London Music Masters (LMM), a music charity providing music education to inner-city primary schools and violin awards for young emerging professionals, launches the first London-wide musical instrument recycling campaign – LOST & SOUND. The campaign is a rallying call for supporters to donate disused violins, cellos, trumpets, flutes and clarinets for distribution to LMM Bridge Project children aged 5-9, in some of the capital’s most deprived boroughs.

LMM believes that every child deserves a chance to play a musical instrument. By launching a London-wide initiative, LOST & SOUND aims to bring greater awareness to the importance of music education in primary schools and breathe life into old instruments. The initiative will help LMM to save money on instrument purchase and hire, allowing the charity to focus its resources on high quality teaching.

Initially the instruments will be loaned to Bridge Project children in the three primary schools in Lambeth and Westminster where the Bridge Project is currently active. Surplus instruments will be offered to local music services, hubs and other relevant charities. LMM will aim to work with its creative partner organisations (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Southbank Centre, Royal College of Music and Wigmore Hall) to raise awareness of the campaign.

Anyone interested in donating an instrument should contact Rachel Wadham, Bridge Project and Marketing Manager, on 020 7267 7982 / rwadham@londonmusicmasters.org

Andrew Jowett, Director of Town Hall and Symphony Hall, Birmingham has been awarded an OBE in HM The Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to music. The honour comes in the year Symphony Hall celebrates its 21st anniversary.
Andrew Jowett was appointed Director of Symphony Hall in 1988 – three years before it opened in 1991 to widespread public and critical acclaim – and also manages Town Hall, having overseen its hugely successful re-opening in 2007. During this time he has helped underpin Birmingham’s reputation as an international centre of cultural excellence, creating an outstanding artistic programme which appeals to a wide audience and establishing the two concert halls as ‘must play’ destinations for visiting artists of all genres. Hosting 600 events and welcoming over half a million people each year, Town Hall and Symphony Hall are a source of great pride to the people of Birmingham as well as being a major asset to the City’s local economy.
Andrew Jowett said “I am immensely proud to receive this honour for leading Town Hall and Symphony Hall Birmingham and it is particularly appropriate this year when Symphony Hall is celebrating its 21st anniversary. Running these two world renowned concert halls is an absolute joy and privilege and, in accepting this honour, I do so on behalf of everyone who has helped make them a major force on the national and international music scene, connecting over half a million people to music every year.”

The new Garsington Opera Pavilion at Wormsley, designed by Snell Associates, has won three awards from the RIBA – the RIBA Award, for its architectural excellence; the RIBA South Client of the Year Award; and the RIBA South Building of the Year Award. The awards were presented last night, Wednesday 20 June, at the 2012 RIBA Awards Ceremony at the Railway Museum, Swindon. These awards celebrate the best of UK Architecture. It has also been named one of the RIBA’s 50 best buildings of the year and is therefore a candidate for the Stirling Prize

The 600 seat summer Opera Pavilion, at Wormsley Park, home of the Getty Family, is situated within the lush pastoral country estate, conceived in the English tradition of a pavilion in a grand landscape.

Garsington Opera relocated to Wormsley in 2011 into its new pavilion that has been designed to complement and give unique views onto the outstandingly beautiful surrounding landscape. With its superb acoustics and comfortable seats, it is the perfect setting for opera performances of the very highest quality.

Anthony Whitworth-Jones General Director of Garsington Opera said: We are thrilled that our Opera Pavilion has been honoured in this way and we are delighted that our architect, Robin Snell, has been so successful in the way he has designed a pavilion that, at the same time, is uncompromisingly modern and yet settles so easily into its pastoral surroundings.

The season at Garsington Opera runs until 3 July with Vivaldi’s rarely performed L’Olimpiade, Offenbach’s charming operetta La Périchole and Mozart’s Don Giovanni . www.garsingtonopera.org

 See also National Reviews page

Ruby Hughes in conversation with The Editor.

While most eyes this summer will be on sporting events in London, more than a few will be turned to Garsington Opera’s Olympic venture – the first production in this country of Vivaldi’s 1734 L’Olimpiade – and while there may be no gold medals in the offing the assembled artists will make this one of the most important artistic occasions of the year, not least because of the presence of Ruby Hughes as Argene.

A BBC New Generation Artist and Winner of both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2009 Handel Singing Competition, she has rapidly become one of the most sought after baroque singers. Her voice is variously described as radiant, delectable, mesmerising, with coloratura arias of ravishing beauty and all totally fearless.

One critic noted that she stalked the stage with great poise and elegance and revelled in the plethora of arioso sections which Monteverdi granted her as an immortal. She sings with warmth, superb clarity and control as well as great conviction.

She joins a line of young singers which includes Andrew Kennedy, Iestyn Davies and Lucy Crowe, who have all launched their careers through the baroque repertoire – a course which only a few years ago would have seemed perilous in the extreme but today holds out the chance to explore realms of musical creativity which have lain undisclosed for centuries. In many ways the re-discovery of baroque scores is as exciting as performing new scores for the first time.

I wondered how Ruby Hughes came to music in the first place?

‘My mother, Elizabeth Fritsch, was probably the most important influence. Though she is famous as a ceramicist she played the harp and had studied with Ossian Ellis. I also had great aunts who played the harp so I was surrounded by music as a child. I suppose I was a secure musician before I was fifteen and well on the way to realising this was the career I wanted to follow. I did a lot of acting and dancing at an early age, so appearing on stage was never really a problem, and combining the two in opera almost came naturally to me. I can remember being taken to Stratford when very young and Shakespeare has always seemed quite natural to me. ‘

She studied voice and ‘cello at Chetham’s School of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before gaining a First Class Distinction Concert Diploma in Concert and Song at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Munich, working with Edith Wiens.

But it was the 2009 Handel Singing Competition which provided the breakthrough, and the important opportunity to work with Laurence Cummings.

‘Laurence has been immensely important in helping shape my career. Handel’s music is so direct, the emotional focus is so clear, that I find no difficulty empathising with the characters I am singing.’

Her performances at the Göttingen Handel Festival, where Laurence Cummings is the new Director, brought superb reviews.

“…Ruby Hughes utterly bewitched her listeners. She displayed a bright soprano of wonderfully beautiful timbre that carried well even in the lower register.”

“But the finest singing of the opening weekend came the next evening, when soprano Ruby Hughes joined Laurence Cummings and his London Handel Players for a programme of cantatas and instrumental music. The haughty gaze of the Hanoverian Kings (George 11 founded Göttingen university) – whose portraits hang behind the stage in the university’s main hall – and a tremendous thunderstorm provided a dramatic backdrop for Hughes’ sensuous performance of Rameau and Clérambault.”

They will be back together again this summer at Garsington Opera where Laurence Cummings is preparing the new production of Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade in which Roby Hughes is singing Princess Argene.

‘The plot is very complex – almost Shakespearean in its denouement – and the arias cover a wide range of emotions. As there is so little stage history to the work it is like creating a new opera, and certainly it will be exhilarating working with director David Freeman to realise a world which is both true to Vivaldi’s score but relevant and exciting for a 21^st century audience. We are fortunate to have a long rehearsal period for Garsington, which gives us time to ensure we are properly on top of the music before we start on the floor and can then almost ignore the score – because it is now secure within us – while we concentrate on creating a convincing dramatic reality.’

Acting has come easily to her and she relishes the challenges it brings. ‘In Munich I sang Judith in Vivaldi’s Juditha triumphans in which I not only had to hack off Holofernes’ head but heave it lustily across the stage.’

To date she has not attempted many trouser roles but these are beginning to come her way, and she will be singing travesti Mozart in Scotland in September.

I wondered if she felt she was too closely identified with the baroque repertoire?

‘I am immensely grateful to the opportunities which I have had to sing baroque music and the breadth of music which is available even within that genre, but I would not like to be type-cast or pigeon-holed at the expense of the rest of the repertoire. I have sung much more broadly than my current CV may imply and am working with Julius Drake on both romantic and modern songs. I recorded two recitals for the BBC of Berg and Schumann recently and I will be taking some of this new repertoire to the Mananan and West Cork Festivals later this year. Smaller festivals are a really good chance to expand my work and, in a small way, take risks which might not be feasible within the normal opera house or concert series.’

If her confident presence on stage and her growing reputation as one of our finest baroque sopranos continues to rise at its present rate, we are certain to hear far more of Ruby Hughes; and maybe our memories of the Olympics 2012 will feature Vivaldi at Wormsley rather than Bolt at Stratford.

There are two further performances on 22 and 29 June.

See National Reviews section for comment on the performance. BH

With this RPS Award English National Opera has won all available opera awards for its work in 2011

The RPS Award for Opera and Music, donated by the Incorporated Society of Musicians, comes after ENO recently received both Olivier Awards for Opera: Outstanding Achievement in Opera for the breadth and diversity of ENO’s artistic programme and Best New Opera Production for Castor and Pollux, and the South Bank Sky Arts Award for The Damnation of Faust.

Toby Spence, who sang Lensky in ENO’s Eugene Onegin won the Singer Award. Two of the other nominated singers performed in ENO productions in 2011: Roderick Williams for his role of Pollux in Castor and Pollux and Michelle Breedt for her role as Liese in The Passenger.

ENO’s production of Eugene Onegin was a great audience and critical success. Directed by Deborah Warner, the production, conducted by ENO Music Director Edward Gardner starred Toby Spence, Amanda Echalaz as Tatyana and Audun Iversen as Onegin.

ENO’s Artistic Director John Berry said, “The RPS Awards are truly special because it is the music profession who have selected the Awards shortlist. This co-production with the Metropolitan Opera was a highlight during an exciting year for ENO and the chemistry between director Deborah Warner and conductor Edward Gardner produced a Eugene Onegin which showcased the whole Company at its very best.”

The RPS Music Awards are given for the finest music making and are decided by independent panels comprised of members of the profession. Since 1989 the awards have recognised not only the calibre of today’s classical musicians but also those who push creative boundaries to produce work which excites and engages audiences. The 13 individual awards honour performers, composers, programmers, communicators as well as inspirational education and outreach work.

The awards, for outstanding achievement in 2011, were presented at the Dorchester Hotel by BBC Radio 3’s Katie Derham and Petroc Trelawny. Tenor John Mark Ainsley presented the silver lyre trophies, and Gareth Malone gave the evening’s keynote speech, talking of the public’s perception of classical music and the importance of participation.

UK premiere of Philip Glass’s The Perfect American, an opera about Walt Disney

World premiere of Michel van der Aa and Cloud Atlas writer David Mitchell’s Sunken Garden, an ‘occult-mystery film opera’

Verdi bicentenary begins in the UK with Peter Konwitschny’s new production of      La traviata

The first full professional staging of Vaughan Williams’ The Pilgrim’s Progress since the Festival of Britain in 1951

Britten centenary celebrated with Deborah Warner and Edward Gardner teaming up for Death in Venice

British composer Ryan Wigglesworth joins ENO as Composer in Residence

ENO’s Artistic Director, John Berry said, ‘As we leave behind an artistically vibrant 2011, our sights are set on keeping ENO relevant and the exciting home for modern opera in London. Contemporary composers, outstanding international directors and British talent take the lead in what I am sure will be another absorbing and thought provoking year for the Company and our audience.’

Yoshi Oïda / Vaughan Williams – 50 years since the UK staging of The Pilgrim’s Progress

Director and actor Yoshi Oïda, who worked with Peter Brook at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, makes his ENO debut directing a new production of Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. This major new production supported by the Vaughan Williams Trust, celebrates an important British work not seen in a fully staged professional production since its premiere for the Festival of Britain in 1951. Yoshi Oïda is partnered by Carolyn Choa (Choreographer and Associate Director for Anthony Minghella’s Madam Butterfly), designer Tom Schenk and conductor Martyn Brabbins.

Michael Keegan-Dolan/Fabulous Beast  Dynamic choreographer/director Michael Keegan-Dolan and his groundbreaking Fabulous Beast company returns to ENO following his Olivier nominated and critically successful staging of The Rite of Spring with a new production of Handel’s Julius Caesar, ENO’s first production of the Handel masterpiece since 1979. Conducted by Christian Curnyn, it will feature a stunning cast including Lawrence Zazzo, Patricia Bardon and Anna Christy and dancers from Fabulous Beast.

Medea (Charpentier)

David McVicar directs the UK’s first staging of one of the greatest but largely unknown French baroque operas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The celebrated British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly and tenor Jeffrey Francis head a strong cast.

ENO 2012/13 season in full:

The Magic Flute, Mozart, opens 13 September 2012

Julietta, Martin?, opens 17 September 2012

Julius Caesar, Handel, opens 1 October 2012

Don Giovanni, Mozart, opens 17 October 2012

The Pilgrim’s Progress, Vaughan Williams, opens 5 November 2012

Carmen, Bizet, opens 21 November 2012

The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan, opens 1 December 2012

La traviata, Verdi, opens 2 February 2013

Medea, Charpentier, opens 15 February 2013

The Barber of Seville, Rossini, opens 25 February 2013

Sunken Garden, Van der Aa, opens 12 April 2013

La bohème, Puccini, opens 29 April 2013

Wozzeck, Berg, opens 11 May 2013

The Perfect American, Glass, opens 1 June 2013

Death in Venice, Britten, opens 14 June 2013

Garsington Opera’s production of La Périchole will be screened live to a beach in the UK for the first time ever, as part of the largest arts and culture festival on the East Coast, SO Festival in Skegness.

The production, which is part of Garsington Opera’s season, is directed by Jeremy Sams, the director behind The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz in London’s West End. The performance is a free event and will be broadcast by satellite from the Garsington Opera Pavilion at Wormsley to a large festival screen at 7.45pm on Sunday 1 July. There will be pre show street theatre and music performances and the Opera will be followed by a spectacular firework display over the sea.

La Périchole, a hugely fun and bubbly comedy which will be performed in English, is set in the 1940s in Cuba, follows the highs and lows of the heroine Périchole, an impoverished Peruvian street singer.

Families are encouraged to come along to the central beach in Skegness, bring a picnic and enjoy an evening of world-class opera. A selection of front row beach deck chairs will be provided for the early arrivals. Local fish and chips, ice creams and refreshments will be for sale from restaurants and food stalls close by.

Anthony Whitworth-Jones, General Director of Garsington Opera, comments: “We are delighted to form a link with the enterprising SO Festival in Skegness with the live screening of our performance of La Périchole. It is thrilling that this event, promoted by East Lindsey District Council will enable a large audience to experience opera, perhaps for the first time, and will be part of the official Cultural Olympiad”.

Public booking is now open for the 2012 season that runs from 2 June to 3 July and features Vivaldi’s rarely performed L’Olimpiade, Offenbach’s charming opera bouffe La Périchole and Mozart’s Don Giovanni . The season will, for the second year running, be supported by Jefferies, a leading global investment banking firm.

www.garsingtonopera.org

For more information about SO Festival please visit www.sofestival.org or contact Lorrie Stock on 01507 613456 or email sofestival@e-lindsey.gov.uk

English National Opera won two Olivier Awards at yesterday’s ceremony, held at the Royal Opera House in London. The UK’s most prestigious theatre award has two categories for opera: Outstanding Achievement in Opera and Best New Opera.

ENO took the Outstanding Achievement in Opera award for ‘The Breadth and Diversity of the Artistic Programme’ and Best New Opera Production for its production of Castor and Pollux. Of a possible 8 nominations, ENO received 6 across both categories.

The double win comes shortly after a string of critically acclaimed new opera productions have opened at ENO’s home of the London Coliseum, including The Death of Klinghoffer directed by Tom Morris, Eugene Onegin directed by Deborah Warner and The Damnation of Faust, directed by Terry Gilliam, as well as those nominated in the Best New Opera Production category.

Castor and Pollux was ENO’s first ever production of a Rameau opera. ENO has an excellent reputation for staging rarely performed works and early repertoire. This production was the London debut of the provocative director Barrie Kosky and was conducted by period specialist Christian Curnyn. The production set Rameau’s 1737 opera into a timeless, placeless setting, which brought the music, singers and raw energy of the performances to the fore. The excellent cast included Allan Clayton and Roderick Williams as the legendary twins, and Sophie Bevan and Laura Tatulescu. The Sunday Telegraph described the production as ‘extraordinary’ giving it five stars, while the Observer praised its ‘outstanding cast’.

New productions A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Christopher Alden and The Passenger, directed by David Pountney were also nominated in the Best New Opera Production category.

Also nominated in the Outstanding Achievement category were Richard Jones for his new production of ENO’s The Tales of Hoffmann amongst several productions and Amanda Holden for her translation of Castor And Pollux, the winning production.

Samedi 25 août à 21 h

Abbatiale Saint-Robert – La Chaise-Dieu  

                       Handel Theodora

Chorus musicus Köln; Das Neue Orchester; Christoph Spering : direction 

a 20 h       Sérénade dans le cloître de La Chaise-Dieu;  Evolutiv Brass

Dimanche 26 août à 15 h

Abbatiale Saint-Robert – La Chaise-Dieu; Après-midi britannique

Sol Gabetta : violoncelle;  Orchestre du festival de Gstaad; Kristjan Järvi 

Britten; Elgar; Holst

a 14 h       Sérénade dans le cloître de La Chaise-Dieu;  Evolutiv Brass

à 17 h 30     Auditorium Cziffra – La Chaise-Dieu

Trios cordes et piano

Saint-Saëns; Martin;  Ravel

à 21 h

 For the full programme and tickets contact www.chaise-dieu.com/en/the-full-programme

ENO is pleased to announce young conductor Gergely Madaras as the inaugural recipient of the ENO Charles Mackerras Fellowship. This award to an exceptional emerging conducting talent is an initiative of ENO, in association with the Philip Loubser Foundation, and celebrates the great legacy of Sir Charles Mackerras.