A distinctive voice & a richly rewarding sound-world: songs by Franco Alfano from Anna Pirozzi & Emma Abbate
Updated: 2023-11-30 07:33:00
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Thursday 30 November 2023 A distinctive voice a richly rewarding sound-world : songs by Franco Alfano from Anna Pirozzi Emma Abbate Labels : cd review video Franco Alfano : Songs Anna Pirozzi , Emma Abbate , Bozidar Vukotic Resonus Classics Reviewed 28 November 2023 Alfano's rather dim reputation as a 20th century opera composer does not prepare you for the surprisingly rich and rewarding sound-world of his songs You cannot help but feel that the Italian composer Franco Alfano 1876-1954 has received a poor deal from musical history . Despite his 1904 opera , Risurrezione retaining a toe-hold in the repertoire , Alfano remains best known as the man who completed
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Wednesday 29 November 2023 There's still time to apply for The Benedetti Foundation’s Ambassador cohort for 2024 Labels : music education The Benedetti Foundation's Ambassador Programme Photo : Chris J Parker The Benedetti Foundation's Ambassador Programme runs annually from February to December and is a training scheme for young professionals age around 19 to 35 dedicated to developing their practical , instrumental teaching and workshop leading skills , as well as growing their love for performance . The programme is open to instrumentalists , singers , creatives and workshop leaders . nbsp Peer learning and support is a crucial part of the programme . All Ambassadors
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Wednesday 29 November 2023 Handel by candle-light a gig on Jimi Hendrix's bed : Handel Hendrix After Dark Labels : concert review Handel Intesa Duo at Handel Hendrix House Handel Hendrix House After Dark Intesa Duo , Maya Delilah 25 November 2023 Two contrasting gigs in Handel's dining room and Jimi Hendrix's bedroom as Handel Hendrix House welcomes visitors to its evocative , candle-lit historic interiors Handel lived at 25 Brook Street from 1723 until his death in 1759, whilst Jimi Hendrix moved into a flat next door at 23 Brook Street in 1968, and his time there would be the longest period that he spent in one place . Since 2000, when the Handel House Trust took
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Tuesday 28 November 2023 Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol with a musical twist from Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra Labels : Brighton preview Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is ubiquitous at Christmas , indeed it could be argued that with this book and his other writings Dickens effectively invented the modern Christmas . This year , the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra BPO is bringing a musical twist to the tale . nbsp The BPO Brass Quintet is joining forces with actor Pip Torrens for a version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol narrated by Torrens with music from the BPO Brass Quintet featuring brass arrangements of Ding Dong Merrily on High God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
: , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Tuesday 28 November 2023 What is existence all about London Youth Opera relaunches with ambitious new opera , Pandora's Box from Stuart Hancock and Donald Sturrock Labels : preview W11 Opera has relaunched as London Youth Opera , the name change reflecting on the way the company's remit has expanded well beyond the W11 postcode . For their first production under the new name , LYO is presenting Pandora's Box by composer Stuart Hancock and librettist Donald Sturrock at the Royal Academy of Music's Susie Sainsbury Theatre on 16 and 17 December 2023. The opera is a comic fusion of blues , pop , and classical opera that uses ancient Greek mythology as a starting point .
: : , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Tuesday 28 November 2023 Captivating fascinating : Goldberg from Syriab Trio and Trio d'Iroise , bringing together Western classical , Arabic music and Bach Labels : cd review Goldberg : Syriab Trio , Trio d'Iroise SOLAIRE RECORDS Reviewed 27 November 2023 A fascinating disc as two ensembles , one Western classical and one Arabic , journey through Bach's Goldberg Variations exploring what it means to play together , to base music on Bach yet synthesise with Arabic music . nbsp Some years ago , the Syriab Trio Abdalhade Deb , oud singing , Ibrahim Bajo , kanun , Amjad Sukar , percussion did a project with Ensemble Reflektor , a North German chamber orchestra that
: , : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Tuesday 28 November 2023 Sophia Lambton introduces her new book , The Callas Imprint : A Centennial Biography Labels : preview Novelist and music critic Sophia Lambton's new book , nbsp The Callas Imprint : A Centennial Biography will be published by The Crepuscular Press on 2 December 2023, the singer's 100th birthday . Lambton has mined extensive sources , some 3395 spanning 80 years and 21 countries , to present an in-depth picture of the singer . Here , Sophie Lambton introduces the book , the project and . herself What made you want to write the book I was thirteen when my father introduced me to Maria Callas through her Carmen . Infatuation with the voice soon
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Monday 27 November 2023 A remarkable sense of energy engagement : Wagner's Die Walküre from the London Opera Company at St John's Smith Square Labels : opera review SJSS Wagner's Die Walküre The London Opera Company Wagner's Die Walküre Ben Thapa , Philippa Boyle , Simon Wilding , Simon Thorpe , Harriet Williams , Cara McHardy , conductor Peter Selwyn the London Opera Company at St John's Smith Square Reviewed 25 November 2023 A full scale performance of Wagner's opera projected with remarkable energy , commitment and engagement by a strong cast with an orchestra mixing professionals , students and amateurs . A remarkable achievement The London Opera Company was
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Monday 27 November 2023 There's music in all things : Bath Festival Orchestra marks the Berlioz 220 and Poulenc 125 anniversaries with a début performance at Southbank's Queen Elizabeth Hall Labels : by Tony Cooper preview South Bank Centre Bath Festival Orchestra Peter Manning , principal conductor artistic director of Bath Festival Orchestra BFO had this to say about their forthcoming concert marking the Berlioz 220 and Poulenc 125 anniversaries . Our January programme considers a vast timeline spanning the troubadour influences of Poulenc’s neo-classical works . The three works we shall perform are distinct but each paints a vivid narrative through live music and
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Monday 27 November 2023 Pegasus Opera pays tribute to Keel Watson Labels : music news Keel Watson as Falstaff with Regents Opera in 2015 Pegasus Opera will be paying tribute to Keel Watson as part of the Pegasus Caribbean Christmas Concert on 21 December 2023 at St John the Divine Church , SW9 6JA . The company is inviting any singers who knew him and are available to come and join them in a rousing chorus of Oh Lawd I'm on my way from Gerswhin's Porgy and Bess contact admin pegopera.org for details Keel Watson was a friend of Pegasus Opera from the beginning . He was instrumental in the company's inaugural concerts and operas , including performing a stellar Falstaff
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Saturday 25 November 2023 Dependent Arising : American violinist Rachel Barton Pine on combining classical and Heavy Metal on her latest concerto album Labels : interview Rachel Barton Pine Photo : Lisa-Marie Mazzucco American violinist Rachel Barton Pine s most recent disc , on the Cedille Records label , Dependent Arising pairs Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No . 1 in A minor Op . 77 with a new concerto , Dependent Arising written especially for Rachel , by Earl Maneein performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conductor Tito Muñoz The pairing very much encapsulates Rachel's freewheeling and eclectic approach to violin playing . In parallel to her career as
: : , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Friday 24 November 2023 Magical textures supple lines : Fauré's La bonne chanson , Ravel Canteloube from Louise Alder eleven friends at Wigmore Hall Labels : concert review Wigmore Hall Emma Bardac in 1931 Fauré : La bonne chanson Berlioz : La captive Ravel : nbsp Shéhérazade Canteloube : Songs of the Auvergne Louise Alder , Doric String Quartet , nbsp Joseph Middleton Wigmore Hall Reviewed 23 November 2023 Suppleness and flexibility were the watchwords in this lovely evening of French song for voice and instrumental ensemble as part of Louise Alder's residency Louise Alder continued her residency at Wigmore Hall on Thursday 23 November 2023 with an evening of
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Thursday 23 November 2023 New appointments at Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Royal Academy of Music Labels : North West RAM Nicholas Chalmers The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed a former Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company musician as Principal Second Trumpet , whilst the Royal Academy of Music has appointed a new Fernside Chair of Choral Conducting , leading the Academy’s postgraduate Choral Conducting . programme The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has announced the appointment of Hannah Mackenzie as Principal Second Trumpet . Her first performance in the role will be Thursday 30 November 2023. Hannah Mackenzie was raised on the Wirral and
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Thursday 23 November 2023 Taking its energy from the youth of the performers : Olivia Fuchs' new production of Handel's Ariodante at Royal Academy Opera Labels : Handel opera review RAM Handel : Ariodante Angharad Rowlands Royal Academy Opera Photo : Craig Fuller Handel : Ariodante Royal Academy Opera , director : Olivia Fuchs , conductor : David Bates Royal Academy of Music Reviewed 21 November 2023 Stylishly modern and exploring gender boundaries , this was a production that took its energy from the sheer youth of the performers At the start of Olivia Fuchs new production of Handel's Ariodante for Royal Academy Opera the cast started writing The Rules on a large
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Wednesday 22 November 2023 Rachmaninoff Variations : Fyodor Biryuchev friends at the National Liberal Club Labels : preview The David Lloyd George Room in the National Liberal Club is a place where Sergei Rachmaninoff gave his last concert in the UK in 1939. Now composer and pianist Fyodor Biryuchev is being joined by cellist Gabriella Swallow , violinist Roman Lytwyniw and vocalist Alexandra Kenenova for Rachmaninoff Variations at the National Liberal Club on 28 November 2023. The concert will in fact be celebrating multiple anniversaries . Not only does 2023 mark the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff's birth and 85th of his passion , but the concert coincides with
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Wednesday 22 November 2023 Epic re-imagining of Miles Davis’ legendary album Bitches Brew' in the first ever performance from super group London Brew Labels : Barbican concert review guest review London Brew EFG London Jazz Festival at the Barbican Centre Photo : nbsp Mark Allan London Brew : EFG London Jazz Festival at the Barbican Centre Reviewed by Florence Anna Maunders , 18 November 2023 A veritable tsunami of electric jazz from a supergroup of London-based players Back in the heady days of 1969, a Woodstock-inspired Miles Davis brought together eight leading jazz musicians in an epic three day long , freely improvised , recording session . The result was the
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Tuesday 21 November 2023 Fifth edition of ORA Singers' Young Composers' Scheme and new Graduate Composers' Showcase Labels : music education music news ORA Singers at the Cutty Sark Photo : Nick Rutter 2019 saw ORA Singers introduce its Young Composers' Scheme providing free mentoring in choral composition to students from non fee-paying schools across the UK . Now as the Young Composers' Scheme returns for its fifth edition , ORA Singers is introducing a new complementary Graduate Composers' Showcase . nbsp The Young Composers' Scheme has so far successfully mentored 140 students , and has partnered with the Three Choirs Festival and Scala Radio . This season the fifth
: : . Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Tuesday 21 November 2023 Songs for Our Times : songs by Stuart MacRae Bernard Hughes based on texts by Chinwe D . John Stuart MacRae : Kingdoms Bernard Hughes : Metropolis Isabelle Haile , Nick Pritchard , Christopher Glynn Divine Art Reviewed 20 November 2023 A project initiated by poet Chinwe D . John , this disc presents two satisfyingly different contemporary settings of her work in intelligent performances This remarkable project features two song cycles , Stuart MacRae s Kingdoms and Bernard Hughes Metropolis , both featuring the words of Nigerian-American poet and practising medical doctor Chinwe D . John This disc , Songs for Our Times on the Divine Art
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Tuesday 21 November 2023 Challenging and exciting : Marius Neset joins London Sinfonietta for a performance his Geyser Labels : concert review guest review South Bank Centre Marius Neset : Geyser Marius Neset , London Sinfonietta Photo : Sisi Burn Marius Neset : Geyser Marius Neset , London Sinfonietta , Geoffrey Paterson EFG London Jazz Festival at Queen Elizabeth Hall Reviewed by Florence Anna Maunders 17 November 2023 One enormous sweep of wildly contrasting sounds , the Norwegian saxophonist and London Sinfonietta return to their third large-scale collaboration , premiered at last year's BBC Proms The remarkable musicians of the London Sinfonietta are no strangers
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Monday 20 November 2023 From Under the Little Red Moon' to The Great Stink' ETO's operas for children Labels : ETO music news preview Russell Hepplewhite : Under the Little Red Moon Rachel Speirs , Bradley Travis English Touring Opera As well as touring its new productions of Rossini's La Cenerentola and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea English Touring Opera ETO has been touring a new opera for babies , Under the Little Red Moon by composer written and directed by Tim Yealland and composed by Russell Hepplewhite . This has just finished its three-month tour , with six performers and eight members of the production and creative teams . They travelled some 910 miles
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Saturday 18 November 2023 20 years of frustration gave rise to soprano Juliet Fraser's VOICEBOX initiative for advanced singers specialising in contemporary vocal performance Labels : interview VOICEBOX , September 2023 hosted by Britten Pears Arts Photo : Patrick Young Britten Pears Arts Soprano Juliet Fraser describes her VOICEBOX initiative as arising from 20 years of frustration that something like it did not exist already . VOICEBOX , which took in its first cohort of singers in September 2023, is a new initiative offering a bespoke curriculum for advanced singers specialising in contemporary vocal performance . This year’s cohort of singers are Patricia