Choral Scholarship - St Mary's Church, Chelsea

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

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

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

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

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

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Psalm to Windrush: for the Brave and Ingenious

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

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

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

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

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

Further information from the Westminster Abbey website.

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

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

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

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

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

The Sirens' Voice: Magnificent Women

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

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

Further details from the London Oriana Choir website.

Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at The Grange Festival

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Musgrave Portrait concert celebrates her 90th birthday

Thea Musgrave (Photo Bryan Sheffield)

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

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

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

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

Hope for Grenfell Memorial Gala

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

12:40

12 new arias, 40 creative artists, 1 production, 3 performances

The National Opera Studio has commissioned 12 new arias from contemporary composers and librettists and these are being presented in a showcase production at Hoxton Hall for three performances from 14 to 15 June 2018, directed by David Sulkin with costumes showcasing the work of fashion designer Margaret Howell, who has generously donated all the clothes worn by the singers and repetiteurs. 

Each aria was written for a particular singer currently at the National Opera Studio, with the singer being involved in the creative process and the results intended to demonstrate their individual talents. Composers involved include Tom Randle, Bushra El Turk, Philip Venables, and Sally Beamish.

Further details from the National Opera Studio website.

Programme

'I lace my boots' from SCRUM: A method for restarting Play by Na'ama Zisser and Samantha Newton

'The Undeniable Loneliness of Whale Evolution' from Indus by Cameron Dodds and Ruth Mariner
'Sole nell' ombra' from Black Sun by Tom Randle and Bechara Moufarrej
'Rosina' from Fallout by Bushra El Turk and Cordelia Lynn
'Alice' from an opera as yet untitled by Philip Venables and Ted Huffman
'Howell's Decision' from Keeping the Light by Lewis Murphy and Laura Attridge
'Hiraeth' from Hiraeth by Hannah Kendall and Tessa McWatt
'Nobody Cries' from Salvage by Benjamin Tassie and Jacqueline Saphra
'The Handbag Aria' from Loitadora ("Fighter") by Samantha Fernando and Rebecca Hurst
'The Frog Prince' from Alchemy by Sally Beamish and Peter Thomson
'Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Mengirimkan Pesan Kepada Raja Muda' ("The People’s Council Sends a Message to the Viceroy") from Bagaimana Sang Insinyur Agung Minus Teh Bersama Sultan, Dan Apa Yang Terdengar Oleh Bayangan Mereka Yang Memanjang ("How The Great Engineer Took Tea With The Sultan, And What Their Lengthening Shadows Heard") by Christian Mason and Oge Nwosu
'Where No Bell Tolls' from The Barefoot Dancer & The Demon of the Belfry by Rosabella Gregory and Dina Soraya Gregory

Looking ahead: St Marylebone Festival

Lord Byron, one of the local connections celebrated
in the St Marylebone Festival

Celebrating both the community and the rich heritage of the area, the St Marylebone Festival runs from 21 to 27 July 2018. Based around St Marylebone Church, the festival's programme has been devised by Festival Artistic Director & Director of Music at St Marylebone Parish Church, Gavin Roberts and The Revd Canon Stephen Evans, Rector of St Marylebone. The festival kicks off on Saturday 22 July with a come and sing event with distinguished composer and choral conductor John Rutter, and on Sunday 22 July there is a festal Eucharist showcasing music by women composers.

Other highlights of the festival include a focus on Marylebone-born Ethel Smyth with contralto Lucy Stevens with pianist Gavin Roberts Grasp the Nettle which tells Smyth's story and showcases her music. There will also be a talk on the composer by Lewis Orchard of the Surrey History Society. James Robinson (tenor), Adam Sullivan (tenor), David Jones (baritone) and Gavin Roberts (piano) will be celebrating the life of Australian pianist Noel Mewton-Wood, who studied at the Royal Academy of Music. Mewton-Wood enjoyed an illustrious performing career and was friends with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, but tragically he was to take his own life following the death of his lover William Fredrick.

Another Marylebone connection is Lord Byron, who was baptised in the parish church, and Amanda Pitt (soprano) and Gavin Roberts (piano) will celebrate his legacy with a programme of song and readings. Another resident was RVW, and there is a free screening of the film Scott of the Antarctic for which RVW wrote the music, and Scott features also on James Way (tenor) and Gavin Roberts (piano) Scott and Schubert – A Winter Journey which combines Schubert's Winterreise with readings from Scott's diary.

Jill Kemp, recorders and Claire Williams, harpsichord, present a colourful programme containing many musical delights that may have been heard in the original Pleasure Gardens of Old Marylebone.

Full details from the festival website.

Showcasing the chorus: Opera North's Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill

For the last few years, as part of its Summer season, Opera North has presented a show which showcases the talents of the company's chorus. This year, in collaboration with the West Yorkshire Playhouse, they are presenting Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill at the City Varieties, Leeds from 15 to 21 June 2018. 

An ensemble of singers from the chorus of Opera North will be performing a range of Kurt Weill's songs stretching from his Weimar Republic collaborations with Bertolt Brecht, through his Broadway shows to his Broadway opera Street Scene and his final work, Lost in the Stars based on Alan Paton's book Cry the beloved country.

Members of the chorus of Opera North rehearsing for 'Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill' (Photo Opera North)

The show is directed by Giles Havergal with Martin Pickard as musical director, designer is Catherine Morgan and the choreographer is Darren Royston. You can read more about the performers thoughts on Kurt Weill and his music in a blog at the Opera North website.

Further details from the Opera North website.

Io la Musica son: Francesca Aspromonte in Prologue

Prologues - Monteverdi, Caccini, Cavalli, Landi, Rossi, Cesti, Stradella, Scarlatti; Francesca Aspromonte, Il pomo d'oro, Enrico Onofri; Pentatone
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 13 Mar 2018 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
A wonderfully engaging exploration of the prologue in 17th-century opera, full of vivid detail and vibrant performances

The prologue in the earliest 17th century Italian operas was a way to introduce and explain the opera, rather than plunging straight in. So that in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, the figure of La Musica explains that she has come down from Parnassus to tell the story of Orfeo. In these early operas, there was also the need to glorify, compliment and otherwise flatter the patrons and commissioners of the operas. Whilst opera in Italy changed quite a bit during the 17th century, the prologue remained something of a fixture. On this lovely new disc from Pentatone, soprano Francesca Aspromonte joins Il pomo d'oro, director Enrico Onofri, for a programme of prologues starting with Monteverdi, working its way through Cavalli, Landi, Rossi, Cesti and Stradella to Alessandro Scarlatti.

Monteverdi's prologue to L'Orfeo is the classic of the genre, and rightly Aspromonte opens with this, preceded by the Toccata. She has a focused, forward soprano which has an expressive directness to it. She and Onofri perform with great fluidity and flexibility, words are paramount with Aspromonte really shaping the lines to the words.

The earliest operas were highly fluid in their attitude to text and music and this really shows in this performance. In all the pieces Aspromonte combines a vibrancy of attitude with a vividness of detail which really engages, and she brings a fine range of colour to the voice. As a result, it is quite surprising how engaging and engrossing this programme is.

We hear two of the earliest operas, Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607) and Giulio Caccini's L'Euridice (1602), where the prologues serve to introduce and explain, very necessary with such a brand new and unusual art-form.

Britten and Bernstein side by side (without Sondheim) in Suffolk

Aaron Copland & Leonard Bernstine

Bernstein & Britten: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, John Wilson; Aldeburgh Festival
Reviewed by Tony Cooper on 8 June 2018 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
Britten, Bernstein and America surveyed in three concerts from John Wilson and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

The ongoing theme in this year’s Aldeburgh Festival (the 71st edition) focuses on Britten and America reflecting the year of 1948 when the festival laid down its roots not only enriching the cultural life of Suffolk and its environs but the country as a whole. Three concerts from John Wilson, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the John Wilson Orchestra in Snape Maltings Concert Hall gave us a wide variety of music by both composers, including Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem, Seven sonnets of Michaelangelo (with Robert Murray) and Diversions for piano Left Hand and Orchestra (with Pavel Kolesnikov), and Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 - 'The Age of Anxiety' (with Cédric Tiberghien) and music from his musicals.

Britten in the mid-1960s, by Hans Wild

Without a shadow of doubt, Britten and Bernstein (the centenary of whose birth falls this year) were both towering figures in the world of music working not just as composers, pianists and conductors but also as educators at a time when education was in its infancy in the creative world.

Both men were celebrated and revered like no other and here their music can be heard side by side. Many connections resonate across this festival including the likes of Peter Grimes, W H Auden, the Revd Walter Hussey and their bosom friend, Aaron Copland, whom, incidentally, Britten met for the first time at the 1938 ISCM Festival in London where Copland's El Salón México and Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge were played at the same concert.

And in the opening concert at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Copland was on the bill with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John Wilson on top form delivering a sensitive, atmospheric and compelling reading of Quiet City, a work heavily featuring soloists from the orchestra, Mark O’Keeffe (trumpet) and James Horan (cor anglais). A mellow and inviting work offering an ode to New York, Quiet City was composed for Irwin Shaw’s play of the same name which, unfortunately, never made it above preview performances.

Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 ‘The Age of Anxiety’ - the title emanating from W H Auden’s poem of the same name - regally followed. Completed in March 1949 in New York City, the work was dedicated to and commissioned by the Russian-born conductor, Serge Koussevitzky, who was preparing to end his 25-year career conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1949.

Celebrating 30 years of Big Screen presentations

Tonight (12 June) the Royal Opera House celebrates its 30-year partnership with BP bringing big screen presentations of opera and ballet to the UK, from Aberdeen to the Isle of Wight.  Free outdoor screenings which enable audiences to see live performances and picnic too

This evening's live presentation of Liam Scarlett's new production of Swan Lake launches the 2018 season of Big Screen presentations of live performances from the Royal Opera House.

Swan Lake is showing at Canada Square in Canary Wharf, Trafalgar Square, General Gordon Square, Woolwich (all London), Tattershall Lakes Country Park (Lincolnshire), Bristol Millenium Square (Bristol), Sandy Balls Holiday Village (New Forest, Hampshire), Portsmouth Guildhall Square (Portsmouth), Exmouth, Swansea Castle Square (Swansea, Wales) and The Piazza, University of Warwick (Warwick).

Further ahead, the Big Screen presentations are Puccini's La Boheme (26 June 2018) and Mozart's Don Giovanni (12 July).

Full details from the Royal Opera House website.

Young Artists performance of La Traviata at Opera Holland Park

Verdi: La traviata - Opera Holland Park (Photo Robert Workman)

Verdi La traviata; Alison Langer, Stephen Aviss, Aidan Edwards, dir: Rodula Gaitanou/Cecilia Stinton, cond: Harry Sever; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 11 June 2018 Star rating: 4.5 (★★★★½)
A highly satisfying account of Verdi's tragedy from the Young Artists, with a poised performance in the title role

Stephen Aviss, Harry Sever, Alison Langer
(Photo Robert Workman)

This year's Young Artists Performance at Opera Holland Park was Rodula Gaitanou's production of Verdi's La Traviata [see my review of the original production] on Monday 11 June 2018. The performance featured Alison Langer as Violetta, Aidan Edwards as Giorgio Germon, Emma Stannard as Flora, Mike Bradley as Gastone, James Corrigan as Barone Douphol, Felix Kemp as Marchese d'Obigny and Aaron O'Hare as Dottore Grenvil. Young Artist alumnus Stephen Aviss sang Alfredo (he sang Rodolfo in the Young Artists performance of Puccini's La Boheme in 2016, see my review, and gives two performances as Alfredo in the main cast of La Traviata). The Young Artists director was Cecilia Sinton and the conductor was Harry Sever.

Returning to the production after a gap of two weeks, I found there was still a great deal to enjoy and that the production was as satisfying as ever. With a different cast and associate director, I also noticed further details which added to the story, such as the Barone's flirtation with another young woman at the end of Act One.

Having cast an outstanding Violetta as part of the main cast (Lauren Fagan), Opera Holland Park was equally gifted with Alison Langer who sang Violetta for the Young Artists. Langer sang the New Queen in the Opera Story's premiere of Snow [see my review] but perhaps her most visible achievement to date has been to duet with Dame Josephine Barstow whilst playing Young Heidi in the National Theatre production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies [see my review].

Langer made a poised and moving Violetta, bringing out the character's youth, moving successfully from the brilliance of Act One, through the tragedy of Act Two to a powerful final scene.

Musical beauty: new production of Lohengrin at Covent Garden

Wagner: Lohengrin - The arrival of the swan - (Photo ROH/Clive Barda)

Wagner Lohengrin; Klaus Florian Vogt, Jennifer Davis, Christine Goerke, Thomas J. Mayer, dir: David Alden, cond: Andris Nelsons; Royal Opera
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 10 June 2018 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
Moments of great beauty in a lithely dramatic account of Wagner's last Romantic opera

Klaus Florian Vogt, Thomas J Mayer - (Photo ROH/Clive Barda)

David Alden's new production of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin at Covent Garden replaces Elijah Moshinsky's 1977 production, which could hardly have been expected to last so long. Whereas Moshinsky took a semi-abstract neo-pagan approach, Alden has set his in the context of a fairly specific place and time in the early to mid 20th century.

We caught the second performance, on Sunday 10 June 2018, with Klaus Florian Vogt as Lohengrin, Jennifer Davis as Elsa, Thomas J Mayer as Friedrich von Telramund, Christine Goerke as Ortrud, Georg Zeppenfeld as King Heinrich and Kostas Smoriginas as the Herald. Sets were by Paul Steinberg, costumes by Gideon Davey, lighting by Adam Silverman, video by Tal Rosner and movement by Maxine Braham. Andris Nelsons conducted.

From the opening notes of the prelude (played with the curtain down), it was clear that Andris Nelsons' way with the score was going to be something special. He drew ravishing textures from the orchestra, creating moments of great beauty and real transparency. Even the more bombastic sections, with all the extra brass, seemed brilliant rather than heavy. This combined with a lithely dramatic, flexible approach to the piece gave it a fluency which it does not always have.

Mary's Hand: Composer Martin Bussey introduces his new opera

Martin Bussey

Composer Martin Bussey has written a new opera, Mary's Hand, on the life of Queen Mary I, to a libretto by Di Sherlock. Prepared for the company McCaldin Arts, the opera has its first performance in Chester on 21 June and then in London on 1 & 2 August as part of the Tete a Tete opera Festival. Martin answered some questions about his work and the piece as an introduction to his music. 

You have a number of strings to your musical bow. What do you consider your principal musical occupation?
Nowadays my principal occupation seems to have become composition. For a long time this sat in the background during years as a singer and a teacher. I wrote for forces at my disposal during that time, for example my piece about Ivor Gurney, Severn Meadows, composed for Chester Bach Singers. Or I wrote works which were rather conceptual, e.g. what I would write if I had a large chorus and symphony orchestra to hand - which I didn’t! Song and choral music have always been the focus of my musical performing life, and they have taken centre stage in my compositional life.

Your work in music is very native, working with English groups on British repertoire, composing your own settings of English texts and helping in the running of a association (The Finzi Friends) whose existence is a component of Englishness. Is it the culture or is it specifically the music?
I have always been captivated equally by the English language and by music.