Dear Friends
Welcome to May on Planet Hugill, a month which saw us visiting Berlin for Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini and a new staging of Handel's Saul, whilst our correspondent Florence caught the second installment Regent Opera's Ring Cycle, and we also heard early Donizetti from Opera Rara.
Interviews this month include the composer and sitarist Jasdeep Singh Degun, Syrian composer and musician Maya Youssef, Norwegian composer Bjørn Morten Christophersen, composer Bushra El-Turk on her opera Woman at Point Zero and Wexford Festival Opera's principal guest conductor Francesco Cilluffo.
In Berlin & Essen
▪ Ein Sommernachtstraum in Essen: Jérémie Rhorer and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie
▪ No ordinary evening: Christof Loy directs Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Sara Jakubiak & Jonathan Tetelman
▪ Style, imagination & not a little daring: a new staging of Handel's Saul at Berlin's Komische Oper
| ▪ | No ordinary evening: Christof Loy directs Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Sara Jakubiak & Jonathan Tetelman |
| ▪ | Style, imagination & not a little daring: a new staging of Handel's Saul at Berlin's Komische Oper |
Various Venues
▪ Casta Diva: trumpeter Matilda Lloyd showing just what her instrument can do with elegant yet dazzling accounts of Italian bel canto arias at Wigmore Hall
▪ Silence, texture and atmosphere: music by John Luther Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Judith Weir, and Gary Carpenter at Royal Academy of Music's Fragile Festival
▪ Kate Royal, Christine Rice & Julius Drake in Brahms, Schumann and Weill at Temple Song
▪ Finding his way: Opera Rara's revival of Donizetti's relatively early L'esule di Roma showed a composer finding his own voice at Cadogan Hall
▪ Then I play'd upon the Harpsichord: Ensemble Hesperi's engaging look at the musical life of Queen Charlotte
| ▪ | Casta Diva: trumpeter Matilda Lloyd showing just what her instrument can do with elegant yet dazzling accounts of Italian bel canto arias at Wigmore Hall |
| ▪ | Silence, texture and atmosphere: music by John Luther Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Judith Weir, and Gary Carpenter at Royal Academy of Music's Fragile Festival |
| ▪ | Kate Royal, Christine Rice & Julius Drake in Brahms, Schumann and Weill at Temple Song |
| ▪ | Finding his way: Opera Rara's revival of Donizetti's relatively early L'esule di Roma showed a composer finding his own voice at Cadogan Hall |
From our contributor Florence
▪ Cautionary Tales: the current cohort of Young Artists from the National Opera Studio in an evening of contemporary opera
▪ The Library of a Prussian Princess: Ensemble Augelletti at the Newbury Spring Festival
▪ Reduced forces, but heightened drama: an intimate, chamber production of Wagner's Die Walküre from Regents Opera
| ▪ | Cautionary Tales: the current cohort of Young Artists from the National Opera Studio in an evening of contemporary opera |
| ▪ | Reduced forces, but heightened drama: an intimate, chamber production of Wagner's Die Walküre from Regents Opera |
Interviews & Features
▪ Meditating, listening & letting the music unfold: Syrian composer & musician Maya Youssef on the inspirations behind her music
▪ A love of telling stories: Norwegian composer Bjørn Morten Christophersen on setting Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species to music
▪ Steeping listeners in Indian classical music without them knowing it: sitar player Jasdeep Singh Degun
▪ From Psychic Shellfish to a leading role in Wagner's Ring Cycle: Ingeborg Børch's Regents Opera journey
▪ The festival connects you with opera's good side: Wexford Festival Opera's principal guest conductor Francesco Cilluffo on the joys of operatic rediscovery
▪ The story is 40 years old but nothing much has changed about women's rights in the region: Bushra El-Turk on her opera Woman at Point Zero which comes to Covent Garden next month
| ▪ | Meditating, listening & letting the music unfold: Syrian composer & musician Maya Youssef on the inspirations behind her music |
| ▪ | A love of telling stories: Norwegian composer Bjørn Morten Christophersen on setting Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species to music |
| ▪ | Steeping listeners in Indian classical music without them knowing it: sitar player Jasdeep Singh Degun |
| ▪ | From Psychic Shellfish to a leading role in Wagner's Ring Cycle: Ingeborg Børch's Regents Opera journey |
| ▪ | The festival connects you with opera's good side: Wexford Festival Opera's principal guest conductor Francesco Cilluffo on the joys of operatic rediscovery |
| ▪ | The story is 40 years old but nothing much has changed about women's rights in the region: Bushra El-Turk on her opera Woman at Point Zero which comes to Covent Garden next month |
Record Reviews
▪ Songs of heartbreak and loss: American counter-tenor Randall Scotting explores 17th-century song from Dowland to Purcell, Étienne Moulinié to Antonio Cesti
▪ Giovanni Legrenzi: Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano explore motets by one of Venice's most prominent composers
▪ A lovely immediacy to the performances: in Monologues, Anna Bonitatibus explores a century of dramatic scenes for solo voice
▪ Grażyna Bacewicz's piano concertos and more on an exciting disc from Peter Jablonski & the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
| ▪ | Songs of heartbreak and loss: American counter-tenor Randall Scotting explores 17th-century song from Dowland to Purcell, Étienne Moulinié to Antonio Cesti |
| ▪ | Giovanni Legrenzi: Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano explore motets by one of Venice's most prominent composers |
| ▪ | A lovely immediacy to the performances: in Monologues, Anna Bonitatibus explores a century of dramatic scenes for solo voice |
| ▪ | Grażyna Bacewicz's piano concertos and more on an exciting disc from Peter Jablonski & the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra |
Credits
Our header image this month is Rupert Charlesworth (Jonathan) and Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (David) in Handel's Saul at the Komische Oper Berlin, photo credit Barbara Braun.
Click on any of the links to take you to the relevant story on Planet Hugill. We will be back next month with more reviews, interviews and features, until then, please do take care.
Regards
Robert
