Terrific sense of achievement: Bach's St Matthew Passion from Scherzo Ensemble, The Strand Consort, Mozaique Baroque Ensemble and a team of young soloists
Updated: 2021-10-28 16:31:00
: : , , Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Friday , 29 October 2021 Terrific sense of achievement : Bach's St Matthew Passion from Scherzo Ensemble , The Strand Consort , Mozaique Baroque Ensemble and a team of young soloists Labels : concert review Bach St Matthew Passion Ruairi Bowen , Michael Ronan , Lauren Lodge-Campbell , Maria Hegele , Richard Robbins , Jack Comerford , The Strand Consort , Mozaique Baroque Ensemble , Matthew O'Keeffe Scherzo Ensemble at St Michael's Church , Stockwell Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 27 October 2021 Young professionals from London and Salzburg coming together for a series of self-organised performances of Bach's great passion I catch the public dress rehearsal and am drawn .
: : Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Thursday , 28 October 2021 Vital Signs for the Planet : combining music with new dramatic footage from NASA and National Geographic to demonstrate the impact of climate change in the last 20 years Labels : preview Scotland Vital Signs for the Planet is being presented on 2 November 2021 at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall as part of Global Climate Uprising Festival at COP26 in . Glasgow The event is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies . nbsp Vital Signs for the Planet will involve a 100-strong symphony orchestra of young musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and its Junior Conservatoire , conducted by Emil de Cou , in a 90-minute live spectacular blend of sound
: , : , Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Wednesday , 27 October 2021 Part oratorio , part rave : Conor Mitchell's MASS headlines Belfast's Outburst Queer Art Festival and involves the Ulster Orchestra , four soloists and six queer film makers Labels : Northern Ireland preview Image from MASS by Madonna . Adib The Northern Irish composer and theatre maker Conor Mitchell popped up on this blog earlier this year when his piece , The Musician : A Horror Opera for Children was presented at the Belfast Children's Festival by the Belfast Ensemble , of which Mitchell is artistic director . The Musician was a terrific piece , which I caught on-line see my article now Mitchell is returning to the stage collaboration
: : Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Wednesday , 27 October 2021 A sense of exploration and discovery : Jommelli's Il Vologeso in a live recording from Ian Page and the Mozartists Labels : cd review Jommelli Il Vologeso Stuart Jackson , Rachel Kelly , Gemma Summerfield , Angela Simkin , The Mozartists , Ian Page Signum Classics Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 27 October 2021 Star rating : 4.0 A live recording of The Mozartists performance from 2016 reveals an exciting exploration of an opera notable for its sense of drama and innovation When Ian Page and Classical Opera performed Niccolo Jommelli's 1766 opera Il Vologeso at Cadogan Hall in 2016, it was simply part of their Mozart 250 project , exploring
: : Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Wednesday , 27 October 2021 dream.risk.sing : Samantha Crawford and Lana Bode explore women's lives in song at Oxford Lieder Festival Labels : A Life On-Line concert review Oxford Oxford Lieder Festival dream.risk.sing Lana Bode , Samantha Crawford Oxford Lieder Festival dream.risk.sing Dvorak , Judith Weir , Charlotte , Bray , Carson Cooman , Ricky Ian Gordon , Helen Grime , Florence Price , Michele Brourman Samantha Crawford , Lana Bode Oxford Lieder Festival on-line Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 26 October 2021 Two young performers in a personal project to explore women's lives in the concert hall , using song to look at topics as various as motherhood , discrimination
: Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Tuesday , 26 October 2021 Michael Stimpson's The Angry Garden released on Vinyl Labels : music news Composer Michael Stimpson's The Angry Garden was originally premiered in 2002 at at St John’s Smith Square in support of the World Wildlife Fund . A five-movement work for soli , choir and orchestra , written in collaboration with the poet Simon Rae , the work addresses the sense of environmental degradation that was already apparent then . This makes the work even more relevant than ever , and a new recording by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , the City of London Choir , and conductor Hilary Davan Wetton is being released on vinyl . today The Angry Garden has recently been
: : , Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Tuesday , 26 October 2021 A series of little gems : Reels , Drones Jigs from the ensemble Perpetuo Labels : cd review Reels , Drones Jigs Perpetuo Champs Hill Records Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 26 October 2021 Star rating : 4.0 A delightful and imaginative programme of shorter contemporary pieces , all with a folk-inspired element with Scots and Irish dance featuring strongly This latest disc from the ensemble Perpetuo on the Champs Hill label is intriguingly entitled Reels , Drones Jigs consists of 12 short(ish pieces based variously on traditional music , with a preponderance using Scots and Irish music , by an admirably wide range of composers , Ailie Robertson
: , , : , Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Tuesday , 26 October 2021 Competitions , scholarships , traineeships and ambassadors : opportunities and support for young musicians in York , Leeds and London Labels : music news Conductor Kay Solomon , who takes part in Opera North's first Female Conductor Traineeship A competition for Early Music ensembles in York aimed at young performers , a new choral scholarship programme in London for singers aged 18 to 25, a new Female Conductor Traineeship and two new ambassadors for a London-based education . charity The York Early Music International Artists Competition has announced that applications are open for the 2022 competition , which will take place on Saturday
: , : Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Monday , 25 October 2021 Mad , messy and marvellous : Richard Strauss' Die ägyptische Helena at Fulham Opera Labels : opera review Strauss : Die ägyptische Helena Brian Smith Walters , Justine Viani Fulham Opera Photo Matthew Coughlan Strauss : Die ägyptische Helena Justine Viani , Brian Smith Walters , Luci Briginshaw , Oliver Gibbs , dir : Guido Martin-Brandis , cond : John Paul C Jennings Fulham Opera at St John's Church , Fulham Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 24 October 2021 Star rating : 4.5 only the work's second UK staging , Fulham Opera take on Strauss and Hofmannsthal's impossible opera and make it work brilliantly Richard Strauss' Die ägyptische Helena remains
: , , Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Monday , 25 October 2021 Northern Ireland Opera's film , Old Friends and Other Days , to premiere at Belfast Film Festival Labels : Northern Ireland preview Director Cameron Menzies with the cast of Northern Ireland Opera's film , Old Friends and Other Days Northern Ireland Opera s film , Old Friends and Other Days has been selected for the Belfast Film Festival and it will premiere at the Strand Arts Centre in Belfast on 10 November . The film was created during lockdown last year , with Renewal and Stability funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland . nbsp Directed by Cameron Menzies , the company's artistic director , nbsp Old Friends and Other Days takes
: , : , . Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Saturday , 23 October 2021 Pandemic , politics pent-up ideas : I chat to composer Tim Corpus about his recent disc , and the challenge of balancing a varied career . Labels : interview Tim Corpus The American composer Tim Corpus recent disc , MMXX see my review as its name suggests , arises directly out of the events of 2020, both the pandemic and the politics . Tim lives in the Chicago area and trained at Chicago College of Performing Arts he has quite a varied career , combining that of performer , arts administrator , composer of both concert music and film music , and now music for video games too . The music on MMXX mixes live instruments with electronics , and
: Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Friday , 22 October 2021 London Handel Singing Competition 2021 Labels : Handel music news Finalists of the 2021 London Handel Singing Competition : Bethany Horak-Hallett , Kieran Rayner , Hilary Cronin , Felix Kemp Photo Chris Christodoulou The 2021 Handel Singing Competition came to a conclusion on Wednesday , with soprano Hilary Cronin winning the First Prize and Audience Price , and mezzo-soprano Bethany Horak-Hallett winning the second prize . The other two finalists were baritones Kieran Rayner and Felix . Kemp All four finalists performed a programme of Handel arias in front of a live audience at St George's Hannover Square , accompanied by the Lawrence Cummings and
: : : Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Friday , 22 October 2021 The sound possibilities of the piano have only one limit : our own imagination : Gustavo Díaz-Jerez's Metalaudios II on Ibs Classical Labels : spotlight I wrote about Spanish composer Gustavo Díaz-Jerez's orchestral cycle , Maghek inspired by the Canary Islands back in 2020 see my record review but Díaz-Jerez is also a pianist and he has returned to the studio as composer performer for Metaludios II two new books of pieces for piano he has already recorded the previous three books in which he explores new sound territories in the piano . Gustavo Díaz-Jerez comments that Since the composition of the first metaludios , back in 2013, I have learned
: , Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Thursday , 21 October 2021 Abel Selaocoe , Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Harry Baker in Dalston and Hackney for noisenights Labels : preview The Jago , Dalston Photo Larry J Photography This Summer , noisenights developed an intriguing way of creating classical concerts , using crowdfunding so that only concerts that are popular with audiences go ahead , and putting concerts on in non-traditional venues . This Winter their season continues with two further events , cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason will appear with pianist Harry Baker in Space 289, a converted railway arch in Bethnal Green , and cellist composer Abel Selaocoe will bring his blend of European and African musical
: , : Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Thursday , 21 October 2021 Sunbirds , demons and hairy giants : Huang Ruo's The Book of Mountains and Seas premieres at the Royal Danish Opera Labels : Denmark preview The Chinese-born American-resident composer Huang Ruo is an intriguing figure , mixing both Chinese traditional and Western classical music . Born in 1976, the year the Chinese Cultural Revolution ended , he was taught composition and piano by his father , also a composer , and his training at Shanghai Conservatory of Music involved both traditional Chinese and Western music . His education continued in the USA at Oberlin Conservatory and the Juilliard School . His opera Dr Sun Yat-Sen premiered at Opera
: , Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Thursday , 21 October 2021 Composer Richard Blackford introduces Vision of Garden' , his new work for the Bach Choir Labels : Guest Posting The Bach Choir Composer Richard Blackford s new choral work , Vision of a Garden is being premiered by the Bach Choir and Philharmonia Orchestra conductor David Hill , nbsp and baritone Gareth Brynmor John on 24 October 2021 at the Royal Festival Hall . The work arises directly out of events of last year and is based on Bach Choir member Peter Johnstone's ICU diaries , and it details Johnstone's experience of COVID-19. Here Richard Blackford introduces the background to the : work During the pandemic and that eighteen months when live
: : , , , , , Pages Home About Us Contact Us Record Reviews Interviews Twitter : RobertHugill Opera and Concert Reviews Facebook Wednesday , 20 October 2021 Highgate International Chamber Music Festival : Suk , Coleridge-Taylor , Messiaen , Kahn , Weinberg , Mendelssohn-Hensel and more The Highgate International Chamber Music Festival is returning for a weekend of live performances in St Anne's Church , Highgate West Hill , from 3 to 6 December 2021. Performers for the weekend include Alina Ibragimova , Julian Bliss , Isata Kanneh-Mason , Nicholas Daniel , Robert Cohen , Alec Frank-Gemmill , and Wu Qian plus festival directors Ashok Klouda , Natalie Klouda and Irina . Botan Works in the programme include Josef Suk's Elegie for piano trio in D flat major Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet in