| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 13-Jun-2013 Bridgewater Hall | Stirring and successful Sibelius with Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic |
 Sibelius is an extraordinarily well represented composer in Manchester and, ever since Sir John Barbirolli’s conductorship of the Hallé, all his symphonies have been presented here many times by both native and visiting orchestras – even within the last decade a Sibelius symphony cycle has been undertaken by the Hallé, and tonight marks the third and final concert of the BBC Philharmonic’s 2013 Sibelius cycle. To conclude this BBC Philharmonic trilogy of concerts and live broadcasts featuring the seven symphonies, the Third, Sixth and Seventh were given together.Read full review... | |
| 28-May-2013 Birmingham Symphony Hall | Britten's War Requiem with the CBSO and Andris Nelsons |
 The consequence of any war is destruction, and though ancient buildings continue to crumble under the terrific blast of modern warfare, the spirit of a people undefeated invariably gives way to creation with renewed fervour. Thus it was in 1962 in Coventry that, as the city’s ancient and devastated cathedral sat silently disintegrating from the Second World War’s devastating blow, the people thronged to the new adjacent cathedral of magnificent light and glass.Read full review... | |
| 27-Apr-2013 Philharmonic Hall | Rossini's not-so-petite Messe Solennelle with the RLPO and Ottavio Dantone |
 Though Rossini’s name is synonymous with 19th-century comic opera, his contribution to sacred music is not inconsiderable; a sizeable collection of masses, hymns and cantatas reach the pinnacle of their popularity in two works that still make an entertaining evening in the concert hall or church. The first is the Stabat Mater of 1832 (revised 1841), and the second is the Petite Messe Solennelle of 1863 (revised 1867).Read full review... | |
| 12-Apr-2013 Huddersfield Town Hall | Wagner, Verdi and sorrowful Stanford with the Huddersfield Choral Society |
 The bicentenary of Richard Wagner’s birth is inescapable, and it comes as no surprise that, however brief their offering, an institution as august as the Huddersfield Choral Society (HCS) could not allow the moment to pass without taking advantage of the opportunity to perform one of Wagner’s most impressive choral outbursts – “Wacht auf! Es nahet gen den Tag” (Awake! the dawn of day draws near) from Act III of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.Read full review... | |
| 29-Mar-2013 Birmingham Symphony Hall | Ex Cathedra's Good Friday St Matthew Passion at Symphony Hall, Birmingham |
 Any venue, cathedral or concert hall, that advertises a Good Friday performance of J.S. Bach’s epic St Matthew Passion is likely to sell out; even Birmingham’s vast Symphony Hall is no exception, today being full to bursting with eager parishioners making their annual pilgrimage to wallow in Bach’s all-consuming musical ministry.Read full review... | |
| 21-Mar-2013 Royal Northern College of Music | Shostakovich's Moscow, Cheryomushki at the RNCM |
 Shostakovich’s 1959 operetta Moscow, Cheryomushki (“Paradise Moscow”) is to date one of the most uncomfortable evenings I have ever spent in a theatre, though, I hasten to add, not because of the performance. The RNCM in recent years has presented some incredible shows, Barber’s tragic Vanessa and Monteverdi’s epic Ulisse, for example, and tonight’s performance from the singers, orchestra and director was excellent – but this rare example of the lighter Shostakovich is not an experience I would care to repeat.Read full review... | |
| 13-Mar-2013 Bridgewater Hall | MacMillan, Britten and Stravinsky with the BBC Philharmonic and H.K. Gruber |
 Conductor H.K. Gruber’s visits to the BBC Philharmonic are guaranteed to be unmissable concerts of the season; with unquenchable enthusiasm and pride in the music he programmes, Gruber, (known affectionately to all as “Nali”), always assures a stirring performance.
Read full review... | |
| 1-Mar-2013 Epstein Theatre | Britten's The Beggar's Opera with the RLPO |
 On 29 January 1728, at John Rich’s theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, playwright John Gay and composer Johann Christoph Pepusch presented to the London public a new ballad opera that would shake the foundations of musical entertainment. Hitherto dominated by Italian opera, the London stage was principally the stomping ground of composers like Handel, Porpora, and Bononcini, as well as the imported French, German and Italian opera stars of the day, all of whom achieved dizzying levels of success.Read full review... | |
| 28-Feb-2013 Bridgewater Hall | Dreams of Mozart and Mendelssohn with the Hallé |
 Mozart and Mendelssohn are surely two of the most popular composers for both the seasoned elitist and the irregular classical listener; tonight’s offering of time-tested favourites wrapped in the summer breeze of familiarity, coupled with the rare and exciting prospect of hearing Mendelssohn’s complete incidental music for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was likely to be a draw – and it was.
Read full review... | |
| 31-Jan-2013 Bridgewater Hall | Britten, Ravel and Janáček with Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé |
 The 2013 Britten centenary celebrations are now well under way with every major and minor musical institution, British and foreign, scheduling a broad range of works in honour of Britten’s birth. The Hallé’s first contribution, under the direction of Sir Mark Elder, consists of a suite, compiled by Mervyn Cooke and Donald Mitchell, from Britten’s only full-length ballet score The Prince of the Pagodas.Read full review... | |
| 17-Jan-2013 Birmingham Symphony Hall | Springtime and the sea with Edward Gardner and the CBSO |
 The sea has been the inspiration for many concert works; Debussy’s La mer springs to mind immediately as perhaps the most popular, but in England during the first half of the 20th century nautical themes sustained an important presence. Amongst Delius’ Sea Drift, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony and Britten’s Four Sea Interludes sits Frank Bridge’s short and splendid suite The Sea.
Read full review... | |
| 5-Jan-2013 Leeds Town Hall | The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain are the sun to Holst's Planets |
 Assembling tonight in Leeds Town Hall for a programme of English and American scores by Adams, Britten and Holst, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, directed by John Wilson, presented three fiendishly difficult works. With all three pieces incorporating a variety of prominently nerve-shattering musical agonies, this programme might be the frustration or terror of any professional orchestra.
Read full review... | |
| 9-Dec-2012 Royal Northern College of Music | Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria at the RNCM |
 Since its inception in 1972 the Royal Northern College of Music has gained a reputation for excellence in the field of opera, having often staged extraordinary productions of repertoire familiar and forgotten. Including everything from Britten’s Gloriana to Carmen and from Vaughan Williams’ Hugh the Drover to Barber’s Vanessa, the RNCM has made the courageous leap into the mid-17th-century with Monteverdi’s Greek epic Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, having never attempted the work before.
Read full review... | |
| 15-Nov-2012 Royal Northern College of Music | 40th anniversary of the Royal Northern College of Music |
 Manchester’s musical history is extensive and impressive. Ranging from the founding of the UK’s oldest professional symphony orchestra (the Hallé – founded in tandem with the UK’s oldest and largest specialist music shop, Forsyth Bros. Ltd.) in 1858, to the inauguration of the UK’s largest specialist music school (Chetham’s School of Music) in 1969, the city has a strong musical culture engraved on its soul.Read full review... | |
| 10-Nov-2012 Bridgewater Hall | Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Dvořák and Janáček with the Hallé |
 The solo violin repertoire is rich; from Bach to Bartók and beyond, the instrument has an enviable catalogue of impressive works. Prokofiev’s principal contribution to the solo violinist’s career consists of two sonatas (one also favoured amongst flautists), and two concerti. However, in 1947, Prokofiev was commissioned to write a piece for 20 or 30 talented student violinists playing in unison. The resulting Sonata for unison violins, Op.Read full review... | |
| 5-Nov-2012 The London Coliseum | The Pilgrim's Progress to the London Coliseum |
 Professional performances of English operas are rare – they always have been – and it is presumably the 60th anniversary of The Pilgrim’s Progress specifically that has prompted this 2012 revival. It seems that without a significant anniversary to justify blowing the dust off a score, English operas tend to lie unheeded – the exception of course is Benjamin Britten. Even so, if these seven ENO performances are simply a timely nod to one of England’s best loved composers, their arrival is welcome.Read full review... | |
| 27-Oct-2012 Bridgewater Hall | BBC Philharmonic with Martin Roscoe and John Storgårds in Sibelius, Beethoven and Nielsen |
 Since the end of September, the Manchester concert scene has been in full swing; performances from the city’s native and visiting ensembles (orchestral and chamber) are all speeding towards a diverse and exciting season of familiar and forgotten works in chamber recitals, orchestral concerts and opera. One especially well-represented composer this season is Finland’s Jean Sibelius. Born in Hämeenlinna in 1865, Sibelius is responsible for seven extraordinary symphonies, a host of tone poems and many songs, as well as incidental music, choral works and chamber music.Read full review... | |
| 25-Sep-2012 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | The walk to paradise: Delius' A Village Romeo and Juliet on the South Bank |
 The music of Bradford-born composer Frederick Delius (1862–1934) is a love or hate affair. Whether you bask in the romantic lushness of his godless and nature-influenced ramblings, or find yourself drowning in a poor-quality school soup consisting of unappetisingly vague harmonic shifts, he is a composer that inspires passionate discussion. Personally, I am of the former camp and find Delius to be one of the most original and imaginative composers of the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries.Read full review... | |
| 18-Aug-2012 Buxton Opera House | The Grand Duke at the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival |
| One hundred and sixteen years ago, on 7 March 1896, Gilbert and Sullivan presented before the London public their final Savoy Opera: The Grand Duke. It may surprise some readers to learn that The Grand Duke has received no professional treatment since this time, save for a single concert performance on 5 April 1975; thus, on Friday 17 August 2012, the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company made history, being the first company to stage the work professionally since its première.
Read full review... | |
| 10-Aug-2012 Buxton Opera House | A British tar is a soaring soul: HMS Pinafore at the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival |
 Few 19th-century operettas exceed HMS Pinafore in style, wit and musical accomplishment; the principal candidates in English are The Mikado, and The Yeoman of the Guard, plus a few offerings by Lionel Monckton and Sidney Jones. Any foreign contender would surely be one of the champagne-soaked Viennese delicacies by the Strauss family or Carl Zeller.
Read full review... | |
| 3-Aug-2012 Buxton Opera House | Gilbert and Sullivan's Gondoliers in Buxton |
 Among the fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, it must be acknowledged that there are glimpses of weakness. The Gondoliers maintains one of Gilbert’s typically insane plots, which is best described as ‘topsy-turvy’ until the final scene, when order is restored. Likewise the music is far from Sullivan’s strongest score, but there are moments of inspired vocal writing.
Read full review... | |
| 29-Jul-2012 Buxton Opera House | Marvellous Mikado at the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival |
 The Gilbert and Sullivan canon perhaps achieves the pinnacle of its greatness with The Mikado. The ninth of their fourteen collaborations, it was premièred at the Savoy Theatre in 1885 and the gentlemen were rewarded with an extraordinary success.
Read full review... | |
| 26-Jul-2012 Hereford Cathedral | Three Choirs Festival: Ireland, Delius and Elgar with Nardone and the Philharmonia |
 A second scorching day in Hereford at the Three Choirs Festival concluded with another excellent concert.
Before an audience that filled the cathedral to capacity, the Philharmonia Orchestra assembled on the platform and a warm welcome was given to conductor Peter Nardone.
Read full review... | |
| 25-Jul-2012 Hereford Cathedral | Dyson's Canterbury Pilgrims at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford |
 Sir George Dyson (1883–1964) is now principally remembered by the generations of grown-up schoolchildren who sang his many songs for educational use, and more recently by church choirs and congregations for his religious music. Dyson’s orchestral oeuvre (which includes a Violin Concerto, a Symphony in G and a host of smaller concertante and chamber works) is lamentably overlooked – though, during his lifetime, this music was once enthusiastically championed by the leading artists of the day including the violinist Albert Sammons.
Read full review... | |
| 16-Jul-2012 Buxton Opera House | Britten's Turn of the Screw at the Buxton Festival |
 Henry James’ chilling 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw is a curious story and might be considered a gift to any composer as the basis of an extraordinarily sinister opera libretto.Read full review... | |
| 7-Jul-2012 Buxton Opera House | Strauss' Intermezzo at Buxton Festival |
 Buxton, a small spa town in Derbyshire, has been home to one of the most imaginative and important festivals in Britain for over thirty years. In the intimate setting of the modestly sized opera house, the festival presents a staggering programme of literature, plays, opera and recitals every summer, remaining one of the principal hotspots in the country to hear both the familiar and the forgotten.
Read full review... | |
| 5-May-2012 Bridgewater Hall | Elder's apostolic Elgar: The Apostles at the Bridgewater Hall |
 Elgar’s oratorios The Apostles (1903) and The Kingdom (1906) are the manifestation of a fascination that he had held since his childhood in Worcester. When alerted by one of his schoolmasters that at the time of their calling into the service of Christ, the twelve apostles were perhaps no more intelligent than those assembled in that school room, Elgar’s imagination swelled and mused on thoughts of the Apostles’ youth and humanity; their faith, their weaknesses, their astonishment in Christ’s miracles and their grief at his crucifixion.Read full review... | |
| 12-Apr-2012 Birmingham Symphony Hall | Gardner's Dreamy Gerontius at the Birmingham Symphony Hall |
 Whatever your theological convictions, Christian or otherwise, it is doubtless that the collective elements that make up The Dream of Gerontius contribute to one of the greatest works of both English literature and the English Choral Tradition. The poem, by Cardinal John Henry Newman (Beatified in 2010), received instant success following its initial publication in two parts in the May and June issues of the Catholic periodical The Month in 1865.Read full review... | |
| 6-Apr-2012 Birmingham Symphony Hall | Gergiev and the Mariinsky excel in Wagner's Parsifal at the Birmingham Symphony Hall |
 Why attend a concert performance of an opera? What is the point without the action and the spectacle collectively resulting in, hopefully, the awe-inspiring whole? In answer to this I should like to suggest that concert performances of opera are the perfect opportunity to really ‘get under the skin’ of a work, for two principal reasons. Firstly: scenery, costumes, props, lighting effects, choking dry-ice and even pungent aromas used to aid the action are absent, and thus one may connect with the music and plot completely free of distractions. Secondly: why not just listen to a recording?Read full review... | |
| 30-Mar-2012 Huddersfield Town Hall | Huddersfield Choral Society: Fauré, Gounod and Duruflé |
 Once upon a time it was standard practice that most public concerts in Britain would be preceded by the National Anthem; last night in Huddersfield Town Hall a great many members of the audience were caught off guard when a brass and percussion fanfare struck up into the loudest, most ecstatic rendition of ‘God Save the Queen’ I have ever heard. Two verses were sung, split between soprano soloist Katherine Broderick and the chorus with audience participation.Read full review... | |
| 24-Mar-2012 Bridgewater Hall | BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena: Debussy, Gershwin and Mussorgsky |
 The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra are at once to be commended for colourful programming, and this evening’s concert was an excellent example of their facility in imagination. Tonight the audience dreamed with Debussy, swung with Gershwin, were lulled and bathed in the Spanish sunshine by Granados and, finally, blown from their seats and into the streets with Mussorgsky.
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| 16-Mar-2012 Bridgewater Hall | BBC Philharmonic: Sibelius and Beethoven |
 Manchester audiences are lucky; every year the Bridgewater Hall presents a staggering array of music that could rival any concert hall between Earth and Pluto. Within the last seven days we have been fortunate enough to hear music from the baroque to the twentieth century, including a semi-staged version of Henry Purcell’s semi-opera King Arthur with the New London Consort and Philip Pickett, followed by the Hallé with Sir Mark Elder performing astonishing renditions of Holst’s Hymn of Jesus and Elgar’s Second Symphony, and the week was capped off on Friday night by the BBC Philharmonic and their concert of Sibelius and Beethoven.Read full review... | |
| 12-Feb-2012 Opernhaus | Ariadne in Zurich |
 Richard Strauss’ outstanding catalogue of operas is part of the staple diet of opera houses around the world. From the musically and dramatically intense scores of Salome and Elektra to the romantically lush, emotional sweepings of Der Rosenkavalier, there is something in his canon for all manner of opera enthusiasts. Ariadne auf Naxos (first performed in Stuttgart in 1912) has had many popular revivals, though may still be counted amongst Strauss’ rarer performed works – any opportunity in which to hear it should be taken.Read full review... | |
