Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig: my chorale prelude at St Paul's Cathedral

I recently wrote an organ chorale prelude for William Whitehead's Orgelbüchlein Project which is completing Bach's Orgelbüchlein, a set of chorale preludes for the church's year which Bach planned out and started but never finished. You can read more about the project in my recent interview with William. 

My small contribution, the chorale prelude Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig is being premiered by organist Alexander Knight at St Paul's Cathedral on Sunday 30 June 2024, before the 3pm evensong. Alexander will be playing a sequence of organ pieces in the thirty minutes before Evensong and my choral prelude will be included.

Further information about the music at St Paul's Cathedral from their website.

A richly layered depiction of characters in all their fallibility: Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Grange Festival

Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea - Vanessa Waldhart, Kitty Whately, Sam Furness - The Grange Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Monteverdi: L';incoronazio di Poppea; Kitty Whately, Sam Furness, Christopher Lowrey, Anna Bonitatibus, Jonathan Lemalu, directed: Walter Sutcliffe, La Nuova Musica, David Bates; The Grange Festival
Reviewed 22 June 2024

A serious exploration of love triumphant amidst fallible characters in a production that focused on individuals and brought a rich depth of characterisation and refocusing to Monteverdi's opera

Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea exists in a state that gives directors and music directors great creative freedom. With no definitive composer's manuscript, scores surviving for later performances and an early libretto, none of which quite present the same version, and a score itself with a bare minimum of information, there are plenty of decisions to be made. 

The work was premiered in Venice in 1643 in a tiny theatre as part of Venice's burgeoning commercial theatre scene. Though the opera's only surviving scores date from the 1650s, that first performance seems to have had around a whopping 28 roles played by a cast of around 11 which entailed some pretty radical doubling; one putative cast list has the same singer doubling Virtu, Ottavia and Drusilla. This version alternates tragedy and comedy, teeming with life in a way that would typify the Venetian opera of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, written for the commercial opera house rather than an aristocratic or royal patron. I suspect that the work's extensive recitatives would have been delivered at a rattling rate, this would have been a terrific show.

At the Grange Festival on Saturday 22 June 2023 we caught the last night of Walter Sutcliffe's production of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea [Sutcliffe, the former artistic director of Northern Ireland Opera, is artistic director of Halle Opera, and directed Handel's Agrippina at the Grange in 2018, see my review]. La nuova musica was in the pit, directed from the harpsichord by David Bates. Kitty Whately was Poppea, Sam Furness was Nerone, Christopher Lowrey was Ottone, Jonathan Lemalu was Seneca, Anna Bonitatibus was Ottavia, Vanessa Waldhart was Drusilla, Frances Gregory was Arnalta, with Gwilym Bowen, Jorge Navarro Colorado and Armand Rabot. Designs were by Jon Bausor.

Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea - Jonathan Lemalu, , Sam Furness - The Grange Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

The version used was one with the Prologue for Fortuna, Amore and Virtu (Kitty Whately, Vanessa Waldhart and Anna Bonitatibus) but without the interventions of the gods or all the extra servants, so no Valetto threatening to burn Seneca's beard. It was a very serious approach, so the comic elements on the scenes with the older women, Arnalta and Nutrice, was played down. As Arnalta, Frances Gregory's suave PA was a long was from Alexander Oliver's masterful balance of comedy and tragedy in the role.

The Sea and Ships: the London Song Festival celebrates the first Shipping Forecast to be broadcast on British radio

The Sea and Ships: a celebration of the first Shipping Forecast to be broadcast on British radio; Jess Dandy, Gareth Brynmor John, Nigel Foster, Simon Butteriss; London Song Festival at Hinde Street Methodist Church
Reviewed 21 June 2024

A delightfully diverse celebration both of the sea and of English and Irish composers' fascination with it with everything from Elgar to Noel Coward and Frederick Delius to contemporary composers Julian Philips and Martin Bussey.

Having celebrated bicentenary of the invention of the Mackintosh last year [see my review], Nigel Foster and the London Song Festival celebrated the centenary of the first Shipping Forecast to be broadcast on British radio with The Sea and Ships, a programme of English song performed by contralto Jess Dandy and baritone Gareth Brynmor John, with pianist Nigel Foster and speaker Simon Butteriss. The programme began with Ronald Binge's Sailing By and ended with Noel Coward's Sail Away and in between songs and arrangements by René Atkinson, Ivor Gurney, Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, Michael Head, Peter Warlock, John Ireland, Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar, Martin Bussey, Rebecca Clarke, John Glover-Kind, Julian Philips, Steven Mark Kohn, Gerald Moore, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Michael Tippett.

Much more than a piece of history: Roderick Cox conducts Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 at the Royal Academy of Music

Academy Symphony Orchestra in the Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music just before performing Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10; Academy Symphony Orchestra, Roderick Cox; Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music
Reviewed 21 June 2024

A performance of Shostakovich's first post-Stalin symphony, full of energy, vitality, power and surprising warmth, and also very loud

Stalin died in 1953 and by the end of the year Dmitri Shostakovich was releasing new works including his Symphony No. 10. A long work, without any explicit programme, yet the music surely arises from the political climate in some way. 

I am of the generation (born mid-1950s) for whom the 1950s was a living memory, the era that our parents talked about and whose events defined them. Also, I have been lucky enough to hear Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 conducted by men who had lived through the era.

At the Royal Academy of Music on Friday 21 June, the young American conductor Roderick Cox directed the Academy Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10. A work that for all concerned must now be an historical artefact, a work to be investigated, discovered and revealed. Perhaps what was most notable about the performance was the fact that the interpretation did not feel weighted down by its history. There seemed to be fresh ears investigating this music of genius. I have to admit that it is also a work that I have not heard recently, perhaps in decades, so the concert was one of exploration and revelation for all of us.

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 - Roderick Cox in rehearsal with Academy Symphony Orchestra in Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music (Photo: Charlotte Levy)

The platform was very full indeed, with an orchestra of triple woodwind, five horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, four percussion and a substantial body of strings. In the relatively compact Duke's Hall, there seemed hardly room for the audience at all and even the orchestra's warm-up was loud.

Congratulations to baritone, Julien Van Mellaerts who was presented with The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Laureate by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa at Opera Holland Park

Julien Van Mellaerts and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa at Opera Holland Park (Photo: Chris Christodoulou)

Congratulations to baritone Julien Van Mellaerts who was presented with The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Laureate by the Foundation’s Founder and Chair, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, at a gala concert to celebrate Dame Kiri’s 80th birthday at Opera Holland Park. 

The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation was created by Dame Kiri in 2003 and is committed to assisting outstanding young New Zealand singers who have complete dedication to their art, with judicious mentoring, financial support and career assistance. In 2022 the trustees of the Foundation established The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Laureate to honour a New Zealand singer whom the Foundation has nurtured, has achieved sustained excellence and who will continue their career into the future. The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Laureate carries a value of $60,000.

Julien Van Mellaerts won first prize in both the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, and represented New Zealand at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World in 2019. He has had great success in recent role and house debuts at the Verbier Festival, Salzburg Mozartwoche, Opéra National de Lorraine, Opera Holland Park and New Zealand Opera.

With Chelsea Opera Group, we caught him as Frédéric in Delibes' Lakmé [see my review], and the Duke of Nottingham in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux [see my review]. At Opera Holland Park in 2021, he was a memorable Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro [see my review].

His disc, Songs of the Night, with soprano Rowan Pierce and pianist Lucy Colquhoun was released on Champs Hill Records in Autumn 2023 [see my review], and his debut recital on the same label, Songs of Travel and Home, with pianist James Baillieu, explored his own diverse origins and the meaning of home [see my review]. At Opera Holland Park, Julien Van Mellaerts, with pianist Dylan Perez, is co-curator and co-producer of the Opera in Song series and we caught him with pianist James Baillieu in Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin as part of the series in 2022 [see my review]

New music, traditional Scottish fiddle music, puppets and more: Scottish Ensemble's 2024/25 season

The Scottish Ensemble

Collaboration is at the heart of the Scottish Ensemble's recently announced 2024/25 season. A season that includes new work by Hannah Kendall, a new collaboration with fiddle player and violinist Donald Grant, concerts with Héloïse Werner as both composer and singers, a programme with puppeteer Mark Down and further performances of their collaboration with Mish-Mash Productions.

The season begins with Resound (September 2024 – Arran, Kirkcudbright, Perth, Mull, Seil, Glasgow), five centuries of mind-expanding music curated by the ensemble's violist, Andrew Berridge, intended to explore how music can transport and inspire, lifting spirits and strengthening connections. The ensembe will also be travelling down to London to feature in opening weekend of the Southbank Centre’s 2024-25 classical season, with a programme, that includes Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3 and the ensemble's collaboration with Mish-Mash Productions, in Sync, will be popping up at the Southbank Centre and in Nottingham.

Their Concerts by Candlelight tour (December 2024 – Perth, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dunblane) includes a new work by Hannah Kendall, the second composition supported by Scottish Ensemble’s Calder Commissioning Fund, created through a transformative donation, made in memory of Scottish Ensemble’s late founder John Calder.  The Law of Gravity (February 2025 – Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow) sees the ensemble collaborate with master puppeteer Mark Down and his team at Blind Summit to explore what puppetry can reveal about music, in a programme that features Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night and Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3.

April 2025 finds them joining forces in Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen, Findhorn with Donald Grant, with whom the ensemble collaborated at Celtic Connections 2024. Their new project features traditional and contemporary string music that bridges genres and tells of life in the Highlands, through Grant's new work Thuit an Oidhche Oirnn (The Night Overtook Us).  Then in Concerts for a Summer’s Night (June 2025 – Perthshire, Strathpeffer, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee),  singer and composer Héloïse Werner features as both soloist and composer.

The ensemble’s work with a new generation of musicians also continues with its Young Artists programme, in partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. As well as supporting talented young string players through a week-long residency in January, selected Young Artists are offered the opportunity to join one of the ensemble’s Scottish tours as a performer in 2025.

Full details from the Scottish Ensemble's website.

Music like no other: Icelandic composer Gudmundur Steinn Gunnarsson's Stífluhringurinn

Gudmundur Steinn Gunnarsson: Stífluhringurinn; Caput Ensemble; Carrier Records
Reviewed 18 June 2024

Music like no other. The Icelandic composer returns with a long, single work for large ensemble that mines his fondness for contemplating timbres and rhythms, and for music that avoids conventional straight lines and grids, yet creates pure magic

The Icelandic composer Gudmundur Steinn Gunnarsson is one of those artists whose work retains an entrancing unpredictability to it. Having review one disc, you can never be quite sure what the next one will contain. His latest disc, Stífluhringurinn consists of a single, long two-movement work performed by the Caput Ensemble who first performed the work back in 2019. 

It is his fourth recording on the Carrier Records label. 

Steinn Gunnarsson describes the work as being inspired by a suburban path and landmark in Reykjavík that connects the two neighbourhoods where he grew up. The piece is dedicated to two priests who serve in each of these neighbourhoods. One is a Lutheran minister of Japanese descent who has worked extensively with refugees and regular immigrants for decades, regardless of their background or religion. The other is a Zen priest of Icelandic descent who has spent a lot of time in training monasteries in Japan and America.

Celebrating 20 years at The Glasshouse, Royal Northern Sinfonia launches a new season that also celebrates principal conductor Dinis Sousa's second three-year term

Maria Włoszczowska & Dinis Sousa - Royal Northern Sinfonia (Photo: Thomas Jackson / Tynesight Photograph)

This Autumn marks 20 years since the Royal Northern Sinfonia moved into its present home, at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music (formerly Sage Gateshead) and Autumn also marks the second three-year term of principal conductor Dinis Sousa, and a new position of artistic partner for violinist Maria Włoszczowska, and they will be joined by a new appointment, principal guest conductor Nil Venditti.

The sinfonia's new season, recently announced, features 50 concerts with classical series across the region – at their home at The Glasshouse, and in Carlisle, Kendal, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland. These five series have been grown substantially by Sousa and Włoszczowska, reaching thousands of new audience members.

This new season includes the second major participation project under the umbrella Share the Stage, an initiative led by Sousa offering people who love making music the opportunity to perform with the orchestra and chorus on the world-renowned stage of Sage One alongside some of the world’s greatest singers. This time around the focus is Tippett’s deeply moving A Child of Our Time with soloists Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Sarah Connolly, Nicky Spence and Willard White.

Two major anniversaries are celebrated during the season, those of Ravel and Schoenberg. Ravel’s 150th is celebrated through his symphonic music with a concert by the BBC Philharmonic with pianist Bertrand Chamayou, his works for chamber forces including Mother Goose from Royal Northern Sinfonia and an ensemble concert led by artistic partner Maria Włoszczowska plus a new music and digital collaboration with the new media arts collective Mediale. Attention turns to Schoenberg for two concerts, including Pierrot Lunaire (with soprano Claire Booth) and Verklärte Nacht, both directed by Włoszczowska.

Dinis Sousa opens the season with pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, plus Mendelssohn's complete music for A Midsummer Night's Dream. And there is more Mozart, along with Bach, when pianist David Fray directs the sinfonia from the keyboard.

Sousa's other concerts with the sinfonia during the season include Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Stephen Hough plus Unsuk Chin and Mozart, Handel's Messiah with Amanda Forsythe, Reginald Mobley, Guy Cutting and John Chest, Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 with Víkingur Ólafsson plus Kajia Saariaho and Bartok, and Benjamin Grosvenor in Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 plus Grażyna Bacewicz and Tchaikovsky. And in the smaller Sage Two, Sousa directs a programme of John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Pierre Boulez and Ligeti's Chamber Concerto.

Other visitors during the season include John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London with Sheku Kanneh-Mason; singers Veronique Gens and Roderick Williams,  the BBC Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, The Hallé and The Philip Glass Ensemble, Opera North in a concert performance of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, and conductors Sofi Jeannin and Ricardo Minasi. Soprano / composer Heloise Werner will be directing and performing The Cuckoo's Hour, a programme that pairs her own music with that of Colin Alexander, Freya Waley-Cohen, John Lely, Oliver Leith and Nico Muhly.

In the coming weeks they will also announce a new series for young people and their families, alongside concerts of orchestral music from video games, soundtracks, films and tv.

Further details from the Royal Northern Sinfonia website.

New colours in old sound worlds: the Portuguese duo, Bruno Monteiro & João Paulo Santos in Elgar, Debussy, Ravel & more

Music for violin and piano: Elgar, Debussy, Luíz Barbosa, Ivan Moody, Ravel; Bruno Monteiro, João Paulo Santos; Etcetera
Reviewed 17 June 2024

Four early 20th-century works for violin and piano alongside a more recent one in a wonderfully wide-ranging recital from the Portuguese duo who find all sorts of new colours in Elgar and give a certain style to Ravel

The latest disc from Portuguese violinist Bruno Monteiro and pianist João Paulo Santos on Etcetera, brings together four works for violin and piano, all written in the first twenty-five years of the century, the violin sonatas by Elgar and Debussy, the Romance for Violin and Piano by Luíz Barbosa and Ravel's Tzigane, alongside these Monteiro has included Ascent for Violin and Piano by contemporary composer Ivan Moody.

Bruno Monteiro and João Paulo Santos have a fondness for both the highways and byways of the romantic repertoire. I last reviewed their recording of the piano trios of Ernest Chausson and Eugene Ysaÿe and they have also given us a disc of violin sonatas by Luís de Freitas Branco, Maurice Ravel, and Heitor Villa-Lobos [see my review].

Lost and Found: Samling Institute for Young Artists' Summer concert at the Glasshouse, Gateshead

The Samling Institute's Lost and Found at the Glasshouse, Gateshead on 12 July 2024, will provide an opportunity to hear the current crop of Samling Academy Singers in action, performing music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter, Gabriel Fauré, Leonard Bernstein and Flanders and Swann in a semi-staged evening of song, opera and poetry. We are promised exciting discoveries of new love, nostalgia for the places we can never return to and the everyday drama of misplaced objects.

Samling Artists soprano Miranda Wright and pianist Leo Nicholson will direct the programme and Leo will accompany the performance.

takes its name from an old Norse word meaning ‘gathering’ or ‘collective’. Since 1996 they have transformed the lives of hundreds of talented young musicians through coaching programmes, performance opportunities and ongoing support. From their home in the North East of England, they help young people who live or study in the region to find and develop their talent for classical singing through Samling Academy. Singers aged 14–21 explore all aspects of classical singing and develop wider performance skills, led by expert vocal coaches, song pianists, actors and movement specialists.

Full details from the Samling Institute's website.

Dunedin Consort 2024/25: Three premieres, Handel's Susanna, chamber-scale tours of Scotland, side-by-side with Royal Academy of Music & Royal Scottish National Orchestra

The Dunedin Consort has announced its 2024/25 season with concerts across Scotland, a continuation of its residency at Wigmore Hall as well as other London appearances. Contemporary music continues play an interesting role in the group's seasons. 2024/25 features the Scottish premiere of David Fennessy’s Bog Cantata in Edinburgh as part of a programme featuring music by Zelenka, Telemann and Bach with Fennessy using similar orchestration to the Baroque works, and An Italian Christmas at Wigmore Hall includes a second new commission from composer Caroline Shaw. 

Singers from the group join forces with the Hebrides Ensemble for James MacMillan's Since it was the day of Preparation, his extraordinary setting of the Resurrection story. Whilst players from the group join forces with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for a further collaboration, a world premiere from Edinburgh-based composer Neil Tòmas Smith [see my 2023 interview with Neil]. 

The season opens in September with countertenor Alexander Chance joining Matthew Truscott and the group in a programme of Vivaldi, Tuma and Zelenka in St Andrews and at the Lammermuir Festival. Then soprano Carolyn Sampson sings Bach with John Butt directing in a programme that includes Locatelli, Morlock and Handel in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.

Christmas sees Messiah returning with Butt directing soloists Rachel Redmond, Helen Charlston, Samuel Boden and Matthew Brook, plus a BSL interpreter in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Antwerp. There is more Handel at St Martin in the Fields, London, and Vienna with Butt conducting Susanna with Anna Dennis in the title role, plus Alexander Chance, Matthew Brook and Joshua Ellicott. April 2025 sees John Butt directing Bach's St Matthew Passion with Hugo Hymas as the Evangelist.

Nicholas Mulroy directs a chamber tour of Purcell around Scotland visiting Cumbernauld, Musselburgh, Motherwell, and Greenock, and an a capella choral tour to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen.

Butt will direct the group performing side by side with students from the Royal Academy of Music Baroque Soloists in Purcell's Hail, Bright Cecilia plus Sir John Clerk of Penicuik’s cantata, Leo Scotiae irritatus c.1700. This Cantata for solo soprano and orchestra depicts Scotland’s ambitious (and unsuccessful) venture to set up an empire in Panama! The group's Bridging the Gap programme also provides early career development opportunities for singers, whilst the Intrada programme provides opportunities for young instrumentalists.

The group's family-friendly concerts has expanded with Family Vivaldi, Enchanted Snake, and the popular Children’s Messiah in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There is also a wide-ranging Learning and Participation programme, encompassing instrumental and voice clinics for non-professional musicians, choral workshops, and choral weekend for all ages and abilities, open rehearsals, relaxed performances, and schools' workshops.

Full details from the Dunedin Consort's website.

18 premieres, three new commissions and a new disc: Odaline de la Martinez celebrates her 75th birthday this Autumn

Odaline de la Martinez 

Composer/conductor Odaline de la Martinez celebrates her 75th birthday this Autumn, and is doing so in a typically dynamic fashion with a return of her London Festival of American Music that will feature 18 premieres, alongside three of her own works being premiered this Autumn and a new disc of piano concertos by 20th century women composers.

The London Festival of American Music runs from 11 – 15 November at The Warehouse in Waterloo. This 9th edition of the festival will include 18 premieres by fellow Émigres Ursula Mamlok, Ruth Schonthal and Latin American Émigres Tania Leon and Alba Potes, alongside American composers William Dougherty, Daniel Asia, Aaron Einbond, Elizabeth Ogonek, Daniel Thomas Davis, and Louis Karchin. 

The opening concert includes the UK premiere of American composer William Dougherty’s, A Stillness of Zero Sensation, a specially written work by the award-winning composer Daniel Thomas Davis, Elizabeth Ogonek’s Falling Up and Odaline de la Martinez’s Canciones with American mezzo-soprano Amber Fasquelle.

The second concert, Female Émigrees, features world premieres from composers Ursula Mamlok and Ruth Schonthal, who fled the Nazis during World War Two, and Tania Leon, a Cuban emigree celebrating her 80th birthday this year and the Colombian born Alba Potes. The final concert will feature Scott Stroman conducting the London premiere of Martinez’ Three Afro Cuban Poems alongside his own Jazz Psalms. 

Martinez Three Afro Cuban Poems has been commissioned by ORA Singers and is premiered by them, conducted by Suzi Digby, on 28 September at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Another Martinez premiere takes place on 1 December at the Barbican when pianist Samantha Ege plays her Studies in Rhythm. 

October will see the release of the disc Maestra, which features Martinez conducting Lontano with Samantha Ege in Julia Perry's Piano Concerto No.2, and Doreen Carwithen's Piano Concerto.

Medea Gosperia: a retelling of Euripides' Greek tragedy set in the Caribbean and featuring a fusion of musical styles

Euripedes' classic tragedy Medea has inspired writers and artists across the centuries as well as playwrights directly reinterpreting Euripedes' original (hands up those who have heard a performance of the original Ancient Greek!).

Now Thee Black Swan, a new company that aims to bring classical and contemporary theatre and opera productions to a wide and diverse audience, providing a platform for classically trained actors and singers of diverse heritage, is creating Medea Gosperia, a retelling of Euripides' Greek tragedy set in the Caribbean and featuring a fusion of musical styles.

The work will blend gospel, opera, rock and jazz, using original music and lyrics the Islands' historical names and traditional movement to showcase the region’s rich heritage, with a variety of vocal styles to highlight the talent and background of each member of the diverse ensemble. 

Directed by Joseph Charles and featuring words by Kay Hammond, Medea Gosperia will be at The Cockpit from 2 to 20 July 2024. The musical director is Sam Bergliter, with sopranos Natasha Agarwal and Namrata Shah alternating in the title role and tenor Sandeep Gurrapadi as Jason.

Full details from the Cockpit website.

Discover the Harp: Welsh company, Cambrian Harps take their discovery days on the road

One of Cambrian Harps' Discover the Harp sessions

Cambrian Harps, a company from the heart of Wales specialising in making harps and encouraging harp playing, is on a mission to show the country and the world that the harp is not an elitist instrument, played only by the wealthy, that it is an accessible, and affordable, instrument for all. Cambrian Harps has created its Discover the Harp days to dispel the myths that surround this beautiful instrument, and they are now taking these introductory half day sessions around the country.

Many people have dismissed the idea of learning to play the harp, as too difficult, too expensive, too bulky to transport, and far too elitist to be something for ‘ordinary’ folk. But they are encouraging people view the Discover the Harp sessions where students will begin to learn the skills and techniques required to play the harp, basic music theory and a variety of musical styles - from classical to folk - and playing in an ensemble. If that already seems like a lot to pack into a short introductory course, the extras are an amazing bonus. Most notably, all people attending the course will be gifted a Derwent Discovery 16 String Harp to take home and keep.

The course aftercare also includes course materials and sheet music, access to Cambrian Harp School’s Online Blended Learning Portal, where there are videos and resources to help you embed what you have already learnt and to help facilitate your harp adventure. Also, you get access to a national network of harp tutors for face to face and video conferencing lessons.

Dates and locations:

Saturday 13 July – Aberystwyth
Tuesday 6 August – Southampton
Saturday 10 August – Holyhead, Anglesey
Sunday 11 August – Bushmills (Giants Causeway), Northern Ireland
Wednesday 14 August – Kirkwall, Orkney (Followed by a Harp Recital at St Magnus Cathedral at 2.30pm)
Thursday 15 August – Edinburgh
Sunday 18 August – Falmouth
Monday 26 August – Guernsey
Saturday 26 October – Huntingdon

Further information, booking details and news about further dates from the Cambrian Harps website.

Time remembered: the 75th edition of the Aldeburgh Festival lovingly recreates the opening night of 1948 Festival

Robin Haigh: LUCK - Matilda Lloyd, Britten Sinfonia, Jessica Cottis - Aldeburgh Festival at Snape Maltings, 2024 (Photo: Angus Cooke)

Purcell: Chaconny in G minor, Handel: Organ Concerto in D minor, Op.7, No.4, Robin Haigh: LUCK, Britten: Saint Nicolas; Nick Pritchard, Matilda Lloyd, Katherine Dienes-Williams; Britten Sinfonia, Choristers of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Britten Pears Chorus, cond. Jessica Cottis; Aldeburgh Festival at Snape Maltings
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 15 June 2024

For its 75th birthday celebrations, the Aldeburgh Festival recreates the festival's very opening concert from 1948, with one modern twist

The first concert of the Aldeburgh Festival took place in Aldeburgh parish church dedicated to SS Peter and Paul on 15 June 1948 featuring an attractive programme comprising Purcell’s Chaconny in G minor and Handel’s Organ Concerto in D minor paired with Martin Shaw’s God’s Grandeur and Britten’s cantata, Saint Nicolas. For this significant 75th festival, the concert was recreated on 15 June 2024 at Snape Maltings with Shaw’s work replaced by Robin Haigh’s LUCK, a concerto for trumpet and orchestra written for Matilda Lloyd. [Read Robin's article about writing the work]

Appropriately, the opening work of the first concert of the Aldeburgh Festival in 1948 fell to the well-loved 17th-century English-born composer, Henry Purcell, one of Benjamin Britten’s major musical influences. Therefore, in Purcell’s Chaconny in G minor - a short, sharp, five-minute piece - it provided a nice curtain-raiser to an agreeable and entertaining concert (I should imagine, one of the hottest tickets of the festival) immaculately, crisply and evenly played by the strings of the Britten Sinfonia conducted with great flair and enthusiasm by Australian-British conductor, Jessica Cottis, currently artistic director and chief conductor of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. The piece was probably composed around 1680 while Purcell was employed by King Charles II and nearly a decade before the composer turned his attention almost exclusively to the theatre after the accession of William III and Queen Mary in 1689. 

Handel: Organ Concerto - Katherine Dienes-Williams, Britten Sinfonia, Jessica Cottis - Aldeburgh Festival at Snape Maltings, 2024 (Photo: Angus Cooke)

A disc that makes you think, but also satisfies as a recital in its own right: Songs for Peter Pears from Robin Tritschler & friends

Songs for Peter Pears: Berkeley, Britten, Arthur Oldham, Richard Rodney Bennett, Geoffrey Bush; Robin Tritschler, Malcolm Martineau, Sean Shibe, Philip Higham; Signum Classics
Reviewed 11 June 2024

Exploring the wide variety of music written for and commissioned by Peter Pears in wonderfully sensitive yet vividly evocative performances by Robin Tritschler and friends.

On the terrific disc from Signum Classics, tenor Robin Tritschler, pianist Malcolm Martineau, guitarist Sean Shibe and cellist Philip Higham present Songs for Peter Pears, a programme of music written for the great English tenor that goes beyond the usual Britten songs. Here we have Lennox Berkeley's Five Housman Songs and Songs of the Half-Light, Britten's Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Arthur Oldham's Five Chinese Lyrics, and Richard Rodney Bennett's Tom O'Bedlam's Song, plus Geoffrey Bush's Songs of the Zodiac which was dedicated to Pears and Britten's memory.

The disc could have been a lot longer, Peter Pears sang an enormous amount of contemporary music alongside his older repertoire. Regarding Pears' influence it is worth quoting Robin Tritschler's booklet essay, "Pears’ influence on and association with certain music remains so firm, that all English-speaking tenors since shall forever be compared to him. The constant challenge when singing the works presented on this album, and similarly with many others, especially those by Britten, is breaking free of the Pears sound which seems ingrained in the fabric of the music. Many of the composers who wrote works for Pears may be delighted if later generations of tenors aped his performance and delivery. But I imagine Pears himself would prefer the singer to revel in the joy of their own voice and music making."

Second view: Anna Patalong makes her role debut as Puccini's Tosca at Opera Holland Park

Puccini: Tosca - Opera Holland Park, 2024 (Photo: Ali Wright)

Puccini: Tosca; Anna Patalong, José de Eça, Morgan Pearse, director: Stephen Barlow, conductor: Matthew Kofi Waldren, City of London Sinfonia; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 12 June 2024

A return to Opera Holland Park's 1968-set Tosca for the poised and engaging role debut of Anna Patalong

Puccini: Tosca - Anna Patalong - Opera Holland Park 2024
(Photo: James Clutton/Opera Holland Park)

We returned to Opera Holland Park's production of Puccini's Tosca that opened its 2024 season [see my review] on Wednesday 12 June 2024 to see Anna Patalong taking up the role of Tosca in her role debut, alongside the original cast, José de Eça as Cavaradossi, Morgan Pearse as Scarpia, Edwin Kaye as Angelotti, Ross Ramgobin as the Sacristan, Phillip Costovski as Spoleta and Alex Jones as Sciarrone. Matthew Kofi Waldren conducted the City of London Sinfonia.

Second time around, Stephen Barlow's production remains as enjoyable as ever and this time, one appreciated the immense detail that he brings to the story, layering it carefully. Yet it is never detail that pulls focus, but simply contributes to the narrative and the setting. So that the constant passing by of various ordinary members of the public at the opening of Act One provides the right amount of local colour to establish what otherwise might be a rather bald setting, but also feeds into Angelotti's (Edwin Kaye) anxieties. 

This is not one of those transpositions where you have to make plenty of allowances when following the text, here Barlow has imaginatively transposed virtually everything, so that Ross Ramgobin's Sacristan still complains about cleaning brushes, but now refers to the stiff brush that he is using to clean the church steps. Not everything works perfectly, but second time around we were just as transported and never had the problem of 'yes but...'

A school trip with a difference: the Richard Shephard Music Foundation celebrates Make Music Day in York

The Yorkshire region has a rich musical history from the Arctic Monkeys to the Minster Choir, film composer John Barry to the National Centre for Early Music. But like many people and organisations, Richard Shephard Music Foundation is concerned how to make sure that we are cultivating the next generation of diverse musicians. That the region’s young people not only listen to music, but are inspired to create music as well.

Working via partnerships with funders, charities, the music sector, schools, and inspiring music teachers, over the past three years, since the death of composer Dr Richard Shephard, the Foundation has been working hard to make sure over 6,000 primary school children receive a subsidised weekly music lesson – particularly those who traditionally face the most barriers to studying music.

On 21 June 2024, their annual music day in York will bring together over 300 of those schoolchildren (from York, North Yorkshire and the North East) to a school trip with a difference – a day of inspiring music making, playing instruments old and new, singing their hearts out, and in the purpose-built Creative Centre at York St John University. As well as an inspiring day for young people, the event will give the Foundation’s supporters a glimpse of what the Foundation has done since it was created in 2021.

The event is part of the UK Make Music Day, the UK’s largest single-day music festival, encouraging musicians, producers, promoters and music lovers to collaborate and organise in-person and online performances in and for their communities. Since beginning as Fête de la Musique in France in 1982, Make Music Day has grown into a global phenomenon that takes place annually in 125 countries, always on 21 June. Solo performers, groups and music creators of all types are invited to take part, regardless of age, ability or musical genre. Find out more at the Make Music Day website.

Find out more about the Richard Shephard Music Foundation from its website.

An undeniable gift for melody: Charles Mauleverer's Overture

Charles Mauleverer: Overture; Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Lee Reynolds, Prague Symphonic Ensemble, Jérôme Kuhn, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Vogel; Wotuno
Reviewed 11 June 2024

Ten short orchestral pieces by film composer Charles Mauleverer, spanning some twenty years, and revealing a real gift for melody and for creating atmosphere

Composer Charles Mauleverer describes his disc Overture, released on Wotuno records, as the first complete album of his compositions under his own name. The material on the disc spans over 20 years, from Overture, written in 2003 just after leaving school to Cornish Idyll from 2022. The disc features ten short orchestral works played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Lee Reynolds, the Prague Symphonic Ensemble, conducted by Jérôme Kuhn and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Johannes Vogel.

Jersey-born Charles Mauleverer is a composer whose work you might have heard even though you are unfamiliar with his name, his music features on films, TV and adverts, whilst he has also assisted on a number of film and TV works. He studied at Oxford and the Royal College of Music where teachers included Robert Saxton, Ryan Wigglesworth, Joseph Horovitz and Ken Hesketh. He clearly has interests beyond film and TV, he wrote his first symphony, One Home: An Environmental Symphony in 2015-2016, his second, Two Brothers (about the Great War) in 2017-2018 and his third, Five Curiosities (described as orchestral postcards of Jersey) in 2021-22.

New hall, new season: newly renovated Bristol Beacon unveils its 2024/25 season of orchestral concerts

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Kirill Karabits at Bristol Beacon (Photo: Giulia Spadafora)

Bristol Beacon reopened in November 2023 following a radical transformation which has seen significant improvement in the appearance and function of the main hall and the restoration of the historic core to the building incorporating imaginative new work. Built in 1867 and opened in 1873, the halls have had a series of rebuilds during the 20th and 21st centuries, and in 2020 adopted the new name of Bristol Beacon.

The recent renovation was driven by a vision to enhance and expand the venue’s orchestral and classical programme, capitalising on Beacon Hall’s world-class acoustics and bringing the very best orchestral music to enthusiastic audiences in the South West of England.  Now, Bristol Beacon has announced its first full season of orchestral music following the renovation.

For the 2024/25 season, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is orchestra in residence with six concerts this season, including the opening and closing concert. Two of the performances are with the Orchestra’s new chief conductor Mark Wigglesworth, and their former chief conductor Kirill Karabits returns to present a folklore-inspired programme. They will also be joined by guest conductors Karl-Heinz Steffens, Valentina Peleggi and Gergely Madaras.  The London Symphony Orchestra returns as associate artists of Bristol Beacon with two concerts, the first of which is with its new chief conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, the second with Gianandrea Noseda.

The season sees Beacon Hall debuts for Sinfonia of London, with Sheku Kanneh-Mason and their conductor John Wilson, and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Other visiting ensembles include the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Karina Canellakis and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra with chief conductor Tomáš Brauner. The Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra of Colón Opera not only make their Bristol Beacon debut, but also their UK debut, conducted by Mariano Chiacchiarini, the programme includes Piazzolla’s rarely performed Bandoneon Concerto with soloist Pablo Mainetti. 

Bristol Beacon (Photo: Tim Crocker)

Before then, the BBC Proms is at Bristol Beacon for a weekend that includes the Bristol-based Paraorchestra and Charles Hazlewood, the BBC Singers celebrating their 100th anniversary and Kirill Karabits performs his last concert as Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s chief conductor and will be joined by Evelyn Glennie for a performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto. Then in September, the hall hosts the grand final of BBC Young Musician 2024.

Full details from the Bristol Beacon website.