochs in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier at Glyndebourne and started to ask singers with whom he was friends. All of them said yes, and the list of participants grew as he mentioned it. Suddenly the idea became an event, which meant that they needed a venue.

Some singers approached Brindley about singing in the concert; he finds it very touching that they are supporting something so dear to him.

Originally, Brindley had simply thought of a central London venue, but his wife suggested Brindley approach Glyndebourne. He mentioned it to Gus Christie (executive chairman of Glyndebourne),  and the result is that the concert is taking place in the main auditorium at Glyndebourne, and they have full use of the venue, complete with car parking, ushers and catering, for the whole day. The event has proved a startling amount of work, even with professional help, and has dominated Brindley's year.

The audience will be a mixture of those coming for the singers and those coming to support The Meath. As a result the music for the gala will be pitched somewhat on the lighter side with popular arias and duets alongside Gilbert and Sullivan and songs from the shows.

The Meath is based at a large Victorian mansion near Godalmining, now surrounded by other more modern houses in 12 acres of land, which provide a residential home for people with epilepsy (there are 65 residents). [You can read more about the charity's fascinating, long history on The Meath website].