• Nominations announced for the 2024 Ivors Classical Awards

    Updated: 2024-10-15 10:22:00
    : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 15 October 2024 Nominations announced for the 2024 Ivors Classical Awards Labels : Ivors music news Jonathan Dove : Itch Adam Temple Smith as Itch and Victoria Simmonds as Watkins Opera Holland Park 2023 Photo : Craig Fuller Celebrating the best new classical music and sound art , this year's Ivors Classical Awards take place at BFI Southbank on 12 November 2024 when 11 Ivor Novello Awards will be presented to eight category winners and three Gift of the Academy award winners . BBC Radio 3 will broadcast the ceremony on Saturday 16 November in a special edition of the New Music Show The Ivors Academy has announced the 36 composers who have been nominated

  • Sound magic: En Couleur from the percussion group, Trio Colores

    Updated: 2024-10-15 08:06:00
    : : , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 15 October 2024 Sound magic : En Couleur from the percussion group , Trio Colores Labels : cd review En Couleur Saint-Saens , Ravel , Tailleferre , Debussy , Milhaud Trio Colores Fabian Ziegler , Luca Staffelbach and Matthias Kessper Solo Musica Reviewed 7 October 2024 Sensitivity of touch and an ear for timbre and colour bring a sense of timbral magical to these reinventions of French music for a group playing marimbas , vibraphones and glockenspiels The art of a good transcription is to reinvent the original in a way which remains true but exploits all the characteristics of the new genre . Sometimes this can be radical and sometimes quite discreet

  • Ethel Smyth returns to Germany: The Wreckers in Karlsruhe, The Wreckers - Der Leuchtturm des Todes in Meiningen, Strandrecht in Schwerin

    Updated: 2024-10-15 07:27:00
    : : , , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 15 October 2024 Ethel Smyth returns to Germany : The Wreckers in Karlsruhe , The Wreckers Der Leuchtturm des Todes in Meiningen , Strandrecht in Schwerin Labels : music news Ethel Smyth : The Wreckers Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe Photo : Felix Grünschloß Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers has a fascinatingly international history , the work was written to a French libretto by a France-based American , premiered in German translation in Leipzig . For more background see my 2016 article celebrating The Wreckers at 110, and my 2023 article A Lady and her Reputation More recently , the opera has been catching attention , most notably in productions at

  • Earth Unwrapped: Sirens for a wounded planet - Kings Place's latest year-long series announced

    Updated: 2024-10-14 10:26:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 14 October 2024 Earth Unwrapped : Sirens for a wounded planet Kings Place's latest year-long series announced Labels : Kings Place preview Kings Place's 17th instalment in its year-long Unwrapped series will be exploring our relationship with nature and the eco-system , plant life and ornithology , the climate crisis , activism , protest and more , through music and spoken word . nbsp Earth Unwrapped subtitled Sirens for a wounded planet begins in January 2025 and continues throughout that year . The series will feature artists in residence , nbsp Mercury Prize nominated singer-songwriter Sam Lee , composer and producer Gazelle Twin aka UK composer ,

  • nonclassical at 20: legendary music promoter celebrates with a concert alongside the London Symphony Orchestra including five world premieres

    Updated: 2024-10-14 10:00:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 14 October 2024 nonclassical at 20 : legendary music promoter celebrates with a concert alongside the London Symphony Orchestra including five world premieres Labels : preview in music many people are never exposed to long-form compositions , or more challenging works and I think they should be nonclassical founder , Gabriel Prokofiev nonclassical in action Photo : Nick Rutter Music promoter , record label and events producer nonclassical embraces a variety of roles and for twenty years has also embraced other genres and unconventional spaces , cultivating a young and dedicated following . Now celebrating its 20th birthday , nonclassical began in 2004 as

  • From expressionist nightmare to radiant energy: Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire & Schubert's String Quintet at Hatfield

    Updated: 2024-10-14 08:33:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 14 October 2024 From expressionist nightmare to radiant energy : Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire Schubert's String Quintet at Hatfield Labels : concert review Queen Elizabeth I awaiting the performance of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire in the Marble Hall at Hatfield House Schoenberg : Pierrot Lunaire Schubert : String Quintet in C Claire Booth , Ensemble 360, Magnus Johnston , Max Baillie , Brett Dean , Guy Johnston Hatfield House Music Festival Reviewed 13 October 2024 A vividly Expressionist account of Schoenberg's influential masterpiece contrasting with Schubert's late chamber work in a performance full of vibrant energy Two contrasting masterpieces ,

  • The pairing of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Actéon with Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Pygmalion proved a perfect double-bill for baroque aficionados offering a delightful, entertaining and pleasant evening

    Updated: 2024-10-13 10:26:00
    : , Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Sunday 13 October 2024 The pairing of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Actéon with Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Pygmalion proved a perfect double-bill for baroque aficionados offering a delightful , entertaining and pleasant evening Labels : AAM Barbican by Tony Cooper concert review Page from the edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses published by Lucantonio Giunti in Venice , 1497 Marc-Antoine Charpentier : Actéon , Jean-Philippe Rameau:Pygmalion Anna Dennis , Rachel Redmond , Katie Bray , Thomas Walker Academy of Ancient Music , Laurence Cummings Barbican Reviewed by Tony Cooper , 9 October 2024 Rarities on the British stage such dramas of human emotion and divine power

  • Intimate & communicative: Solomon's Knot brings its distinctive approach to Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 at Wigmore Hall

    Updated: 2024-10-13 10:02:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Sunday 13 October 2024 Intimate communicative : Solomon's Knot brings its distinctive approach to Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 at Wigmore Hall Labels : concert review Wigmore Hall Title page of the Bassus Generalis for one of the partbooks in which the Vespers were published in 1610 Monteverdi : Vespers of 1610 Solomon's Knot Wigmore Hall Reviewed 12 October 2024 A chance to hear Monteverdi's vespers in an acoustic bringing out the more intimate qualities , with the highly communicative singers enjoying the more madrigalian elements of the music After hearing The Sixteen in Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 in the acoustic splendour of Temple Church see my review

  • Waiting till they feel they have something to say: I chat to Trio Bohémo about their debut disc

    Updated: 2024-10-12 08:22:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Saturday 12 October 2024 Waiting till they feel they have something to say : I chat to Trio Bohémo about their debut disc Labels : interview Trio Bohémo Formed in 2019 by three Czech musicians , Matouš Pěruška violin Kristina Vocetková cello and Jan Vojtek piano Trio Bohémo released their debut disc on Supraphon in August 2024, featuring Schubert’s great E flat Piano Trio D929 and Smetana’s Trio in G minor Op 15. The disc has already garnered praise , nbsp and the trio has a tour of the UK during October and November 2024 see their website for details I recently spoke to the three of them , via Zoom , to chat about the new disc , their attitude to programming

  • Alma: Ella Milch-Sheriff's opera based on the life of Alma Mahler premieres Vienna Volksoper

    Updated: 2024-10-10 06:49:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Thursday 10 October 2024 Alma : Ella Milch-Sheriff's opera based on the life of Alma Mahler premieres Vienna Volksoper Labels : Austria preview Alma Mahler remains a fascinating figure . Musically active as a composer , albeit for a relatively short time , her life has been rather overshadowed by her relationships . She married the composer Gustav Mahler , the architect Walter Gropius , nbsp and the author Franz , Werfel whilst her affairs included the painter Gustav Klimt , the composer Alexander von Zemlinsky and the painter Oskar Kokoschka . The death of daughter Manon Gropius partly inspired Alban Berg's Violin Concerto Since her death in 1964, her life has

  • The Light of Paradise: Paul Mealor's new choral opera inspired by medieval mystic Margery Kempe

    Updated: 2024-10-09 15:27:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 9 October 2024 The Light of Paradise : Paul Mealor's new choral opera inspired by medieval mystic Margery Kempe Labels : spotlight The mediaeval mystic , Margery Kempe ca.1373-1448 is a fascinating figure . She freed herself from the restraint of marriage and embarked on pilgrimages to sacred sites in Europe and the Middle East , dressed usually in white . Kempe considered her travels as a series of divine trials and whilst nowadays she can be seen a suffering the symptoms of various mental illnesses , she distilled them into The Booke a spiritual autobiography that she began in 1430, despite being illiterate The manuscript was copied , probably

  • Everyone clearly enjoyed themselves and brought the house down: Harry Christophers & The Sixteen in Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 at Temple Church

    Updated: 2024-10-08 23:39:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 9 October 2024 Everyone clearly enjoyed themselves and brought the house down : Harry Christophers The Sixteen in Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 at Temple Church Labels : concert review Temple Music The Sixteen Basilica of Santa Barbara at the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua where Monteverdi was working when he wrote his Vespers of 1610 Monteverdi : Vespers of 1610 The Sixteen , Harry Christophers Temple Music Foundation at Temple Church Reviewed 8 October 2024 Technically assured and finely expressive performance that filled the Temple Church with extraordinary richness from bravura moments to intimate magic There is something rather tantalising about

  • A pathway for the next generation of young voices: BBC Singers and National Youth Choir announce three-year partnership

    Updated: 2024-10-08 09:29:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 8 October 2024 A pathway for the next generation of young voices : BBC Singers and National Youth Choir announce three-year partnership Labels : BBC music news nyc BBC Singers and National Youth Voices with Nicholas Chalmers at the BBC Singers' Centenary Concert , October 2024 The BBC Singers and the National Youth Choir have announced a three-year partnership between the two organisations to open the pathway for the next generation of young voices . The partnership will centre on the collective ambition for young singers to gain invaluable experience of performing and recording together , focusing on education initiatives to provide opportunities for

  • Secret Kiss: English-language premiere of one of Peter Eötvös' last compositions

    Updated: 2024-10-08 09:12:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 8 October 2024 Secret Kiss : English-language premiere of one of Peter Eötvös' last compositions Labels : BCMG preview Wigmore Hall In 19th century Japan , a young Frenchman travels to Japan to learn about the secrets of silk production . While visiting a rich man , he observes a young girl with her eyes closed . She suddenly opens her eyes , looks at the Frenchman and points silently to a tea cup in front of her . Out of this single glance , the two protagonists become entangled in a moving and wonderful . story Inspired by the 1997 novel Silk by Italian author Alessandro Baricco , Secret Kiss is one of Peter Eötvös last compositions and it is

  • Une messe imaginaire: Bruckner & Frank Martin from Lyon

    Updated: 2024-10-08 08:43:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Tuesday 8 October 2024 Une messe imaginaire : Bruckner Frank Martin from Lyon Labels : cd review Une messe imaginaire Bruckner , Martin Spirito , nbsp Jeune choeur symphonique , Nicole Corti NoMadMusic Reviewed 7 October 2024 Magical moments as the French choir Spirito joins forces with its youth choir for a programme of Bruckner motes and Frank Martin's mass Spirito is a French chamber choir based in Lyon and directed by Nicole Corti Corti trained as an orchestral conductor under Sergiu Celibidache amongst others , but since working at Notre-Dame-de-Paris in 1993 her focus has been on choral music and sacred music . For this disc on NoMadMusic Une Messe

  • What lies beneath: a brilliant reinvention of Judith Weir's Blond Eckbert at the heart of ETO's exploration of German Romanticism

    Updated: 2024-10-07 07:53:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 7 October 2024 What lies beneath : a brilliant reinvention of Judith Weir's Blond Eckbert at the heart of ETO's exploration of German Romanticism Labels : ETO opera review Judith Weir : Blond Eckbert English Touring Opera Do not take my story for a fairytale Judith Weir : Blond Eckbert Abigail Kelly , Amy J Payne , Matthew McKinney , Mark Nathan , Aoife Miskelly , Flor McIntosh , William Morgan , Alex Otterburn , conductor : Gerry Cornelius , director : Robin Norton Hall English Touring Opera at Hackney Empire Reviewed 5 October 2024 A brilliant reinvention of Judith Weir's opera places a modern interpretation of German Romanticism at the centre of this

  • A glorious noise: from one to eight choirs in I Fagiolini's evening of music from 17th-century Venice and Rome

    Updated: 2024-10-07 07:27:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 7 October 2024 A glorious noise : from one to eight choirs in I Fagiolini's evening of music from 17th-century Venice and Rome Labels : concert review I Fagiolini during recording sessions for the Benevoli project From Venice to Rome with Love Benevoli : Missa , Benevola Monteverdi motets , Carissimi : Jephte I Fagiolini , the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields , The Lyons Mouth , Robert Hollingworth Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields Reviewed 4 October 2024 An evening of glorious musico-spatial magic as I Fagiolini revive a rare 17th-century mass for four choirs written for St Peter's Basilica in Rome In July 2000, I sang in a performance of

  • Walking with Dinosaurs: composer Ben Bartlett reflects on the 25th anniversary

    Updated: 2024-10-06 23:21:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Monday 7 October 2024 Walking with Dinosaurs : composer Ben Bartlett reflects on the 25th anniversary Labels : music news Walking with Dinosaurs Diplodocus-and-Stegosaurus SOURCE BBC More than two decades since the first episode of the iconic series , the award-winning soundtrack of Walking With Dinosaurs has been released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show on 3 October . nbsp First aired on the BBC in 1999 and narrated by Kenneth Branagh , Walking With Dinosaurs became the most-watched factual science programme on British TV of the 20th century , with 15 million people tuning in to watch the first episode , and it is undoubtedly one of the BBC’s

  • Innate theatricality: composer Adrian Sutton definitively moves out of the theatre with a challenging yet engaging concerto for violinist Fenella Humphreys

    Updated: 2024-10-04 07:28:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Friday 4 October 2024 Innate theatricality : composer Adrian Sutton definitively moves out of the theatre with a challenging yet engaging concerto for violinist Fenella Humphreys Labels : cd review Adrian Sutton : Violin Concerto , Short Story , A Fist Full of Fives , Five Theatre Miniatures , War Horse Suite Fenella Humphreys , BBC Philharmonic Orchestra , Michael Seal Chandos Reviewed 2 October 2024 Best known for his music for the stage , Adrian Sutton turns to pure music with an imaginative response to the image of seagulls flying alongside a repurposing of theatrical cues to create an engaging satisfying and thoughtful disc Composer Adrian Sutton is

  • Masters of Wit

    Updated: 2024-10-03 06:41:00
    : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Thursday 3 October 2024 Masters of Wit Labels : preview Composer and pianist Louis Mander , fresh from the premiere of his opera The Waves inspired by Virginia Woolf's novel at the Oslo Opera Festival is joining forces with narrator Zeb Soanes and tenor Will Diggle for an evening celebrating music and wit in the parlour . nbsp Masters of Wit at St Peter's Church , Belsize Park on 11 October 2024 will feature songs by Arthur Sullivan , Cole Porter and Noel Coward , along with other gems , plus wit and wisdom from Noel Coward , Oscar Wilde and a host of others including aphorisms , diary entries and . anecdotes Zeb Soanes is perhaps best known for reading The

  • Here be monsters: Music in the Round presents Jonathan Dove's The Monster in the Maze

    Updated: 2024-10-02 14:45:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 2 October 2024 Here be monsters : Music in the Round presents Jonathan Dove's The Monster in the Maze Labels : preview sheffield Jonathan Dove's The Monster in the Maze was commissioned and first performed in 2015 by the Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle . A modern re-telling of the myth of the Minotaur there is no Ariadne in this version for actor , soloists , adult , youth and children's choruses and orchestra , the work was due to get its second outing at the Grange Festival in 2020 with the Grange Festival Community Chorus , however this performance was . cancelled The Monster in the Maze will now be receiving

  • A focus on the flute: London Handel Players in a group of cantatas Bach wrote in 1724 with virtuoso flute parts

    Updated: 2024-10-02 10:32:00
    : : Pages Robert's Link Tree About Us Contact Us Twitter : RobertHugill Live reviews archive CD reviews archive Interviews archive Wednesday 2 October 2024 A focus on the flute : London Handel Players in a group of cantatas Bach wrote in 1724 with virtuoso flute parts Labels : concert review Wigmore Hall Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin Principal flautist in the Hofkappelle in Dresden Bach : Cantatas BWV94, BWV114, BWV8 Buffardin : Flute Concerto in E minor Hilary Cronin , Clint van der Linde , Charles Daniels , Edward Grint , Rachel Brown , London Handel Players , Adrian Butterfield Wigmore Hall Reviewed 1 October 2024 Focusing on a group of cantatas Bach wrote with virtuoso flute parts , London Handel Players craft an esoteric but fascinating programme When Bach arrived in Leipzig in 1723 he

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