Live events
Paul Riley picks the month’s best concert and opera highlights in the UK
LONDON Jean-guihen Queyras
Milton Court, 4 April
Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 8891
Web: www.barbican.org.uk Across the course of an afternoon, the French cellist plays all six of Bach’s solo suites, each accompanied by a contemporary ‘echo’, five of which were commissioned by Queyras himself. Written in response to Bach, these including miniatures by György Kurtág, Jonathan Harvey and Gilbert Amy.
London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
Royal Festival Hall, 25 April
Tel: +44 (0)20 3879 9555
Web: www.southbankcentre.co.uk Janácˇek’s Glagolitic Mass has become something of a calling card for conductor Edward Gardner. Boasting a formidable solo vocal quartet including soprano Sara Jakubiak and tenor Stuart Skelton, it follows Lutos¯awski’s dazzling Concerto for Orchestra and the vivid storytelling of Sibelius’s Pohjola’s Daughter.
London Sinfonietta
Kings Place, 26 April
Tel: +44 (0)20 7520 1490
Web: www.kingsplace.co.uk
The Sinfonietta’s Turning
Points series and Kings Place’s year-long Nature Unwrapped strand converge neatly in a portrait of Toru Takemitsu, conducted by Jonathan Berman. Celebrating the composer’s love of the natural world, the programme includes And then I knew t’was wind and Rain coming, alongside works by Debussy, Messiaen and Webern.
Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde
Royal Opera House,
27 April -11 May
Tel: +44 (0)20 7304 4000
Web: www.roh.org.uk
Semyon Bychkov has already established his Wagnerian credentials at Covent Garden conducting Lohengrin and Tannhäuser. Now he tackles the operatic game-changer Tristan und Isolde in a revival of Christof Loy’s award-winning production. Michael Weinius and Ricarda Merbeth make their Royal Opera House debuts in the title roles.
New York Philharmonic
The Barbican, 30 April, 1 May Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 8891
Web: www.barbican.org.uk Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony is the stand-alone work in the second of Jaap van Zweden’s two concerts with his orchestra at the Barbican. In the first, he conducts Mahler’s First Symphony alongside Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, played by Daniil Trifonov.
SOUTH
The English Concert
St George’s Bristol, 6 April
Tel: +44 (0)845 4024 001
Web: www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk Director Harry Bicket opts for the 1739 version of Bach’s St John Passion, a dramatic setting that predates its St Matthew sibling. Tenor Gwilym Bowen is the Evangelist, responsible for narrating the tale; Stefan Loges sings the role of Jesus.
Joglaresa
St Mary’s Church,
Totnes, 18 April
Tel: +44 (0)1803 847070
Web: www.totnesearlymusic.org.uk
‘The Enchantress of Seville’ is the title of this fascinating East-meets-west programme exploring the origins of Iberian song. Judeo-spanish romanzas and Arab-andalusian ballads are woven around motets from the convent of Las Huelgas in northern Spain.
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Lighthouse, Poole, 22 April
Tel: +44 (0)1202 280000
Web: www.bsolive.com
Ensecu’s opulently scored First Symphony is the focus of this concert dedicated to the memory of the orchestra’s former music director Constantin Silvestri. Conductor and fellow Romanian Ion Marin pairs it with another work begun that year: Debussy’s kaleidoscopic triptych Images.
EAST
Easter Weekend
The Maltings, Snape, 10-12 April Tel: +44 (0)1728 687110
Web: www.snapemaltings.co.uk
Trio So¯ra remembers Beethoven’s 250th-anniversary year, while harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani splices JS Bach with Pachelbel and Tallis. Snape Maltings then launches straight into the Easter Weekend, with Bach’s St Matthew Passion and James Macmillan’s Stabat Mater.
Ailish Tynan
Marble Hall, Holkham, 24 April Tel: +44 (0)1328 713111
Web: www.holkham.co.uk
The Irish soprano might have sung operatic roles from La
Scala to Houston, but she first conquered hearts winning the Song Prize at the 2003 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. And it’s to song she returns, joined by pianist Iain Burnside in a recital ranging from Wolf and Strauss to Duparc and Berlioz.
MIDLANDS,
NORTH AND WALES City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall,
Birmingham, 2 April
Tel: +44 (0)121 780 3333
Web: www.thsh.co.uk
As it celebrates its 100th anniversary, the CBSO welcomes former composer-in-association Julian Anderson into its ambitious ‘Centenary Commissions’ list, with Alban Gerhardt performing the resulting cello concerto, Litanies.
Conducted by Kazuki Yamada, it sits between Fauré’s enchanting Masques et bergamasques and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella.
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Wylam Brewery,
Newcastle, 2 April
Tel: +44 (0)191 443 4661
Web: www.sagegateshead.com Returning to the micro-brewery (see left), the Newcastle orchestra raises a glass to three 20th-century classics. Framing Steve Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint are Arvo Pärt’s Summa and Gavin Bryars’s Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.
Leeds Lieder Festival
University Music School,
Leeds, 16-19 April
Tel: +44 (0)113 234 6956
Web: www.leedslieder.org.uk Celebrating Leeds Lieder’s 10th-anniversary year, pianist Iain Burnside explores the words and music of
Wagner (incorporating his Wesendonck-lieder) and The Songmakers’ Almanac unravel the plot of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. The festival’s opening gala spells ‘Happy Birthday Leeds Lieder’ in song, with poetry read by Thomas Allen.
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, 24 April Tel: +44 (0)800 052 1812
Web: www.bbc.co.uk/bbcnow Didgeridoo maestro William Barton is an eye-catching addition to the orchestra’s Colaboratory series which dives down under for an Antipodean evening of works by Grainger, Sculthorpe and Brett Dean alongside improvisations by Barton himself. Jessica
Cottis conducts (see right).
SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND Scottish Opera
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 31 March – 4 April
Tel: +44 (0)131 529 6000
Web: www.scottishopera.org.uk Conductor Stuart Stratford teams up with Dominic Hall, director of Glasgow Citizens Theatre, for a new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And there’s an intriguing addition: in the foyer before each performance is Hermia’s Nightmare, a new work by Samuel Bordoli examining the scenes Britten left out.
Sestina
St Anne’s Cathedral,
Belfast, 16 April
Tel: +44 (0)28 9032 8332
Web: www.sestinamusic.com Ahead of its debut recording, the ensemble warms up with a three-date Irish tour focusing on Monteverdi, including the Dixit Dominus from the 1640 Selva Morale e Spirituale, as well as an eight-part Mass by his pupil Rigatti and Giovanni Gabrieli’s Maria Virgo. The 20-strong choir will be joined by an ensemble of early music specialists.
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
City Halls, Glasgow, 16 April
Tel: +44 (0)141 353 8000
Web: www.glasgowconcerthalls.com Alma Mahler is at the heart of an impassioned programme featuring five of her songs – newly arranged by Roxanna Panufnik – and the violin concerto dedicated to her by Korngold. Works by Joan Tower, Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Respighi follow. Simone Lamsma is the soloist;
Valentina Peleggi conducts.