Barbican Hall Golfam Khayam: Je ne suis pas une fable à conter (UK premiere) Haydn: Symphony no.39 in G minor Claude Vivier: Orion Debussy: Syrinx Sibelius: Luonnotar Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin: Suite Gareth Davies (flute) London Symphony Orchestra Barbara Hannigan (soprano/conductor) The second of Barbara Hannigan’s two March LSO concerts opened with a UK premiere: Golfam Khayam’s Je ne suis pas une fable à conter, which Hannigan commissioned and has already performed with the Iceland Symphony, Radio France Philharmonic, and Gothenburg Symphony orchestras. Kh ..read more

Wigmore Hall Stravinsky: Concertino Simon Holt: Acrobats on a loose wire (world premiere) Helen Grime: Long have I lain beside the water (world premiere) Davies: String Quintet Carter: Mosaic John Casken: Mantle (world premiere) Colin Matthews: C.A.N.O.N. (world premiere) Julian Anderson: Van Gogh Blue Claire Booth (soprano) Nash Ensemble Martyn Brabbins (conductor) Founded in October 1964 by Amelia Freedman at the Royal Academy of Music, a shortish walk away from the Wigmore Hall, the Nash Ensemble is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary season, this the culminating concert in a day’s even ..read more

Barbican Hall Images: Mark Allan Roussel: Le Festin de l’araignée (symphonic fragments) Ravel, arr. Anthony Girard: Histoires naturelles Britten: Les Illuminations Haydn: Symphony no.104, ‘London’ Stéphane Degout (baritone) London Symphony Orchestra Barbara Hannigan (soprano/conductor) Barbara Hannigan is unquestionably a star in today’s musical firmament. Anyone who has heard (and seen) her Ligeti Mysteries of the Macabre, live or recorded, would neither doubt nor forget that. I have been an admirer, even a devotee since I first heard her, singing songs by Berg and Webern with ..read more

Purcell Room Cage: Six Melodies Boulez: Improvisé—pour le Dr. K Cage: Credo in US Boulez: Dérive 1 Boulez: Domaines Cage: Variations I Francesca Amewudah-Rivers (actor) Michael McCarthy (director) Mark van de Wiel (clarinet) Sarah Nicolls (prepared piano) London Sinfonietta Thomas Kemp (conductor) Images: Monika S Jakubowska This London Sinfonietta concert, ‘innovative’ in the best rather than the debased, trivial way, framed performances of works by Pierre Boulez and John Cage with engaging readings from their correspondence by Francesca Amewudah-Rivers and short filmed cont ..read more

Royal Festival Hall Beethoven: Piano Sonata no.27 in E minor, op.90 Schoenberg: Three Piano Pieces, op.11 Kurtág: Márta ligaturája Schubert: Piano Sonata no.21 in B-flat major, op.posth., D 960 Mitsuko Uchida (piano) An evening with Mitsuko Uchida is rarely less than a privilege, and this was no exception. One audience member at the start seemed to take the idea a little too far, resolutely continuing to film her despite verbal and gestural requests to stop. An usher had to walk across the hall and point a sign forbidding use of telephones in the person’s face. Extraordinary! What with tha ..read more

Barbican Hall Études, op.10 Trois Nouvelles Études, B130 Études, op.25 Louis Lortie (piano)   I do not think I had previously heard all of Chopin’s piano studies given on a single evening. Fortunately, Louis Lortie’s recital was not one of those occasions on which one ends up thinking that might have made more sense as a CD than a concert programme; there is certainly much to be gained by hearing the works together, not only the two celebrated sets, but also the Trois Nouvelles Études written in 1839 as a contribution to Ignaz Moscheles and François-Joseph Fétis’s Méthode des mét ..read more

York Hall, Bethnal Green Images: Steve Gregson Siegfried (Peter Furlong), Hagen (Simon Wilding), Gunther (Andrew Mayor) First Norn - Ingeborg Novrup Børch Second Norn, Flosshilde – Mae Haydorn Third Norn, Woglinde – Jillian Finnamore Brünnhilde – Catharine Woodward Siegfried – Peter Furlong Gunther – Andrew Mayor Hagen – Simon Wilding Gutrune – Justine Viani Waltraute – Catherine Backhouse Alberich – Oliver Gibbs Wellgunde – Elizabeth Findon Vassals – Davide Basso, Max Catalano, Anthony Colasanto, Jacob Dyksterhouse, Tim Sawers, Alfred Mitchell, Ed Walters, Robin Whitehouse, Guy ..read more

Coliseum Images: Ellie Kurttz Queen Mary (Heidi Stober) Queen Mary – Heidi Stober James Stewart, Earl of Moray – Alex Otterburn Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley – Rupert Charlesworth James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell – John Findon David Riccio – Barnaby Rea Cardinal Beaton – Darren Jeffery Lord Gordon – Alastair Miles Earl of Ruthven – Ronald Samm Earl of Morton – Jolyon Loy Mary Seton – Jenny Stafford Mary Beaton – Monica McGhee Mary Livingston – Felicity Buckland Mary Fleming – Siān Griffiths Director, designs – Stewart Laing Associate costume designs – Mady Berry Lighting – D.M. Wood ..read more

York Hall, Bethnal Green Images: Matthew Coughlan (unless stated otherwise) Rhinemaidens (Jillian Finnamore, Justine Viani), Alberich (Oliver Gibbs) Wotan – Ralf Lukas Donner – Andrew Mayor Froh – Calvin Lee Loge – James Schouten Fricka – Ingeborg Børch Freia – Charlotte Richardson Erda, Flosshilde – Mae Heydorn Alberich – Oliver Gibbs Mime – Holden Madagame Fasolt – Henry Grant Kerswell Fafner – Craig Lemont Walters Woglinde – Jillian Finnamore Wellgunde – Justine Viani Director – Caroline Staunton Assistant directors – Eleanor Strutt, Keiko Sumida Designs – Isabella van Braeckel ..read more

Coliseum Count Almaviva – Cody Quattlebaum Countess Almaviva – Nardus Williams Figaro – David Ireland Susanna – Mary Bevan Cherubino – Hanna Hipp Marcellina – Rebecca Evans Dr Bartolo – Neal Davies Don Basilio, Don Curzio – Hubert Francis Antonio – Trevor Eliot Bowes Barbarina – Ava Dodd Bridesmaids – Claire Mitcher, Sophie Goldrick Director – Joe Hill-Gibbons Set designs – Johannes Schütz Costumes – Astrid Klein Lighting – Matthew Richardson Associate director, movement – Jenny Ogilivie   Chorus (chorus director: Matthew Quinn) and Orchestra of English National Opera Ainārs Rubi ..read more