Dear Friends
Welcome to July on Planet Hugill, a month which included the Buxton Festival, the continuing of Opera Holland Park, Glyndebourne, and the BBC Proms.
Our interviews this month include composer Andrew Chen talking about his premieres at the Cheltenham Festival, Voice trio on Hildegard of Bingen, Rosetta Cucchi, artistic director of Wexford Festival Opera, conductor Peter Selwyn on Wagner in Bayreuth and at Grimeborn, and composer Mark Adamo on the UK premiere of his opera Little Women.
▪ Style and substance: a fascinating & engaging account of The Yeomen of the Guard at the Grange Festival
▪ Dutch director Annemiek van Elst brings a very different ethos to the comedy of Britten's Albert Herring for St Paul's Opera
▪ Welcome to L'isola di Alcina: Glyndebourne's first production of Handel's opera
▪ South Pacific: Stupendous performances from Julian Ovenden & Gina Beck head this striking new version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic
| ▪ | Dutch director Annemiek van Elst brings a very different ethos to the comedy of Britten's Albert Herring for St Paul's Opera |
| ▪ | Welcome to L'isola di Alcina: Glyndebourne's first production of Handel's opera |
| ▪ | South Pacific: Stupendous performances from Julian Ovenden & Gina Beck head this striking new version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic |
Opera Holland Park
▪ Unsung Heroines: Lauren Fagan & Opera Holland Park Young Artists in a celebration of women composers and more
▪ Added depth: Julien Van Mellaerts & James Baillieu mix Die schöne Müllerin with the poems not set by Schubert, read by Christopher Purves, to remarkable effect
▪ Operatic rarities in a striking double bill, Delius and Puccini
▪ More than just sisterhood: Mark Adamo's Little Women finally gets its UK premiere in Ella Marchment's imaginative production
| ▪ | Unsung Heroines: Lauren Fagan & Opera Holland Park Young Artists in a celebration of women composers and more |
| ▪ | Added depth: Julien Van Mellaerts & James Baillieu mix Die schöne Müllerin with the poems not set by Schubert, read by Christopher Purves, to remarkable effect |
| ▪ | More than just sisterhood: Mark Adamo's Little Women finally gets its UK premiere in Ella Marchment's imaginative production |
Buxton Festival
▪ Not a kilt in sight: Jacopo Spirei's fascinating production of Rossini's La donna de lago at Buxton
▪ Baroque gem: Hasse's early serenata Antonio e Cleopatra gets an intriguing modern staging in Buxton with some stylish singing
▪ Our Future in Your Hands: Kate Whitley's new oratorio for Buxton used a chorus of children from local schools and students from the RNCM to terrific effect
| ▪ | Not a kilt in sight: Jacopo Spirei's fascinating production of Rossini's La donna de lago at Buxton |
| ▪ | Baroque gem: Hasse's early serenata Antonio e Cleopatra gets an intriguing modern staging in Buxton with some stylish singing |
| ▪ | Our Future in Your Hands: Kate Whitley's new oratorio for Buxton used a chorus of children from local schools and students from the RNCM to terrific effect |
BBC Proms
▪ Purcell writ large: a lavish Dido and Aeneas
▪ Prom 14: Flavours of late romanticism, Yamada and the CBSO in Rachmaninov and Ethel Smyth
| ▪ | Prom 14: Flavours of late romanticism, Yamada and the CBSO in Rachmaninov and Ethel Smyth |
Various Venues
▪ Arun Ghosh's The Canticle of the Sun at the Spitalfields Music Festival
▪ Telling tales of love: Ailish Tynan and James Baillieu at Wigmore Hall
▪ Farewell Comrade: Music written in the shadow of death, Theresienstadt 1941-1945 at Temple Music
| ▪ | Farewell Comrade: Music written in the shadow of death, Theresienstadt 1941-1945 at Temple Music |
Interviews
▪ New ways of working: composer Andrew Chen has two contrasting pieces at this year's Cheltenham Music Festival
▪ Growing up with Hildegard: Voice trio on the importance of Hildegard of Bingen's music to them alongside contemporary pieces
▪ Rediscovered rarities, new opera and young artists: I chat to Rosetta Cucchi, artistic director of Wexford Festival Opera
▪ From Bayreuth to Grimeborn: having assisted at Bayreuth Festival's new Ring Cycle, Peter Selwyn moves on to conduct the concluding parts of the Grimeborn Festival's ambitious Ring Cycle
▪ Little Women & after: I chat to composer Mark Adamo about the UK premiere of his opera & more
| ▪ | New ways of working: composer Andrew Chen has two contrasting pieces at this year's Cheltenham Music Festival |
| ▪ | Growing up with Hildegard: Voice trio on the importance of Hildegard of Bingen's music to them alongside contemporary pieces |
| ▪ | Rediscovered rarities, new opera and young artists: I chat to Rosetta Cucchi, artistic director of Wexford Festival Opera |
| ▪ | From Bayreuth to Grimeborn: having assisted at Bayreuth Festival's new Ring Cycle, Peter Selwyn moves on to conduct the concluding parts of the Grimeborn Festival's ambitious Ring Cycle |
| ▪ | Little Women & after: I chat to composer Mark Adamo about the UK premiere of his opera & more |
Record Reviews
▪ Gareth Wilson & choir of Girton College, Cambridge return to the richly textured music of Marc'Antonio Ingegneri for a second disc on Toccata Classics
▪ French-style elegance, Italian lyricism and virtuosity: Adrian Butterfield in Leclair's violin sonatas
▪ Evoking the Ancien Régime: grandeur & imagination in Jean-Joseph de Mondonville's Grands Motets
▪ Sit back and enjoy: London Early Opera's engagingly virtuosic performance of Handel's pasticcio, Caio Fabbricio
▪ The Dragon of Wantley: a fine Handelian cast have terrific fun with Lampe's parody of opera seria
▪ Frothy fun: Johann Strauss' unaccountably neglected operetta Blindekuh
▪ Interior life: Malcolm Martineau and friends in the complete songs of Henri Duparc
| ▪ | Gareth Wilson & choir of Girton College, Cambridge return to the richly textured music of Marc'Antonio Ingegneri for a second disc on Toccata Classics |
| ▪ | Evoking the Ancien Régime: grandeur & imagination in Jean-Joseph de Mondonville's Grands Motets |
| ▪ | Sit back and enjoy: London Early Opera's engagingly virtuosic performance of Handel's pasticcio, Caio Fabbricio |
| ▪ | Frothy fun: Johann Strauss' unaccountably neglected operetta Blindekuh |
And Elsewhere
▪ Someone else asks the questions: my interview with Expressive Audio
Credits
Our header image this month shows Nicky Spence and dancers in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the BBC Proms with La Nuova Musica and David Bates (Photo: Christopher Christodoulou).
Please click on any of the links to go to the relevant story at Planet Hugill. Until next month, please do take care.
Regards
Robert
