Monteverdi's Il Ritorno di Ulisse

Barbara Kozelj

The Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr finish their three-year cycle of semi-staged Monteverdi operas with Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria which they perform on 29 September 2015 at the Barbican Hall. Ian Bostridge plays Ulisse, returning to his homeland and the constancy of his wife Penelope, played by the Slovenian mezzo-soprano Barbara Kozelj, with Elizabeth Watts as Minerva and Andrew Tortise as Ulisse's son Telemaco. Richard Egarr directs from the harpsichord, and the staging is co-directed by Alexander Oliver (who plays Iro) and Timothy Nelson.

Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria premiered in Venice during the Carnival season of 1639-1640 and is the first of a group of operas which Monteverdi (then musical director at St Mark's) wrote for the Venetian opera houses. The theatre had been built in 1638 so an opera by Monteverdi (72 when it was premiered) was clearly quite a coup. The work survives in an apparently incomplete manuscript which differs from the surviving libretto, but scholars are agreed that Monteverdi was the composer though others may have had a hand in some scenes.

The opera is a far cry from his early masterpiece, L'Orfeo (written for the court of Mantua in 1607), the works written for Venice use relatively compact orchestral forces (dictated by the commercial pressures of the Venetian theatre) and have the mixture of serious and comic scenes which was highly popular with the Venetian audiences, so Monteverdi contrasts the scenes for Penelope and Ulisse with the riotous behaviour of Penelope's suitors.

There is a performances at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest on 18 September before the performance at the Barbican (tickets from the Barbican website).

Ian Venables - The Song of the Severn

Ian Venables The Song of the Severn, The Pine Boughs Past Music; Roderick Williams, Carducci String Quartet, Graham J Lloyd; Signum Classics
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 09 2015
Star rating: 3.5
Lyric melancholy and elegiac, Ian Venables musical responses to the Gloucester countryside

I have to confess that the name of composer Ian Venables was new to me, though he has an extensive catalogue and recordings. This new disc, from baritone Roderick Williams, the Carducci String Quartet and pianist Graham J Lloyd on the Signum Classics label showcases two song cycles by Ian Venables, along with a selection of solo songs.

Venables lives in Worcestershire and seems to be highly influenced both by the landscape and the composers who lived in the area such as Ivor Gurney (whose poems Venables has set) in that his music is robustly not following current idioms. The first work on the disc The Song of the Severn for baritone, string quartet and piano was premiered in 2013 at Malvern Theatre and was commissioned by Malvern Concert Club. The work takes six poems, by John Masefield, AE Housman, John Drinkwater and Philip Warner which look at aspects of the river and its spiritual resonances. The first song, On Malvern Hill (John Masefield) introduces us to Venables' style which lyric and tonal, in a pastoral vein which recalls other English composers such as Gurney and Finzi. Masefield's poem makes for quite a wordy song and it is clear that it is the poetry which inspires Venables, and all the songs on the disc showcase the text to a great extent. The song is rather elegiac but with a constant sense of forward flow. How Clear, How Lovely Bright (AE Housman) is similar in its elegiac sense and the dominance of the text, though there are big romantic moments. Though Venables writes tonally, he does not necessarily write big tunes and his songs can repay attention. John Drinkwater's Elgar's Music is gently evocative with some lovely textures. Laugh and Be Merry (John Masefield) is lively and robust, whilst the final song The River in December (Philip Warner) is quietly elegiac with a strong sense of the poetry and lovely sense of atmosphere at the end. Throughout the cycle Venables uses his forces to create some highly atmospheric textures.

Breaking the boundaries between audience, performer and work.

Lost in Thought is billed as the world's first mindfulness opera. It is a work which premieres at LSO St Lukes from 25 to 27 September 2015, performed by Mahogany Opera Group and directed by Frederic Wake-Walker with music and concept by Rolf Hind. The fact that Hind and Wake-Walker are involved means we will be in for an intriguing and perhaps challenging evening. The press release explains more.

Lost in Thought workshop
Frederic Wake-Walker and Rolf Hind.
Photo Credit Carys Lavin

The opera is based on the classic structure of an extended meditation, exploring the points of contact between sound and silence (and in fact composer Rolf Hind introduced mindfulness meditation practice at the Guildhall School). Lost in Thought is a four hour immersive musical performance. During it audiences will go on an inner journey of mindfulness, with periods of meditation, rest, communal eating and a gentle yoga session guided by mezzo-soprano and meditation leader Lore Lixenberg and seven musicians. The intention is to blur boundaries between performers and audiences in what is billed as a genre-bending reconceptualisation of opera.

Further information from the Barbican website but be warned, tickets are sold out so it is returns only! The performances are supported by a programme of events which includes a symposium on mindfulness in music and art.

Music and passion at the Tudor court - Alamire in Anne Boleyn's Songbook

The Anne Boleyn Songbook; Alamire, David Skinner, Clare Wilkinson, Jacob Heringman, Kirsty Whatley; Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 13 2015
Star rating: 5.0
An evocative window into the music at Henry VIII's court

The vocal consort Alamire, director David Skinner, brought their latest project to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on Sunday 13 September 2015 when the group performed music from the Anne Boleyn Songbook. This is an early 16th century manuscript choir-book which contains an intriguing mixture of Latin motets and three French consort chansons. A signature in the book 'Mistress ABoleyne nowe thus' associates it with Anne Boleyn and it seems to have been a collection that she made, starting when at the French court and continuing when she returned to England. Much of the music is anonymous and is Franco/Flemish with the attributed composers including Jean Mouton, Loyset Compere, Antoine Brumel, Claudin de Sermisy, Antoine de fevin and Josqin Desprez.

The Anne Boleyn Songbook

Alamire numbered nine singers who came together in a variety of combinations to perform the sacred music (mainly three or four part, but with some five part and one six part piece). Mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson was joined by lutenist Jacob Heringman and harpist Kirsty Whatley for performances of the secular songs.

Scholars have long argued over the significance of the manuscript, its contents and whether it is even associated with Anne Boleyn. David Skinner introduced the various works and in a lively, engaging and informed manner gave us the full background to the manuscript along with the current arguments in favour of its association with Anne Boleyn. The manuscript is fascinatingly multi-layered, having been created at various times by various hands, it seems to have been started when she was at the French court and then carried round with her and continued whilst she was in England right up to the period when she was being courted by Henry VIII. David Skinner's introduction brought the story to life and helped to turn what could have been simply a recital of early 16th century Franco-Flemish polyphony into something strikingly particular.

Henry Little moves from Orchestras Live to Opera Rara.

Henry Little is stepping down as Chief Executive of Orchestras Live at the end of December 2015 and taking up the post of Chief Executive at Opera Rara. Henry Little has been at Orchestras Live since 2008, and has been responsible for projects such as Beyond the Premiere, a programme that provides a platform for repeat performances of recently commissioned orchestral work, and First Time Live, giving tens of thousands of young people across England a first-time inspirational experience of hearing a live orchestra.You can read my recent interview with Henry on this blog celebrating Orchestras Live's first 50 years, and also read about the First Time Live Youth event in Grimsby.

For the last 40 years Opera Rara has pioneered bringing forgotten 19th century operatic repertoire back to life, often based on new editions of the music. Presenting both performances and recordings, the company has released over 85 recordings on their own label. Henry Little will be replacing the current Opera Rara chief executive, Stephen Revell who retired this summer. The company's most recent CD release was Donizetti's French grand opera Les Martyrs conducted by Mark Elder (see my CD review), which was also performed in concert in London (see my review)

Prior to joining Orchestras Live, Henry Little work at the Arts Council and those with long memories will remember him as Head of Opera and Music Theatre (in the days when the Arts Council had such a post). But prior to this he started out working at British Youth Opera and ENO (where he was a staff director), experience which should stand him in good stead at the helm of Opera Rara.

Diverse and engaging

Amir Katz
photo credit Felix Broede

Lisa Peacock Management's series of lunchtime recitals at the Wigmore Hall, returns for a third series on 24 September 2015, providing us with an opportunity to hear a range of young and rarely heard artists in concert. The series is opened by pianist Amir Katz who will be playing Schubert's Eight Impromptus Op.90 and Op.120. Further ahead there are two more pianists with Stefan Ciric playing Mozart, Schumann and Ravel (22 October), and Konstantin Scherbakov playing Liszt's piano transcription of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. The new year sees violinist Thomas Gould and pianist Diana Ketler in Mozart and Ravel (28 January), viola player Rivka Golani and pianist Michael Hampton in Schumann, Britten, Schubert and Howard Blake (26 February), and cellist Helene Dautry and pianist Bruno Rigutto in Debussy and Franck cello sonatas (17 March).

Full details from the Wigmore Hall website.

Monteverdi's L'Orfeo from Jordi Savall

Monteverdi L'Orfeo; Furio Zanasi, Montserrat Figueras, Arianna Savall, Sara Mingardo, Jordi Savall; AliaVox
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 04 2015
Star rating: 4.0
With Jordi Savall at the helm we are guaranteed much to enjoy

Gilbert Deflo's production of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo debuted at the Liceu in Barcelona in 2002 with Jordi Savall conducting La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. It has appeared on disc before but is now re-issued in handsome CD form on the AliaVox label with an extended book full of photographs of the production. The cast includes Montserrat Figueras as La Musica, Furio Zanasi as Orfeo, Arianna Savall as Euridice, Sara Mingardo as La Messagiera, Cecile van de Sant as Speranza, Antonio Abete as Caronte, Adriana Fernandez as Proserpina, Daniele Carnovich as Plutone and Fulvio Bettini as Apollo.

Judging from the photographs, the production was intended as a modern re-creation of 17th century style but in a theatre the size of the Liceu, inevitably the forces involved have to be somewhat larger than might have been the case in the original. Savall uses an orchestra of 24 (including 12 strings), and a 12 member continuo group (with most performers doubling on instruments), and a choir of 20. Similarly Savall's speeds are generally on the more relaxed side, though whether this is his preference or  simply because of the size of the venue, I am uncertain.

The opening Toccata goes with a nice swing and appealingly crisp. Montserrat Figueras's La Musica is poised and expressive with a lovely sense of the words, and that certain tang to the tone in her voice. Alas, Figueras does not reappear in another role.

Alex Campkin's Imagined Cities at Colourscape Festival

Colourscape Festival

From 12 to 20 September 2015, the Colourscape Festival is at Clapham Common. This presents the world's largest walk-in structure of colour and light,originally created by artist Peter Jones in the early 70s. Over 35 have been made, in many different sizes and shapes offering different experiences. In 1994 Eye Music Trust commissioned the largest ever Colourscape (Festival One) subsequently commissioning two further Colourscapes – Festival Two and Moonorooni. All three are presented by Eye Music throughout the UK and abroad for events and workshops linking music and colour. 

The structures are used for musical events, and throughout the period on Clapham Common, various musical events take place with the finale on Sunday 20 September being a new work by composer Alexander Campkin. Imagined Cities is a one-hour immersive theatre piece, a thought provoking reflection on the explorations of Venetian traveller Marco Polo in the thirteenth century. Directed by Jacek Ludwig Scarso and conducted by Dominic Peckham, it features The Fourth Choir alongside electroacoustic music and live musicians. All performers will have the freedom to interact with members of the public as they wander in the structure. Further details from the Colourscape Festival website.

Competitions winners - Leeds piano and Wigmore Hall song

Milan Siljanov and his accompanist Nino Chokhonlidze
at Wigmore Hall Song Competition c. Ben Ealovega

The 25-year old Russian-trained Ukrainian pianist Anna Tcybuleva has won the 18th Leeds International Piano Competition, taking away a gold medal, a £20,000 cash prize and the promise of a debut recital CD recorded at the music room, Champs Hill. This was the last competition at which founder Dame Fanny Waterman chaired the jury. The next competition is in 2018.

Whilst over at the Wigmore Hall, the 28-year old Swiss baritone Milan Siljanov has taken the top prize in the 2015 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition., receiving a £10,000 cash prize and his accompanist, Nino Chokhonelidze took the £5,000 Pianist's Prize.

Anna Tcybuleva is Ukrainian and studied first with her mother, then at the Shostakovich Music School in Volgodonsk (Russia), Moscow Central Music School and at the Moscow State Conservatory and she is now at the Basel Music Academy. Her CV includes an impressive number of awards in international piano competitions.

Milan Siljanov was the First Prize and Audience Prize winner of the Lied-Duo competition at the 50th International Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogernbosch, the Netherlands. He is currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He appeared in the schools recent double bill of Malcolm Arnold and Donizetti operas (see my review) and was a finalist in this year’s Gold Medal competition. He will give his debut at Tonhalle Zurich, Switzerland, this year.

Exploding with joy - Choir fo Gonville and Caius College in Romaria

The Choir of Gonville and Caius College
Cambridge

Romaria - Sounds of Brazil; Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Dr Geoffrey Webber; Kings Place Festival
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 12 Sep 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Contemporary music from Brazil in all its variety in an entrancing performance from this Cambridge choir

This last weekend (11-13 September 2015) Kings Place exploded with a whole variety of events for the annual Kings Place Festival, and event where many of the events are free. There was a very wide variety on offer from world music to classical, family events to spoken word. I went along on Saturday 12 September 2015 to an event which somewhat mixed contemporary classical with hints of world music when Dr Geoffrey Webber and the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge performed the programme of contemporary Brazilian choral music, Romaria which included music by Carlos A Pinto Fonseca, Almeido Prado, Nibaldo Araneda, Aylton Escobar, Osvaldo Lacerda, Ernst Mahle and Villa Lobos. Much of the repertoire from the concert is from the choir's recent CD (see my review), but this is the sort of repertoire which benefits immensely by being heard live.

In his spoken introduction Dr Geoffrey Webber explained that he had been interested in the lively 20th and 21st century choral scene in Brazil for some time, but the nature of the music publishing in the country meant that it was difficult to get copies of the music. A chance academic encounter led to contacts with the University of Sao Paolo and to tonight's concert.

The choir is a 24 strong mixed voice choir, with the singers being drawn from the student body. Their regular repertoire includes services in the chapel, but Dr Webber and the choir have something of  reputation for exploring unusual musical byways; another of their recent discs explored the music of the early Celtic church (see my review).

Wigmore Hall opener - Iestyn Davies, Harry Bicket and the English Concert in Handel and more

Iestyn Davies, Harry Bicket and the English Concert at the opening of the Wigmore Hall's 2015/16 season - ©Sisi_Burn

Handel, music from Partenope, Rinaldo, Rodelinda, Orlando, Radamisto, Veracini, Porpora
Iestyn Davies, the English Concert, Harry Bicket
The Wigmore Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 12 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Iestyn Davies on strong form in this generous selection of Handel arias opening the Wigmore Hall new season

Last night (Saturday 12 September 2015), the Wigmore Hall's 2015/16 season opened with counter-tenor Iestyn Davies performing a generous selection of Handel arias accompanied by Harry Bicket and the English Concert (leader Nadia Ziener). There was an overture and arias from Handel's Partenope, arias from Rinaldo, Rodelinda and Orlando, with the Passacaille from Radamisto, plus Veracini's Overture No. 2 in F and Porpora's Sinfonia da camera in G Op.2 No. 1.

Iestyn Davies, Harry Bicket and the English Concert
©Sisi_Burn

In many ways, the concert was something of a retrospective of roles Iestyn Davies has performed recently in the UK with an anticipation of one to come, as Davies sang in the 2014 revival of Glyndebourne's production of Rinaldo (see my review), in ENO's 2014 production of Rodelinda (see my review) and will be singing the title role in Handel's Orlando at the Barbican.

We started with Handel's Partenope, a slightly satirical piece written in 1729 which mixed elements which approach comedy with a serious purpose. The English Concert under Harry Bicket made a surprisingly full sound with 17 players on stage. The opening of the overture had a nice bounce to the stately rhythms, whilst the perky triple time section was very toe-tapping. Iestyn Davies sang three of Arsace's arias, arranged not by where they come in the plot but simply to make a satisfying grouping.

In a hall the size of the Wigmore Hall and with such a sympathetically responsive acoustic, the was no need for Iestyn Davies to push his voice, and there were many moments where the simple beauty of the way the tone emerged and then floated over the orchestra was breathtaking. He sang everything from memory, and each aria in the programme was given a highly characterful delivery, involving the audience in the drama.

Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with Simon Rattle and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Magdalena Kozena
credit BBC/Chris Christodoulou

Sir Edward Elgar The Dream of Gerontius; Toby Spence, Magdalena Kozena, Roderick Williams, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Proms Youth Choir, Sir Simon Rattle; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 12 2015
Star rating: 4.5
BBC Proms Youth Choir shines in a performance notable for its magical transparency

There was much anticipation in  packed Royal Albert Hall for the penultimate BBC Promenade Concert on Friday 11 September 2015, when Sir Simon Rattle would conduct Sir Edward Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, soloists Toby Spence, Magdalena Kozena and Roderick Williams, and the BBC Proms Youth Choir. The Dream of Gerontius was a work which featured regularly on concert programmes in Birmingham during Rattle's period with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, but probably has not featured much in those of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

What we can easily forget, though, is that in the period up to the First World War, Elgar was highly regarded by his continental colleagues. The Dream of Gerontius was enthusiastically received in Germany when first performed there in 1901 and 1902, and Richard Strauss regarded Elgar as a fellow progressive composer.

Simon Rattle opened the prelude on just a thread, with the a lovely sense of the undulating line. Rather than giving us a richly cushioned string sound, we heard a magically transparent texture with extraordinary clarity. The sense of phrasing was very distinctive (something the mezzo Magdalena Kozena shared), and it is a long time since I have heard portamentos used in so frequently and so effectively in the work. But that said, Simon Rattle had a tendency to hold the music up rather then letting it flow on. This was a performance where we were encouraged to stop and admire the daisies rather than stride into the wider landscape. But though much was quiet, intensely contemplative there was drama too this was not a self-regarding account of the work, and the moments of drama in Elgar's score were stunningly realised, and all the more telling for being contrasted with such intense quiet.

The passions are the same, making French baroque music work today - An encounter with Christophe Rousset

Christophe Rousset & Les Talens Lyriques - copyright Jacques Verrees

It seemed rather appropriate that my meeting with Christophe Rousset be at the International Rameau Summer School, and that our interview took place with the sounds of Rameau floating in the background. Christophe was in London to give some master-classes at the summer school, as well as to promote his latest two recordings, a DVD of Rameau's Les Indes Galantes (on Alpha Classics) based on Laura Scozzi's stage production which was filmed live in Bordeaux, and a CD of Rameau's opera Zais (on Aparte), both with Les Talens Lyriques.

Christophe Rousset founded the vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Talens Lyriques in 1991, and since then has balanced a career which combines that of solo harpsichord work, directing Les Talens Lyriques, conducting other ensembles and doing research into French baroque music.

Laura Scozzi's production Rameau's Les Indes Galante
copyright Patrice Nin

Laura Scozzi's production of Les Indes Galantes was performed in Bordeaux and Toulouse, but when Christophe brought the performers to the UK we had to make do with a concert performance. Which means we missed out on a very lively and in some ways daring production. The production opens in the Garden of Eden and the subsequent acts each show how going away from the Eden leads to some sort of hell. That the dancers were nude for the Eden scenes caused some comment (notably in the UK), but Christophe felt that rather than being shocking, the scene was innocent and charming. And for him, the whole production was a strong, if not bitter look at the modern world from women's point of view with Laura Scozzi being particularly concerned about the rights of women.

'this worked well with Rameau's music',
as Christophe sees the libretto as being rather weak

For the Turkish act, passports are being organised for immigrants, a scene which has become even more relevant since the production premiered. Christophe says that this worked well with Rameau's music, especially as he sees the libretto as being rather weak and simply a frame for the divertissements (the issue of Rameau's librettos was a subject to which we would return in our interview). The Peru act was set around the drug system, highlighting the position of women in a macho world, whilst the Persian act was of course set in modern Iran with issues of women being veiled and finally the American act looked at the environmental disasters caused by man.

There have been productions where 'you know it will be crap from the beginning'

Alumni recitals at the Guildhall School

Sha Chen - photo credit Hong Wei

One of the delights of the Guildhall School of Music's Milton Court Concert Hall is that it has given them the ability to present recitals by distinguished formed pupils. Forthcoming recitals include soprano Sophie Karthäuser and pianist Eugene Asti, guitarists Jørgen Skogmo, Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas and Maria Camahort, tenor Toby Spence and pianist Julian Milford and perhaps most intriguingly composer Debbie Wiseman. 

The season opens with a recital by pianist Sa Chen on Thursday 17 September 2015. Born in Chongqing, China, Sa Chen competed in the final of the Leeds Piano Competition in 1996 when she was just 16 and went on to study at the Guildhall School with Joan Havill. At her recital on 17 September, she plays a selection of Chopin's mazurkas and Liszt's Sonata in B minor. 

Further information from the Guildhall School website.

Handel in Italy, volume one

Handel in Italy; Mary Bevan, Sophie Bevan, Benjamin Bevan, London Early Opera, Bridget Cunningham; Signum Classics
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Aug 29 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Ambitious survey of Handel's music written in Italy

Having given us Handel in Ireland (see my review), harpsichordist Bridget Cunningham directs her group London Early Opera in the first of two discs on Signum Classics entitled Handel in Italy. Joined by sopranos Sophie Bevan and Mary Bevan, and baritone Benjamin Bevan (two sisters and an uncle), they present an overview of Handel's composing activities in Italy, sacred, secular, operatic and instrumental. It is a big subject and Cunningham can only give us a taster, but she manages to cover most of Handel's activities in Italy with the Gloria, music from Rodrigo, Agrippina and Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, the Sonata for a Harpsichord with double keys in G major and the cantata Cuopre tal volta il cielo.

Handel's stay in Italy from 1707 to 1710 was a remarkably fertile period for the young composer (aged 22 to 25 during the period, and moderately handsome if the surviving image is anything to go by). Rather than taking a musical position he was guest of aristocratic patrons and produced a remarkable variety of music which he would use as source material throughout his career. The disc includes an aria from his first oratorio Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (1707) which was re-written has his final English oratorio in the 1750's.

ForWard - celebrating Ward Swingle

Ward Swingle and Swingle Singers past and present

On 19 September 2015 at the Mermaid Theatre, Puddle Dock, Blackfriars London EC4V 3DB, Swingle Singers past and present will be celebrating the group's founder Ward Swingle who died earlier this year. All profits from the concert will go to Unicef, which was Ward Swingle's charity of choice.

The concert will also serve as the launch of the current line-up of The Swingle Singers' new album The Deep End, which includes a version of Debussy's La Cathedral Engloutie featuring Ward Swingle's speaking voice.

Tickets to the concert are available on-line.

Stowe Arts Autumn

The Marble Saloon
Stowe House

Besides being an important historic house and garden, as well as a public school, Stowe also has a lively arts programme. The programme begins on 9 September with a concert by Stowe School's new music scholars and exhibitions and there are further opportunities to hear accomplished Stoics in action during the term. The pianist Anthony Hewitt will be playing Scriabin's preludes alongside those of Debussy and Rachmaninov, whilst images of Klara Smith's cut out structures are projected. Other visitors include the flute duo Luminance, and the jazz-fusion group The Fresh Dixie Project. Other events include theatre from Kill the Beast and children's theatre.  The autumn season ends with the Christmas Tree Festival with a seasonal mixture of music, theatre and spoken work

Stowe House Preservation Trust has recently opened a discovery centre in the hither-to unseen wine-cellars of House and there is a chance to tour the house during school holidays, plus a programme of talks and twilight tours. And of course the gardens are cared for by the National Trust, which runs its own family-friendly events programme and for the Heritage Open Days this year on 12 September, both house and gardens are open free..

Frankenstein set loose on the world

Exciting times! My opera, The Genesis of Frankenstein will be premiered on October 28 and 29, conducted by Noah Mosley and directed by Ella Marchment, as part of the Helios Collective's Toi, Toi, Toi an evening of new music theatre at CLF Art Cafe, at wonderful arts space created from a 120 year old warehouse in Peckham (133 Rye Lane, SE15 5ST).

The opera is a chamber piece lasting 20 or so minutes, with a text which I have adapted from Mary Shelley's novel. Written for three singers and four instrumentalists it uses Frankenstein’s own words to examine the genesis of his obsession with creating a new human life and his subsequent revulsion from the monster. Opening with the dramatic moment when the monster comes alive, the work then traces the path of the obsession ending with the monster’s own poignant words. The three voices play different aspects of Frankenstein’s psyche and interact, coming together to narrate and to form the voice of the monster.

The full line up for the Toi, Toi, Toi evenings will include, Matt Huxley and Kieran Brunt as Strange Boy. Tomoya Forster and the General Skank Band will add a flavour of reggae, Florian Aikinmade singer-songwriter, Victoria Mulley performing Try Me Good King, Mimi Doulton performing King Harald's Saga, two new Helios Collective commissions including another scene from Noah Mosley's July 20th 1944 about an attempt to assassinate Hitler and my Genesis of Frankenstein.

There will be video screenings of Shadwell opera projects directed by Jack Furness, as well as Ergo Phizmiz' Vogel Europa a piece about travelling and difficult decisions for piano, voice and turntable, Finnish composer Miika's live composition project questioning how we react to space, The Hermes Experiment's Metropolis that is a new, semi-improvised piece that puts instruments in dialogue with the sounds of the city. Frederick Moehn and the Embaúba Ensemble will perform The voice in bossa nova, morna, fado incorporating Portuguese and Brazilian music into the mix. All this and more, including DJ-after party including Miles Russell and Thomas and Richard Jones.

Further details follow, but do save the date. Noah Mosley and my pieces will be performed each evening with a different line up round them.

Handel Siroe

Handel Siroe; Ann Hallenberg, Johanna Stojkovic, Sunhae Im, Cappella Coloniensis, Andreas Spering; Harmonia Mundi
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Aug 28 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Fine performance from Ann Hallenberg in the title role of this relatively unloved Handel opera

Handel's settings of librettos by Metastasio, the greatest opera librettist of his age, remain relatively unloved in the composer's oeuvre. This 2004 recording on Harmonia Mundi is a very fine account of Siroe, conducted by Andreas Spering and showcasing Ann Hallenberg as Siroe with a cast including Johanna Stojkovic, Sunhae Im, Gunther Schmid, Sebastian Noack and Tim de Jong, with the Cappella Coloniensis.

Handel wrote Siroe in 1728 at the height of the Royal academy's 'Rival Queens' period when the presence of sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni, Faustina Bordoni and castrato Senesino meant that any opera had to take account of all three, with two balanced soprano roles. Add to this that Metastasio's librettos are famously long and detailed with far more recitative than the UK audience would sit through. So Handel and Nicola Haym re-shaped Siroe so that Handel's opera is far shorter than the original. Whilst the plot might be rudimentary, Handel responded with some fine music.

The plot concerns dynastic conflict between Cosroe (Sebastian Noack) and his two sons, Siroe (Ann Hallenberg) and Medarse (Gunther Schmid), complicated by Emira (Johanna Stojkovic) who is secretly in love with Siroe but at court dressed as a man in order to revenge the death of her father, and Laodice (Sunhae Im) who is Cosroe's mistress, and an inveterate schemer.

Classic and modern - Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival 2015

Guy Johnston

Guy Johnston and the Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival are back for another long weekend of chamber music delights in and around Hatfield House. Running from 24 September to 27 September 2015 there are events in the Marble Hall of Hatfield House, the Old Palace and St Etheldreda's Church. The theme of the festival is Vienna, with music from both the first and second Viennese schools. The Navarra String Quintet open things with a concert of Haydn, Mozart and Schubert in which they are joined by Guy Johnston for Schubert's String Quintet in C major and by Matthew Hunt for Mozart's Clarinet Quintet. And things conclude in fine style on Sunday 27 September when Stephen Cleobury conducts the choir of Kings College Cambridge and the Haydn Chamber Orchestra in Mozart' Requiem and music from Charlotte Bray's Winter is Past and there is a pre-concert talk by Nicholas Kenyon on Mozart: Man, Myth and Music.

Between the two there is more classic chamber music by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert alongside more recent examples of the genre including Webern and more from Charlotte Bray including a new commission. Nicolas Daniel will be the soloist in Mozart's Oboe Quartet, and Ruby Hughes will be singing Schubert and Mahler songs alongside Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht with pianist Tom Poster, the Navarra String Quartet, plus Guy Johnson and Rosalind Ventris. On the Sunday afternoon in the Riding School there is a youth concert with Gonzalo Acosta directing the Musicale Young Artists' Chamber Orchestra in Strauss waltzes.