Debut: Soprano Chen Reiss sings her first staged Zerlina for her Covent Garden debut

Handel: Ariodante - Christophe Dumaux, Chen Reiss - Vienna State Opera

The Israeli soprano Chen Reiss is making her Covent Garden debut on 29 June 2018 as Zerlina in the latest revival of Kasper Holten's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, and incidentally, Chen is also making her stage debut in the role having only sung Zerlina in concert before [see my review of the production]. Having worked extensively in Vienna, Chen is excited to be making her UK stage debut and as a young singer, it was always her dream to sing at Covent Garden. I met up with Chen during rehearsals to find out more.

Chen Reiss (Photo Paul Marc Mitchell)

Chen first sang Zerlina in concert with Zubin Mehta conducting and the Covent Garden performance will be her first staging of the opera. She has seen a lot of productions, and this one is one of her favourites. She first saw the production as a member of the audience in 2014, though it has evolved since then. Apart from Mariusz Kwiecień as Don Giovanni, all the cast this time are new to the production ( Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Leporello, Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Donna Anna, Pavol Breslik as Don Ottavio, Hrachuhi Bassenz as Donna Elvira, Anatoli Sivko as Masetto and Willard W. White as the Commendatore, conducted by Marc Minkowski).


She first came to London with her mother (also an opera singer) when she was 20 and loved the Covent Garden theatre and is enjoying working there now. Not just the theatre, she comments on the vibrant atmosphere of the surrounding area, and in fact, our meeting takes place in a Covent Garden cafe with the sound of street artists performing outside.

She feels that the Covent Garden production doesn't have a boring moment and she contrasts this with some productions where the opera feels very long. In Holten's production, there is always something interesting and intelligent going on, and she likes the idea that it is all happening in the Don's mind. And of course the ending is very strong, the other characters, having fallen into the Don's trap are still living whereas he is left with his madness. Visually she finds the production very beautiful, and the way it uses a single set is very smart, you feel that the characters are lost/trapped in the Don's world.

Chen loves the role of Zerlina and finds the character's music beautiful but she also has half an eye on the role of Donna Anna and hopes to sing it in the future. In fact, Chen loves singing Mozart and has already sung Pamina (The Magic Flute), Illia (Idomeneo) and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), this latter role is one she has done in concert but will be making her stage debut in the role at the Vienna State Opera this Autumn.

Richard Strauss: Arabella - Chen Reiss (Zdenka), Benjamin Bruns (Matteo) - Vienna State Opera
(Photo Wiener Staatsoper | Michael Pöhn)

She has quite a wide repertoire from Handel, through Mozart, to Donizetti and Richard Strauss, not to mention Puccini (she recently started singing Liu in Turandot).

Powerfully uplifting: Bach's Mass in B minor from the Dunedin Consort

John Butt & Dunedin Consort (Photo David Barbour)

Bach Mass in B minor; Dunedin Consort, John Butt; Wigmore Hall Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 21 June 2018 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
Bach's mass with just ten singers in a vibrant yet moving performance full of dramatic contrast

We don't know why or for whom Bach wrote his Mass in B minor, even the title is a later addition. A very, very late work, it is clear that he lavished a lot of care on it and essentially it is something of a summation of his art as he re-used carefully selected material from his back catalogue. That the piece works so well in its own right says a lot for Bach's sheer genius.

Not knowing the possible performance history leaves groups able to apply their own style to the piece, I have even sung it with a chorus of over 150 in Leeds Town Hall with the Victorian organ being used as continuo for the choruses! One concern that I always have in any performance is that of balance, you want moments like the fugue of the opening Kyrie to work with voices and instruments in equal balance so that when the voices come in the results are a continuation rather than the instruments accompanying the voices.

For the performance of Bach's Mass in B minor at the Wigmore Hall on Thursday 21 June 2018, John Butt and the Dunedin Consort used an ensemble of ten solo singers to perform the mass, along with an instrumental ensemble based on seven strings. Where some small-scale performances use all consort singers, Butt's line-up consisted of solo voices, Anna Dennis, Claire Evans, Ciara Hendrick, Emily Mitchell, Jess Dandy, Rory McCleery, Nicholas Mulroy, Thomas Hobbs, Matthias Helm and Jon Stainsby. The ensemble sound in the Coro was thrilling and vibrant, and this was a real vocal ensemble sound rather than a blended choral one. The results brought the piece alive in a way that purely choral ones rarely do, and the seamless transitions from 10-voiced ensembles, through one to a part ensemble to solos and duets, meant that the whole piece had a lovely consistency of tone.

The logistics were complex on a very full platform and I was impressed with the way both singers and orchestral players navigated the stage to get to the right places with the minimum of disruption, enabling the piece to flow naturally without the embarrassing waits for the correct ensemble to be in place.

Singing for Our Lives

Singing for Our Lives, 2017 (Photo Jolade Olusanya )

Singing for Our Lives at Milton Court Concert Hall on Sunday 1 July marks the final event of the 20th Anniversary of Refugee Week (18-24 June 2018). The concert brings together over 200 performers combining opera, classical, popular and electronic genres with music from around the globe, uniting choirs of refugees, migrants and local communities.

Singing Our Lives reunites the Mixed Up Chorus, the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus, the Sing for Freedom Choir and the Guildhall School as well as featuring refugee and asylum-seeker choir Woven Gold and professional vocal ensemble Stile Antico. Over six months, the five choirs came together in a series of workshops facilitated by composer Mike Roberts (Head of Electronic Music & Music Technology, Guildhall School), librettist Sarah Grange and director Phelim McDermott (Improbable), and delivered with the aid of Guildhall School Electronic Music musicians. With music as the common language the singers and musicians learned about each other’s experience and worked with the creative team to compose new music to be premiered as part of an ensemble performance on 1st July.

Further information from the Together Productions website.

Brilliant ensemble: Cole Porter's Kiss me Kate from Opera North

Cole Porter: Kiss me Kate - Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Cole Porter: Kiss me Kate; Quirijn de Lang, Stephanie Corley, Zoë Rainey, Alan Burkitt, John Savournin, Joseph Shovelton; dir: Jo Davies/Edward Goggin, cond: James Holmes; Opera North at the London Coliseum Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 20 June 2018 Star rating: 4.5 (★★★★½)
A strong ensemble performance in this uplifting revival of Jo Davies' 2015 production

Quirijn de Lang, Stephanie Corley - Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Not every musical is suitable for an opera company to produce, but Cole Porter's 1948 musical Kiss me Kate (with book by Bella and Samuel Spewack)  seems tailor made. The re-working of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew combines the play with back-stage fighting by the cast, with the result that Porter's score alternates between standard musical numbers and something approaching operetta, in fact the original two principals were drawn from the operatic world. The original orchestrations were done by that great Broadway musician Robert Russell Bennett (in collaboration with Don Walker), and one of the advantages of an opera company revival is the chance to hear the original orchestrations in their full orchestral splendour.

Opera North has revived Jo Davies' 2015 production of Cole Porter's Kiss me Kate and is touring it. Having opened in Leeds and travelled to Ravenna, Italy, the show opened at the London Coliseum on 20 June 2018 (and is there until 30 June 2018). The production was revived by Edward Goggin and conducted by James Holmes with a cast which spanned both opera and musical theatre, including Quirijn de Lang as Fred/Petruchio, Stephanie Corley as Lilli/Kate, Zoë Rainey as Lois/Bianca and Alan Burkitt as Bill/Lucentio, plus Joseph Shovelton and John Savournin as the Shakespeare-loving gangsters. The cast was completed by the inestimable Opera North Chorus (which provided three of the smaller roles), plus a group of dancers, whilst James Holmes conducted the Opera North orchestra in the pit.

Zoe Rainey, Alan Burkitt - Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Davies' inventive production, based around mobile flats (designs by Colin Richmond), moved easily and fluidly from the backstage scenes to on-stage presentation of the play. The whole production was very crisp and tight, with superb participation from the Opera North chorus which moved alongside the dancers in an admirable manner with none of the separation between singing chorus and dancers which can happen.

I have to confess that I have always found the cod Shakespeare bits of the musical have their longeurs, but Davies and Goggins brought a lively imagination to the bad Shakespeare staging and of course, Bella and Samuel Spewack's book makes the backstage fighting between Fred and Lilli spill over into the scenes between Petruchio and Kate, giving a superb sense of uncertainty as to whether we were experiencing Kate in the play or Lilli in real life, something which gave the climactic scene at the end of Act One real zest in this performance.

Supersize polyphony - 40 part Tallis and 60-part Striggio

Nonsuch Palace, possible venue for the premiere of Tallis's Spem in alium

The Armonico Consort's Supersize Polyphony tour opens tomorrow (22 June 2018) at the Thaxted Festival, and continues until the 17 July 2018. The choir will be performing two of the largest polyphonic works in the repertoire, Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium and Alessandro Striggio’s 60-part Missa Ecco Si Beato Giorno in complete ‘surround sound’ – with the audience encircled by the choir. Directed by Christopher Monks, the Armonico Consort will be joined by the Choir of Gonville and Caius College Chapel, Cambridge and, for the Striggio, they will also be collaborating with local chamber and youth choirs.

Thomas Tallis's motet Spem in alium was written arount 1570 though the earliest surviving manuscripts date from 1610, when the motet was re-used (with English words) for the investiture of Henry, Prince of Wales. According to an anecdote written in a letter at the time (in 1611), the motet was the result of the challenge from the Duke of Norfolk as a result of Alessandro Striggio's visit to England in 1567, when he brought either his 40 part motet Ecce beatam lucem or the 60-part mass. And Tallis's motet, written in challenge and emulation, may well have been conceived to be performed in the octagon of Nonsuch Palace; the work uses eight five-part choirs and Tallis moves the music around the choirs in a very spatial manner.

After their appearance at the Thaxted Festival, the Armonico Consort's  eight-date UK tour includes a flagship concert in the spectacular Coventry Cathedral (Friday 6 July), an open-air performance at Petworth House Stable Yard to open the 40th Petworth Festival (17 July) and visits to Poole, Crawley, Malvern, Basingstoke, and Cambridge.

There is also a series of associated events for children and local communities. Armonico Consort’s singing education programme, AC Academy, will give schools workshops in partnership with local music education hubs, introducing children to the Striggio Mass through three short new pieces written by composer-in-residence, Toby Young. They will be taught in schools and then sung together with the professional singers in immersive, in-the-round concert workshops.

There are also come-and-sing open rehearsals at several venues where the public can learn Tallis’ Spem in Alium singing alongside the professional singers during open rehearsals. Pop-up performances are also planned and a recording to be made in Cambridge will be released on the Signum label.


Full details from the Armonico Consort website.

‘A well-regulated church music’ - John Eliot Gardiner at the Bach Weekend at the Barbican

Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Photo Chris Christodoulou)

Bach, Gabrieli, Sartorius; Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner; Barbican Centre
Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on 16 June 2018 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
Sir John Eliot Gardiner & his ensembles in Bach cantatas for Easter & Ascension

The evening concert on Saturday 16 June 2018 as part of the Barbican Centre's Bach Weekend celebrating Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s 75th birthday was the antithesis of Solomon’s Knot in the afternoon [see Ruth's review]. A maestro, a dress code, a certain reverential demeanour from all on stage and in the audience, and a general sense that this was An Event.
 
The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists performed large-scale cantatas by JS Bach interspersed with a cappella motets in Latin by Giovanni Gabrieli and the German-born but Italian-educated Paul Sartorius (born Schneider). These were in great contrast to the Lutheran sound world of the rest of the concert, and yet there were elements – notably Gabrieli’s chromaticism and Sartorius’ punchiness – that we would hear in the Bach, reminding us that his influences were eclectic. To my ear there was something of Rameau in some of the chorales too.

The programme booklet drew attention to Bach’s letter to the church authorities at Mühlhausen stating his artistic aim to preside over ‘eine regulierte Kirchenmusik zu Gottes Ehren’ (‘a well-regulated church music to the honour of God’).

Humanity & warmth - Solomon's Knot at the Bach Weekend at the Barbican

Solomon's Knot

Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Christoph Bach; Solomon's Knot; St Gile's Church, Barbican Centre
Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on 16 June 2018 Star rating: 4.5 (★★★★½)
Motets by JS Bach and his cousin JC Bach from this conductorless ensemble

The Barbican Centre has been celebrating Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s 75th birthday with seven concert over three days, with events in the Barbican Hall, St Giles’ Cripplegate, Milton Court and LSO St Luke’s. Gardiner used some of his players and singers from the 2000 Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in combination with some newcomers. The Bach takeover weekend also provided ample opportunity to hang out in the Centre, drinking coffee, catching up with old friends and fighting off the ubiquitous pigeons.

The Saturday afternoon concert (16 June 2018) was given by Solomon's Knot in a packed-out St Giles’ Church. It contrasted motets by Johann Sebastian Bach with those written by his father’s cousin Johann Christoph. The older Bach worked at Eisenach and was described by his younger cousin as ‘the profound composer’ – ‘as good at inventing beautiful thoughts as he was at expressing words’.

Ades, Henson, Berkeley & Bernstein: Britten Sinfonia's Summer season

Britten Sinfonia (Photo Thomas Skovsende)

The Britten Sinfonia's Summer season starts on Friday 22 June 2018 with a concert in Rye as part of the Peasmarsh Festival, and the season continues with performances of Thomas Ades' Powder her Face at Nevill Holt Opera, premieres of works by Keaton Henson and Michael Berkeley and an appearance at the Proms.

On Friday 22 June, at St Mary's Church, Rye, Douglas Boyd (artistic director of Garsington Opera) conducts the Britten Sinfonia in Bernstein's Serenade (with soloist Anthony Marwood) plus music by Haydn and Boccherini.

Antony McDonald's production of Thomas Ades' Powder her Face was first performed at Northern Ireland Opera. Ian Ryan conducts the revival at Nevill Holt Opera with Mary Plazas as the Duchess and the Britten Sinfonia in the pit. The production runs from 28 June to 1 July.

The Britten Sinfonia at Lunch concerts continue in Norwich and Cambridge with performances from the Britten Sinfonia Academy performing Schumann orchestrated by Tom Coult, Bach orchestrated by Webern and Ravel's orchestration of his own piano pieces, and the concert will be repeated at the Latitude Festival on 14 July.

At the Barbican, the orchestra premieres Keaton Henson's Six Lethargies, composed around, and from within, issues of mental illness and human emotion, the piece aims to express and explain feelings of anxiety and depression through six connected movements for string orchestra. Whilst at the Wigmore Hall the ensemble is helping celebrate Michael Berkeley's 70th birthday with the world premiere of a new work by Berkeley for solo oboe and a performance of Into the Ravine, plus music by Richard Strauss, Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert.

And the orchestra will be at the BBC Proms on 4 September in a programme based around the tango, with pianist Pablo Ziegler.

Full details from the Britten Sinfonia website.

Handel Sonatas for violin and basso continuo

Handel Sonatas for violin and basso continuo; The Brook Street Band; AVIE
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 13 June 2018 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★)
Spanning virtually the whole of Handel's composing life, these sonatas are brought to life in engaging performances

Having recorded all of Handel's trio sonatas, The Brook Street Band has returned to the composer's chamber music for a disc of his Sonatas for violin and basso continuo on Avie Records. Violinist Rachel Harris, cellist Tatty Theo and harpsichordist Carolyn Gibley perform all nine sonatas which are attributed to Handel.

The history of Handel's violin sonatas is somewhat problematic. We only have autograph manuscripts for five of them, whilst four appear in publications from John Walsh, published during Handel's lifetime. There are good arguments for assuming that these four have their origins in manuscripts by Handel, but we have no way of knowing for certain and Walsh was notorious for his piracy.

The sonatas cover a remarkably wide range of Handel's career. Sonata in G major HWV 358 dates from Handel's Italian period, 1707-1710, whilst the sonatas in D minor HWV 359a, in A major HWV 361 and in G minor HWV 364a probably date from 1724-26. The four sonatas lacking autographs were published by Walsh in 1730 and 1732/33, whilst the last sonata dates from 1749-50, a period when Handel wrote virtually no chamber music, which leaves open the question as to why he wrote it and for whom.

Choral Scholarship - St Mary's Church, Chelsea

St Mary’s Church, Cadogan Street, Chelsea, London SW3 is seeking to appoint a SOPRANO CHORAL SCHOLAR from September 2018 to support the current voluntary choir, director of music Jack Thompson, which sings each Sunday at the 11.30am Solemn Mass.

The parish of St Mary’s Cadogan Street is one of the oldest Roman Catholic parishes in Central London. Priests and people have met and offered Mass in various buildings around the parish since 1794. The current church was built between 1877 and 1879 by John Francis Bentley, the architect of Westminster Cathedral. The church is a four minute walk from Sloane Square (District/Circle line) and a 20 minute walk from London Victoria .

The current choir of volunteers is made up a number of singers, drawn from all over London, who have made St Mary’s their place of worship (I have sung in the choir for over 20 years). Repertoire consists of music from a variety of styles including eight-part polyphonic motets by Palestrina and Victoria, accompanied masses by Mozart and Haydn, and contemporary works by Philip Stopford and Ola Gjeilo.

The Soprano Choral Scholarship was introduced at St Mary’s in January 2017. It has proved to be a highly successful initiative that has helped to enhance the choir and support its members. The scholarship also provides opportunities for solo work – in addition to weddings and funerals, there are a number of services throughout the year that require a soloist or cantor.

Full details from the St Mary's Latin Mass Choir website (PDF).

Planet Hugill has been named as one of Feedspot's Top 10 UK Classical Music Blogs. 

We are third in their Top 10 list, many thanks to everyone who has made this possible.

Psalm to Windrush: for the Brave and Ingenious

Passengers disembarking from the
Empire Windrush at Tilbury Dock, June 1948

The world premiere of a new piece for solo voices and organ, Psalm to Windrush: for the Brave and the Ingenious, by the British/Jamaican composer Shirley J. Thompson, will feature as part of the service being held at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 2018 to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the MV Empire Windrush on 22 June 1948 at Tilbury Docks.

The thanksgiving service Spirit of Windrush -Contributions to Multicultural Britain will feature Thomson's new piece performed by Nadine Benjamin and Gweneth-Ann Rand (sopranos), Ronald Samm (tenor), Bryon Jackson (baritone), Peter Holder (organ), conducted by Thompson.

Other participants in the service will include a 70th Anniversary Windrush Choir, directed by Karen Gibson, Gospel soloist Carla Jane and the Shernall Street Methodist Steel Band. The Dean of Westminster, the Very Revd Dr John Hall, will officiate at the service in the Windrush Cope, a liturgical vestment that has been specifically created to mark the 70th anniversary year. The service will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Sunday Worship (0810-0848) on Sunday, 24th June 2018.

Between 1948 and 1973, some 524,000 people from the Commonwealth became residents in the UK. Caribbean people currently comprise 3% of Britain's population.

Further information from the Westminster Abbey website.

Engaging rarity: Verdi's Un giorno di Regno from Heidenheim

Verdi Un giorno di regno; Heidenheim Opera Festival, cond: Marcus Bosch; Coviello Classics
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 5 June 2018 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
Full of vivacity, a live recording of Verdi's second opera from the Heidenheim Opera Festival

Early Verdi is undergoing something of a rediscovery, this Summer the Buxton Festival mounts its third early Verdi production with Alzira this year, with the original Macbeth last year and Giovanna d'Arco in 2015 [see my interview with Buxton's artistic director Stephen Barlow]. Whilst this Summer in Heidenheim, Germany the Heidenheim Opera Festival reaches Verdi's I Lombardi in their chronological survey of Verdi's early operas. The linking factor between these two festivals is the willingness to take Verdi's early operas on their own terms, performing in smaller theatres with more chamber-sized forces. In other words, not projecting late, larger-scale Verdi back onto the early works and accepting them for what they are.

Heidenheim's 2016 performance of Verdi's Oberto has already been issued on disc [see my review], and now the 2017 performance of Verdi's Un giorno di regno [see my review of the original performance] has been issued on disc on the Coviello Classics label. Marcus Bosch conducts the Cappella Aquileia and Czech Philharmonic Choir, with Gocha Abuladze as Cavaliere Belfiore, Davide Fersini as Barone Kelbar, Valda Wilson as Giulietta Di Kelbar, Elisabeth Jansson as Marchesa Del Poggio, Giuseppe Talamo as Edoardo Di Sanval, David Steffens as La Rocca, Leon De La Guardia as Conte Ivrea and Daniel Dropulja as Delmonte.

It has to be emphasised that Un giorno di regno was only Verdi's second opera, created under difficult circumstances. The libretto he was offered was the best of a bad job and his wife died during the composition process. Verdi did not take the libretto lock, stock and barrel, it was adjusted to suit more modern tastes, so the recitative is cut back to a minimum and there are substantial arias which owe more to opera seria than to opera buffa. Inexperience shows in the piece, but you can sense Verdi wanting to explore character more than say Rossini in his early comedies. But it is Rossini whose influence can be felt throughout this opera, both the comedies and the more serious operas in the large-scale set pieces, there is even a double aria for the Marchesa.  Whereas in his serious opera, the young Verdi was clearly influenced by Donizetti, for comedy it was clearly Rossini (after all Donizetti's Don Pasquale was still two years away).

The Sirens' Voice: Magnificent Women

The third of the London Oriana Choir and conductor Dominic Peckham's five15 concerts takes place at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich on Thursday 21 June 2018. Entitled The Sirens' Voice: Magnificent Women, the concert continues the five15's exploration of music by women composers with a programme spanning the centuries from the 11th to the 21st, starting with an arrangement of a Hildegard von Bingen plainsong by Felicia Sandler to Vespertilians by the American composer Jocelyn Hagen, and the award-winning The Angel by the young Swedish composer Tina Andersson. British composers include Imogen Holst, Kerry Andrew and Sally Beamish.

The name of the choir's third five15 composer-in-residence will also be announced at the concert. The 2017/18 holder of this role Rebecca Dale, has just been signed to Decca Publishing and Decca Classics, the first woman to achieve this distinction.

Further details from the London Oriana Choir website.

Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at The Grange Festival

Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia - Charles Rice & chorus - The Grange Festival (Photo Simon Annand)   

Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia; John Irvin, Jose Maria Lo Monaco, Charles Rice, Riccardo Novaro, dir: Stephen Barlow, cond: David Parry; The Grange Festival
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 17 June 2018 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
A busily engaging and highly theatrical account of Rossini's comedy

Jose Maria Lo Monaco
The Grange Festival (Photo Simon Annand)   

On a rather grim, cold evening The Grange Festival's lively new production of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia certainly brought a welcome feeling of brightness and warmth. Directed by Stephen Barlow, designed by Andrew D Edwards with lighting by Howard Hudson, cast featured the American tenor John Irvin as Count Almaviva, the Italian mezzo-soprano Jose Maria Lo Monaco as Rosina, the Anglo-French baritone Charles Rice as Figaro and the Italian baritone Riccardo Novaro as Dr. Bartolo, with David Soar as Don Basilio, Jennifer Rhys-Davies as Berta and Toby Girling as Fiorillo. David Parry conducted the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

David Parry and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra gave us an engaging account of the overture, with lyricism contrasted with finely pointed detail. Parry's speeds were steady at first, concentrating on character yet keeping the excitement building to the rush at the very end. The overture was played with the curtain down, but at the end Toby Girling's Fiorillo appeared through the curtain, dressed in 18th century style, to urge Parry and the orchestra to rush to the end. Fiorillo's friends were all musicians, come to accompany Almaviva and they disappeared into the orchestra pit.  John Irvin's Count appeared at first in 18th century dress, but for his opening serenade (played initially with the curtain down) he dressed in modern guise.

This scene encapsulated elements of Barlow's approach to the piece. There was a sense of performance in the theatre, with the characters sometimes seemingly knowing they were in a performance with an audience, and with much interaction with David Parry. This was combined with a deliberately anachronistic approach to the setting, so that modern and period references combined. Almaviva's disguises were all modern dress and the chorus was modern dress, yet the other characters were mainly period, but we had modern references with the presence of mobile phones, vacuum cleaners etc. There was also a playfully entertaining approach to the staging, keeping things moving and with the larger numbers busily stage, as well as an admixture of the absurd.

Seriously unusual: Stephen Barlow introduces Buxton Festival's production of Verdi's Alzira

Eugenia Tadolini's costume as Alzira for the 1845
premiere of Verdi's Alzira

This year the Buxton Festival is performing the third of its trilogy of early Verdi opera, directed by Elijah Moshinsky and conducted by Stephen Barlow. Whilst the previous two operas in the trilogy, Giovanna d'Arco (performed in Buxton in 2015, see my review) and the original 1847 Macbeth (performed in Buxton in 2017, see my review) are relatively rare, this year's opera Alzira is seriously unusually having been rarely performed in the UK. I recently met up with Stephen to talk about Alzira and, as it was recently announced that he is stepping down as Buxton's artistic director, we also looked back over his time in Buxton.

Stephen calls Alzira an anomaly, it was preceded by I due Foscari and Giovanna d'Arco and followed by Attila and Macbeth, yet it has been neglected. He points out that it is rather too easy to take Verdi's remarks about the opera out of context (at one point Verdi seems to have referred to it as 'ugly') and say that Verdi did not like the work. But Stephen feels that you only have to open the score to realise how unusual Alzira is.

A short opera, in its treatment of text, emotion and drama it is a very terse work, more terse than the 1847 Macbeth (which is hardly a long work). A short synopsis of the drama gives no idea of the detail filled into the libretto. In rehearsal, Stephen has been finding that they can spend so much time on three or four pages of recitative. The dynamics, text and sheer terseness give you so much to read between the lines. This means that the old sort of stand and deliver performances rather missed so much of the detail in the work.

Ben Johnson, Kate Ladner and Chorus in Buxton Festival's Giovanna d'Arco 2015. (Photo Jonathan Keenan)

Verdi wrote the work quickly but Stephen finds his choices of tempo and dynamics very clear and very interesting, especially if you actually observe them in performance (something that they did with the performances of Macbeth in Buxton last year). The work is hard because it is compact, but Stephen feels that anyone who lover Verdi and loves bel canto will get it.

Second view: Cosi fan tutte at Opera Holland Park conducted by George Jackson

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte - Nick Pritchard, Eleanor Dennis
Opera Holland Park (Photo Robert Workman)

Mozart Cosi fan tutte; Eleanor Dennis, Kitty Whately, Nick Pritchard, Nicholas Lester, Sarah Tynan, Peter Coleman Wright, cond: George Jackson, dir: Oliver Platt; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 14 June 2018 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
A return to Opera Holland Park's Cosi fan tutte, with a new conductor

It is always fascinating returning to productions for a second view. Second time around, your perceptions of the piece have changed somewhat, but also the performance has bedded in and the cast has further developed their relationships. We returned to see Oliver Platt's production of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at Opera Holland Park on 14 June 2018 [see my review of the production's premiere]. Whilst the cast was the same, with Eleanor Dennis and Kitty Whately as the sisters, Nicholas Lester and Nick Pritchard as the young men wooing them, and Sarah Tynan and Peter Coleman Wright as Despina and Don Alfonso, there was a new conductor, George Jackson, who is associate conductor for the production, with the City of London Sinfonia.

What came over particularly with this performance was how cast had developed as an ensemble. Whilst the production does not neglect the more serious issues, it was clear that the singers were having great fun and this enjoyment communicated itself to us in the audience. As the sisters, Eleanor Dennis and Kitty Whately were two complementary characters, with the Eleanor Dennis as the somewhat sharper, more serious of the two whilst Kitty Whately displayed a nice liveliness of character. Yet there were similarlities too, and the two characters were closer than in some productions. Dennis displayed some lovely evenness of tone in the passagework of 'Come scoglio' whilst Whately's appealing yet luxuriant tone combined with a nice sense of style.

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte - Kitty Whately, Nicholas Lester - Opera Holland Park (Photo Robert Workman)

Disguise was a key element of the production, after all we start in a tailor's shop and the young men, Nicholas Lester and Nick Pritchard, start off in 18th century outfits with white faces and huge wigs that are as much a disguise as the Albanian costume.

The Musgrave Portrait concert celebrates her 90th birthday

Thea Musgrave (Photo Bryan Sheffield)

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra has a long association with the work of Thea Musgrave, it performed a number of her early compositions in the 1950s including her ballet suite A Tale for Thieves in 1957. Tonight (15 June 2018) the orchestra will be celebrating the composer's 90th birthday with a concert in her presence at Glasgow City Halls. [see my 90th birthday interview with Thea Musgrave].

Conducted by Jac van Steen the orchestra will be performing Musgrave's Song of the Enchanter, Two's Company, Memento Vitae: Concerto in Homage to Beethoven, and Phoenix Rising. For Two's Company the orchestra will be joined by percussionist Evelyn Glennie and oboist Nicholas Daniel; the work was written for them in 2005 and commissioned by the BBC.

Also in the programme will be Short Symphony (Symphony No.2) by Aaron Copland, with whom Musgrave studied at Tanglewood in the 1950s, and Celebration by Richard Rodney Bennett who was a lifelong friend of Thea Musgrave's.

Further details from the BBC website. The concert is being recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Hope for Grenfell Memorial Gala

Opera Holland Park - Hope for Grenfell Memorial Gala -  (Photo Ali Wright for Opera Holland Park)

The anniversay of the tragic Grenfell fire has been marked in a number of ways, but for Opera Holland Park (OHP) the disaster was personal, not only were those lost neighbours but Debbie Lamprell, a much-loved member of OHP’s staff, was also one the victims. In Debbie's memory and in memory of all those lost in the fire, Opera Holland Park held the Hope for Grenfell Memorial Gala on Wednesday, 13 June 2018.

Performers included a nearly 200-strong community choir, made up of local school children and residents, directed by Gareth Malone in a new work by Will Todd and Gareth Malone, Help Me Believe, created from workshops with members of the Grenfell community and OHP’s Inspire Project. A new arrangement of Will Todd's Amazing Grace was also performed, see video below.

Children affected by the Grenfell tragedy offered moving reflections, with introductions and support from the actors Jim Carter, Celia Imrie, Imelda Staunton and Dame Penelope Wilton, with Sir Trevor McDonald introducing the evening and Penny Smith interviewing performers on stage. Tobi-King Bakare and Reda Elazouar, two teenagers from the Grenfell community, performed their own spoken word piece Someone Please Explain, written especially for the concert.

The concert also featured scenes from OHP’s current season productions of La traviata and Così fan tutte, performed by their full casts, as well as popular arias from a wide range of other operas. Guests from across the operatic world included Peter Auty, Stephen Aviss, Cheryl Barker, Nadine Benjamin, Lee Bisset, Michael Bradley, Susan Bullock, David Butt Philip, Peter Coleman-Wright, Eleanor Dennis, Anne Sophie Duprels, Lauren Fagan, Stephen Gadd, Ben Johnson, Henry Grant Kerswell, Nicholas Lester, Elizabeth Llewellyn, Anna Patalong, Hannah Pedley, Nick Pritchard, Gweneth-Ann Rand, Natalya Romaniw, Nicky Spence, David Stephenson, Sarah Tynan, Kitty Whately, Laura Woods and Fflur Wyn. Matthew Kofi Waldren, Dane Lam and Peter Robinson conducted OHP’s resident orchestra the City of London Sinfonia and the OHP chorus.



All proceeds will be donated to the Rugby Portobello Trust (RPT) and the final total is still being calculated, but it is hoped to exceed £100k.

Sei Solo: Bach's six sonatas and partitas for violin alone

Bach Complete Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin; Thomas Bowes; Navona Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 13 June 2018 Star rating: 3.5(★★★½)
A powerful and serious journey through Bach's six unaccompanied violin works

During 202/13 violinst Tom Bowes undertook a Bach Pilgrimmage, giving 50 concerts of Bach's unaccompanied sonatas and partitas and this Bach Pilgrimmage has become a growing feature of Bowes live performances since then. Arising out of the pilgrimmage is this recording on the Navona Records label of Bach's complete sonatas and partitas, recorded over a three year period. These are studio recordings, but the aim is to capture something of the live performances associated with them.

Chamber music has always been a feature Tom Bowes musical life, he was the founding leader of the Maggini Quartet from 2003 to 2015, and has a duo partnership Double Exposure with his wife, composer and pianist Eleanor Alberga.

In his booklet note Bowes talks about the personal background to the sonatas and partitas. Written in 1720 whilst Bach worked at the court of Cothen, the year was also the one where Bach's wife Maria died suddenly. Bowes sees the violin works as a spiritual journey, informed by such moments as the opening Adagio of the C major sonata where the fugue subject is based on the Lutheran hymn Komm heilige Geist.