Bushra El-Turk, Gavin Higgins, Laurence Osborn, Errollyn Wallen, Roxanna Panufnik, Gavin Bryars & more honoured at 2024 Ivors Classical Awards

Roxanna Panufnik, Gavin Bryars, Errollyn Wallen at the Ivors Classicxal Awards, BFI Southbank, London (Photo: Hogan Media - Shutterstock)

On Tuesday 12 November, The Ivors Academy honoured eleven composers with Ivor Novello Awards at the Ivors Classical Awards. Special awards were presented to Errollyn Wallen, Roxanna Panufnik and Gavin Bryars, five composers won awards for the first time, Gavin Bryars, Bushra El-Turk, Cassandra Miller, Laurence Osborn and Roxanna Panufnik, whilst Matthew Herbert, Gavin Higgins, Brian Irvine, Dan Jones, Rebecca Saunders and Errollyn Wallen all have previously received awards.

BBC Radio 3 will broadcast the ceremony on 16 November from 10:30pm in a special edition of the New Music Show and the episode will also be available on BBC Sounds.

Gavin Higgins, winner of the Best Orchestral Composition award
at the Ivors Classicxal Awards, BFI Southbank, London
(Photo: Hogan Media - Shutterstock)

• Bushra El-Turk received the Best Stage Work Composition award for Woman at Point Zero, her opera for two voices, ancient folk instruments and pre-recorded audio samples. Commissioned by LOD Muziektheater, the work features a libretto by Stacy Hardy and received its first UK performance at the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House with Dima Orsho, Carla Nahadi Babelegoto and ensemble ZAR. [see my interview with Bushra El-Turk]
• Gavin Higgins’ Horn Concerto won Best Orchestral Composition. Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and Philharmonie Zuidnederland, the work was performed by Ben Goldscheider and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Jaime Martin, at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff. [see my review of the work's London premiere]
• Laurence Osborn’s TOMB!, composed for strings, percussion and piano, was awarded the Best Chamber Ensemble Composition award. Commissioned by Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Kings Place, the work was performed by 12 Ensemble and GBSR Duo. 
• Cassandra Miller received the Best Choral Composition award for The City, Full of People, a piece for mixed choir of 16 singers that was commissioned by Éamonn Quinn of Louth Contemporary Music Society. The piece was performed by the National Chamber Choir Ireland and Paul Hillier at King’s College Chapel in Aberdeen as part of the Aberdeen Sound Festival. 
• Brian Irvine’s A Children’s Guide to Anarchy, for ensemble and singers, won the Best Community and Participation Composition award. The work was commissioned by Dumbworld and Red Note Ensemble, the libretto was created by John McIlduff and children of Oakwood Primary School, Easterhouse and was performed by Red Note Ensemble and Oakwood Primary School in Glasgow.
• Matthew Herbert’s The Horse, for orchestra, horse skeleton and electronics, collected the Best Large Ensemble Composition award. The piece received its live premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival in a performance by Matthew Herbert, Momoko Gill, Hugh Jones, Eoin McCaul, Gracel Delos and the London Contemporary Orchestra. 
• Rebecca Saunders’ The Mouth for soprano and tape won the Best Small Chamber Composition award. Commissioned by Annie Claire for ManiFeste Festival in Paris, the first UK performance was by Juliet Fraser and Newton Armstrong at the Britten Studio in Snape Maltings as part of the Aldeburgh Festival. 
• Dan Jones’ Each Tiny Drop, a sonic accompaniment to Risham Syed’s interactive water ritual on the banks of the River Medlock, won the Best Sound Art award. It was commissioned by Factory International to open the Manchester International Festival and celebrate connections between Manchester and Pakistan.
  

Errollyn Wallen was honoured with Fellowship of The Ivors Academy – the highest honour the Academy bestows. Roxanna Panufnik received her first Ivor Novello Award tonight in recognition of her consistently exceptional body of work. Gavin Bryars was presented a Gift of the Academy award for Innovation, celebrating his visionary approach to composition and the impact his music has had on fellow composers. 

Further details from the Ivors Academy website.

By some strange piece of magic, it works: Dancing Queen from Asya Fateyeva & Lautten Compagney Berlin mixes Rameau with the songs of ABBA

Dancing Queen: Rameau meets ABBA; Asya Faeyeva, Lautten Compagney Berlin; Deustsche Harmonia Mundi
Reviewed 12 November 2024

An unlikely marriage of saxophone, period instrument ensemble, Rameau and the songs of supergroup ABBA turns in gold in this entrancing and intriguing disc

In 2023, whilst in Dresden for the Dresden Music Festival's production of Wagner's Das Rheingold, I caught a concert by saxophone player Asya Fateyeva and the period instrument ensemble Lautten Compagney Berlin. Now, I have to admit that my selection was based on eagerness to hear the period instrument ensemble Lautten Compagney Berlin in a programme of Purcell. It was only later I realised that the soloist wasn't a soprano, but a saxophone player and that the evening mixed Purcell with Lennon & McCartney. The result was entrancing. [see my review]

Now they are back with another mix. Dancing Queen on deutsche harmonia mundi/Sony Classical features Asya Fateyeva (saxophones) and Lautten Compagney Berlin, musical director Wolfgang Kaschner, in the somewhat unlikely mix of ABBA and Rameau. There are ten of ABBA's best known numbers, written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson, arranged for baroque ensemble and saxophone by Bo Wiget (Lauteen Compagney's cellist) alongside dances from Rameau's Les Boréades, Nais, Les Indes Galantes, Hippolyte et Aricie, Les Fêtes d’Hébé, and Pièces de clavecin en concerts: Cinquième Concert, with Fatayeva playing alongside the ensemble in the Rameau.

Korabaroꓘ: A Fusion of West African and Baroque Music

Korabaroꓘ - Mamadou Dramé, Céline Scheen, Karim Baggili

What do you get if you bring together a soprano, a guitarist who also plays the oud and a player of the African harp, a traditional instrument of the West African griots? Well on Thursday 21 November 2024, Céline Scheen (soprano), Mamadou Dramé (kora and vocals) and Karim Baggili (guitar and oud) aim to find out.

As part of Les Salons en Musique at the Institut français du Royaume-Uni in South Kensington, with the support of EFG London Jazz Festival, the three musicians present Korabaroꓘ: A Fusion of West African and Baroque Music where the programme moves between the Italians Frescobaldi, Monteverdi, and Strozzi, the English Dowland and Purcell, the French Henri De Bailly and music by the performers Mamadou Dramé and Karim Baggili. The result should be an intriguing cross-fertilisation.

Full details from the Institut français website.

Broadening the reach of opera in the South East and beyond: Barefoot Opera announces a Young Artist Tour of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor for 2025

Rossini: La cenerentola - Barefoot Opera, 2023 (Photo: Chris Parker)

Tenor Anthony Flaum has just been announced as the new artistic director of Barefoot Opera, a charity based in St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex that has a wonderful track record of working with community choirs, schools and colleges to broaden the reach of the artform in the South East and beyond.

In 2022, their ground-breaking production, Bloom Britannia, captivated audiences with its innovative blend of professional and community singers, under the creative vision of composer Orlando Gough and librettist Stephen Plaice. Their Young Artists Tour presented Rossini's La cenerentola (in 2023) and Verdi's La traviata (2024). For 2025, the company will be producing Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor for its Young Artist Tour. Cast and creatives are made up of young professionals - the youngest singers this year was still actually at college in France and also one of the directors was just finishing his time at Guildhall. They brought a South African tenor over this year for Alfredo and thanks to the work they did with bringing him over and supporting him in his quest for work over the past few months, he has now been engaged by a UK company for a major role in 2025.

At each venue, they work with community choirs, schools and colleges, whilst the accompaniment is via their Barefoot Band, created a few years ago and consisting of piano, clarinet, double bass and accordion,

For La cenerentola in 2023, they did eight shows. This year's La traviata tour took in 12 shows beginning in St. Leonards-on-sea (featuring Voiceworks choir and Bexhill College) and venues including the Grimeborn Festival at the Arcola Theatre (with Hackney Voices). This year the aim is to reach 16 shows – four at Grimeborn, 12 other tour venues and some that they have never been to before to widen their reach in the South East region.

For Lucia di Lammermoor, they are working with a number of new community groups and with mental health organisations and charities to frame the work that they do. Lucia can be a triggering show in some of its subject matter and so, the Creative Team are all going through Mental Health First Aid training and will be sensitive to the subject matter when they run workshops with groups that deal with vulnerable people. 

Barefoot Opera's Bloom Britannia (composer Orlando Gough) in 2022

Anthony Flaum was the producer for the 2023 and 2024 tours and has big plans for the company. We chatted about it earlier this month when I caught him singing the role of Theseus in Jonathan Dove's The Monster in the Maze in Sheffield [see my review]. He plans to broaden the model that Barefoot has built over the last few years, in terms of touring but also try to take a deeper dive into their community legacy. Also planned is a gradual implementation of parts of “The Green Book” in the work that they do in an effort to ensure that their touring work is sustainable, whilst they grow. 

Full details from Barefoot Opera's website.

Inventions: The Harpsichord across Time and Borders.

Katarzyna Kowalik

Whilst the harpsichord has been used in contemporary music since the early 20th century, it still gives off the aura of a 'period instrument'. Harpsichordist Katarzyna Kowalik wants to change that. Her new programme, Inventions: The Harpsichord across Time and Borders features music that spans centuries and borders, celebrating harpsichord music from the British Isles. This programme combines contemporary works with historical pieces, highlighting female composers who have shaped and continue to innovate in harpsichord music.

Alongside music by 17th century French composer Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre and 18th century English composer Elisabetta de Gambarini (also a singer, she sang in Handel's Occasional Oratorio and Judas Maccabeus) there is 17th century German composer Heinrich Scheidemann's arrangement of John Dowland and three works commissioned by Kowalik. These are by Lisa Robertson (from the West Highlands of Scotland), Evangelia Rigaki (Greek-born, based in Ireland) and Janet Oates, and we are promised performances that incorporate Ebow, blu tack, paper, elastic bands, humming, singing, sighing, playing with a golf ball on strings and more! Robertson also contributes and arrangement of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser.

The concert is at Richmond and Putney Unitarian Church on 16 November, further details, and at Durham University on 20 November, further details. There is also the chance to catch Katarzyna Kowalik at Handel & Hendrix in London on 9 & 30 November, and 14 December.

Back to its roots and looking to the future: Buxton International Festival 2025

For 2025, the Buxton International Festival is returning to its roots and looking to the future. 

The company will be mounting a new production of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet, which was one of the festival's earliest successes with Sir Thomas Allen in the title role, and yes, I was there! But alongside this the festival has commissioned four new one-act operas to form an evening's programme, Shorts. 

Hamlet will be presented in a new festival production with festival artistic director, Adrian Kelly conducting the orchestra of Opera North. Other operas planned include a double bill of Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Taihiti and Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine, a co-production with Norwich Theatre, and Mozart’s The Impresario, in a production by Opera Zuid. In addition, Vache Baroque will bring Charpentier's La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers to the Pavilion Arts Centre.

The festival has commissioned a group of award-winning artists to create four 20-minute operas, Shorts, which will be premièred and performed together in July 2025. The Shorts are composed by Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, Jasper Dommett, Martin Green, Carmel Smickersgill and Yshani Perinpanayagam, with librettos by Zodwa Nyoni, Josh Overton and Jessica Walker. Directors include Marcus Desando and Rebecca Meltzer, designer Elliott Squire and repetiteur Paul McKenzie.

Commenting, Adrian Kelly the festival’s artistic director said: "While opera remains a captivating experience for those who have already discovered it, there is no question that audiences need a boost. All companies that produce opera have a responsibility to look to the future. At the heart of this mission is our desire to bring opera to new audiences and we are also excited to introduce fresh visionary forces. Our creatives come with a diverse range of styles and inspirations as well as an impressive line-up of credits between them, including an Ivor Novello Award, a Sunday Times Best Playwright Award, as well as Netflix, BBC and Channel 4 writing credits."

Full details from the festival website.

Apollo & Hercules, L'Allegro & Il Trionfo, Jonathan Cohen & Arcangelo: the London Handel Festival 2025

It is all change at the London Handel Festival. As announced previously by festival director Gregory Batsleer, the festival has a new artistic advisor, Jonathan Cohen, whilst Cohen's group Arcangelo becomes the principal ensemble in residence. But the London Handel Players are still in the frame, and they too have a new principal conductor, Richard Gowers.

Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo open the festival on 7 March 2025 at St George's Church, Hanover Square with Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato. Arcangelo are back on 12 March as Arcangelo’s New Ensemblists perform at the Foundling Museum, then on 14 March at St George's, Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo are joined by Hungarian soprano Emőke Baráth in a programme celebrating great Handelian heroines.

Richard Gowers and the London Handel Orchestra, along with the London Handel Singers and the Choir of St. George's, Hanover Square will be coming together on 22 March 2025 for a tercentenary celebration marking the foundation of St George’s Church, Hanover Square in 1725. The programme features Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne and Dettingen Te Deum alongside the Organ Concerto in D Minor and soloists include Alexander Chance and Florian Störtz, winners of the International Handel Singing Competition in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

There is more oratorio when Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra make their festival debut with Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno on 19 March at St George's with soloists Hilary Cronin, Helen Charlston, Jess Dandy and James Way, two of whom are recent winners of the International Handel Singing Competition. The singing competition returns in 2025 with the final being held at St George's on 2 April with the finalist performing with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Violinist Bjarte Eike returns to the festival on 5 April at Middle Temple Hall where he performs with members of his ensemble Barokksolistene, in collaboration with members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and mezzo-soprano Katie Bray. Other visitors to the festival include violinist Charlotte Spruit, keyboard player Steven Devine, The Vauxhall Band and Ensemble Augelletti, who are performing at a Handel Supper Club.

The festival is collaborating with David Bates, La Nuova Musica and New English Ballet Theatre on a new stage production, Tales of Apollo and Hercules where director Thomas Guthrie and choreographer Valentino Zuccetti will be staging Handel's early cantata, Apollo e Dafne and his rather later one-act oratorio, The Choice of Hercules. The production takes place at in the Victorian grandeur of Shoreditch Town Hall’s Music Hall.

As part of its 20th anniversary season, experimental record label and promoter nonclassical returns to the festival on 20 March for Arias Reimagined at Stone Nest in the heart of London’s West End. The programme features a selection of well-known Handel arias reimagined live by an exciting line up of artists and performers, all of whom are renowned for their originality.

The festival is brought to a close on 10 April when Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company perform Handel's Floridante a welcome chance to hear something of a Handelian rarity. Floridante was written in 1721, one of Handel's early works written for the castrato Senesino.

Full details from the London Handel Festival's website.

Wild Arts : A very special Messiah with a difference this Christmas - to bring the stories alive and create a real connection with audiences

Handel: Messiah - Wild Arts at The Art Workers’ Guild 2023 (Photo: Lucy J Toms)

In 2023, the innovative young ensemble Wild Arts brought their powerful new take on Handel’s masterpiece to four venues in the UK.  In association with opera and theatre director Tom Morris (Breaking the Waves, Dr Semmelweis, War Horse), this semi-staged production of Messiah brought drama and pace to Handel’s legendary telling of the Christmas story, performed by eight solo singers and an instrumental ensemble of twelve players, led by Artistic Director Orlando Jopling. [see Robert's review 'A sense of dramatic narrative'].

For 2024, Wild Arts’ Messiah visits eight venues across England, including a first appearance at Smith Square Hall (formerly St John’s Smith Square) on 7th December.  

Orlando says, "I set up Wild Arts in 2022 because I wanted to take world class performances to beautiful places across the UK in an environmentally sustainable way.  I wanted to focus on the music and drama, working with the best singers and instrumentalists and allowing their acting, musicianship and communication to bring the stories alive and create a real connection with audiences, all with costumes, set and props that can be packed up into a couple of suitcases that we can take with us on the train. I’m so proud of our Messiah.  It embodies everything Wild Arts stands for and the audience reaction has been truly incredible.  It’s so exciting to be sharing this special production at venues that are new to us all over the country."

Handel: Messiah - Wild Arts at The Art Workers’ Guild 2023 (Photo: Lucy J Toms)

The production runs from 2nd to 19th December with performances at Chelmsford Cathedral, Smith Square Hall, Hexham Abbey, Carlisle Cathedral, Lancaster Priory, Layer Marney Tower, Chichester Cathedral and Rochester Cathedral.  Full details of the tour can be found at Wild Arts' website.

Colour, movement and tradition: Juan Diego Florez in Damiano Michieletto's new production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann at Covent Garden

Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann - Juan Diego Florez - Royal Opera House (Photo: RBO/Camilla Greenwell)

Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann; Juan Diego Florez, Alex Esposito, Olga Pudova, Ermonela Jaho, Marina Costa-Jackson, director: Damiano Michieletto, conductor: Antonello Manacorda: Royal Opera House
Reviewed 10 November 2024

An evening of vivid fun that presents Offenbach's complex opera as a star vehicle in a grand setting without essaying any musicological complexity

If Offenbach had lived longer, what shape would his opera The Tales of Hoffmann have taken? That is a question that has tantalised musicologists. The discovery of the majority of the surviving manuscripts means we have access to everything the composer wrote. But that does not mean we know Offenbach's final thoughts. After his death, the opera was brought to form by Ernest Guiraud who turned dialogue into recitative, as would have been necessary if the work was to be performed at the Paris Opera and at opera houses outside France. But would the composer have been satisfied with the rather baggy work that results, or would have have preferred the pacier version with dialogue. What would he have cut? 

We can never know the answers to these, and the most satisfying productions of the opera that I have seen have been ones where director and conductor take a keen interest in the musicological issues surrounding the work, working out what works and what doesn't. The Royal Opera House's new production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann represented not only a chance to replace John Schlesinger's ineffably grand 1980 production (revived regularly until 2016) but to get away from that production's reliance on the old traditional Choudens edition of the opera.

The new production, directed by Damiano Michieletto and conducted by Antonello Manacorda, is a co-production with Opera Australia, Lyon Opera and Le Fenice in Venice and was being mounted in London with a star tenor, Juan Diego Florez, and an international cast. So, we have to accept that the aim is not musicological enquiry, but to provide bankable and revivable spectacle. The programme book for the production informs us that the edition used is the one published by Alkor-Edition, Kassel but does not give a hint any further as to what we are hearing. Some digging reveals that Alkor-Edition's score is edited by Fritz Oeser, whose edition has been long superseded by more recent developments.

So, what did we hear? 

Powerful intensity & youthful vigour: Benjamin Hulett & Helen Charlston in Handel's Jephtha at Wimbledon International Music Festival

Thomas Hudson - John Beard, tenor who created the role of Jephtha for Handel

Handel: Jephtha: Benjamin Hulett, Helen Charlston, Rowan Pierce, James Hall, Academy Choir Wimbledon, Academy Baroque Players, Matthew Best; Wimbledon International Music Festival at Sacred Heart Church
9 November 2024

A finely satisfying performance from a strong young cast who really lifted Handel and Morell's tragedy off the page

Since the beginnings of the festival, the Wimbledon-based Academy Choir has a tradition of opening Wimbledon International Music Festival. This year was no different, so on Saturday 9 November 2024 at Sacred Heart Church, Edge Hill, Wimbledon, Matthew Best conducted Academy Choir Wimbledon and Academy Baroque Players, leader Alison Bury, in Handel's Jephtha with Benjamin Hulett as Jephtha, Helen Charlston as Storge, Rowan Pierce as Iphis, James Hall as Hamor, Conrad Chatterton as Zebul and Clementine Thompson as the Angel. And the concert was preceded by a pre-concert talk by the eminent Handelian authority, Ruth Smith.

Jeptha is not the longest of Handel's oratorios, but it is still substantial and the evening's performances used the version Handel and his assistant J.C. Smith created for later performances, with a shortened, more compact ending, the final scene losing the arias for Zebul, Storge and Hamor.

Much more than a guilty pleasure: the songs of Reynaldo Hahn at the London Song Festival

Reynaldo Hahn in 1906

Songs by Reynaldo Hahn; Maria Schellenberg, Jack Holton, Nigel Foster; London Song Festival at Hinde Street Methodist Church
Reviewed 8 November 2024

Over 20 of Hahn's best known songs in a comprehensive programme that illuminated his early career as a remarkable (and prodigy-like) song composer

The London Song Festival's Autumn 2024 season is celebrating the Class of 1874, composers, poets and a singer all born in 1874. On 8 November 2024, at Hinde Street Methodist Church, it was the turn of Reynaldo Hahn, as pianist and festival director Nigel Foster was joined by mezzo-soprano Maria Schellenberg and baritone Jack Holton for a programme of Hahn's songs. 

It is intriguing to compare two of the composers featuring in the festival, Reynaldo Hahn and Gustave Holst. Holst like his friend and contemporary Vaughan Williams (born 1872) took time to find his voice and his significant music all dates securely from the 20th century, whereas Hahn was talented early. One of his best known songs Si mes vers avaient des ailes was written when he as just 14 and the majority of the evening's songs were written in the 19th century. Whilst the older Hahn would change his style, somewhat, to reflect the 20th century he was always a rather backward-looking figure and in many ways it is fascinating to realise that he was Holst's exact contemporary, especially when you realise that two other contemporaries are Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives (both also born in 1874).

Hahn's teachers included Massenet (born 1842) and Saint-Saens (born 1835), neither of whom are renowned for their advanced techniques and Hahn's song-writing in particular remains firmly linked to the Belle Epoque. Hahn became a friend of the playwright Alphonse Daudet, writing music for one of Daudet's plays when he was just 16. And it was at Daudet's house that Massenet's muse, soprano Sybil Sanderson premiered Hahn's Chansons Grises, his first published songs.

The sound of wind, sunlight or water: pianist Anna Tsybuleva on her new recording of Debussy's Préludes on Signum Classics

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 - Anna Tsybuleva with hr-Sinfonieorchester, Alain Altinoglu

I first chatted to pianist Anna Tsybuleva back in 2021 (by Zoom from her house in the Caucasus) when having won the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2015 with her performance of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2, she chose the work for her debut concerto recording on Signum Classics. [see my interview]. 

Anna is now back with another recording on Signum, this time Debussy's complete Préludes for Solo Piano. Whilst she was in London recently as part of a six-week tour where she was also taking in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Norway, I met up with Anna to chat about Debussy's music and piano technique, plus her wish to go deeper into the music of Rameau.

Anna Tsybuleva (Photo: Anna Gryzlova)

Whilst the leap from Brahms to Debussy might seem surprising, Anna finds it interesting to go in different directions at the same time, finding it good for both her outlook and her development. Also, Debussy's Préludes are special for her. She first came across them at school, finding them not easy but then came back to them when she was a student in Basel. From the first, she felt her connection to Debussy to be very strong, and at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, her professor, Claudio Martínez-Mehner gave her what she calls his magical key to Debussy's world. Before this, she had a very general approach to playing the piano, then in a lesson her professor said that in her playing she gave too much piano for Debussy. She could not understand what he meant, but then she realised that Debussy did not want a specifically piano sound, the music should be the sound of wind, sunlight or water, of emotions. The piano became a very different instrument; this opened her eyes and educated her piano playing in general.

A lot of the time, particularly in the 19th century, composers were writing for something bigger than the piano, evoking nature or emotions. Debussy said that he wanted to open new realities with his music. All this came together in her playing and began her long friendship with Debussy. She changed her approach to other music, and she points out that even a piano sonata needs more than just the piano sound; the piano can be whatever you want it to be.

She admits that she dreams of playing all of Debussy's piano music, but in the Préludes you can see the whole spectrum of his imagination. The images that he collected throughout his life come together in the 24 Préludes. These images would come out in other compositions such as Pelleas et Melisande, but in the Préludes, Debussy give us the seeds of these, concentrated views of images from a larger world. Debussy did not like the word Impressionism and his music is in fact more Symbolist. There are connections to nature, and what the rhythms and colours of the music mean is important. Also, Debussy has taught her that the performer is not important. Understanding comes with age, you need to be invisible and if she inserts too much of her personality into the music, then it becomes something different.

Club Inégales is back: Peter Wiegold's genre-defying evening is returning to its Euston home

Peter Wiegold and notes inégales in 2016 (Photo: Frederique Bellec)

Club Inégales is back! Peter Wiegold's genre-defying evening is returning to its Euston home for four evenings from 14 November. The events take place thanks the extraordinary sponsorship of a firm of lawyers at Euston who provide Club Inégales with the use of their basement bar. One of the senior lawyers is also an amateur pianist, so they have commissioned five new 2’ pieces for him for the event on 20th November. His remarkable support extended to joining Club Inégales in the purchase of the piano, the lights, the PA and he offers all his staff free piano lessons!

The resident ensemble is the fluid and eclectic Notes Inégales, which Peter Wiegold directs. Evenings take the form of Notes Inégales doing a set, then guests doing a solo set with the evening finishing with guests and Notes Inégales joining together for something more improvisatory. Out of this free-thinking atmosphere sprung Peter Wiegold's The Third Orchestra.

The series opens on 14 November with the genre-defying GOKUMI ensemble performing new pieces by an eclectic array of young artists, fresh out of three months intensive work at The Alternative Conservatoire, a new multi-disciplined accelerator course for young music creators who both defy and feel alienated by institutional/traditional conservatoire categorisation. The performances will feature Faraz Eshghi, kemanche (an Iranian bowed string instrument) and Beibei Wang, percussion. The evening will be preceded by the Symposium, What is needed for true multi-cultural, multi-genre learning in the 21stC?  with Gillian Moore, Georgie Pope (SOAS/Global Music Academy/Marsm), Keran Kaur Virdeem (SAA-UK), Gary Crosby (Tomorrow’s Warriors), Sally Currie (Drake Music) and Joel Bell and Bushra El-Turk of the AC.

The second evening (20 November) will feature Notes Inégales with Zena Edwards performance poet, soprano Sarah Gabriel, countertenor Iestyn Morris and sound artists Christophe Fellay as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Including new piano commissions from Stevie Wishart, Jenni Roditi, Orlando Gough, Martin Butler and Peter Wiegold. 

The third evening (28 November) features sets from Héloïse Werner, voice, Colin Alexander, cello, Beibei Wang, percussion and Shri Sriram, bass and is preceded by another Symposium, So you want to get funded? This is chaired by Peter Wiegold and Arts Council England Senior Relationship Manager, Adam Jeanes, joined by Ed Mckeon of 3rd Ear, and will include speakers from other major funders. The event is especially looking to help emerging artists frame their work and devise and manage their curation.

The fourth evening, on 5 December, features The Third Orchestra. This has musicians from across world traditions, and appears fresh from opening Classical:NEXT in the Boulez Saal in Berlin, where they collaborated with three other ensembles, this show brings together UK and Berlin members.

There is also a chance to join Peter, Martin and members of Notes Inégales as they are hosting two Open Improv Workshops, on 16 and 30 November.

Full details of the events from the Club Inégales page at EventBrite

A slightly different, and innovative approach to coaching singers at Bailey Concert Singers' Symposium

Dame Sarah Connolly & Mark Padmore in discussion at the Bailey Concert Singers Symposium

Coaching and masterclasses for singers tends to be focused, understandably, on the wider solo repertoire but the Bailey Concert Singers' Symposium (BCSS) takes a slightly different, and innovative approach. The 2024 edition took place in Marylebone on 19 September 2024 organised by the London Singers Collective, founded and run by baritone Julian Debreuil. 

For the day, eight singers, chosen by competitive audition, spent the morning in solo coaching sessions with soprano Joanne Lunn, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, tenor Mark Padmore and baritone Roderick Williams (BCSS artistic director).

Then in the afternoon, two quartets of soloists were coached together in the Benedictus from Haydn's Missa Sancti Nicolai, and the final movement from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, and the day finished with a panel discussion between Lunn, Connolly, Padmore and Williams, where they shared advice and experiences about concert and oratorio performance.

Roderick Williams coaching baritones Jonathan Eyers & Peter Brooks at the Bailey Concert Singers Symposium

I went along for the afternoon, and caught, Sofia Kirwan-Baez, Daisy Mitchell, Matthew Cooke and Peter Brooks being coached by Joanne Lunn in the Haydn, accompanied by William Vann, and Susie Gibbons, Daisy Mitchell, Sam Kibble and Jonathan Eyers being coached by Roderick Williams in the Beethoven, accompanied by Richard Black.

Haydn's mass is a relatively early one, and the Benedictus is a real ensemble and it was fascinating watching Joanne Lunn coaching the four young singers. They had never sung together before, thus reproducing the sort of situation that can occur on the concert platform, and I enjoyed hearing how Lunn discussed the detail and practicalities of the performance. 

For the Beethoven, Roderick Williams began by asking the question whether the singers were an ensemble or four individual soloists and his coaching explored this dichotomy. The other distinguished singers were also present in the audience and at times the coaching developed into a fascinating and informative dialogue. This continued in the panel discussion, moderated by Roderick Williams. For a professional listener, this was illuminating and fascinating, and all four singers brought a wealth of practical information to the discussions, along with personal anecdotes and a great deal of humour.

Coaching at the Bailey Concert Singers Symposium with William Vann at the piano

The idea of coaching a quartet of singers as an ensemble seems such a obvious idea and my experience of BCSS seemed to show that it was both illuminative and informative.

A bright beginning: Three Sonatas reveals the distinctive voice of young composer Sam Rudd-Jones in a disc of chamber music that intrigues

Sam Rudd-Jones: Three Sonatas, Variations, Jeux d'eau, Hardy in Love; Darragh Morgan, Kate Romano, Huw Watkins, Sam Rudd-Jones, Ed Lyon; Prima Facie
Reviewed 4 November 2024

A remarkable debut, a disc of chamber music by 25-year-old Sam Rudd-Jones reveals a distinctive voice with a compositional talent that intrigues and makes you look forward to what comes next

This new disc from Prima Facie, Three Sonatas, presents the debut collection of chamber music by the young (born 1999) composer Sam Rudd-Jones. The disc features Three Sonatas, performed by Darragh Morgan (violin), Kate Romano (clarinet), and Huw Watkins (piano), Variations performed by Darragh Morgan, Jeux d'eau performed by Sam Rudd-Jones and Hardy in Love performed by Ed Lyon (tenor) and Huw Watkins.

For a disc that includes works with titles referencing traditional forms such as sonata and variations, it is perhaps surprising to read in Rudd-Jones' booklet notes that 'Much of the rhythm in my compositions comes from contemporary electronic music. This music is built from grooves, which are repeating rhythmic patterns that encourage dance.' But if you listen to the music and continue reading Rudd-Jones' thoughtful essay, you realise that this is not dance music, Rudd-Jones is simply utilising one genre to revitalise another, and he comments 'For me the true utility of a groove is that its regularity creates an easily intelligible structure, on which one can hang more unorthodox approaches to harmony and timbre.' 

Spring is coming to Snape, with Britten Pears Arts announcing its Spring season

Aldeburgh Young Musicians

Spring is coming to Snape, with Britten Pears Arts announcing its Spring season, with visitors including Aurora Orchestra and English Touring Opera, Easter celebrations and lunchtime concerts from Britten Pears Young Artist Programme.

There is a weekend in May devoted to celebrating Aurora Orchestra's 20th birthday, with Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals presented with renowned physical-theatre-makers Frantic Assembly alongside Richard Ayres’ riotous new work Dr Frompou’s Anatomical Study of an Orchestra, and there is also an immersive presentation of the Saint-Saens aimed at Early Years, plus Nicholas Collon conducts Aurora Orchestra in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with mezzo-soprano Alice Coote and tenor Andrew Staples.  Whilst English Touring Opera will be bringing their new production of Bellini's not-inspired-by-Shakespeare The Capulets & The Montagues.

Cantatas, orchestral and choral music by JS Bach is being presented at Blythburgh Church for Eastertide, with Ben Parry conducting the Britten Pears Chamber Choir, soloists who are alumni of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, and the Suffolk Ensemble.  Whilst there is Easter-themed family fun at the Red House and at Snape Maltings.

Every Friday from late January to mid-April, Britten Pears Arts presents twelve Friday Lunchtime Concerts at 12pm. The majority take place in the historic Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall, with one each taking place at Snape Maltings and Orford Church. The series features performances by young ensembles in the 2024-25 Britten Pears Young Artist Programme as part of their residencies in Snape and Aldeburgh. 

And there is more to explore when it comes to residencies at Snape, because artists taking part in Britten Pears Arts Residencies offer a look behind the scenes and experience of work-in-progress as part of Open Sessions. Artists participating in these are mother-and-daughter Naomi Burrell (violinist and composer) and Margareta Burrell (composer), a collaboration between Brìghde Chaimbeul and Martin Green centred on the Scottish smallpipes that merges traditional acoustics with electronic systems into a single sonic entity, Hannah Catherine Jones exploring theremin, waterphone, and voice, and choreographer and composer Dickson Mbi collaborating with singer/songwriter Nicki Wells and cellist Gabriella Swallow.

Aldeburgh Young Musicians (AYM) which offers creative and collaborative musical training for promising young musicians aged 10-18, is offering an all-day open house and a taster morning, for those interested in joining.

At the Red House, curated by Paul Edmondson, Spiritual Britten explores the spiritual aspects of his life and music.

Full details from the Britten Pears Arts website.

Staged in the majestic surroundings of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, Mendelssohn’s Elijah provoked the inner senses

Birmingham Triennial Music Festival at the Town Hall

Mendelssohn: Elijah; Carolyn Sampson, Sarah Connolly, Andrew Staples, Simon Keenlyside, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra, Daniel Hyde; King's College Chapel, Cambridge at part of the Cambridge Music Festival
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 1 November 2024

A comfortable and remarkable performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, blessed by an extremely fine and stellar quartet of soloists

As part of the Cambridge Music Festival, Daniel Hyde, director of music at King’s College Chapel conducted Mendelssohn's Elijah in the chapel on 1 November 2024, with the BBC Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra. A comfortable and remarkable performance of Elijah was blessed by an extremely fine and stellar quartet of soloists admirably led by Sir Simon Keenlyside, a strong lyrical baritone who proved ideal for the part of Elijah while Carolyn Sampson’s clear and distinctive-sounding soprano voice projected round the vastness and majesty of King’s College Chapel with such consummate ease as did, too, the warm and rich-sounding mezzo voice of Dame Sarah Connolly with the tenor, Andrew Staples, adding so much pleasure to a brilliant and exhilarating performance that would be extremely hard to beat. 

An epic Old Testament oratorio on a grand scale, Mendelssohn’s two-part work Elijah (the culmination of his life’s work) was first performed in the newly-built Birmingham Town Hall to a 2,500-strong audience who regularly interrupted proceedings to offer a round of applause while eight numbers, a popular occurrence of the day, were encored. Thankfully, this would not happen nowadays but the half-hearted applause that often breaks out between movements in today’s world I find irritating to the extreme while the misuse of mobile phones in performance stirs my anger. 

Conducted by the composer, the performance (Wednesday 26 August 1846) was, by all accounts, triumphant and formed part of the 1846 Birmingham Triennial Festival who, incidentally, shared their festival with Leeds and Norwich while the other Triennial - the Three Choirs Festival - rotates to this very day with the cathedral towns of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester.  [see Robert's article, In search of Elijah, exploring that first performance]

In search of the lost string quartet: the 1923 version Howells' In Gloucestershire newly reconstructed and recorded

Herbert Howells' wrote a relatively small but important body of chamber music, mainly dating from his early maturity, circa 1916–1923, notably his Piano Quartet, the Rhapsodic Quintet for clarinet and strings, the Phantasy Quartet. His third string quartet In Gloucestershire was written in 1916 but has an extremely complex history. 

The original score disappeared, Howells left it on a train, and he subsequently worked on the piece, recomposing from memory. Quite what relationship this work of the 1920s has to the original, we will never know. And in fact, no score of the work survives from the 1920s either, what we have is Howells' published version from the 1930s. Yet with Howells, nothing was ever finished and it will come as no surprise to find that the published version (the one used on previous recordings of the work) has three movements that are different to the version from the 1920s!

Luckily, parts have survived, and a set of copyists parts from 1923 exists. These were used for a performance that may have been the one at the house of Marion Scott, a friend of both Howells and Ivor Gurney. These parts have now been edited by the academic, Dr Jonathan Clinch, and Joseph Spooner, cellist with the London Chamber Ensemble Quartet. The quartet has been playing the work and now they have released a disc, on SOMM records which pairs the 1923 version of Howell's In Gloucestershire with String Quartet No. 6 by Charles Wood, Howells' friend and teacher. Wood's quartet, his last, dates from 1916, the year Howells first wrote In Gloucestershire.

On Monday, there was a launch event for the new SOMM disc, when the London Chamber Ensemble Quartet, ( violinists Madeleine Mitchell and Gordon MacKay, violist Bridget Carey and cellist Joseph Spooner) performed music from the disc, giving us a chance to hear two movements from Howells' In Gloucestershire and the final movement from Woods' String Quartet No. 6 along with one of Howells' Three Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 28 arranged for string quartet by Madeleine Mitchell.

Full details from the SOMM website.

Building a bridge to people who haven't yet connected with classical music: Sven-Kristian Wolf's Orchestrapunk photography project

Eve-Maud Hubeaux, Jonas Kaufmann - Salzburg Easter Festival (Photo:  Orchestrapunk / Sven-Kristian Wolf)

"At last someone who shows how we musicians work. We need more of that!" - Sir Simon Rattle

Sven-Kristian Wolf is a photographer working in Salzburg and Vienna, photographing musicians from all over the world. As a former cultural manager, punk and jazz musician, he is familiar with the cultural scene; his background enables him to show classical music in such a way that the message and magic is also understood by people outside the classical world.

He is currently working on a photography project titled Orchestrapunk, aimed at building a bridge to people who haven't yet connected with classical music. As he describes it, he photographs orchestras through the eyes of a punk.

The project has been ongoing for 14 months now, and Wolf has already worked with Isata Kanneh-Mason, Simon Rattle, Antonio Pappano, Ivan Fischer, Jonas Kaufmann, the Carnegie Hall, the Salzburg Festival, the Elbphilharmonie and many others. 

European Union Youth Orchestra - Elbphilharmonie (Photo:  Orchestrapunk / Sven-Kristian Wolf)

You can explore his photographs at his website, where he also has a blog (in German).

Gentle Flame: Liz Dilnot Johnson's diverse output showcased in this disc celebrating her relationship with Ex Cathedra

Liz Dilnot Johnson: Gentle Flame - selected choral works;  Ex Cathedra, Jeffrey Skidmore; Métier
Reviewed 29 October 2024

Showcasing Liz Dilnot Johnson's diverse choral music, the disc celebrates her relationship with Ex Cathedral who are powerful advocates for her highly effective music

Composer Liz Dilnot Johnson is 60 this year and is celebrating with three different albums of her music, along with launching two new eco-projects inspired by Prof. Kate Raworth’s book Doughnut Economics. Firstly, 60 Wild Songs – a set of improvised songs performed by Liz Dilnot Johnson in different landscapes, raising awareness of the importance of nurturing our planet alongside the importance of our singing voice as a crucial expression of humanity. Secondly, Wild Arts Year, a collaborative multi-media project bringing together creatives of all kinds celebrating our wild landscapes around the UK, a project that has grown out of Johnson’s children’s song A Wild Midwinter Carol.

This concern for the environment has a political element too, and when asked to write a Requiem for the amateur choir in her local church, Johnson turned to the conflict in the Middle East and created Colwall Requiem for Aleppo, this work was then expanded for Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra to become the 12-movement When A Child Is A Witness – Requiem for Refugees.

This work is the centrepiece of Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra's disc, Gentle Flame on Divine Art's Métier label which celebrates Dilnot Johnson's nine-year relationship with the choir where she has been composer-in-residence since 2021. The disc includes eight smaller choral works alongside When A Child Is A Witness – Requiem for Refugees, taking us from some of Johnson's earliest music to her most recent.