Maidstone Symphony Orchestra – CHANGE OF PROGRAMME

Clarinetist, Mark Simpson is unfortunately not now available as soloist on 1 February. He was due to play the Copland Clarinet concerto.

By great good fortune, international soloist Emma Johnson is available on that date and has worked with Brian Wright before on a number of occasions. She will be playing Gerald Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto in place of the Copland – a work she knows and loves well. Written in 1949, the clarinet concerto is possibly his most famous instrumental work, with its infectious lyricism and charm coupled with a strong emotional core. She has recorded the work, together with the Stanford Clarinet Concerto, with the RPO under Sir Charles Groves.

For bookings for individual concerts please telephone MSO Ticket Secretary Alan Veal on 01622 735 830 or for bookings by credit card contact the box office at Maidstone Leisure Centre on 0845 155 2277.

ENO Screen begins with ENO’s award-winning Peter Grimes on 23 February 2014 and Terry Gilliam’s new production of Benvenuto Cellini in June 2014

English National Opera (ENO) and AltiveMedia have today (Thursday 12 December) launched ENO Screen – a partnership to broadcast ENO’s unique theatrical productions to 300 cinemas across the UK and Ireland and selected cinemas worldwide, extending the opportunity to see the most innovative contemporary opera in the world to audiences around the world.

ENO Screen will begin with live screenings of David Alden’s award-winning production of Britten’s Peter Grimes, starring Stuart Skelton as the ostracised fisherman, on 23 February 2014 and the new production of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, based on the colourful life of the 16^thcentury Italian goldsmith and sculptor, directed by Monty Python legend Terry Gilliam in June. From autumn 2014, live screenings will extend to five or six productions a season.

Speaking of the new venture, ENO Artistic Director John Berry said: “ENO’s entry into cinemas will be as distinctive as our live work in the theatre, creating a truly cinematic experience. Our productions are already seen worldwide in more than 30 cities and I believe that the cinema broadcasts will enable many more people to enjoy the excitement and passion of ENO’s work and will encourage those visiting London to come to the theatre and see an ENO opera first hand.

“We have thought hard about whether to expand our activities into cinema and I believe in AltiveMedia we have now found the right partner to capture and promote ENO’s unique artistic personality in an exciting and dynamic way.

“Peter Grimes is a definitive work in ENO’s history and has proven to be one of our trail-blazing productions of recent years. It’s a wonderful way to launch this new initiative so close to Benjamin Britten’s centenary year.”

Craig Shurn, Managing Director of AltiveMedia, said: “We have a first class technical and creative team who will ensure this will be an amazing spectacle that shows off ENO at its very best.

“We felt that the opera offering in cinemas was incomplete without ENO’s unique take, so we’re delighted to be working with ENO to bring the most innovative, stunning productions of their type to the big screen. We’ll be reaching out to those who already love opera and to people who have never tried it before, helping to build on the growing demand for this kind of quality entertainment.”

ENO Screen broadcasts will be produced by Serpent Productions, led by MTV award-winning director and Grammy award nominee Andy Morahan and Producer Dione Orrom.

For further information and booking details go to www.eno.org/enoscreen

BRINGING SCHUBERT’S VIENNA TO OXFORD

10 October – 1 November 2014

In 2014 Oxford Lieder presents the UK’s first complete performance of Schubert songs in a unique festival featuring a stellar array of the world’s great singers. During his short life – just 31 years – Schubert created a remarkable body of work in his 650 songs and these will form the heart of the Schubert Project. Around this, the city of Oxford will be buzzing with other music and events that will further illuminate the songs and bring to life the world that Schubert himself inhabited.

Singers performing will include Sir Thomas Allen, Ian Bostridge, Sarah Connolly, William Dazeley, James Gilchrist, Robert Holl, Wolfgang Holzmair, Sophie Karthäuser, Angelika Kirchschlager, Stephan Loges, Christopher Maltman, Christoph Prégardien, Birgid Steinberger, Roderick Williams and many more in over 50 recitals. They will be joined by the world’s leading pianists, including Thomas Adés, Eugene Asti, Imogen Cooper, Julius Drake, Graham Johnson, Malcolm Martineau & Roger Vignoles. In addition, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Doric String Quartet and the Schubert Ensemble will be amongst partners for chamber music.

The Bodleian Library will show several Schubert manuscripts; the Ashmolean Museum will host live music events and a display of its exceptional 19^th-century drawings; the Botanic Gardens collaborate on a study event looking at Schubert’s relationship with nature; a pop-up theatre event will recreate a famous Schubert gathering; local restaurants will feature Viennese food and wine. Masterclasses, talks and workshops abound, and the Festival stretches to all corners of the city from the Europe’s oldest concert hall – the Holywell Music Room – through to the contemporary setting of the recently restored Ashmolean Museum.

w ww.oxfordlieder.co.uk

Opening Wednesday 29 January 2014, 7.00pm at London Coliseum (8 performances)

David Alden’s 2009 production of Benjamin Britten’s searing psychological drama Peter Grimes returns to English National Opera following successful performances in Berlin, Antwerp, Ghent, Oviedo and at the BBC Proms 2012 in a semi-staged performance. Alden’s production was hailed as a “superb company achievement” in 2009 with “Stuart Skelton’s towering performance at its heart”, (The Guardian) reaffirming ENO as the world’s leading producer of Britten’s operas. This hotly anticipated revival reunites director David Alden with ENO Music Director Edward Gardner and Australian heldentenor Stuart Skelton in the title role.

Peter Grimes is the most significant British opera in over two centuries and has long been associated with ENO, having received its premiere at Sadler’s Wells Opera (now ENO) in 1945. This is the first revival of David Alden’s 2009 five-star sell-out production which won the South Bank Show Award for Opera. Alden returns to ENO following his acclaimed production of Britten’s Billy Budd, described by The Independent as “world class”.

ENO’s Music Director Edward Gardner rekindles his close association with Britten’s work, having also conducted ENO productions ofDeath in Venice and David Alden’s Billy Budd, for which he received an Olivier nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Completing the creative team is Set Designer Paul Steinberg, Costume Designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Lighting Designer Adam Silverman and Movement Director Maxine Braham.

Stuart Skelton takes the title role once again giving his remarkable, multifaceted portrayal of the disturbed outsider. Skelton’s 2009 performance in the role won unanimous praise from critics, who compared his portrayal of Grimes to that of Peter Pears, Philip Langridge and Jon Vickers. Skelton reprised the role for ENO at the BBC Proms 2012 in a performance that the Sunday Express described as “definitive”. And in October 2013, Skelton sang Peter Grimes with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski in a “hauntingly believable” (Daily Telegraph) performance, “possibly the finest on the stage today” (The Times).

This much anticipated revival introduces two new major singers to the production. British baritone Iain Paterson sings Balstrode for the first time in a fully staged production following his outstanding performance at the BBC Proms in 2012 with ENO. The internationally celebrated South African soprano Elza Van den Heever makes her London operatic and role debut singing Ellen Orford. Van den Heever recently made her debut with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, singing the role of Elizabeth in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, described by the New York Times as “vocally burnished and emotionally tempestuous”.

The definitive Mrs Sedley is sung by Dame Felicity Palmer. Rebecca de Pont Davies (Auntie), Michael Colvin (Bob Boles), Matthew Best (Swallow) and Leigh Melrose (Ned Keene) also reprise their roles in this revival.

Showcasing the best of young British operatic talent, ENO Harewood Artists Rhian Lois and Mary Bevan take the roles of First and Second Niece, completing a cast of outstanding vocal strength for this spectacular revival.

Peter Grimes opens at the London Coliseum on 29 January 2014 for 8 performances – 29 January & 6, 14, 21, 27 February, 7pm, 1, 8 February, 6pm and 23 February, 3.00pm.

Pre-performance talk: Saturday 1 February, 4.15pm-5pm, £5/£2.50 concessions

A co-production with De Vlaamse Opera, Opera de Oviedo and Deutsche Oper Berlin

Original production supported by ENO’s English Opera Group.

TWO YOUNG SINGERS WIN AWARDS 

Garsington Opera is delighted to announce the winners of two awards to support the development of young artists from the Company.   The 2013 Simon Sandbach Award  has been won by Jan Capinski and the Helen Clarke Award  by Alice Rose Privett.

Jan Capinski said:  Garsington Opera has been a turning point in my career and development as a singer and I learnt so much singing in the chorus and understuding a principal role.  To be offered this prestigious award will enable me to continue my training both musically and dramatically. I am particularly delighted to be returning in 2014 not only to sing in the chorus but to perform in Fidelio as 2^nd Prisoner and in the Young Artist revival of Hänsel und Gretel as the Father at West Green. Jan began his singing training at the Academy of Music in  Kraków (Poland), and went on to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where he graduated in July this year.

I am thrilled to receive this bursary said Alice Rose Privett.   I will soon be leaving full time education and this will enable me to really focus on polishing my audition arias and pay for the expensive process of getting to auditions in all corners of Europe. Last season I was lucky enough to sing Gretel at the  dress rehearsal, the major role I understudied.  I also sang in the chorus and will return in 2014 to do that and perform the role of the Cock in the Cunning Little Vixen.   Alice graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2011 and is now studying at the Royal Academy of Music.

Birmingham Hippodrome to host Wagner’s Ring Cycle on a grand scale

with Valery Gergiev’s world-famous Mariinsky Opera as part

of the 2014 UK-Russia Year of Culture.

Wednesday 5 November 2014 – Das Rheingold

Thursday 6 November 2014 – Die Walküre

Saturday 8 November 2014 – Siegfried

Sunday 9 November 2014 – Götterdämmerung

More details will follow when available.

From D’Arcy Trinkwon

I will give a concert organised by, and in aid of, four charities particularly associated with the Abbey, each doing wonderful things – three of them locally:

Circle Club – a charity that provides friendship and a monthly lunch at Worth for elderly people in our neighbourhood
Crawley Open House – provides support and services for those suffering the effects of homelessness, unemployment, loneliness, discrimination, or other forms of social exclusion.
LIFE – the national pro-life charity that supports anyone facing a crisis pregnancy, pregnancy loss before or after an abortion, and strives to engage, inspire and inform the next generation.
Irundu – our friendship parish in Uganda

The charities are working extremely hard to make this a big and successful event – so need lots of BOS (that is “Bums On Seats” in laymens’ terms) to support it.

The success of this, the first evening organ concert to be held at Worth, is also of importance as – if successful enough – it will encourage and lead the way to more and other, bigger plans. So I am hoping – for the sake of organ music – to get good support. I would be very grateful if you would be kind enough to forward both this email and the attached flyer to any you think may be interested to let them know about it.

The cavernous Worth Abbey is a remarkable place to hear and experience organ music – so come and see why I genuinely say it is one of the best places in the South to do so outside only London’s most important venues. Why not try to bring some friends to – stressing the charity angle if they are dubious about organ music – because Worth is one of the best places they could get a ‘baptism of fire’ with such dramatic music, and with such a dramatic organ (you’ll be more than amazed…!).

Unlike many churches there are really comfortable seats – and wine will be available before and after the performance.

The programme will be:

WIDOR: Allegro from Symphonie No.6 in G minor, Op.42 No.2
HANDEL: Organ Concerto Op.7 No.1 in B flat
DURUFLÉ: Suite, Op.5
LISZT: Fantasia & Fugue on “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam”

Tickets £10 (under 16 free): available in advance from Worth Abbey Parish – T: 01342 710313, E:mhorton@worth.org.uk – or at the door.
Doors open 7:00, concert starts at 7:45.

www.worthbbey.net
www.worthabbeyparish.co.uk
www.darcytrinkwon.com  – my new site!

DIRECTIONS: Worth Abbey is just five 5 minutes from the south exit 10A of the M23; or a 5-10 taxi from Three Bridges (via Victoria)  

Complicite’s Simon McBurney returns to ENO with his new production of The Magic Flute.

Opening on 7 November, Simon McBurney’s new production of The Magic Flute is a darkly funny, dramatic and highly visual interpretation of Mozart’s theatrical genius. In McBurney’s interpretation, music casts a visible as well as audible spell, with the orchestra on view alongside breathtaking cinematographic projections, re-imagining Mozart’s rites of passage fairytale.

Building on ENO’s co-producing relationship with De Nederlandse Opera, The Magic Flute opened in December 2012 to great critical acclaim in Amsterdam. McBurney’s production received five-star reviews from the Dutch press: “a feast for the eyes and the ears” (Het Parool) and “Delicious!” (Trouw).

The Magic Flute continues the relationship between English National Opera and theatre company Complicite, who are celebrating their thirtieth anniversary this year. McBurney returns to ENO following his operatic debut and critical-success of A Dog’s Heart in 2010 (nominated for a 2010 Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production). The collaboration highlights ENO’s commitment to producing opera that is fresh and relevant for contemporary audiences by working with talent from across the creative industries.

Contact https://seatplan.com/london/london-coliseum-theatre/ for reviews of seating and environment at the London Coliseum.

Brighton Festival is thrilled to announce that the 2014 Guest Director of Brighton Festival is critically acclaimed choreographer, musician, composer and performer Hofesh Shechter.

Recognised as one of the UK’s most exciting contemporary artists, Shechter is renowned for creating raw, physical live contemporary dance pieces set to his own, highly-charged, atmospheric musical scores. His eponymous Company are a Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival resident company, and their brand new work Sun – co-commissioned by Brighton Festival – will open the three week arts extravaganza on Saturday 3 May when it comes ‘home’at the conclusion of its first world tour.

As Guest Director, Hofesh Shechter follows in the footsteps of visual artist Anish Kapoor (2009), musician Brian Eno (2010), Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (2011), actress and human rights campaigner Vanessa Redgrave (2012) and poet, author and former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen (2013) in shaping the Brighton Festival programme.

Hofesh Shechter said, ‘Brighton has a magic to it that no one can explain. Finding a place where one can develop and grow artistically is a delicate thing, an important thing. Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival have been an inspiring, energising and encouraging place for my company and me in the last 5 years. We’ve enjoyed the buzz, the lightness, energy, and the unexplainable essence of Brighton. We have resided in its cultural heart – Brighton Dome, and the pulsating artistic heart of the Dome is the annual Festival. I’m so excited and honoured to have been invited to lead on this inspiring event and I feel a rush of excitement about the ideas I can contribute. To be asked to lead this amazing event in 2014, to be asked to inspire, energise, encourage… well, delighted, is just a boring word.’