Back to the 1960s: Opera Holland Park returns to its 2008 production of Tosca and creates a satisfying evening in the theatre
Updated: 2024-05-31 09:06:00
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Friday 31 May 2024 Back to the 1960s : Opera Holland Park returns to its 2008 production of Tosca and creates a satisfying evening in the theatre Labels : Opera Holland Park opera review Puccini : Tosca Amanda Echalaz Morgan Pearse Opera Holland Park , 2024 Photo : Ali Wright Puccini : Tosca Amanda Echalaz , José de Eça , Morgan Pearse , director : Stephen Barlow , conductor : Matthew Kofi Waldren , City of London Sinfonia Opera Holland Park Reviewed 30 May 2023 Transposed to the student ferment of Rome in 1968, this revival breathed remarkable life into the concept and showcased a trio of strong performances for a satisfying evening in the theatre With this
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Thursday 30 May 2024 A celebration of African classical music : The African Concert Series returns to Wigmore Hall Labels : preview Wigmore Hall Rebeca Omordia's African Concert Series is returning to Wigmore Hall on 20 July 2024 with a day of concerts featuring a wide range of African art music . In the morning , African Flute Music will feature works by Joshua Uzoigwe Nigeria Kwabena Nketia Ghana and Bongani Ndodana-Breen South Africa alongside West African traditional songs , performed by flautists Baba Gallé Kanté and Rowland Sutherland with pianist Rebeca Omordia and percussionists Richard Olatunde Baker and Moussa Dembele . nbsp In the afternoon , Music
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Thursday 30 May 2024 Celebrate share the joy of orchestral music : NYO celebrates 10 years of NYO Inspire with As One Labels : music education NYO NYO Side by Side in Liverpool 42 of schools in England no longer enter any pupils for Music GCSE , and the number of pupils opting to do Music at A-Level has fallen by 45 between 2010 and 20232. There has been a 15 decline in children learning an instrument and 80 of young people believe more should be done to get their generation into orchestral . music For ten years , NYO Inspire , the National Youth Orchestra's NYO scheme to encourage young people to play an instrument and discover the joys of orchestra music ,.jpg)
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 29 May 2024 Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer of the Year 2024. Labels : music education Scotland Euan Kemp , winner of Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer of the Year 2024 Photo : Ian Georgeson Euan Kemp , 17-year-old Saxophonist from East Dunbartonshire has won the Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer of the Year 2024 the final of which took place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on 26 May 2024. Kemp , an S6 pupil from The Music School of Douglas Academy , has been playing Saxophone since he was 11 years old and performed music by Ryo Noda and André . Jolivet Second place was shared by pianist Magnus Shanks aged 16 from
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 29 May 2024 Horn live electronics : horn player Ben Goldscheider joins Philip Dawson for new works at Southbank Centre Labels : preview Ben Goldscheider Horn player Ben Goldscheider has talked in interviews about his desire to expand the instrument's repertoire , and he has certainly been busy doing just that . So far this year he has premiered Gavin Higgin's Horn Concerto see my review as well as that by Huw Watkins see my review both works providing significan technical challenges , plus giving a recital at Wigmore Hall featuring contemporary works by Watkins and Jörg Widmann see my review But Goldscheider is also keen to challenge perceptions of
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 29 May 2024 No Limits No Preconceptions No Clue Alice d'Lumiere's Trans Lady Sings at Wandsworth Arts Fringe Labels : preview Alice d'Lumiere's Trans Lady Sings Gender can seem remarkably fluid , at times , in opera despite the apparent restrictions of vocal physiology . To a long tradition of female mezzo-sopranos in trousers and tenors in frocks , we are now adding the emergence of trans opera singers such as baritone Lucia Lucas and tenor Holden Madagame who was Mime in Regents Opera's recent Siegfried see Holden's article on Planet Hugill To gender-fluid spoken word artist , Alice d'Lumiere , classical music has always seemed terrifyingly stratified
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 28 May 2024 Telling a story : Solomon's Knot in stylishly vivid form for the Canon's version of Handel's Esther Labels : concert review Handel Wigmore Hall Esther , mosaic from The Dormition Church on Mount Zion in Jerusalem Handel : Esther Canons version Solomon's Knot Wigmore Hall Reviewed : 27 May 2024 Solomon's Knot on vibrant and vivid form in a dramatic account of the earliest version of Handel's first oratorio Handel's Esther has an important place in music history as the first of his English oratorios , though it wasn't intended as such . Written as a small-scale masque at Canons around 1718 for the Duke of Chandos , that original version
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 28 May 2024 Step Into Opera : new ROH digital resource for encouraging young people to sing and explore opera Labels : music education music news ROH Youth Opera in Jonathan Ainscough Jonathan Briggin's The Sapling in July 2023 When I chatted to conductor Nicholas Chalmers in 2019 see my interview one of the topics that popped up was his work with the youth opera at the Royal Opera House , working with children aged 13 to 18 with the idea of taking young kids who sang as trebles and ensuring that they keep singing when they get older . Opportunities for teenage boys to sing at secondary school level are poor and many just give up . Based on his
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 27 May 2024 Doing Vivaldi proud : his Olympic opera performed with verve imagination by Irish National Opera Labels : Covent Garden opera review Vivaldi : L'Olimpiade Sarah Richmond , Alexandra Urquiola , Gemma Ni Bhriain , Chuma Sijeqa , Meili Li , Rachel Redmond , Sean Boylan Irish National Opera Photo : Ros Kavanagh Vivaldi : L'Olimpiade Gemma Ni Bhriain , Alexandra Urquiola , Meili Li , Sarah Richmond , Rachel Redmond , Sean Boylan , Chum Sijeqa , director : Daisy Evans , conductor : Peter Whelan , Irish Baroque Orchestra Irish National Opera at Linbury Theatre , Royal Opera House Reviewed 25 May 2024 The youthful vitality of the cast was compelling
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Saturday 25 May 2024 The Quest : London Youth Opera's commission for 2024 Labels : preview Stuart Hancock : Pandora's Box London Youth Opera at Susie Sainsbury Theatre , Royal Academy of Music , 2023 Photo : Nina Swann Last December , London Youth Opera LYO presented Stuart Hancock and Donald Sturrock's Pandora's Box at the Royal Academy of Music's Susie Sainsbury Theatre see my review Charlie Swann , who sang Prometheus , has accepted a scholarship at Royal Academy of Music to study Opera there full-time from this September . LYO is following this with a new commission for 2024, The Quest by composer Nathan Williamson and libretto by singer-songwriter Megg
: : , , , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Friday 24 May 2024 Creating something remarkable : Fatma Said Joseph Middleton in Mozart , Schubert , Schumann , de Falla , Obradors Hankash Labels : Barbican concert review Joseph Middleton and Fatma Said Milton Court concert hall , Barbican Photo : Mark Allan Barbican Mozart , Schubert , Schumann , de Falla : Siete canciones populares , Obradors , Najib Hankash Fatma Said , Joseph Middleton Milton Court concert hall , Barbican Reviewed 22 May 2024 A consummate programme where two exceptional performers took us on a journey and held us spell-bound from beginning to end , weaving seemingly disparate elements into something remarkable On paper , the
: : , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Thursday 23 May 2024 Happy 60th birthday : the Salomon Orchestra celebrates with Martyn Brabbins , Michal Oren , Mussorgsky and Elgar Labels : preview SJSS The Salomon Orchestra in rehearsal at Henry Wood Hall When the Salomon Orchestra celebrated its 40th birthday in 2003 it assembled the huge orchestra needed for Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony directed by founding conductor Nicholas Braithwaite , filling St John's Smith Square with so many orchestral musicians that you felt there was hardly room for the audience . The results , needless to say , were glorious . Now the orchestra is 60 and will be . celebrating On Saturday 1 June 2024, Martyn Brabbins
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Thursday 23 May 2024 Summer Music in City Churches : Love's Labours Labels : preview St Giles Cripplegate This year's Summer Music in City Churches focuses on Shakespeare and under the title Love's Labours runs at a single City church , St Giles Cripplegate from 6 to 15 June 2024. Pierre Vallet and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra open the festival with a concert featuring Gerald Finzi's incidental music to Shakespeare's Love's Labours Lost along with Mendelssohn and Chopin . Soprano Rachel Nicholls and baritone Roderick Williams join Iain Farrington and City of London Choir to close the festival with Farrington's jazz-influenced cantata Then Sing We All and.jpg){kind=spacer}
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 22 May 2024 Music that Moves You : new survey from ABO partners reveals 74 say that orchestras are a vital part of the country’s cultural heritage Labels : ABO music news National Children's Orchestras under 12 orchestra perform Shimmer and Glow at Portsmouth Guildhall , August 2023 Photo : Vernon Nash It shouldn't need saying but it does , and there is a new survey to prove it . Yesterday , the Association of British Orchestras ABO representing its 200 member organisations , along with partners , nbsp Classic FM , Classical Music Magazine , LIVE , UK Music , the Musicians’ Union and the Independent Society of Musicians , launched a three-year
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 22 May 2024 NCEM Young Composers Award Labels : music news NCEM Young Composers Award winners Ryan Collins and Charlotte Robertson with Ex Corde Last week 16 May 2024 the winners of the 17th National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award were announced . Presented in partnership with BBC Radio 3, the event took place on Thursday 16 May at the National Centre for Early Music in York . Aspiring young composers were invited to create a new work for The Tallis Scholars , creating a work for unaccompanied voices setting the 16th century text Mirabile mysterium A wondrous mystery either in the original Latin or the English translation . nbsp.jpg)
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 22 May 2024 Making It at Guildhall School of Music Drama Labels : GSMD preview What does it mean to make it as an artist in the 21st century From 11 to 28 June 2024, the Guildhall School of Music Drama will be presenting Making It a new festival celebrating new work created by Guildhall's eclectic and multi-skilled student community . Events include Guildhall School's final year actors in Kaleidescope a celebration of the diverse perspective and boundless creativity , a showcase of work from final year production artists and video designers as they prepare to join the creative industry’s workforce . Guildhall School's costume artists will showcase
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 21 May 2024 Calling women musicians : Watermill Theatre wants them to join its new play about Fanny Mendelssohn Labels : preview Calum Finaly's Fanny in rehearsal at Watermill Theatre Photo : Pamela Raith Photography When Queen Victoria invited Felix Mendelssohn to perform for her at a personal concert and play her favourite song , Italien the composer had to admit that he hadn't actually written the song . It was one of his sister Fanny Mendelssohn's pieces that were published under his name . In fact , Fanny would be over 40 before publishing under her own name and she did so with the encouragement of her husband but in the face of Felix's disapproval
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 21 May 2024 Jack Bazalgette of through the noise' announced as next artistic director of Cheltenham Music Festival Labels : music news Jack Bazalgette Photo : Ehimetalor Unuabona Since 2020, through the noise has programmed more than 130 classical music concerts in non-traditional venues using an innovative crowd-funding model to widen audience appeal see my review of their recent noise night at Leeds Lieder Festival Now through the noise co-founder and director Jack Bazalgette has been announced as the new artistic director of the Cheltenham Music Festival . nbsp Bazalgette will be artistic director from 2025, and he will be supported by the festival’s
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 21 May 2024 Thomas Roseingrave : Eight Harpsichord Suites and other keyboard works Labels : cd review Thomas Roseingrave : Eight Harpsichord Suites and other keyboard works Bridget Cunningham Signum Classics Reviewed 20 May 2024 Demonstrating the 18th-century Britain had more than one distinguished harpsichord composer , this disc explores the engaging , complex and quirky world of Thomas Roseingrave's keyboard works Thomas Roseingrave is one of those names that lives on the fringes of musical history . English-born to Irish parents and raised in Dublin . His move to improve himself by travelling to Italy led to his admiration for Scarlatti and his
: : , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 20 May 2024 Ryedale Festival 2024 : 58 concerts , 35 locations , 7 premieres and much more Labels : preview The 2024 Ryedale Festival runs from 12 to 28 July , featuring 58 performances in 35 locations including Castle Howard , Sledmere , Hovingham Hall , Selby Abbey and Ampleforth . The festival features seven world and UK . premieres The Van Baerle Trio's residency at the festival features the UK premieres of Gabriel Prokofiev's Piano Trio No . 1 and Rob Zuidam's Tritypch Julian Anderson's Ice Quartet receives its UK premiere performed by the Piatti Quartet , Kian Ravaei's Gulistan which explores his Iranian heritage , given its UK premiere by
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 20 May 2024 Celebrating diversity in classical music : Black Lives In Music presents Classically Black at Kings Place Labels : Kings Place preview Ayanna Witter-Johnson Photo : Misan Harriman Black Lives In Music BLiM is an organisation set up to address racial inequality in the music industry and create opportunities for Black , Asian and ethnically diverse musicians and professionals today . BLiM recently announced a landmark 10 Point Orchestral Plan introduced with the Musicians’ Union and Association Of British Orchestras . 33 organisations have signed up so far , with leading orchestras including the five BBC Orchestras and BBC Singers , London
: Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 20 May 2024 Madeleine Mitchell and friends at Leighton House Labels : preview Narcissus Hall , Leighton House . Image courtesy of Will Pryce Violinist Madeleine Mitchell is joined by friends Kirsten Jensen cello and Julian Milford piano for a concert of piano trios at Leighton House on 11 June . The concert features music by Germaine Tailleferre , Delius and Dvorak . The evening offers the opportunity to explore the house and gallery , which reopened in 2022 following a major refurbishment of the 20th century additions to Lord Leighton's original house . nbsp Germaine Tailleferre wrote her Piano Trio in 1916 17, but it did not receive much attention and
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Friday 17 May 2024 Combining disparate sounds with a bit of magic : Michel Godard and serpent in Göttingen Labels : concert review Handel Atsushi Sakai viola da gamba and Bruno Helstroffer theorbo at PS.Halle , Einbeck Light the earth : Incantation : Handel , Jean de la Fontaine , Michel Lambert , Sieur de Saint Colombe , Marin Marais , Michel Godard Michel Godard , Antje Rux , Airelle Besson , Atsushi Sakai , Bruno Helstroffer Internationale Händel Festspiele Göttingen at PS . Halle , Einbeck Reviewed 14 May 2024 The somewhat unlikely combination of voice , serpent , theorbo , viola da gamba and jazz trumpet in a programme moving between French Baroque ,
: : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Friday 17 May 2024 Out of the Shadows : An evening of music by Brixton-based contemporary classical composer Robert Hugill Labels : music news As part of 96 Festival Omnibus Theatre , Clapham's celebration of queerness and theatre , on 16 June 2024, tenor Ben Vonberg-Clark baritone Jonathan Eyers and pianist Nigel Foster will be performing Out of the Shadows featuring two of my recent cantatas and love songs . nbsp On Friday 5 July 2024, the programme will be presented at St John's Church , Tartu , Estonia as part of the Glasperlenspiel Festival The festival is a leading musical event in Estonian Summer and was founded in 1995 by Estonian composer and music