Tales of Beyond – Magic, Myths and Mortals

The 18^th Oxford Lieder Festival (11 – 26 October 2019) inhabits a world of storytelling and fairy tales, from Norse legend to the Brothers Grimm, from the Grim Reaper to Greek myth. Concerts, talks and study days will explore life, death and the mysterious areas between and beyond, with other events including live magic, a film screening, a ghost trail and more.

World-leading singers appearing at the Festival include Louise Alder and Nikolay Borchev (26 Oct), Ilker Arcayürek (25 Oct), Benjamin Appl (20 Oct), Katherine Broderick and Marcus Farnsworth  (17 Oct), Stéphane Degout (12 Oct), Tara Erraught (13 Oct),  Maria Forsström (16 Oct), James Gilchrist (19 Oct), Ben Johnson (15 Oct), Sophie Karthaüser and Stephan Loges (22 Oct), Thomas Oliemans (15 Oct),  Christoph Prégardien (13 Oct), Dorothea Röschmann (25 Oct), Katharina Ruckgaber and Ashley Riches (14 Oct) , Carolyn Sampson (24 Oct) , Kitty Whately (18 Oct) and others, alongside pianists including Eugene Asti, Christopher Glynn, Matti Hirvonen, Hartmut Höll, Simon Lepper, Graham Johnson, Sholto Kynoch, Malcolm Martineau, Cédric Tibérghien, Anna Tilbrook and Roger Vignoles. Many of the most exciting young emerging artists also appear.

The opening-night concert will be given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with Camilla Tilling and Neal Davies (11 Oct) performing orchestral songs by Schubert and Grieg. Roderick Williams will be in residence for five days (from 19 Oct) to perform Schubert’s three song cycles in the sparkling English translations by Jeremy Sams. There will be two world premieres from newly-appointed Associate Composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad, including a cycle of songs for soprano and string quartet, Endless Forms Most Beautiful (18 Oct). Other works of hers will feature throughout the Festival, as well as new commissions from composers Martin Suckling (19 Oct) and Ross Griffey (21 Oct). Chamber music concerts include the Albion (21 Oct), Brodsky (20 Oct), Doric (15 Oct) and Gildas Quartets (18 Oct), the Phoenix Piano Trio (16 Oct) , and pianists, Imogen Cooper (19 Oct), Ivana Gavri? (13 Oct), Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva (24 & 25 Oct) and Martin Sturfält (14 Oct). Choral music features with the Carice Singers (15 Oct) and the Choir of Merton College (26 Oct).

General booking now open www.oxfordlieder.co.uk  / 01865 591276

Renowned chamber choir Bath Camerata has been invited to give concerts in seven Chinese cities over a 10-day visit this August.

The whistle-stop tour starts in Shanghai and then covers thousands of miles around China, taking in Chengdu, Nanning, Yinchuan, Dalian, Fuzhou and Baotou before returning to the UK from Beijing.

Bath Camerata has been invited to China by Chinese promoter Liang Classic Arts Management, who first made contact with the choir two years ago after being impressed by their recordings via the internet.   

Singer and Choir Manager Alastair Steel says:

“This tour is going to be unlike any of our previous tours. Just sorting out contracts (in English and Mandarin), getting the programme approved by the Chinese government, and finding flights on a tight budget have kept the promoter and me busy for some time.  Singing to thousands of people in huge venues and sampling the very different culture in so many parts of China will make it all worthwhile.”

Bath Camerata consists of 22 singers from Bath and the surrounding regions, and has been a regular musical presence in the South West for over 30 years.  Its members are enthusiastic and expert singers, all auditioned and trained to an exceptionally high standard by its musical director Benjamin Goodson.  Benjamin lives in Berlin and has recently been appointed Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir, but comes over to Bath for rehearsal and concerts.

Benjamin says:

“I’m excited to be taking a “Best-of-British” programme to China, from classic partsongs by Gerald Finzi to new music by Will Todd. We’ll also be singing favourite folk songs of the British Isles and jazz by John Rutter and George Shearing!”

25 year old singer Holly Adams says:

“Singing with Bath Camerata is a fantastic experience for young singers.  Since joining the choir three years ago, I’ve progressed not just in my vocal ability, but my musical awareness and professionalism, and I hope to continue working and improving with them.”

As well as going through their own preparations for the trip (including visas and jabs), the choir are preparing for their pre-tour concert at Holy Trinity Church, Bradford on Avon on Sunday 7 July at 4pm. Tickets are available from www.bathcamerata.co.uk or via Bath Box Office on 01225 463362.

EuroStrings – the European Guitar Festival Collaborative
is pleased to announce
TALLINN GUITAR FESTIVAL 2019
8–14 June 2019
The 14th Tallinn Guitar Festival 2019 in Estonia, will feature NINE EuroStrings Artists:
Misael Barraza-Díaz, Mexico
Gábor Hart, Hungary
Tomasz Radziszewski, Poland
Simone Rinaldo, Italy
Yuki Saito, Japan
Emmanuel Sowicz, United Kingdom/Chile
Julia Trintschuk, Germany
Radu Vâlcu, Romania

Concerts
Saturday 8 June 2019
Jesse Flowers, winner of the 2018 EuroStrings Competition and Tomasz Radziszewski
will play the Opening Concert at St. Nicolas Church, 19.00

Thursday 13 June 2019
Yuki Saito and Tomasz Radziszewski at Tartu St John’s Church, 19.00
Gábor Hart at Haapsalu Evald Okas Museum, 19.00
Simone Rinaldo and Radu Vâlcu at Rakvere Tark Maja, 19.00
Misael Barraza-Díaz at Jõhvi Concert Hall, 19.00
Emmanuel Sowicz and Julia Trintschuk at Keila Joa Schloss Fall, 19.00
As well as these solo recitals
EuroStrings Guitar Ensemble, conducted by Thomas Offermann will perform
with Aniello Desiderio
The Walls by Sérgio Assad
on Wednesday 12 June 2019 at House of the Blackheads, 19.00

EuroStrings Artists will have the opportunity to visit and give a concert
at the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa
– a music information centre where the composer also has his personal archive
EuroStrings Artists will give masterclasses during the Tallinn Guitar Festival

Garsington Opera’s 2018 production of Verdi’s Falstaff, directed by Bruno Ravella, has been nominated for the highly coveted forthcoming Sky Arts Awards in the Opera category.  This production, which was also captured and streamed to 9,000 people in over 20 countries via the digital platform OperaVision, stands beside Welsh National Opera and English National Opera for Rhondda Rips It Up! and Porgy and Bess respectively.

The South Bank Sky Arts Awards is now in its 23rd year and will take place on Sunday 7 July at the Savoy Hotel, aired on Wednesday 10 July at 8pm on Sky Arts, the UK’s only TV channel dedicated to arts, music and culture.  Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, the South Bank Sky Arts Awards is the only Awards ceremony in the world to celebrate every genre of the Arts, including Dance, Theatre, Pop, TV Drama, Film, Classical Music, Literature, Opera, Comedy and Visual Art.

Garsington Opera’s 30^th Anniversary Season is now well underway with four new productions – Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the first UK stage performance of Offenbach’s Fantasio and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.  The season culminates with three concert performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, celebrating the start of a partnership with The English Concert.

BRIGHTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL: METAMORPHOSIS – 25 OCTOBER–10 NOVEMBER 2019

The 2019 programme for Brighton Early Music Festival is all about change and changing times. With its theme of ‘Metamorphosis’, the Festival will present 27 events across Brighton & Hove this autumn, exploring transformation in many intriguing ways.

Deborah Roberts, Artistic Director, writes: “The idea of things undergoing transforming change has long fascinated the human race. Our 2019 Festival explores the 2,000-year-old stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as well as musical and social transformation over the centuries. We end the Festival with a re-creation of the medieval Feast of Fools, which reversed all the social hierarchy for a few days and allowed a ‘letting off of steam’ for people living under the control of a feudal system. Our own times are certainly troubled, with society at war with itself, the threat of runaway climate change, and a political system with which many are disillusioned. Our message is musical, and all about bringing people together positively. What better reminder that many of these themes have resonated throughout history?”

Headline events include the first public performance in modern times of Antoine Brumel’s complete Lamentations for Good Friday, recently discovered in a Florentine manuscript and performed by Musica Secreta; a day devoted to J S Bach – from his Musical Offering, through dynamic re-colouring on synthesizers in The Art of Moog, and ending with a ground bass meets jazz clubnight. The culmination of the Festival is an immersive performance of The Feast of Fools, combining medieval music, street dance, community performers and children from Brighton & Hove schools.

The Festival has long been at the forefront of developing and mentoring young artists, and over half of this year’s events feature current or former members of the Festival’s BREMF Live! young artist scheme. Bringing a new and often dramatic take on early music, alumnae of the scheme are making illustrious names for themselves on the early music scene. Standout shows of 2019 include Ceruleo’s Burying the Dead – a music theatre piece capturing London transformed by cataclysmic events, as seen through the eyes of Henry Purcell; and Fieri Consort’s play with music exploring the life of celebrated Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi, the 400^th anniversary of whose birth falls this year.

Community events include a Highland Dance workshop and Ceilidh; and a wide range of family concerts for toddlers and older children from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Really Classical.

Tickets on sale from early September at bremf.org.uk or 01273 709709.  See full concert listing at bremf.org.uk or call 01273 833746 to join the mailing list.

Garsington Opera is delighted to announce the 2020 season that will open on 28 May, featuring three new productions – Verdi’s Un giorno di regno, Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto, Dvorák’s Rusalka and a revival of John Cox’s legendary production of Beethoven’s Fidelio.

Verdi’s Un giorno di regno is directed by Christopher Alden making his Garsington debut and Tobias Ringborg returns to conduct.  Richard Burkhard performs Belfiore, Henry Waddington Barone di Kelbar.  Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto is conducted by Clemens Schuldt making his Garsington debut with Tim Albery returning to direct.  Robert Murray performs the title role. Dvorák’s Rusalka features Natalya Romaniw in the title role with Douglas Boyd conducting and Michael Boyd directing.   A revival of John Cox’s legendary production of Beethoven’s Fidelio with conductor Gérard  Korsten making his Garsington debut, features Toby Spence as Florestan and completes the season.  The Philharmonia Orchestra will play for the Verdi, Dvorák  and Beethoven and the English Concert for the Mozart.

Opening nights

28 May Un giorno di regno Verdi – Tobias Ringborg, Christopher Alden

29 May Mitridate, re di Ponto Mozart – Clemens Schuldt, Tim Albery

14 June Rusalka Dvorák – Douglas Boyd, Michael Boyd

25 June Fidelio Beethoven – Gérard Korsten, John Cox

On 19 September 2019 this season’s production of Don Giovanni with principals and chorus from Garsington Opera will be given a semi-staged concert performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris conducted by Douglas Boyd and directed by Deborah Cohen.

250 SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM ACROSS LONDON TAKE PART IN A YOUTH OPERA PROJECT AT THE CITY GUILDHALL IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LORD MAYOR’S APPEAL

Garsington Opera is working in partnership with The Lord Mayor’s Appeal on an opera project with 250 young people aged from 11 to 18 from six London schools. Led by a professional creative team from Garsington Opera and inspired by Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the students will devise their own words, compose songs, sing repertoire from the opera and design the set and costumes. This culminates in a performance fusing the genres of rap, YouTube and opera with the young people at the heart of the piece and will take place to an invited audience on the afternoon of Tuesday 16 July 2019 at the Old Library in the Guildhall, City of London.

This project is part of an extensive programme of educational and charitable activities taking place during the office of Alderman Peter Estlin as Lord Mayor of the City of London. It will precede a fundraising dinner A Night at the Opera, an abridged performance of Don Giovanni given by the Alvarez Young Artists of Garsington Opera, raising funds for The Lord Mayor’s Appeal that evening. Booking is now open to attend this memorable event at the Guildhall and to support the charities supported by The Lord Mayor’s Appeal.

Many of the students involved in the outreach project have little experience of music and drama, while others are studying them at school.  Some art and design students will be involved backstage, in design, exhibition and stage management.

The professional roles will be performed by Robert Gildon (baritone), Samantha Crawford (soprano), and MC Angel, (rapper & poet).  They will be joined by an ensemble of 3 players from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in an arrangement written and conducted by Omar Shahryar (music director) with Karen Gillingham (director), Jamie Wright (vocal animateur – part of the Spitalfields Music Creative Leadership Programme supported by Help Musicians UK’s National Grants Programme) and Bernadette Roberts (designer).

The project will be documented in a short film created by the charity Positive Action through Creativity.

The schools taking part are: City of London Academy – Highbury Grove, Drapers’ Academy, Hammersmith Academy, Prendergast School, Prendergast Ladywell School, Westminster City School.

Tales of Beyond – Magic, Myths and Mortals

The 18^th Oxford Lieder Festival (11 – 26 October 2019) inhabits a world of storytelling and fairy tales, from Norse legend to the Brothers Grimm, from the Grim Reaper to Greek myth. Concerts, talks and study days will explore life, death and the mysterious areas between and beyond, with other events including live magic, a film screening, a ghost trail and more.

World-leading singers appearing at the Festival include Louise Alder, Ilker Arcayürek, Benjamin Appl, Nikolay Borchev, Katherine Broderick, Stéphane Degout, Tara Erraught, Marcus Farnsworth, Maria Forsström, James Gilchrist, Ben Johnson, Sophie Karthaüser, Stephan Loges, Christoph Prégardien, Dorothea Röschmann, Katharina Ruckgaber, Ashley Riches, Carolyn Sampson, Thomas Oliemans, Kitty Whately and others, alongside pianists including Eugene Asti, Graham Johnson, Christopher Glynn, Matti Hirvonen, Hartmut Höll, Simon Lepper, Malcolm Martineau, Cédric Tibérghien and Roger Vignoles. Many of the most exciting emerging artists also appear.

The opening-night concert will be given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with Camilla Tilling and Neal Davies performing orchestral songs by Schubert and Grieg. Roderick  Williams will be in residence for five days to perform Schubert’s three song cycles in the sparkling English translations by Jeremy Sams. There will be two world premieres from newly-appointed Associate Composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad, whose works will also feature throughout the Festival, as well as new commissions from composers Martin Suckling and Ross Griffey. Chamber music concerts include the Albion, Brodsky, Doric and Gildas Quartets, the Phoenix Piano Trio, and pianists Katya Apekisheva, Imogen Cooper, Ivana Gavri?, Charles Owen and Martin Sturfält. Choral music features with the Carice Singers and the Choir of Merton College.