Coronation Music for Charles II

Music for the Coronation of Charles II; Oltremontano, Psallentes, Wim Becu; Accent
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Feb 6 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Imaginative reconstruction of music for the whole of the Coronation of Charles II from processions, to service and banquet.

This latest disc (on the Accent label) from the Belgian cornett and sackbut ensemble Oltremontano, directed by Wim Becu, explores the music written for the coronation of Charles II. Though the group is joined by the choir Psallentes for three items, the disc is very much wind ensemble based and encompasses the music written for Charles's ceremonial entry to London, procession, coronation ceremony and the coronation banquet with music by Robert Parsons, Marin Mersenne, Matthew Locke, Girolamo Fantini, William Child, William Byrd, Pelham Humfrey, Augustine Bassano, William Lawes, John Adson.

Charles' coronation took place a year after his Restoration in 1660. It probably took the intervening year to organise the grand spectacle (very much based on earlier models), as most things including the Royal Household had to be assembled from scratch including creating new coronation regalia and the training of choirboys. The disc comes with an excellent article by Prof. Dr. Grete Haenen which explains just what we are listening to. Not all the music survives and we do not have record of some, so some of the pieces are putative.

Orpheus Sinfonia gets Beneath the Score

Thomas Carroll
and the Orpheus Sinfonia
at Cadogan Hall

Orpheus Sinfonia and conductor Thomas Carroll continue their Beneath the Score events, with an exploration of the intertwining lives of Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. 

At St George's Church, Hanover Square on 23 March 2015, they present Love Triangle. During the first half of the concert excerpts from symphonies by Schumann and Brahms and Schumann's Cello Concerto (whose slow movement includes a motif depicting Clara's name), are interleaved with readings of the letters between them, forming a picture of their very different personalities. The second half consists of a complete performance of Brahms's first symphony. Clara and Robert Schumann greatly supported Brahms and encouraged him to write a symphony.

Come all ye songsters - Carolyn Sampson in Purcell at the Wigmore Hall

Carolyn Sampson

Purcell, Draghi, Corbetta, Simpson; Carloyn Sampson, Elizabeth Kenny, Jonathan Manson, Laurence Cummings; the Wigmore Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Mar 17 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Bewitching evening of Purcell exploring his music for aristocratic patrons

The Wigmore Hall's Henry Purcell: A Retrospective continues exploring the full range of the composer's work. On Tuesday 17 March 2015 soprano Carolyn Sampson joined Elizabeth Kenny on lute, Jonathan Manson bass viol and Laurence Cummings on harpsichord for a programme of Purcell's songs. But this was no random selection of choice gems from Purcell's repertoire (though there are indeed many gems), instead the musicians explored two very particular manuscripts, the Gresham Manuscript and 'Princess Ans Lutebook'. Both of these are ultimately associated with Princess Anne, younger sister of Queen Mary (of William and Mary) who maintained her own establishment and seems to have been highly musical. Thus the concert, which included a mixture of Purcell's theatre songs as well as music from the odes and other pieces, gave us a taste of the sort of music making that might have gone on in Princess Anne's chambers.

The Gresham Manuscript (so called because it was acquired by Gresham College in the 19th century), is in Purcell's own hand and seems to have been assembled for Purcell's pupil Lady Arabella Howard. Before her marriage she was a lady in waiting to Princess Anne and both women were musical. Anne played the harpsichord and guitar (her teachers included Francisco Corbetta and Giovanni Battista Draghi), and Arabella sang and played the harpsichord. And the manuscript seems to have been compiled by Purcell for their use, with the songs being copied in shortly after being composed. 'Princess Ans Lutebook' is in fact a book of guitar tablatures and is similar in nature, in that it is a compilation (of Purcell and others) of music to be played on guitar. Also included in the concert was Purcell's C major harpsichord suite which was originally written as part of his teaching material for aristocratic patrons.

Not all the songs were from the Gresham Manuscript, but there were enough to give us a lovely taste, a real sense of domestic music making. A number of the songs existing in versions in the manuscript which occur nowhere else, and sometimes transposed from other voices to be suitable for soprano. Arranged into themed groups, divided by instrumental solos, the programme provided a lovely selection of Purcell's works but also had the sense of illuminating a corner of aristocratic patronage from the 1690's.

Julian Lloyd Webber to be principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire

Julian Lloyd Webber
photo credit Simon Fowler

It was announced today (18 March 2015) that the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber is to be the next principal of Birmingham Conservatoire. The cellist retired from playing last year, and will be taking up his position in July this year. The appointment comes at an exciting time for the conservatoire as it has a new home being built on Birmingham City University's city centre campus, with a concert hall and new practice facilities. The present principal of the conservatoire, David Saint retires in June and Lloyd Webber will replace him.

This is is something of a new departure for the distinguished cellist, who was forced by injury to stop playing. I was lucky enough to catch on of his last recitals (given with his wife Jiaxin) in April last year. But he has been involved in education for quite some time, and was co-founder of In Harmony Sistema England the music social education programme based on the Venezuelan El Sistema.

JC Bach's Amadis de Gaule

JC Bach (the London Bach) seems to be having something of a moment. The first of a pair of his operas to be performed in London comes up next week as the wonderfully enterprising University College Opera perform JC Bach's Amadis de Gaule at the Bloomsbury Theatre starting on 23 March 2015. The opera is being performed in English, though it was written in French and first performed in Paris in 1779. The piece used libretto which had originally been set by Lully (and was later the basis for Handel's Amadigi di Gaula). JC Bach had the misfortune to premiere the work in the middle of the Parisian battle between supporters of Gluck and the serious French tragedie lyrique and supporters of Piccinni and Italian opera buffa. As JC Bach's opera was like the work of neither, it pleased no-one.

JC Bach was an important influence on the young Mozart (the two met when Mozart was in London where JC Bach was based for many years). And one of JC Bach's earlier operas, Adriano in Siria crops up at the Britten Theatre next month as part of Classical Opera's celebrations of Mozart's visit to London, 250 years ago.

University College Opera's performances of Amadis de Gaule run from 23 to 28 March 2015, and are directed by Jack Furness (from Shadwell Opera) and conducted by Charles Peebles. Tickets available from the Bloomsbury Theatre website.

This Other Eden - Kitty Whately's debut CD

Ireland, Warlock, Quilter, Gurney, RVW, Howells, Stanford, Head, Horovitz, McMillan, Britten, Barber; Kitty Whately, Joseph Middleton, Navarra Quartet, Kevin Whately, Madelaine Newton; Champs Hill Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Feb 22 2015
Star rating: 4.5
English song and more on a debut disc, exploring music and poetry

For this, her debut recital on CD (on the Champs Hill Records label), mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and pianist Joseph Middleton have come up with something intriguing. This Other Eden: A Landscape of English Poetry and Song combines English song (with the odd foray elsewhere) with poetry spoken by Whately's parents, the actors Kevin Whately and Madelaine Newton. The range of composers covered is wide with music by John Ireland, Peter Warlock, Roger Quilter, Ivor Gurney, RVW, Herbert Howells, Charles Villiers Stanford, Michael Head, Joseph Horovitz, James McMillan, Benjamin Britten and Samuel Barber. This latter for Dover Beach which sets the poetry of Matthew Arnold (a friend of Whately's ancestor Archbishop Whately). The presence of the Navarra Quartet on the disc means we also get songs by Roger Quilter and RVW which use instrumental accompaniment.

One of our favourite Sunday radio programmes is Words and Music on BBC Radio 3, a seamless blend of words and music on a particular theme. Last year, during the Free Thinking Festival at the Sage Gateshead, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a live version of the programme with Kitty Whately (then a BBC Radio 3 Young Generation Artist) and her parents. This disc very much has a feel of one of these programmes, with the advantage that at home with a Cd the listener can skip the spoken bits if they really wish (but I would not advise it).

Catrin Finch launch for WaterAid

Catrin Finch
photo credit Rhys Frampton

Harpist Catrin Finch is releasing her new album Tides on her new label Acapela on 23 March 2015. The album will be launched at a concert at the Union Chapel on 24 March 2015 which will be a fundraiser for the charity WaterAid.

The album includes original material composed by Catrin Finch, and you can see a preview from the album on YouTube. Finch recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations in 2007 for Deutsche Gramophon and since then she has recorded three further albums. She is the former Royal Harpist to HRH the Prince of Wales, holding the appointment from 2000 to 2004.

WaterAid is an international development charity with a mission to ensure everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.

Making Music on the edge of Europe

Sascha Goetzel and Zeynep Hamedi
photographed after the
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic concert
photo credit Ozge Balkan

The view from our restaurant in Istanbul gives a magnificent panorama of the Bosphorus with the shore of Europe on one side and that of Asia on the other. I am in Istanbul as a guest of the Borusan Foundation to meet members of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and hear it perform Haydn's The Seasons (see my review). And with Asia within sight, it is clear that the orchestra really does make music on the edge of Europe.

Giuseppe Donizetti

Classical music in fact has a long history in Turkey, in 1828 Giuseppe Donizetti (brother of the composer) became Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music at the court of Sultan Mahmud II (1808–39) and Giuseppe Donizetti was in Turkey until his death in 1866. He trained the European-style military bands of Mahmud’s modern army, taught music to the Ottoman royal family, and he was involved in the the annual Italian opera season, concerts and operatic performances at court, and played host to a number of eminent virtuosi who visited Istanbul. A later Sultan built his own opera house and hosted private opera performances with Italian singers. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as part of his programme of modernisation of the the Turkish state, introduced Western style opera and ballet companies (Dame Ninette de Valois worked on the founding the latter), symphony orchestras and music conservatoires.

But the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra is quite young, being founded in 1999 but based on the Borusan Chamber Orchestra which was founded in 1993. The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra's founding music director was the Turkish conductor Gürer Aykal. Since 2009 the orchestra's music director has been the Austrian conductor Sascha Goetzel. The orchestra is nearly all Turkish (only four non-Turks generally perform) and most are trained in Turkish conservatoires. It is a young orchestra, with an average age of around 30 and the youngest is currently 20. When I heard them perform, I noted that at least 50 percent of the players on the platform were women (including a woman trombone player).

Original fire - Manuel de Falla at the Wigmore Hall

Nash Ensemble - © Hanya Chlala/ArenaPAL

Ravel, Falla, Martin; Bernarda Fink, Nash Ensemble, Juanjo Mena; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Mar 14 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Falla's original versions of his ballets, surrounded by music evoking Spain

The Nash Ensemble is coming to the end of its 50th anniversary season, and on Saturday 14 March 2015 the group gave two concerts at the Wigmore Hall. I missed the early evening celebration of contemporary works commissioned by the group from Huw Watkins, David Matthews and Michael Berkeley, but heard the evening concert when Argentinian mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink and flamenco guitarist Juan Martin joined an expanded Nash Ensemble, and conductor Juanjo Mena for a Spanish themed programme. The music of Manuel de Falla was the main focus of the evening with act 1 of El Corregidor y la Molinera (the original  version of The Three-Cornered Hat), Seven Spanish Folksongs and El Amor Brujo (in its original version), plus Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin and flamenco music by Juan Martin.

Bernarda Fink - photo Stefan Reichmann

The concert was planned to start with the music of Turina, but in the event we were treated to a sparkling account of three movements from Maurice Ravel's suite Le Tombeau de Couperin played by Philippa Davies (flute), Gareth Hulse (oboe), Richad Hosford (clarinet) Ursula Leveaux (bassoon) and Richard Watkins (horn). Ravel originally wrote the suite between 194 to 1917, emulating the French baroque tradition of tombeaux (keyboard suites) written in tribute to late colleagues, by writing a keyboard (piano) suite in memory of Francois Couperin, but with each movement dedicated to a friend who had died in the First World War. Ravel orchestrated four of the six movements, and it is in this orchestral form that the work became famous. Mason Jones (1919-2009) was the principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra and his arrangement for wind quintet was published in 1970. Based heavily on Ravel's orchestration (Jones's oboe part is identical to Ravel's first oboe part), Jones also drew on the piano score and orchestrated one of the movements that Ravel did not.

The players from the Nash Ensemble gave us three movements, Prelude: Vif, Menuet: Allegro moderato, Rigaudon:Assez vif. The opening prelude was fast and impulsive, led by the fluent oboe playing of Gareth Hulse, with all the others following. Marked Vif, this was very Vif indeed and the phrases tumbled over themselves but always with clarity and elegance. The minuet was beautifully shaped and balanced, with hints of wit in the playing. There was a lovely vital feel to the music of the Rigaudon, with a real sense of interaction between the players. The middle section was graceful with elegant oboe playing from Hulse.

Haydn's Die Jahreszeiten in Istanbul

Miah Persson, Ian Bostridge, Duncan Rock, Sascha Goetzel,
Salzburg Bach Choir, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra
Borusan Istanbul Filarmoni Orkestrasi - Photograph Ozge Balkan

Haydn Die Jahreszeiten; Persson, Bostridge, Rock, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Goetzel; Istanbul Lütfi Kirdar ICEC
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Mar 12 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Vital characterful performance from Istanbul orchestra in its first oratorio

Joseph Haydn's last oratorio Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) was conductor Sascha Goetzel's choice for the first oratorio performance by his Borusan Istanbul Phiharmonic Orchestra in the Istanbul Lütfi Kirdar ICEC on Thursday 12 March 2015. Goetzel and the orchestra were joined by soloists Miah Persson, Ian Bostridge and Duncan Rock, and the Salzburg Bach Choir.

Haydn's Die Jahreszeiten was intended as a follow up to his previous oratorio Die Schopfung (The Creation) and again Baron Gottfried van Swieten was a prime mover and he created the text basing it loosely on James Thomson's poem The Seasons. Van Swieten created a parallel English text so the work could be performed in either English or German (as for The Creation) to respond to Haydn's continuing English popularity, but his English translation is only loosely based on Thomson's poem and his English is not ideal and the work is nowadays performed in German as it was in Istanbul.

The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (Borudan Istanbul Filarmoni Orkestrasi) performs the majority of its concerts in the Istanbul Lütfi Kirdar ICEC which is the Istanbul conference centre, as the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Istanbul is closed with no current prospect of re-opening. The conference centre provides a large modern space with a surprisingly successful acoustic in the large scale Haydn work and certainly no worse than hearing something in the Royal Festival Hall in London. Sight lines were certainly good.

Semele at the London Handel Festival

Anna Devin

Handel Semele; Devin, Charlesworth, Innes, Eubanska, Valdmaa, Humphreys, cond: Cummings; London Handel Festival at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Feb 09 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Dazzlingly opening to the 2015 London Handel Festival

The 2015 London Handel Festival is upon us and it opened in fine style on Tuesday 10 March 2015 with a performance of Handel's Semele at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Laurence Cummings conducted the London Handel Orchestra and London Handel Singers with Anna Devin in the title role and Rupert Charlesworth as Jupiter, Louise Innes as Juno, Ewa Gubanska as Ino, Maria Valdmaa as Iris and George Humphreys as Cadmus and Somnus.

Rupert Charlesworth - photo Paul Kolien

Handel wrote Semele for concert performance and though it is popular to stage it, it works very well in concert form. The audience in 1744 did not really know what to make of it. In his Italian operas Handel showed himself interested in using their rather more mixed style as compared to the perfections of Metastasio. So it is not surprising that William Congreve's libretto, written in 1705-1706 for John Eccles, appealed with its flexibility of structure and the way arias take the action forward. In fact in her article in the programme book, Ruth Smith speculates that Handel may have seen Eccles' score (written but never performed).

The advantage of a London Handel Festival performance is that we heard the whole work complete (around 170 minutes of music), something that might not be desirable in a stage performance.

Laurence Cummings and the orchestra (slightly beefed up, with four oboes and two bassoons), launched into a brisk and brilliant account of the overture. Throughout Cummings' spèeds were lively to fast, but this did not seem to phase either his players or his singers, and the more lyrical moments were given due space.

Festival performances provide a nice focus for previous winners of the London Handel Singing Competition and this was on exception. Rupert Charlesworth won both the First Prize and the Audience Prize in 2013, Ewa Gubanska won the First Prize in 2014, while Maria Valdmaa won Second Prize and the Audience Prize in 2014.

Temple Music and Temple Song

The concerts in the wonderful locations of Temple Church and Middle Temple Hall, organised by Temple Music, promise a lovely season of events. Temple Song, under the artistic direction of Julius Drake, includes performances from Roderick Williams, Mark Padmore and Toby Spence, whilst there are also visits from the Holst Singers, Lucy Parham and the English Concert.

The season opens with Mass and Motets for an Easter Vigil from the Holst Singers, performing Frank Martin's masterpiece of unaccompanied choral writing his Mass for Double Choir plus music by Allegri, John Sanders and Messiaen (19 March 2015, Temple Church). Then there is a commemoration of another kind as on 21 April 2015, the Liberation of the Concentration Camps in 1945 is remembered with music by Verdi, Part, Bernstein plus music from the Jewish liturgy performed by The Temple Singers, the choristers from Temple Church Choir and the choir of the West London Synagogue, as well as film footage from the period (21 April 2015, Temple Church).

The next Temple Song event is on 29 April 2015 in Middle Temple Hall, when tenor Mark Padmore and baritone Roderick Williams perform Songs of the Sea with pianist Julius Drake and readings from Rory Kinnear. The programme will include music by  Brahms, Faure, Haydn and Schubert, with readings from Eliot, Hardy, Lear, Kipling and Tennyson. And on 8 June, tenor Toby Spencer joins the Doric Quartet and Julius Drake for a programme which includes Elgar's Piano Quintet and RVW's On Wenlock Edge.

Pianist Lucy Parham is joined by narrators Juliet Stevenson and Henry Goodman on 5 May 2015 in Middle Temple Hall, for Odyssey of Love: Liszt and his Women. Scripted by Lucy Parham the evening will mix words and music to illuminate the colourful life of the first piano virtuoso.

The English Concert, conducted by Roger Sayer, with soloists Grace Davidson, David Allsopp and Giles Underwood will be performing Mozart's Requiem, along with music by Schubert (21 May, Temple Church). Raphael Wallfisch performs all the Bach unaccompanied cello suites in Temple Church on 17 June 2015, and the Gentleman of St John's, made up of choral scholars from St John's College Cambridge, perform an evening of close harmony on 7 July.

Full information from the Temple Music website.

Flight of Angels

Flight of Angels - music by Guerrero and Lobo; The Sixteen, Harry Christophers; CORO
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Mar 3 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Music from the Spanish Golden Age in the Sixteen's inimitable manner

The Sixteen's Choral Pilgrimage this year is called Flight of Angels, and for it the choir will be taking  programme of 16th century Spanish sacred music on tour. This new disc Flight of Angels on their own Coro label is their recording of the music to be taken on tour and in it the choir presents music by Francisco Guerrero and Alonso Lobo, both working in Seville and the best known composers from the Spanish Golden Age. Guerrero's Duo Seraphim a 12, Laudate Dominum a 8, Maria Magdalene and Vexilla Regis are performed with movements from is Missa Surge propera, Missa de la batailla escoutez and Missa Congratulamini mihi, plus Lobo's Libera me, Ave Regina caelorum, Ave Maria a 8, Versa est in luctum and a movement from is Missa Maria Magdalene.

The music is firmly based in Seville and anyone listening to the music ought to be looking at images of the Cathedral and other surviving architecture from the period. Freed from the Moors in the 13th century the city's cathedral was built on the site of the mosque and was the grandest cathedral in Christendom. A busy port, Seville reflected the richness of the mix of cultures with superbly grand architecture including the Alcazar, the royal palace which was originally a Moorish fort.

The music reflects this richness, with both Lobo and Guerroro writing music which has a highly developed sense of its texture and enjoys exploring the sound world created. The stately vocal lines and steadily intertwining polyphony is not the most complex music ever created, instead it luxuriates somewhat in the very richness of the textures. Recorded at St. Augustine's Church, Kilburn the 18 singers create a sound which resonates and clearly fills the space.

The Yonghy-Bongy Bo rides again

Edward Lear's The Courtship of the Yonghy-BonghyBo

JAM (the John Armitage Memorial) is celebrating 15 years of commissioning and supporting new music with a season launch concert on 18 March 2015 at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, EC4Y 8AU when recent JAM commissions from Gabriel Jackson and Giles Swayne will be performed alongside music by John Tavener. Each year JAM puts out a Call for Music, inviting composers to submit pieces and the concert will include works by Tom Harrold, Michael Bonaventure, Lee Westwood, Janet Wheeler, Alison Willis which were selected from JAM's most recent Call for Music. 

The concert will include a performance of Giles Swayne's The Yonghy Bonghy Bo which JAM commissioned last year (see my review), and Gabriel Jackson's The Spacious Firmament (JAM commission in 2008). Performers will be JAM regulars, the Chapel Choir of Selwyn College Oxford and Onyx Brass, along with Cumnor House School Choristers and Simon Hogan (organ), conducted by Nicholas Cleobury.

Since launch in 2000, JAM has commissioned or given first performances of over 80 works from composers including Judith Bingham, Jonathan Dove, Paul Mealor, Paul Patterson, Tarik O’Regan and Julian Philips. Through its annual Call for Music JAM has given performances and first steps in the careers of hundreds of emerging composers. The recent JAM Call for Music received its largest number of submissions ever.

Further information from the JAM website.

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Madeleine Mitchell lunchtime recital

Madeleine Mitchell violinist
portrait by Peter Rauter

Violinist Madeleine Mitchell will be giving a lunchtime recital at the Wigmore Hall with pianist Nigel Clayton. The programme is based on one which Mitchell originally devised for a concert celebrating the Queen's Jubilee in Rome, A Century of British Music, with music from Elgar through to pieces written for her. At the Wigmore Hall, Mitchell and Clayton will perform Frank Bridge's Melodie and Morceau Characteristique, Elgar's Violin Sonata and James MacMillan's Kiss on Wood which was written for Mitchell in 1995. Bridge's Morceau Characteristique was premiered at the Wigmore Hall in 1908, but was thought lost until Mitchell found the manuscript in the library of the Royal College of Music.

Besides a busy career as a soloist, Mitchell also teaches at the Royal College of Music. Here, she mentor students using the Performance Simulator. This is a specially configured room, which comes with a backstage area, an on-stage area with stage lighting, including an acoustic grand piano. The main feature is a virtual interface which operates either like a concert audience or like audition panel. This setup allows Mitchell, who has a great deal of concert experience herself, to coach the players and provide feedback on playing in simulations of real life situations including orchestral excerpts, (from back-stage to warm up to performance), in front of the virtual audition panel or interactive audience who applaud. Additionally the coaching provides guidance in how to effectively deliver a performance on stage and deal with any issues.

Rough For Opera

Edward Henderson's Manspangled
at the 2014 Tete a Tete Opera Festival

Rough for Opera, Second Movement's scratch night for opera, has two events planned in the forthcoming months and both are full of exciting new opera projects which are being tried out before a live audience. Both take place at the Cockpit Theatre, London NW8 8EH, on 16 March and on 15 June 2015. There are some intriguing works on offer with a wide range of styles and performers. Each work is followed by a q and a led by Professor Paul Barker of the Central School of Speech and Drama.

On 16 March, Tom Randle's new piece A Telephone Call  with a libretto by Randle himself and director Nina Brazier, features soprano Gillian Keith. The work observes two very different women experiencing extreme emotional states. Randle is perhaps best known for his work as a distinguished operatic tenor, but this is his second opera. Composer Edward Henderson and librettist Lavinia Murray's new piece Hum explores listening and perception, and includes a ten-strong chorus playing tuning forks, plastic rubbish and bells. Anyone who saw their piece Manspangled at Rough for Opera last year (see my review) will know that will will be in for something striking. VEAL by Leo Hurley (music) and Daniel Solon (libretto) is inspired by real life events and follows the final 12 hour journey of 25 year old Andrew "Andy" Veal from Athens, Georgia to his suicide at Ground Zero in 2004.

On 15 June, Aaron Holloway-Nahum’s The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst (libretto by Peter Jones) looks at the real-life story of amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst’s doomed participation in the 1969 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Psychological Tales is three short dramatic works presented by the contemporary quartet The Hermes Experiment. Written by composer Jonathan Woolgar, Lloyd Coleman and Ed Scolding, the work weaves different psychological states with free improvisation from graphic scores. Josh Spear’s He/Himselfie with a text by Spear and Richard Dodwell, incorporates audio, video and movement to explore issues surrounding the male body.

The brain is wider than the sky: Minerva Scientifica examine the work of Rosalind Franklin

Minerva Scientifica: The Franklin Effect; Electric Voice Theatre; Anatomy Museum of Kings College London
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Feb 27 2015
Star rating: 4.0
An unusual idea, using music to describe science

Last night in the Anatomy Museum of King's College London, the Electric Voice Theatre presented their work in progress 'Minerva Scientifica:The Franklin Effect'. Performed by Frances M Lynch, Penny Desbruslais, Julian Stocker, and David Sheppard this project looks at the lives and work of historical British women in science and how this has impacted on women today.

This is the third of the Minerva Scientifica projects. The concept began back in 2012 with 'Mary Anning' (Victorian fossil collector and palaeontologist) by Judith Bingham for the vocalist Alison Wells, gravel and rocks, It was followed in 2013 by 'Miriam', a piece for solo voice and bass clarinet, by Karen Wimhurst, which celebrated the life of Miriam Rothschild, who was a leading authority on fleas.

This new project brings together living scientists and composers to examine the work of Rosalind Franklin, an X-ray crystallographer at King's College. Although she was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA, for which James Watson and Francis Crick received a Nobel Prize in 1962, the part she played in this story was played down at the time and has only subsequently come to light.

With the emphasis on collaboration, pairs of women (composer and scientist) are working closely together via group workshops to produce music that in some way explains the science being researched. There is also a focus on pairs within the music - representing the pairs of strands of DNA, and anti parallel movement to denote DNA replication.

A new venture in new talent with the Borletti-Buitoni Trust

Kate Whitley

Room to Play; Kate Whitley, Eloisa Fleur Thom, Sarah Jane Lews, Sean Shibe; Borletti Buitoni Trust at Wilton's Music Hall
Reviewed by Hilary Glover on Feb 25 2015
Star rating: 4.0
First of BBT's young artist showcases with young composer/pianist

Borletti-Buitoni Trust's (BBT) new adventure took to the stage at Wilton's Music Hall last night showcasing Kate Whitley's talent as a composer and pianist ably assisted by Eloisa-Fleur Thom and Sarah Jane Lewis. There was also a sneak preview of the next concert in the series with Sean Shibe on guitar.

The BBT was established in 2002 to help young musicians throughout the world. The Trust assists young classical performers and composers to develop their careers on an international stage by supporting their projects and providing performance opportunities. Young artists are nominated onto the scheme by established musicians and composers, but once accepted they are encouraged to think creatively about their future and how the trust can best help them.

Wilton's Music Hall is a glorious venue for this type of concert. Its faded grandeur hints at its long history first as a concert hall (1839) and theatre attached to the 18th century pub, then, after a major rebuild, as music hall (built 1859 by John Wilton). It found new purpose as a Methodist hall serving soup to poverty stricken locals, rather than ale, after it was damaged by fire. After the Second World War it was saved from demolition by local support led by Sir John Betjeman, Peter Sellars and Spike Milligan, but remained unused and decaying until the late 1990s when it was brought back to life by Broomhill Opera Company. Frances Mayhew took over running Wilton's in 2004, and has slowly been restoring it, working to make the structure safe but yet retaining the charm and function of the Grade II listed building.

Seriously good for you - Wigmore Hall summer season

Roger Vignoles who celebrates his 75th birthday
with a concert on 11 July 2015

The Summer season at the Wigmore Hall is seriously full of good things, so much so that any preview can only be a taster and you are well advised to explore the halls whizzy new website. This was intended to be a brief summary, but just expanded. Delights include Roger Vignoles 75th birthday, a fine series of song recitals with major pianists as accompanist from Paul Lewis to Menahem Pressler. Besides chamber music and song, there is a chance to hear groups such as the Monteverdi Choir, Classical Opera and Collegium Vocale Ghent.

John Butt and the Dunedin Consort make a welcome appearance in Bach's St John Passion, sung one to a part with Nicholas Mulroy as the Evangelist and Matthew Brook as Jesus (4 April). Harry Bickett and the English Concert are exploring a major Easter work by one of Bach's predecessors, Buxtehude's Membra Jesu nostri (2 April). Star counter-tenor Andreas Scholl is joined by mandolin player Avi Avital for a programme of 18th century Italian music (7 April). Soprano Sophie Bevan and counter-tenor Daniel Taylor join Adrian Butterfield and London Handel Players for music Handel wrote for his stars, soprano Anna Maria Strada (who created Alcina) and castrato Giovanni Carestini who created Ariodante (14 April). Soprano Robert Invernizzi, Fabio Biondi and La Risonanza perform music from operas by Handel and Vivaldi (21 July).

Dramatic bel canto - Donizetti's 'L'assedio di Calais' in Hackney

Paula Sides, Craig Smith and ensemble
Photo credit Bill Knight

Donizetti The Siege of Calais; Carby, Sides, Smith, Doyle, dir: Conway, cond: Silver; English Touring Opera at the Hackney Empire - Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Feb 7 2015 - Star rating: 5.0 - Strong revival of dramatic bel canto opera

One of the major discoveries for me, of English Touring Opera's Spring 2013 season was how James Conway and the company had turned Donizetti's failed three-act grand opera L'Assedio di Calais into a concentrated two-act masterpiece as The Siege of Calais (see my 2013 review). For their Spring 2015 tour, which also includes Donizetti's Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo  (The Wild Man of the West Indies), ETO has revived James Conway's production of L'Assedio di Calais in Samal Blak's imaginative designs, with Paula Sides returning to the role of Eleanora and Catherine Carby as Aurelio (at some later performances the role will be sung by Helen Sherman who was in the original production). Craig Smith played Eustachio, with Andrew Glover, Matthew Stiff, Matt R J Ward and Jan Capinski as the other 'Burgers of Calais', Peter Brathwaite as a strange, Grant Doyle as Edoardo III (Edward III) and Ronan Busfield as Edmondo. Jeremy Silver conducted. We saw the opening night of the Spring 2015 tour, at Hackney Empire on Saturday 7 March 2015.

Donizetti's L'Assedio di Calais was premiered in Naples in 1836, the year after Lucia di Lammermoor was performed there. The work ceased being performed after 1840. It was not revived again until 1990 at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, performances at the Wexford Festival followed in 1991. It has been staged twice by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, but English Touring Opera's performances in March 2013 were the work's professional UK stage premiere. The gestation of the opera wasn't untroubled, Donizetti did not have a satisfactory tenor and had to write the main male role for a musico, a mezzo-soprano singing en travestie (which was a rather old fashioned concept by then). And of course the famous Neapolitan censors got their hands on the work and any possibility that the last act might make sense was removed. Donizetti had half an eye on re-writing the work for Paris (as he did with Poliuto) but this never happened and in Naples the later outings of the work often took place without act three . ETO's programme book included an excellent article by James Conway about the work's troubled history with admirable detail on exactly what we were hearing.