Category Archives: News
English National Opera to reprise its 5* production of Paul Bunyan at the historic Alexandra Palace Theatre
Following its sell-out success at Wilton’s Music Hall in September 2018, English National Opera’s acclaimed production of Benjamin Britten’s lesser-known work Paul Bunyan will be revived in May at the equally historically remarkable venue of Alexandra Palace Theatre.
The new venue follows the ‘inspired choice’ (Bachtrack) of Wilton’s with another painstakingly restored Victorian music hall. ‘London’s oldest new theatre’ was reopened in December 2018, the interior retaining the charm of the original 1875 hall but with the facilities to put on the most sophisticated new productions. The £23m restoration’s opening was widely praised, with the BBC declaring it ‘like walking into a novel’.
Paul Bunyan, an ENO Studio Live production, is a parable on the American Dream from Benjamin Britten and WH Auden, telling the story of the eponymous giant as he builds a lumber farm with a sprawling cast of accomplices. Seldom performed, its first ENO staging in 2018 was called ‘an exhilarating experience’ (5* The Mail on Sunday) ‘thrilling’ (The Guardian) and ‘a joyful spectacle’ (The Daily Telegraph).
Jamie Manton returns to direct along with many of the original cast. ENO Harewood Artists Elgan Ll?r Thomas (‘particularly lovely singing’ – The Daily Telegraph) and Rowan Pierce (‘captivating’ – The Daily Express) reprise their roles as Johnny Inkslinger and Tiny respectively.
Zwakele Tshabalala takes the role of Hot Biscuit Slim in his second ENO performance after forming part of the Porgy and Bess ensemble in 2018. ENO Harewoood Artist Alex Otterburn also makes his second ENO appearance after singing Squibby in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel. Former ENO Harewood Artist Barnaby Rea, last seen as Iolanthe’s Private Willis in 2018, takes the role of Ben Benny the cook.
The ENO Chorus (‘triple threats to a man’ – The Spectator) return to the secondary roles they filled with ‘boundless skill and personality’ (The Stage)the first time round. Simon Russell Beale reprises his pre-recorded performance as Paul.
ENO Chorus Master James Henshaw conducts his second ENO production, having made his conducting debut in 2017 with another Studio Live production, The Day After.
Performances will take place on the 9, 10, 11 (matinee and evening performance),
13 May.
Tickets will go on sale on the 8 (priority booking) and 11 February (public booking) (eno.org, 020 7845 9300)
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
In the first half of our second concert of 2019 we visit two amazing talents of the late Romantic era – two German composers who changed the face not only of Romanticism, but the sound and energy of the orchestra. Two Richards, Wagner and Strauss, who were two of the most influential composers of the century. We welcome back Stephen Bell to conduct this unashamedly Romantic programme.
When you listen to Wagner, and especially the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, you are drawn into an amazing orchestral world of colour, sound and brilliance. Wagner was born in 1813 – he was 14 when Beethoven died – and to put this into context Brahms was born in 1833 and died in 1897. Wagner himself died in 1883. So Germany had within its midst two colossal composers working in parallel universes – in an amazing few years of composition Wagner had written a collection of ground breaking operas including the Ring cycle – an amazing feat considering he wrote the librettos as well! The Prelude and Liebestod was written and performed a few years before Wagner completed the opera in 1865.
The Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss are probably the most poignant and heartfelt songs for soprano and orchestra ever written, and culminate an incredible journey of composition by Strauss – he knew as he wrote these songs that they would be the last pieces he would compose. There are four songs in the cycle: Frühling (Spring), September, Beim Schlafengehen (When Falling Asleep) and Im Abendrot (At Sunset). The poem At Sunset was written by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff; the other poems were written by Hermann Hesse. The songs’ first performance was given at the Royal Albert Hall in 1850, two years after the composer’s death aged 85. The songs other than Spring dwell on death and the eventual journey and are full of soaring melodies for soprano and orchestra. All the songs create a sense of immense calm and acceptance, and Strauss, the master orchestrator, creates this with poignant melody and orchestral solos in this masterclass of orchestration. We are delighted to welcome the soprano Camilla Roberts who will join Stephen Bell and the orchestra in these beautiful songs.
For the second half of this concert we travel to Russia and meet a highly talented composer hugely influenced by the folk songs of his native Russia. Reinhold Glière, although not a household name now, was an extraordinarily gifted composition student at the Moscow Conservatoire at the dawn of the 20th century. Glière composed this brilliantly crafted symphony, full of vibrant tunes and stunning harmony, at the age 25 and it was hugely popular in its day. A loyal Russian, he kept out of the politics of the time and was an enormously influential teacher of composition – the young Prokofiev being one of his pupils. Written in four movements it is unashamedly Romantic in its construction, and Glière keeps very close to the classical symphonic form.
This concert will be dedicated to the memory of one of the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra’s most popular violinists Melanie Hornsby, who sadly lost her fight with cancer in the summer of last year – we would also like to say a huge thank you to the Macmillan Nurses who cared so brilliantly for her at the end of her life.
Hastings Philharmonic
Garsington Opera 2019
30th ANNIVERSARY SEASON: FOUR NEW PRODUCTIONS
INCLUDING AN OFFENBACH PREMIERE
Garsington Opera’s 30th anniversary season will feature four new productions – the UK stage premiere of Offenbach’s Fantasio, Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and finally Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. The season culminates with concert performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, celebrating the start of a partnership with The English Concert. The season runs from 29 May to 26 July.
Garsington Opera remains committed to engaging great singers from around the world as well as showcasing the best talent from the UK. They are joined by the Garsington Opera Chorus and Orchestra, and for the performances of The Bartered Bride, the Philharmonia Orchestra.
The UK stage premiere of Offenbach’s little-known opera Fantasio celebrates his bicentenary year. A beguiling tale of love and mistaken identity, it will feature Hanna Hipp, who sang Clairon in Capriccio last season, in the role of the Jester, a melancholy, moon-struck dreamer yearning after Princess Elsbeth, performed by Jennifer France, winner of the Critics Circle Emerging Talent Award 2018, the Leonard Ingrams Foundation Award 2014 and praised for her appearance as Susanna in John Cox’s legendary Le nozze di Figaro. They are joined by Huw Montague Rendall (Prince of Mantua), Timothy Robinson (Marinoni), Brian Bannatyne-Scott (King of Bavaria) and Bianca Andrew (Flamel). Three singers, formerly on the Alvarez Young Artists’ Programme, Benjamin Lewis (Sparck), Joseph Padfield (Hartmann) and Joel Williams (Facio) complete the cast. This fantastical story is performed in a lively new English translation by Jeremy Sams. The creative team of director Martin Duncan and designer Francis O’Connor return after many admired productions at Garsington Opera, and are joined by lighting designer Howard Hudson and choreographer Ewan Jones. Making his Garsington Opera debut, Justin Doyle, Artistic Director of RIAS Kammerchor, Berlin, will conduct.
The Bartered Bride, a celebration of Czech culture and identity, will be reimagined into the heart of the English countryside, and will open the season. Natalya Romaniw, last seen at Garsington as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, sings the heroine Ma?enka who uses all her charm and cunning to marry the man she loves – Jeník, sung by American tenor Brenden Gunnell. The cast includes Joshua Bloom (Kecal) last seen as Figaro (2017), Stuart Jackson (Vašek), Peter Savidge (Krušina), Heather Shipp (Ludmila), Brian Bannatyne-Scott (Mícha), Anne-Marie Owens (Háta), and Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts (Circus Master). Lara Marie Müller, a former Alvarez Young Artist, sings Esmeralda. Dance is at the heart of this sparkling work from the vibrant overture to the riotous and festive polka; Jac van Steen, who returns after his success with Pelléas et Mélisande (2017), will conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra. The creative team of Paul Curran (director) and Kevin Knight (designer), whose production of Death in Venice (2015) was much acclaimed, returns with Howard Hudson (lighting designer) and Darren Royston (movement director).
Mozart’s enduring masterpiece Don Giovanni will feature several role debuts including Jonathan McGovern in the title role, David Ireland (Leporello), formerly an Alvarez Young Artist, Australian soprano Sky Ingram (Donna Elvira) and Welsh tenor Trystan Ll?r Griffiths (Don Ottavio). The cast also includes two UK debuts – Brazilian soprano Camila Titinger (Donna Anna) and Canadian soprano Mireille Asselin (Zerlina). Paul Whelan (Commendatore) and former Alvarez Young Artist Thomas Faulkner (Masetto) complete the cast. Garsington Opera’s Artistic Director Douglas Boyd conducts and former Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Michael Boyd (director) returns to direct together with Tom Piper (designer), after their success with Pelléas et Mélisande (2017) and Eugene Onegin (2016) with Malcolm Rippeth (lighting designer).
The Turn of the Screw with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, based on the novella by Henry James, is considered to be one of Britten’s finest stage works. The gripping story of a young governess, performed by Sophie Bevan, sent to a remote country house to care for two children, also features the tenor Ed Lyon (Prologue/Quint), making his role debut. Also in the cast are Kathleen Wilkinson (Mrs Grose) and Katherine Broderick (Miss Jessel). Emerging American director Louisa Muller makes her UK debut together with two-time Olivier and Tony Award-winner Christopher Oram (designer) and Malcolm Rippeth (lighting designer). Richard Farnes, conductor of last year’s admired Falstaff, will conduct.
Celebrating the start of a new partnership, the renowned Baroque and Classical chamber orchestra The English Concert makes its Garsington debut playing on period instruments in three concert performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. They will be joined by soloists Mary Bevan, Sophie Bevan, Benjamin Hulett, Robert Murray and James Way. Laurence Cummings returns to conduct with the Garsington Opera Chorus.
Marking the end of the 30th anniversary season, on the three concert days there will be an afternoon cricket match, tours of the Walled Garden and Green Theatre Recitals showcasing the Alvarez Young Artists, as well as the opportunity to visit the Getty Library.
OPERAFIRST AND FANTASIO
As part of an extensive Learning & Participation Programme, there will be a full performance of Fantasio by the Alvarez Young Artists for local school pupils and adults, all of whom take part in preparatory workshops to introduce them to opera and deepen their enjoyment of the performance.
WIDENING ACCESS TO GARSINGTON OPERA
Garsington Opera is passionate about widening access to a young audience and has a much sought-after GO?35 membership scheme which offers subsidised tickets, priority booking, free train transfers, pre-performance parties and half price programmes.
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
This first Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra concert of 2019 is, in football manager’s parlance, a concert of two halves, a clean classical early symphony to open the concert demanding a high standard of orchestral virtuosity, a cello concerto that demands huge technique from its soloist, and a second half that transports our audience to the delights of Victorian Scotland.
We are delighted to welcome back for this concert the renowned cellist and conductor Thomas Carroll and he is looking forward to conducting three works that define three brilliant composers in differing stages of their composing life.
To open our concert we have Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony written by a very talented and young composer writing very much in the 20th century, but here he composes a short four movement symphony written in the style of Haydn, full of tunes, clean harmonies and exciting orchestral writing. It was very well received on its first performance in 1918, so much so that the Russian Commissar of Education agreed to allow Prokofiev a passport to travel abroad.
Thomas will then perform and direct Schumann’s Cello Concerto, written in the mid 1850’s by a very busy composer in the middle of an intense and creative period of composition. This is a brilliant virtuosic concerto for the cello, written by a composer more known for his piano, orchestral and vocal writing, but here creating a brilliant and tuneful concerto for an instrument he had a huge affinity to. It has three movements, with the most stunning slow movement, full of yearning and haunting recollection; it is like a song for the cello with hints of German folk music. Sadly not performed in Schumann’s life, it has become one of the most popular of cello concertos.
After the interval we perform Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.3 ‘The Scottish’ written by a hugely popular and very talented young composer whilst on a European tour. Mendelssohn was inspired to write this symphony after visiting one of the most beautiful areas in Scotland – Holyrood House and its ruined chapel near Edinburgh. It took him ten years to complete as he found it hard to “return to my misty Scottish mood”. He dedicated the work to Queen Victoria and it was first performed in London in June 1843.
Tickets £12.50-£39.50 (50% student/under 18 discount, children just £1 with Family Ticket) from Brighton Dome Ticket Office, (01273 709709), www.brightondome.org
Discounted parking (just £6) available at NCP Church Street Car Park between 1-6pm.
ENO: Akhnaten
|
Akhnaten Philip Glass Philip Glass, in association with Shalom Goldman, Robert Israel, Richard Riddell and Jerome Robbins Conductor, Karen Kamensek Director, Phelim McDermott Phelim McDermott’s Olivier Award-winning production of Akhnaten returns to ENO Opens Monday 11 February at 7.30pm (7 performances)
Following its sell-out run in 2016, Phelim McDermott’s sensational production of Akhnaten returns to the London Coliseum for its first revival in February 2019. Winning the 2017 Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production and hailed as ‘unforgettable magnificence’ (The Independent), the visual spectacle provided by Improbable Theatre Company and Gandini Juggling Company will accompany the mesmeric music of Philip Glass once more. The same creative team returns with many of the original cast reprising their roles in one of opera’s most arresting achievements of recent years. The story of the revolution of the first monotheist pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Akhnaten uses texts drawn from drawn from ancient hymns, prayers, letters and inscriptions sung in their original Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian. It forms the last of Philip Glass’s trilogy of ‘portrait’ operas in which he explores the lives of great historical figures in the fields of science (Einstein), politics (Gandhi) and religion (Akhnaten). Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, the man who ‘exists to transform opera’ (The New York Times), once again takes on the title role of the doomed pharaoh. Hailed as ‘extraordinary’ both for his singing and acting (WhatsOnStage) in the original London run, Costanzo also performed the role in Los Angeles in the production’s LA Opera run later in 2016. Glass, a composer with whom ENO has enjoyed a special relationship since it presented the UK premieres of both this opera and The Perfect American, is a great favourite of ENO audiences. Satyagraha, from the same director and creative team, was revived to rave reviews in February 2018, also conducted by Karen Kamensek. ENO Harewood Artist Katie Stevenson takes the role of Akhnaten’s wife Nefertiti. She made her debut at ENO in 2017 as a Shadow Marnie in Marnie, with this production marking her first lead role with the company. Akhnaten’s mother Queen Tye is sung by Rebecca Bottone, who reprises her 2016 role for which there was ‘no praise too high’ (The Independent). Baritone James Cleverton returns to the role of Horemhab. He first performed with ENO in 2009 singing the role of Oppenheimer in Penny Woolcock’s production of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic, and will return later in 2019 to sing The Photographer in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel. Bass-baritone Keel Watson takes the role of Aye, advisor to the Pharaoh, and Colin Judson reprises his role as the High Priest of Amon. They were last seen at the Coliseum singing Bartolo and Basilio respectively in Fiona Shaw’s The Marriage of Figaro in 2018 (‘magisterial’ – Bachtrack). Zachary James reprises his role as the Scribe. The six Daughters of Akhnaten are sung by Charlotte Shaw, Hazel McBain, Rosie Lomas, Elizabeth Lynch, Martha Jones and Angharad Lyddon. Karen Kamensek returns to conduct in her third Coliseum appearance following a ‘transcendent’ (The Stage) Satyagraha in 2018 and the original 2016 run ofAkhnaten. An expert in the work of Philip Glass, she premiered his work Orphée with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra in New York. She has also conducted the world premiere of Glass’s Les Enfants Terribles at the Spoleto Festival in the USA. Director Phelim McDermott’s work with ENO includes Satyagraha, The Perfect American, Aida and Così fan tutte. He has won various awards, including an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, TMA Awards for Best Touring Production and Best Director and a Critics Circle Best Designer Award. He is the founder-director of Improbable. Joining the singers onstage are the Gandini Juggling Company, led by world renowned juggler Sean Gandini, who created so memorable an impression in the 2016 run. The creative team from Improbable is completed by Set Designer Tom Pye, Costume Designer Kevin Pollard and Lighting Designer Bruno Poet, who have worked with McDermott on ENO shows including Satyagraha, Aida and Così fan tutte. Akhnaten opens Monday 11 February at 7.30pm for 7 performances: 11, 15, 21, 23, 28 February and 7 March at 7.30pm and 2 March at 6.30pm 500 tickets for £20 or less are available for each performance. Tickets start from £12*. |
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
Artistic Administrator Ian Brignall introduces the second half of the Brighton Phil’s season of Sunday afternoon concerts at Brighton Dome:
“If the first half of this Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2018/19 season captivated your musical senses, the next four concerts have got amazing musical surprises and some magnificent music written by some highly gifted composers.
On Sunday 20th January we welcome back as cellist/director the brilliant Thomas Carroll. A former pupil of the Menuhin School, Thomas has forged a career as a highly saught-after solo cellist all over the world. For the last few years Thomas has been conducting to great acclaim, and we welcome him back for a concert of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, Schumann’s Cello Concerto and Mendelssohn’s ever-popular Symphony No.3, ‘the Scottish’. Prokofiev wrote the Classical Symphony copying the style of Haydn whilst still studying, and decided to test his own composition ability by writing it away from the piano. Schumann wrote his Cello Concerto towards the end of his life and though he never heard it performed, it is a hugely virtuosic work that makes huge demands on the cellist. Mendelssohn was, even early on in his career, a hugely talented and very popular composer – this symphony, his third, doesn’t disappoint; full of orchestral colour it depicts the Scottish highlands perfectly.
For our second concert of 2019 we welcome back one of our most popular guest conductors, Stephen Bell, on Sunday 10th February. For this concert we head firmly into the realm of the late Romantic composers with Wagner’s atmospheric and hugely moving Prelude and Liebestod from his opera Tristan and Isolde. We welcome the Welsh soprano Camilla Roberts to sing Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, four of the most beautiful and heartfelt songs ever written for voice and orchestra. To conclude this concert we change our emotional scene and head to the stunning writing of a very young Russian composer, Reinhold Glière. This first symphony was composed whilst he was still at music college, and shows a young composer with a terrific gift for melody and a mastery of orchestral writing.
Barry Wordsworth, our Conductor Laureate, returns to conduct our last two concerts in March and we have two totally different programmes to whet the listener’s appetite.
On Sunday 3rd March we take the theme of travel, holidays and the summer. The Hebrides Overture needs no introduction; the sound of the sea and wind is masterfully captured by the young Mendelssohn. The slightly calmer waters of Le Lac Enchanté are painted beautifully by the Russian composer Anatoly Lyadov, before a boisterous and tuneful mid-summer party in Sweden for full orchestra by the great Swedish orchestrator Hugo Alfvén. To get to our destinations we find ourselves on the locomotive Pacific 231 by the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger. In our travels we visit the capital of London in a suite by the British composer Eric Coates, then rest quietly by the Banks of Green Willow by George Butterworth. A favourite holiday destination is Italy and our musical travelogue concludes with Tchaikovsky’s fabulous Capriccio Italien on the bustling streets of Rome.
The final concert of our season on Sunday 17th March is gloriously romantic and before one of the most Romantic of all piano concertos (Rachmnaninov’s 3rd) played by the Scottish pianist Steven Osborne, we have a Joyeuse Marche and after the interval Hector Berlioz’s epic struggle with life and love – Symphonie Fantastique.
Four very different but inspiring concerts of brilliant music for a Sunday afternoon.”
Tickets for all concerts are £12.50-£39.50 (50% student/U18 discount/children just £1) from Brighton Dome Ticket Office, (01273) 709709, www.brightondome.org
Discounted parking (just £6) available at NCP Church Street Car Park between 1-6pm.
Samba @ Hastings Philharmonic
The inaugural BBC Proms Japan
The inaugural BBC Proms Japan announced
30 October – 4 November
· The first ever BBC Proms Japan with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor, Thomas Dausgaard
· BBC Proms Japan marks the first time that the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra has toured Japan
· Venues include Bunkamura Orchard Hall (Tokyo) and The Symphony Hall (Osaka)
The BBC Proms today announces that it will travel to Japan in 2019, as BBC Proms International continues to evolve following successful tours of Australia in 2016 and Dubai in 2017.
The BBC Orchestras and Choirs are the backbone of the BBC Proms each year and, as part of this remit, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra will take the spirit of the festival to audiences in Japan, marking the orchestra’s first ever trip to the region. Taking place from 30 October to 4 November in Tokyo and Osaka, the six-day festival will see Chief Conductor Thomas Dausgaard lead the BBC SSO in daily concerts covering a wide range of repertoire.
The festival will give local audiences the opportunity to experience the world-famous BBC Proms for themselves, with a rich programme including core classical repertoire, British music and new music, all accompanied by a full and varied schedule of learning activity in the region. It will feature many recognisable features of the BBC Proms, including the iconic First and Last Nights, featuring well-loved musical favourites and traditions. Full details of the programme will be announced in early 2019.