Premieres from Gavin Higgins' and Arthur Bliss, rare Michael Tippett, Eric Whitacre in residence: Ryedale Festival 2025
Updated: 2025-03-31 14:16:00
: , , : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday , 31 March 2025 Premieres from Gavin Higgins' and Arthur Bliss , rare Michael Tippett , Eric Whitacre in residence : Ryedale Festival 2025 Labels : preview Ryedale Festival at Lastingham Church The Ryedale Festival is in its 44th year and under the guidance of pianist Christopher Glynn , returns from 11 to 27 July 2025 for 57 performances in 33 spectacular locations right across the county , from the seaside charm of Scarborough to the historic market town of Skipton . nbsp This year's artists in residence are saxophonist Jess Gillam , composer and conductor Eric Whitacre , soprano Claire Booth and viola player Timothy Ridout , with ensembles in
: : , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday , 31 March 2025 Pure enjoyment : Peter Moore Tredegar Band give the first recording of Simon Dobson's concerto for Moore alongside works paying tribute to trombonists like Arthur Pryor , Don Lusher Tommy Dorsey Labels : cd review Arthur Pryor , Gordon Langford , Phoebe Palmer Knapp , Erik William Gustav Leidzén , George Bassman , Simon Dobson , Philip Sparke Peter Moore , Tredegar Band , Ian Porthouse Chandos Records Reviewed 28 March 2025 Trombonist Peter Moore joins forces with Tredegar Band for a disc showcasing works for trombone and brass band in a programme that mixes a diverse range of music with a sense of sheer . enjoyment Trombonist Peter
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Saturday , 29 March 2025 Bespoke Songs : soprano Fotina Naumenko on commissioning four composers for works for soprano and diverse ensembles Labels : interview Fotina Naumenko and the performers on Bespoke Songs Fotina Naumenko is an American soprano of Russian heritage . Her album Bespoke Songs on New Focus Recordings was nominated for a 2025 Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album . The disc features four works for soprano and diverse ensembles that Fotina commissioned from composers Jonathan Newman Benedict Sheehan Carrie Magin and Jennifer Jolley setting texts by female authors . The disc features Jonathan Newman's song cycle , Bespoke Songs for soprano 
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Friday , 28 March 2025 Dresden : Historically informed Wagner at the Dresden Music Festival and Sir James MacMillan as composer in residence with the Dresden Philharmonie Labels : Dresden Dresden Music Festival preview Wagner : Die Walküre Sarah Wegener , Maximilian Schmitt , Åsa Jäger Dresdner Musikfestspiele Photo : Oliver Killig The prospect of varied events to treasure in Dresden as the Dresdner Musikfestspiele's Dresden Music Festival historically informed Ring Cycle reaches Siegfried at this years festival which runs from 17 May to 14 June 2025 and the for the 2025 26 season , Sir James MacMillan has been announced as composer in residence with Dresden .
: , : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Friday , 28 March 2025 Myths like this are there for us to see ourselves in , and we are all different : director Tom Guthrie on Tales of Apollo and Hercules Labels : Guest Posting Handel Tales of Apollo and Hercules London Handel Festival Photo : Craid Fuller Photography With the 2025 London Handel Festival in full swing , it is presenting a new staged double bill , nbsp Tales of Apollo and Hercules Directed by Tom Guthrie , with David Bates conducting La Nuova Musica , plus New English Ballet Theatre with choreography by Valentino Zucchetti , the evening features dramatisations of two Handel works from opposite ends of his long composing . career Tales of
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Thursday , 27 March 2025 Something of a hidden gem : Sunday Concerts at historic Conway Hall launch their Summer Season Labels : Conway Hall preview Conway Hall Conway Hall's Sunday Concerts a concert series established in 1887 and still going strong , remains something of a hidden gem dating from 1929. Weekly classical chamber music at affordable prices in a remarkable period venue provide platform for established chamber groups and give a springboard for young artists to be supported and make their mark on the classical music . stage The Summer season runs from 6 April to 29 June 2025 with a wide variety on offer . There is a a special immersive weekend which
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday , 26 March 2025 Music and health : success for Wellness with WNO and expansion for ENO Breathe Labels : ENO music news WNO WNO Producer April Heade who helped develop Wellness with WNO The link between music , performance and health is one that performers both amateur and professional have largely understood implicitly , but bringing this concept to the wider world remains something of a challenge . As long ago as 2019, the WHO was reporting on arts and health see Making Music website English National Opera launched ENO Breathe in 2020 in response to COVID-19 and now the programme is being rolled out further . Whilst Welsh National Opera has recently
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday , 26 March 2025 Traces of trauma : Britten Sinfonia premiere Michael Zev Gordon's A Kind of Haunting marking 80th anniversary of the end of World War II Labels : Barbican Britten Sinfonia concert review Image of Michael Zev Gordon's Grandfather , Zalman memorial to those killed in the forest in Poland Martinu : Double Concerto Strauss : Metamorphosen Michael Zev Gordon : A Kind of Haunting James Newby , Louisa Clein , Allan Corduner , Britten Sinfonia , Jonathan Berman Milton Court Concert Hall Reviewed 25 March 2025 Two composers' direct experience of the traumas of the Second World War alongside Michael Zev Gordon's powerful and remarkable new piece
: , , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday , 25 March 2025 Youth Opera , black spiders , contemporary Christmas capers , dancing Handel Opera North's 2025 26 season Labels : Leeds Opera North preview Phyllida Lloyd's 2006 production of Peter Grimes returns to Opera North in 2026 marking the 50th anniversary of Britten's death Photo : Bill Cooper Opera North's 2025 26 season opens at the Grand Theatre Leeds with something of a stake in the ground , a declaration of intent . The work being performed is Judith Weir's The Secret of the Black Spider . This will be the UK premiere of the revised , Hamburg' version of Weir's opera , and will be the first time an opera by a female composer has been
: , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday , 25 March 2025 Innovative narratives , the importance of local venues , inspirational outreach unearthing manuscripts The Continuo Foundation awards its ninth round of grants Labels : music news The 31 Continuo Foundation round nine grantees The Continuo Foundation awarded its first round of grants in Spring 2021, and their lates round , the ninth , takes the total awarded up to an impressive 950,000. The awards support concerts and recording projects , spanning 800 years of music performed on period instruments and shine a spotlight on the vibrant creativity of the UK’s early music . scene The ninth round of grants will support seven emerging groups
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday , 24 March 2025 David Butt Philip and Friends Labels : preview David Butt Philip , Alison Langer , St Paul's Opera chorus at the David Butt Philip Friends gala in 2024 St Paul's Church Photo : Craig Fuller Photography My local opera company , St Paul's Opera will be welcoming tenor David Butt Philip back for the third year running for a fundraising gala , David Butt Philip and Friends at St Paul’s Church , Rectory Grove , SW4 0DZ on Friday 28 March 2025. This year's gala will featured soprano Alison Langer , mezzo-soprano Clare Presland and bass William Thomas alongside David Butt Philip , accompanied by Ed Batting and Nicholas Ansdell-Evans . The
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday , 24 March 2025 The Lavender Scare on the operatic stage : Gregory Spears' 2016 Fellow Travellers to get its European semi-professional premiere from University College Opera Labels : preview Say Fellow Travellers to anyone and they will probably think of the TV mini-series featuring Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer that debuted in 2023. But the TV series was based on the 2007 novel by Thomas Mallon and before the TV series , Mallon's book was adapted into an . opera Composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pearce's Fellow Travellers debuted in 2016 at Cincinnati Opera . The opera was developed by Opera Fusion : New Works , a collaboration between.jpg)
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday , 24 March 2025 Letter from Florida : Stéphane Denève New World Symphony on impressive form in Britten's War Requiem Labels : concert review Letter from Florida Britten : War Requiem Stéphane Denève , Ian Bostridge , Roderick Williams , New World Symphony Adrienne Arsht Center , Miami Britten : War Requiem Christine Goerke , Ian Bostridge , Roderick Williams , New World Symphony , Stéphane Denève , Florida Singing Sons , Girl Choir of South Florida , Master Chorale of South Florida Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts , Miami , Florida Reviewed by Robert J Carreras . 15 March 2025 A matter of reconciliation : Robert J Carreras in Miami is
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday , 24 March 2025 Drawing you in : the young Uruguayan counter-tenor Agustin Pennino in an admirably ballsy programme as part of London Transport Museum's Transported by Culture Labels : concert review Music in the Museum Agustin Pennino London Transport Museum Music in the : Museum Handel , Mendelssohn , Michael Head , Rossini Agustin Pennino London Transport Museum Reviewed 21 March 2025 A young Uruguayan counter-tenor braves the hubbub caused by lively young Museum visitors to give an engaging recital , by turns bravura and intimate , as part of the London Transport Museum's Transported by Culture programme The central atrium of the London Transport
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Saturday , 22 March 2025 Reshaping the narrative : Leslie Korngold on the historic release of his grandfather's recording of his Symphony Labels : interview Leslie Korngold is the grandson of composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold . Leslie's father , George , himself a record producer , was the composer's younger son . When George Korngold died in 1987, Leslie inherited George's archive of family recordings . Amongst these , rather amazingly , are private recordings of Korngold performing his own music . Supertrain Records is issuing a two-CD set consisting of Korngold's Symphony in F sharp Op . 40, recorded in 1997 by John Mauceri and the Orchestra della Svizzera
: : , , , , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Friday , 21 March 2025 Manchester Classical 2025 : The Hallé , the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra , ENO , Manchester Collective , Riot Ensemble , RNCM join forces for a celebration of the city's rich classical scene Labels : Manchester preview The Hallé at Manchester Classical 2023 Photo : Alex Burns The Hallé The award-winning celebration of Manchester's rich classical scene , Manchester Classical is returning to the city from 27 to 29 June 2025. The festival includes performances and collaborations from the Hallé , the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra , English National Opera , Manchester Collective , Riot Ensemble and Royal Northern College of Music RNCM at
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Thursday , 20 March 2025 Between Friends : a new disc of Jonathan Dove's music celebrates friendship collaboration in music Labels : cd review On the streets and in the sky works by Jonathan Dove Philippe Sly , Sacconi Quartet , Charles Owen Katya Apekisheva SIGNUM CLASSICS Reviewed 19 March 2025 A diverse selection of Jonathan Dove's music which celebrates friendships and collaboration with the powerful and moving performance by baritone Philippe Sly at the centre in the song cycle written for him On the streets and in the sky on Signum Classics features a selection of works by Jonathan Dove with the song cycle Who Wrote the Book of Love at its centre ,
: , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday , 19 March 2025 The Uncanny Things Trilogy Virtually Opera's trilogy of interactive , immersive operas created by Leo Doulton Labels : photo essay Come Bargain with Uncanny Things Virtually Opera , COLAB Tower Photo : Claire Shovelton In September last year I interviewed director and writer Leo Doulton see my interview and one of the topics we touched on was his interest in interactive storytelling including The Uncanny Things Trilogy which was then a work in progress . Now Virtually Opera are presenting all three interactive operas at COLAB Tower during March . nbsp Come Bargain with Uncanny Things Virtually Opera , COLAB Tower Photo : Claire
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday , 19 March 2025 Celebrating Rodelinda : Garsington Opera and the Handel Hendrix House mark 300 years since the premiere of Handel's opera Labels : Garsington preview A caricature of a performance of Handel's Flavio from 1723 featuring Senesino and Francesca Cuzzoni with Berenstadt far right Handel's opera Rodelinda was premiered 300 years ago this year , on 13 February 1725 at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket the original King's Theatre burned down in 1789 and His Majesty's Theatre is currently on the site Celebrations to mark the anniversary include an exhibition at the Handel Hendrix House which features a rarely seen portrait of castrato
: : , , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday , 18 March 2025 The Truth We Seek : Edinburgh International Festival 2025, Suor Angelica , La Clemenza di Tito , Mary Queen of Scots , Taverner's The Veil of the Temple a focus on Poland Labels : Edinburgh Festival preview Nicola Benedetti Photo : Laurence Winram The full programme for this year's Edinburgh International Festival has been released , the third festival under Nicola Benedetti's artistic directorship . This year celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus with performances of Vaughan Williams’s Sea Symphony Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the closing concert . The opening concert of the
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday , 18 March 2025 A missed opportunity : Christoph Marthaler's reworking of Weber's iconic Der Freischütz redeemed by strong musical performances from Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp Labels : Flanders opera review Weber : Der Freischütz The Wolf's Glen Scene Ilker Arcayürek , Manuel Winckhler Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Photo : Annemie Augustijns Weber : Der Freischütz Louise Kemény , Ilker Arcayürek , Rosemary Hardy , Thomas Jesatko , director : Christoph Marthaler , conductor : Stephan Zilias , Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Opera Antwerpen Reviewed 16 March 2025 A missed opportunity strong musical performances redeemed the Swiss director's self-indulgent