Dear Friends Welcome to March on Planet Hugill, a month when we travelled to Manchester for Manchester Camerata & RNCM, heard Tosca in Leeds, rare Donizetti & Rossini from ETO, Ethel Smyth's Der Wald and Tchaikovsky's first opera. Interviews this month include violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing, composer Stephen Montague at 80, Anton Hanson of Quatuor Hanson, and Operabase's new CEO, Ulrike Köstinger. ▪ Keenly dramatic: Puccini's Tosca at Opera North with a feisty Tosca, an unexpected Cavaradossi and a remarkable Scarpia
▪ Late-Romantic atmosphere & emotional turmoil: Ethel Smyth's Der Wald gets a rare outing
▪ More than just a rarity: Tchaikovsky's first surviving opera, Oprichnik, gets a vibrant performance from Chelsea Opera Group
▪ Gilbert & Sullivan: All-singing, all-dancing small-scale Ruddigore at Wilton's Music Hall
▪ 'Let other pens dwell on misery and grief' - a joyous ensemble performance of Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park from RNCM Opera
| ▪ | Keenly dramatic: Puccini's Tosca at Opera North with a feisty Tosca, an unexpected Cavaradossi and a remarkable Scarpia | | ▪ | Late-Romantic atmosphere & emotional turmoil: Ethel Smyth's Der Wald gets a rare outing | | ▪ | More than just a rarity: Tchaikovsky's first surviving opera, Oprichnik, gets a vibrant performance from Chelsea Opera Group | | ▪ | Gilbert & Sullivan: All-singing, all-dancing small-scale Ruddigore at Wilton's Music Hall | | ▪ | 'Let other pens dwell on misery and grief' - a joyous ensemble performance of Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park from RNCM Opera | English Touring Opera ▪ Style and youthful charm: the musical delights of Donizetti's murderous heroine, Lucrezia Borgia
▪ An enjoyable romp: Rossini's 1825 coronation opera Il viaggio a Reims
| ▪ | Style and youthful charm: the musical delights of Donizetti's murderous heroine, Lucrezia Borgia | Various Venues ▪ Sending everyone away with a smile: Academy of Ancient Music in Purcell and Locke at Milton Court Concert Hall
▪ Imaginative programming, unusual location, exceptional music-making: Nonclassical's The Greenhouse Effect at the Barbican Conservatory (Florence Anna Maunders)
▪ This is my body: Figure's imaginative rethinking of Buxtehude's intense sung devotion, Membra Jesu Nostri at the Swiss Church
▪ A real celebration of a maverick talent: Snakebite! Stephen Montague at 80, at St John's Smith Square
▪ Manchester Camerata's Mozart, Made in Manchester, featured a lovely creative dialogue between Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Gábor Takács-Nagy and the players at The Stoller Hall
▪ Intriguing, illuminating, frustrating: Henning Kraggerud and RNCM Chamber Orchestra at the RNCM
▪ After Byrd: HEXAD Collective launches its concert series exploring hidden music for voices the Priory Church of St John
▪ Handel in Rome: Nardus Williams and the Dunedin Consort at Wigmore Hall
| ▪ | Imaginative programming, unusual location, exceptional music-making: Nonclassical's The Greenhouse Effect at the Barbican Conservatory (Florence Anna Maunders) | | ▪ | This is my body: Figure's imaginative rethinking of Buxtehude's intense sung devotion, Membra Jesu Nostri at the Swiss Church | | ▪ | Manchester Camerata's Mozart, Made in Manchester, featured a lovely creative dialogue between Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Gábor Takács-Nagy and the players at The Stoller Hall | | ▪ | After Byrd: HEXAD Collective launches its concert series exploring hidden music for voices the Priory Church of St John | | ▪ | Handel in Rome: Nardus Williams and the Dunedin Consort at Wigmore Hall | Features & Interviews ▪ Successfully integrated into the same eco-system: The Stoller Hall and Chetham's School of Music in Manchester
▪ A joy in telling stories in music: the Manchester Camerata, the Monastery & music
▪ With Arctic she wanted to provide positivity and hope, to show what is worth preserving: Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing on her latest project
▪ Snakebite! composer Stephen Montague at 80
▪ A nice mix of Wagner, Franck and Saint-Saens: Anton Hanson of Quatuor Hanson, on the chamber version of Chausson's Poème on their disc, Chants nostalgiques
▪ A lockdown success story: St Mary's Perivale and its amazing programme of 120 recitals per year, viewed live and online
▪ The go-to place for information about opera performances across the globe: we chat to Operabase's new CEO, Ulrike Köstinger
| ▪ | With Arctic she wanted to provide positivity and hope, to show what is worth preserving: Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing on her latest project | | ▪ | A nice mix of Wagner, Franck and Saint-Saens: Anton Hanson of Quatuor Hanson, on the chamber version of Chausson's Poème on their disc, Chants nostalgiques | | ▪ | A lockdown success story: St Mary's Perivale and its amazing programme of 120 recitals per year, viewed live and online | | ▪ | The go-to place for information about opera performances across the globe: we chat to Operabase's new CEO, Ulrike Köstinger | Record Reviews ▪ Shifting harmonies & tonal instability: Kitty Whately & Joseph Middleton are sympathetic & communicative in their programme of late-Romantic lieder on Befreit: A Soul Surrendered
▪ A wonderful sense of poetry: Timothy Ridout in Lionel Tertis' viola transcription of Elgar's Cello Concerto
▪ Late romanticism and youthful vitality: Cello Concertos by Enrique Casals & Édouard Lalo from Jan Vogler & Moritzburg Festival Orchestra
▪ Once you hear it, I guarantee you'll be seduced: Arne Nordheim's The Tempest, Suite from the Ballet in a new recording from Bergen
▪ Friends are nothing, Family nothing, all the world is a wilderness - premiere recording of Jonathan Dove's In Exile
▪ A journey through sound: looking up | looking out from a cellar full of noise - a trumpet, a tuba & live electronics create a bit of magic
| ▪ | Shifting harmonies & tonal instability: Kitty Whately & Joseph Middleton are sympathetic & communicative in their programme of late-Romantic lieder on Befreit: A Soul Surrendered | | ▪ | A wonderful sense of poetry: Timothy Ridout in Lionel Tertis' viola transcription of Elgar's Cello Concerto | | ▪ | Late romanticism and youthful vitality: Cello Concertos by Enrique Casals & Édouard Lalo from Jan Vogler & Moritzburg Festival Orchestra | | ▪ | Friends are nothing, Family nothing, all the world is a wilderness - premiere recording of Jonathan Dove's In Exile | | ▪ | A journey through sound: looking up | looking out from a cellar full of noise - a trumpet, a tuba & live electronics create a bit of magic | Conway Hall I will be giving a pre-concert talk on Amy Beach at Conway Hall on 23 April 2023 in advance of the Fidelio Trio's concert at 6.30pm performing Beethoven's Ghost Trio, Amy Beach's Trio in A minor and Ravel's Trio in A minor. Full details from the Conway Hall website. Credits Our header image this month is Robert Hayward in Puccini's Tosca at Opera North (Photo James Glossop). Click on any of the links to take you to the relevant story on Planet Hugill. We will be bringing you more exciting content next month, and until then please do take care. | |
