Today Marcus and I gave our first performance, and only the second ever performance in the world, of Philip Grange's To The Borders of Sleep. These songs, written only last year, have been extremely challenging to prepare, but in performance were incredibly rewarding and well received. Philip has taken five poems by Edward Thomas on […]
Played for various singers in the prelim rounds of the Kathleen Ferrier Award this week: as a nearby neighbour, the use of St Paul's School's Wathen Hall for this is extremely convenient! Good luck to all involved.
Hugely enjoyable concert with Cara Berridge last night at Dunsfold Music Circle. This series rotates around a number of venues in the village, and yesterday we were performing in the beautiful home of Rupert and Claire Howell. This was the first outing of a programme which we will repeat in various guises over the next […]
The reviews are coming in thick and fast for Kommilitonen!, with the majority full of praise for this new work. Here are links to reviews from Guardian, Times, Financial Times, Telegraph blog, Telegraph, and Evening Standard. Huge congratulations to all involved in this extraordinary project.
The world premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies and David Pountney's new opera Kommilitonen! seems to have been a triumph. An invited audience (ranging from Lesley Garrett to Simon Callow to a Who's-Who of British opera houses and companies) gave the piece a rapturous reception with a standing ovation for cast, chorus, orchestra, production team, and […]
Spent the afternoon up at the Craxton Studios in West Hampstead playing for singers in the Handel Singing Competition, part of the London Handel Festival. It makes a rare and pleasant change to be back at the harpsichord! The Craxton Studios are certainly history-filled; judging by the photos on the wall, everyone who was anyone […]
Tune in to BBC Radio 3's Music Matters this Saturday to hear a slot about Kommilitonen!, including excerpts recorded during our rehearsal today and interviews with various people involved. Great also to see preview coverage in the Guardian (article by David Pountney, here) and the Financial Times (interview with Peter Maxwell Davies, here).
Today saw the sitzprobe for Kommilitonen!; adding the orchestra is always an exciting stage in preparing an opera, but that is particularly the case for a new piece where no-one has ever heard the orchestration before! Max's colourful writing is so vibrant and luscious and energised and it was great to have him there again […]
It has been a term of competitions over at Eton, so several Sundays have been spent over there accompanying string players and woodwind players in their respective competitions. It's always a lovely chance to get to know some of the other students than my own pupils, and there was some extraordinarily good playing. Well done […]
What an absolute joy to be back at Uppingham! I had a wonderful two years there as a sixth-former and hold extremely fond memories of the place, so it was a delight to be asked to give a recital with Marcus Farnsworth as part of the Uppingham Concerts series. The Paul David Music School has […]