Monthly Archives: February 2018

English National Opera announces cast for ENO Studio Live 2018 and three new Harewood Artists

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English National Opera (ENO) is delighted to announce the casts for Acis and Galatea and Paul Bunyan, 2018’s two ENO Studio Live productions. ENO Studio Live forms part of ENO Outside which takes ENO’s work to arts-engaged audiences that may not have considered opera before, presenting the immense power of opera in more intimate studio and theatre environments.

Acis and Galatea will take place at ENO’s historic rehearsal studios, Lilian Baylis House. Paul Bunyan will be ENO’s first collaboration with Wilton’s Music Hall. Both pieces are being performed by ENO for the very first time and celebrate the integral roles that Handel and Britten have played in the company’s history.

We are also thrilled to share that exceptional young singers Rowan Pierce, Alex Otterburn and William Morgan will become ENO Harewood Artists with immediate effect. The ENO Harewood Artist programme was established in 1998 as a means of providing a full-time training and performance scheme for exceptionally talented singers at the beginning of their careers. They will join current ENO Harewood Artists Andri Björn Róbertsson, Katie Coventry, Eleanor Dennis, Matthew Durkan, David Ireland, Rhian Lois, Elgan Llyr Thomas, Soraya Mafi, Samantha Price, Božidar Smiljani?, Katie Stevenson and David Webb.

Acis and Galatea (six performances, 9-16 June 2018, Lilian Baylis House)
George Frideric Handel
John Gay

Directed by Sarah Tipple, designed by Justin Nardella and conducted by Nicholas Ansdell Evans, Acis and Galatea features four exciting young British singers. Tenor Alexander Sprague and soprano Lucy Hall sing the title roles. ENO Harewood Artist Matthew Durkan sings the role of Polyphemus and Bradley Smithmakes his ENO debut as Damon.

Acis – Alexander Sprague

Galatea – Lucy Hall

Polyphemus – Matthew Durkan

Damon – Bradley Smith

Paul Bunyan (six performances, 3-8 September, Wilton’s Music Hall)
Benjamin Britten
W. H. Auden

Directed by Jamie Manton, designed by Camilla Clarke and conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren, Paul Bunyan will be a celebration of ENO’s exceptional emerging and in-house talent. Roles will be sung by ENO Harewood Artists (Elgan Llyr Thomas, Rowan Pierce, William Morgan) and members of ENO’s award-winning Chorus.

Johnny Inkslinger – Elgan Llyr Thomas

Tiny – Rowan Pierce

Hot Biscuit Slim – William Morgan

Fido – Claire Pendleton

Moppett – Ella Kirkpatrick

Poppett – Lydia Marchione

Sam Sharkey – Graeme Lauren

Ben Benny – Trevor Bowes

Andy Anderson / Cronie – Adam Sullivan

Pete Peterson / Cronie – Geraint Hylton

Jen Jenson / Cronie – Paul Sheehan

Cross Crosshaulson / Cronie – Andrew Tinkler

John Shears – Robert Winslade Anderson

Western Union Boy – David Newman

Quartet of the Defeated – Michael Burke, Morag Boyle, David Newman, Paul Sheehan

Solo Lumberjacks – Paul Sheehan, Ronald Nairne and Pablo Strong

Wild Geese – Claire Mitcher, Rebecca Stockland, Susanna Tudor-Thomas

Young Trees – Joanne Appleby, Amy Sedgwick, Pablo Strong

 

 

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

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Brighton Dome, Sunday 11 February 2018

There was a lot of lilting 3/4 time and enough tunes to set you humming all week in this enjoyable concert.

First came a slightly exaggerated – but none the worse for that – rendering of Schubert’s 8th Symphony – the Unfinished. Howard Shelley gave us a lingering horn, exciting sforzandi and lots of timp in the first movement, which he ended with a very measured, almost mannered, tempo. The second movement stressed the tip-toeing pizzicato and legato melody nicely. It was a very pleasing start to the concert which left me reflecting – for the thousandth time – that it’s an insult to Schubert’s genius to dub this his Unfinished symphony. I reckon he decided it was perfect just the way it is and he was right.

Howard Shelley is, as ever, fascinating to watch when he multi-tasks by conducting from the key board – iPad on the stand and blue toothed pedal to ‘turn’ the digital pages. On this occasion for Mendelssohn’s first piano concerto he had the lid off the piano – right off too – so that the sound was louder and more dominant than it would be for work by, say, Mozart or Beethoven. It’s a charming concerto and it’s a pity we don’t hear it more often. The sparkling dance quality of the third movement, for instance, was melodiously uplifting in this performance.

And so to Dvorak’s 6th Symphony with its delightful opening movement – 3/4 time again like the Schubert – in which Shelley even-handedly ensured that all the musical conversation is articulated as Dvorak sails on from melody to melody. In particular, I liked the trombone, flute and horn work here. Then came the lyrical beauty of the slow movement (how Dvorak loved lower strings!) which Shelley leaned on to good effect. The incisive string work taken at an impressive tempo in the third movement and the colourful, rousing finale rounded it off with panache.

All in all it was another fine Brighton Philharmonic concert. It was a pity, however, that the cold weather seemed to have led to more empty seats than usual. People who opted not to come missed a worthwhile afternoon of music.

Susan Elkin

Hastings Philharmonic: Winterreise

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Christ Church, Hastings, 10 February 2018

Marcio da Silva is a warmly arresting baritone and, for a first stab at Winterreise this was a commendable performance. Twenty four songs in Schubert’s cycle, with only a short interval after number 12, takes a lot of stamina. Only occasionally – in some of the bottom notes in Irrlicht for example – was there any sense of strain. High spots included Fruhlingstraum in which he and pianist Francis Rayner – an excellent accompanist –  emphasised the contrast of the major key passage (most of these songs are in minor keys, of course) and rippling 6/8 rhythm alternating with the stormy passages and wistful ones as the singer dreams of spring.

Die Post was fun too with Francis Rayner ensuring that we could all hear the smiling post horn references in the accompaniment, before the sadness well evoked by Marcio da Silva. They gave  a delightful rendering of Die Nebensonnen bringing out all the folksy nursery rhyme qualities of the piece.

Overall, they ensured that this plotless cycle evoked the singer’s journey as, jilted in love, he sets out, through the winter, to work out his own complex feelings. As always, one is left marvelling at Schubert’s extraordinary ingenuity and at the versatility this cycle demands of its performers.  Marcio da Silva’s was singing the cycle from memory – a feat in itself.

Before Winterreise we were treated to Aysen Ulucan playing, also with Francis Rayner, Beethoven’s violin sonata Opus 30 number 2. It was a workmanlike performance delivered with poise and nice negotiation of rhythmic contrasts, particularly in the C major section. Aysen Ulucan also gave us some very beautiful cantabile playing in the adagio. At other times the tone was a bit thin and the sound sometimes swallowed by the rather dry acoustic created by the spacious, lofty beauty of Christ Church. Occasionally there was harshness created by possibly misjudged bowing pressure too, but these are fairly minor gripes.

This concert took place on a bitterly cold, wet and windy evening. It is a credit to Hastings Philharmonic that so many people turned out for what, in the event, was a musically demanding concert for all concerned.

Susan Elkin

HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC

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Love and Despair

Two intensely moving pieces by Beethoven and Schubert. International soloist Ay?en Ulucan and prize-winning pianist Francis Rayner bring you Beethoven’s Violin Sonata, in C Minor. Schubert’s epic song cycle ‘Winterreise’ performed by baritone Marcio da Silva completes this reflective programme. Beethoven’s Violin Sonata op.30 No.2 was completed during a period of anguish in the composer’s most grim tonality: C minor. Schubert’s darkest and most intense song cycle, ‘Winterreise’, was written towards the end of his short life. Setting poems by Wilhelm Mu?ller, the work explores feelings of love, doubt and loss.

Saturday 10 February 2018,  7pm
Christ Church, Silchester Road, St Leonards-on-Sea
TN38 0JB

Tickets at: https://www.musicglue.com/hastings-philharmonic/events/2018-02-10-love-and-despair-christchurch

Valentines Opera breakfast

Arias by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Massenet, Wagner and Bizet. A Hastings Philharmonic event; get a hot drink and a freshly baked pastry with your ticket. Marcio da Silva – Baritone, Sophie Pullen – Soprano Simone Tavoni – Piano

Sunday 18 February 2018 10.30am
St Mary in the Castle, 7 Pelham Crescent, Hastings TN34 3AF  

Tickets: £15 (includes breakfast items)
https://www.musicglue.com/stmaryinthecastle/events/2018-02-18-valentines-opera-breakfast-st-mary-in-the-castle
Monteverdi 1610 Vespers

HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC CHAMBER CHOIR & BAROQUE ENSEMBLE –

Sarah Parkin, Helen May – Soprano
Jake Barlow – Alto
Kieran White, Philip O’Meara – Tenor
Alexander McMillan – Bass
Marcio da Silva – Conductor
Vespro della Beata Vergine – Monteverdi Monteverdi’s most ambitious choral piece. This programme is a full-scale Baroque explosion, with period instruments, a lute, organ, double chorus and soloists. Written in 1610, this piece was monumental in scale, calling for up to 10 vocal parts in some movements, not to mention six soloists and an orchestra. The Vespers are a prime representation of Monteverdi’s genius.
Saturday 24 February 2018,  7pm
Christ Church, Silchester Road, St Leonards-on-Sea
TN38 0JB

Tickets at: https://www.musicglue.com/hastings-philharmonic/events/2018-02-24-monteverdi-vespers-christchurch

Alexandra Dariescu

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Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu joins the European Young Leaders’ programme class of 2018, organised under the patronage of Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission

Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu joins the European Young Leaders (EYL40) programme class of 2018, organised under the patronage of Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission. Led by Friends of Europe, EYL40 is a unique, inventive and multi-stakeholder programme that aims to promote a European identity by engaging the continent’s most promising talents that will shape Europe’s future.

Based on the premise that a group of talented leaders from different backgrounds, sectors and European countries can offer new responses to international challenges, it brings together established professionals under the age of 40 who have made their mark in a wide range of fields such as politics, science, business, media NGOs, the arts and civil society. Those selected to participate are creative, committed to changing the world, and have demonstrated potential to reach the highest levels of their chosen profession.

As part of the programme, Dariescu joins other members of the Class of 2018 and alumni for two European seminars, encouraging ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking in open, constructive discussions: from 8-10 March in Warsaw and 13-15 September 2018 (location to be announced).

Alexandra Dariescu said: ‘I am thrilled and humbled to be part of the European Young Leaders (EYL40) and feel very privileged to join such an incredible group of leaders from all over Europe. I hope through the discussions and fantastic activities programme in Warsaw we will be able to identify solutions in creating a more unified, perceptive and prosperous Europe.’

Dariescu also participates in the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s fifth international Reflective Conservatoire Conference Tuesday 20-Friday 23 February 2018: this year’s theme is ‘Artists as Citizens.’ She sits on Vice-Principal & Director of Guildhall Innovation Professor Helena Gaunt’s welcome panel on the opening day, and, as an alumna of their Creative Entrepreneurs scheme, joins others from the course in discussing their work and professional trajectory before performing at the end of the session.

Dariescu has also been selected to present her project The Nutcracker and I, by Alexandra Dariescu at the Classical:NEXT conference, held in Rotterdam on 16-19 May 2019, as part of their annual Project Pitches initiative. Each of the 14 participants have nine minutes to present and answer questions in front of leading and influential members of the music industry, allowing an insight into the most intriguing and innovative developments in the sector.

She wants to challenge the traditional concert format and reach out to new audiences who might not have considered coming to a classical concert before. She has devised a ground-breaking 50-minute live multi-media performance piece for piano soloist, ballerina and digital animation.

Dariescu has created her own personal take on this much-loved story which sees herself re-imagined as Clara: from little girl dreaming to concert pianist. On stage is a grand piano, played by Dariescu herself, and a ballerina behind a see-through gauze screen. Projected onto the gauze and bringing the story to life are exquisite digital animations, all hand drawn and created in advance by Yeast Culture. They follow the music and engage live with the pianist and ballerina as they ‘dance’ across the screen. The audience feel like they are actually in and a part of the Nutcracker story.

Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet music features throughout and includes favourites such as Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Arabian Dance, Chinese Dance, Pas de Deux, and the Flower Waltz in 15 virtuosic arrangements by Mikhail Pletnev, Stepan Esipoff, Percy Grainger and three brand new variations by Gavin Sutherland.

Having received its world premiere on 19 December 2017 on the Guildhall School’s Alumni Recital Series at Milton Court, it is also being released as a special book and CD on Signum Records and will include all 15 piano transcriptions with narration by Lindsey Russell, story by Jessica Duchen, artwork created by YeastCulture and illustrated by Adam Smith.

For complete listings for Alexandra’s schedule, please visit http://alexandradariescu.com/ or Alexandra’s general management Konzertdirektion Schmid http://kdschmid.de/artistdetail/items/alexandra-dariescu.html.

Maidstone Symphony Orchestra

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Moot Hall, Maidstone, Saturday 3 February 2018

“Now sits expectation in the air” as Shakespeare put it. Never in twenty years as a regular have I seen Mote Hall, Maidstone Leisure Centre as busily buzzy as it was when I arrived for this concert. I’d already queued for 20 minutes to drive into the car park. The hall was, unusually, full to capacity and there were far more under-20s present than Maidstone Symphony orchestra generally attracts. The reason for all this excitement? Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Attractively ordinary with his white shirt, silk waistcoat and fluffy Afro hair the 2016 winner of BBC Young Musician played the Elgar Concerto for the first time. Now 18, and in his first year at the Royal , this charismatic young man, educated at a Nottingham comprehensive school, had me literally crouched on the edge of my seat for the entire concerto.  Seated in the third row, I could hear him breathing the music from the opening, dramatic, sombre E minor chords through to the pained, wistful melodies of the lento and adagio movements and the drama of the final allegro. Has anyone played this concerto with more passion and anguish since Du Pré? It was both riveting and humbling to watch and listen to – and a great privilege to be present at what, I’m sure, will come to be regarded as a historic moment for classical music: the first time Sheku played the greatest, arguably, post-Bach work in the cello repertoire.

Interesting to reflect too that Elgar was 62 when this concerto premiered in 1919. I find it fascinating that every generation can throw up at least one brilliant young musician who can, with stunning technical expertise, climb inside the tortured mind of an elderly gentleman whose beloved wife (she died five and a half months after the premiere) must already have been ill with lung cancer.

Well, the concert was definitely the glittering jewel in the crown of this concert but Maidstone Symphony Orchestra shone in the rest of the programme too. Berlioz’s King Lear overture doesn’t enjoy many outings but, engaging piece as it is, it sang out dramatically on this occasion. Brian Wright ensured that we appreciated the quasi melody Berlioz affords the timpanist (Keith Price) and David Montague’s accomplished oboe work which represents Cordelia – sweet and lyrical amidst all the discordance and busy playing – was a high spot.

After a very long interval – during which Sheku was, with great charm,  unhurriedly signing CDs, posing for photographs with admirers and generally making classical music “cool” – it was time for Dvorak’s New World Symphony. Brian Wright took the whole work at a nippy speed and I don’t think it was just because we were running late. It needs to move to come alive.

He is awfully good at allowing woodwind and brass detail to come through and of course, for irrepressibly exuberant Dvorak that’s even more important than for some other composers. So we got lovely dynamic contrasts in the opening movement, a beautifully played cor anglais (Jane Walker) theme in the largo against well balanced muted strings and a very lilting scherzo which danced along through all its mood swings and key changes. And as for the allegro con fuoco finale, there was certainly lots of pleasing, fiery “fuoco”. The brass section did exceptionally well here and the very fast “folksy” string passages were admirably incisive.

An evening which will remain in the memory for a very long time.

ENO: Satyagraha

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London Coliseum, Thursday 1 February 2018

This is the third revival of Phelim McDermott’s visually impressive staging of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha and it looks as if it will be as popular as it has been on both previous occasions. Toby Spence has taken over in the lead role as Ghandi and his calm, almost beatific presence, combined with great purity of musical line, raises the whole evening to new heights.

What struck me on this occasion was the way we as onlookers are forced ever more to concentrate on the music rather than the text. There was a time when, prior to any serious visit to the opera, one had to learn the libretto with care, to ensure understanding of the work which was inevitably sung in a foreign language. Then came surtitles and we relaxed, assuming that, no matter how little we knew beforehand, it would all make sense as it went along. With Philip Glass the reverse is true. The language used is not just foreign but in many cases unknown today to all but academics. Though we are given projections of key thoughts, the on-going narrative remains aloof, and all we have is the music to retain our attention.

All the stranger then that so much of the production centres on the written word and the impact of Indian Opinion. News, fake or otherwise, is essential to the non-violent cause, though we see it rather than hear it.

The large cast are as strong as previous presentations with Sarah Pring a formidable Mrs Alexander. Karen Kamensek returns to the pit and her orchestra is as light and clean textured as one could wish. There are moments when it seems to explode with light and enthusiasm. The chorus, who regularly carry the weight of the action, were in their usual excellent form – it is difficult not to take their professionalism for granted, so secure has it become.

There are times when the vast puppets and visuals now seem to have less impact than when originally experienced but the working relationship with Improbable  has proved to be a uniquely effective selling point for ENO in bringing in new audiences – and as such is very welcome.

ENO: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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Robert Carsen’s classic production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream returns to the London Coliseum

Opens Thursday 01 March at 7.30pm at the London Coliseum (6 performances)

Robert Carsen’s ‘legendary production’ (Bachtrack) of Benjamin Britten’s Shakespearean comedy returns to the London Coliseum this spring, featuring an ensemble of some of British opera’s most sparkling rising stars.

The production is the first of four works by Benjamin Britten to be performed in this fiftieth anniversary year of opera in residence at the Coliseum and highlights the historic role of the company in premiering and performing the composer’s work.  The Turn of the Screw  at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and  Paul Bunyan at Wilton’s Music Hall follow later this season, finishing with a staged interpretation of Britten’s  War Requiem  in November.

Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, with its two pairs of lovers enchanted, switched and finally given their happy ending by fairy magic, is beautifully retold in Britten’s opera. Carsen’s bewitching nocturnal staging, with Michael Levine’s arresting dreamscape designs and Matthew Bourne’s gorgeously fluid choreography, has enchanted audiences from La Scala to Beijing since its 1991 premiere at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. This is its third revival at the London Coliseum, where it last appeared in 2004.

Shakespeare’s hapless and hilarious cast of fairies, lovers and mechanicals are given life by a group of singers closely associated with ENO, including five Harewood Artists, members of ENO’s scheme for the training of talented young singers. Harewood Artist and winner of the 2016 Susan Chilcott Award Soraya Mafi sings fairy queen Tytania in her role debut, after her ‘scintillating’(The Daily Telegraph)performance as Mabel in 2017’s revival of  The Pirates of Penzance. She is joined by countertenor Christopher Ainslie as her husband Oberon; the two also sang together in October 2017 as Cleopatra and Cesare in ETO’s  Giulio Cesare. In 2014 Ainslie performed in Thebans with his most recent appearance being a ‘breathtaking’ ( The Guardian )performance in Rodelinda.

Harewood Artist David Webb returns for his second engagement of the season as the young lover Demetrius following his Messenger in  Aida . His Frederic in  The Pirates of Penzance  opposite Mafi was praised for its ‘effortless vocal lyricism’ ( What’s On Stage)and considerable comic ability. Fellow Harewood Artist Matthew Durkan sings his rival Lysander in his third appearance of the season, following Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and Malcolm Fleet in the world premiere of Marnie .

Lysander’s lover Hermia is sung by mezzo-soprano Clare Presland, who has appeared in many roles at ENO since training with Opera Works, in shows which include  Lulu, The Force of Destiny and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. She is the winner of the 2014 Susan Chilcott Award. Her rival Helena is sung by Harewood Artist Eleanor Dennis, whose role as the High Priestess earlier in the season in Aida  gained wide attention: ‘she is a major talent’ (What’s On Stage).

Bottom is sung by bass Joshua Bloom, whose comic chops were demonstrated by his swaggering Pirate King in the 2015 run of  The Pirates of Penzance . The non-singing role of Puck is performed by  Miltos Yerolemou, who has performed the role in Carsen’s production since 2008: ‘has it all: a scorching twinkle in his eye, the richest of speaking voices and fearless tumbling skills’ ( Bachtrack ). Yerelemou is known to television audiences as  Game of Thrones’  Syrio Forel.

Theseus is sung by ENO Harewood Artist Andri Björn Róbertsson and his bride Hippolyta by Emma Carrington. The band of Mechanicals, Quince, Flute, Snug, Snout and Starveling, are sung by familiar ENO faces Graeme Danby, Robert Murray, Jonathan Lemalu, Timothy Robinson and Simon Butteriss respectively.

Making his debut conducting the ENO Orchestra is Alexander Soddy, Music Director at the National Theatre at Mannheim since 2016. Having spent the last decade with orchestras in Germany and Austria, the English conductor has been a guest conductor at the Hamburg and Berlin State Operas as well as the State Theatre at Klagenfurt where as Music Director he last conducted  A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2015.

The Canadian Robert Carsen is one of the most prominent and influential international directors of opera of the last thirty years, originator of numerous acclaimed productions and recipient of the Order of Canada. Revival direction is by Emmanuelle Bastet, longtime collaborator of Carsen’s and revival director for the previous run of performances at the London Coliseum in 2004.

Matthew Bourne is one of the most important figures in contemporary choreography, whose work includes seminal interpretations of  Swan Lake  (1995) and  Carmen (Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man,  2000 ). Designer Michael Levine has provided designs for ENO productions including  The Magic Flute ( 2012 ) Between Worlds ( 2015 ) and A Dog’s Heart (2010) .  Lighting design is by Robert Carsen and Peter van Praet.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens on Thursday 01 March at 7.30pm at the London Coliseum for 6 performances: 01, 08, 10, 14 and 15 March at 7.30pm and 04 March at 3pm.