Delighted with Saturday's Nonsuch Singers concert. The last few weeks of rehearsals with them have flown past, as we've delved into the glorious repertoire of Rheinberger, Brahms, Bruckner, Reger and Cornelius. A fantastic concert to end a very enjoyable few weeks as their guest conductor!, , as , and it was
Unusual fare last night at the Queen Elizabeth Hall: the UK premiere with Aurora Orchestra of Decasia, hailed as one of the most extraordinary and important cross-arts collaborations of the last decade. Michael Gordon's score for amplified and partially detuned orchestra is played in front of Bill Morrison's dark and hypnotic film, and lasts just over an hour. Landing somewhere between minimalism and punk, this is a bizarre and complicated soundworld – especially from right in the middle of the orchestra!
Back at the Royal Academy of Music yesterday to play for the Pavarotti Prize, in which each final-year opera student sings two substantial opera arias to a sizeable adjudicating panel and equally discerning audience! Something of marathon as accompanist to the whole lot, but a great chance to catch up with the latest crop of talent there. Congratulations to Stuart Jackson on winning, after outstanding performances of Ah dov'è, dov'è il cimento from Semiramide and Go there! from Peter Grimes.
Pleased to be listening to the first edits of the disc recorded with James Turnbull in the spring. A recital of English oboe music ranging from Rubbra, Vaughan Williams and Walmisley to contemporary composers Casken and Longstaff, it's a varied and beautiful programme! The disc is set to be released on Champs Hill Records later in the autumn.
A couple of lovely recitals in the last few days: last week a return to the Wooburn Festival with the ever delightful Reid Sisters, in a programme of Haydn and Moscowski for two violins and piano, and then last night a return to St Peter's Streatham in a programme of Brahms and Schumann with Dan Shilladay, violist of The Berkeley Ensemble, as part of the ensemble's residency there.
Great day recording Monteverdi's L'Orfeo for Chris Bucknall and Silent Opera, as chorusmaster and keyboard player (ranging from harpsichord to regal!). Absolutely top band of baroque players, led by the endlessly imaginative Bojan Cicic, with the wonderful English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble. The performances, directed by Daisy Evans, will combine today's pre-recorded music with live performance.
Delighted to have been given four stars by The Independent for last night's Berkeley Ensemble concert at The Forge (full review here). The programme was the first in the ensemble's series "Stealing, Borrowing, Remembering", exploring how Stravinsky and Lennox Berkeley were both inspired by the music of previous generations, and subsequently inspired legacies of their own. The evening included Lennox Berkeley's Quintet for piano and winds, alongside music by his son, Michael Berkeley, whose Fierce Tears was a response to his father's death. An honour to have the composer of the latter in the audience!
Rewarding first rehearsal with the Nonsuch Singers last night, as guest conductor for October's concert. This is a programme of Rheinberger, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Reger and Cornelius; great to finally put names to faces and get going on the music-making with this lovely group.
Looking forward to stepping in for a lunchtime recital at St Bride's Fleet Street on Friday, playing for tenor Peter Davoren in songs by Poulenc and Quilter.
Currently in rehearsals with the Berkeley Ensemble for next week's concert at The Forge in Camden. This will be the first in a series of five concerts entitled 'Stealing, Borrowing, Remembering', exploring how two twentieth-century masters, Igor Stravinsky and Lennox Berkeley, responded to the music of the past, re-working it in their own compositions before ultimately becoming historical figures themselves for the generation that followed. This programme involves piano quintets by Lennox Berkelely and Mozart, as well as music with oboe and clarinet by John Woolrich and Michael Berkeley. Plenty to get through!