The Bach Choir continue their remarkable St. Matthew Passion tradition on 7 April
On Sunday 7 April, The Bach Choir and conductor David Hill perform Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Royal Festival Hall with Florilegium. The Choir’s conductor David Hill was recently made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours for his services to music. The performance comes 125 years after the Choir first performed the St Matthew Passion. James Gilchrist returns to the role of the Evangelist and Matthew Rose sings Christ alongside Sophie Bevan, Hilary Summers, Ed Lyon, and Neal Davies.
Read moreGuy Johnston and Tom Poster release Themes and Variations on Orchid Classics
On 1 March, cellist Guy Johnston and pianist Tom Poster release Themes and Variations on Orchid Classics. Recorded in Manchester’s Stoller Hall, the disc celebrates two decades of collaboration between the pair. On 7 June, Johnston’s recording of Howells’ Cello Concerto is released with King’s College, Cambridge.
Read moreThe Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra announces Oxford Piano Festival 2019
The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director Marios Papadopoulos announce the 21st Oxford Piano Festival taking place from 27 July – 4 August. The Festival welcomes some of the world’s most distinguished pianists and teachers for the week-long series of varied concerts and masterclasses. This year, the faculty includes Boris Berezovsky, Ingrid Fliter, Beatrice Rana, Trio Metral, Sergei Babayan and Steven Osborne alongside Festival Patron Alfred Brendel and Menahem Pressler, Life President of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. Particular focuses of this year’s Festival include chamber music and the music of Chopin.
Read moreLes Talens Lyriques return to the Wigmore Hall following the release of their two latest CDs
Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques return to the Wigmore Hall on 21 February to present a special programme, Warriors and Lovers, exploring musical depictions of Italian literature in Monteverdi’s madrigals. The group continues its survey of Couperin’s works with two new discs: a new recording of his instrumental chamber collection – Les Nations – and a compilation from Les Talens Lyriques’ twenty-five years of recordings – Couperin & Moi – both released on Aparté.
Read moreChristophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques unearth the impropriety of the Gods in a staging of Legrenzi’s La Divisione del Mondo
Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques tour Giovanni Legrenzi’s rarely-performed La Divisione del Mondo in France from 8 February to 14 April. Directed by Jetske Mijnssen, fifteen performances will be given from Strasbourg to Versailles, via Mulhouse, Colmar, and Nancy, in a co-production with the Opéra national du Rhin and the Opéra national de Lorraine.
Read moreThe Opéra Royal de Versailles celebrates ten years since its reopening with a season honouring the artistic excellence of the French Royal Court, and with the launch of a new record label
Celebrating ten years since the reopening of the historic Opéra Royal de Versailles in the Château de Versailles, the 18-19 season presents ten staged baroque operas written before 1753 as well as ten recordings released on its new record label, Château de Versailles Spectacles. 17th and 18th century repertoire is at the heart of the programme at the venue, which has established itself as the only such venue with a predominantly baroque programme, with more than 100 performances of works written before the French Revolution staged over the year.
Read moreJohn Nelson conducts Berlioz’s monumental Requiem (Grande Messe des Morts) in St. Paul’s Cathedral to mark 150 years since composer’s death, before returning to Strasbourg to record The Damnation of Faust
Renowned American conductor and Berlioz expert John Nelson follows the success of his multi award-winning Les Troyens with further Berlioz projects in London and Strasbourg in 2019. Affirming the strength of the English Berlioz revival over the past century, Nelson will conduct Berlioz’s Requiem (Grande Messe des Morts) in St. Paul’s Cathedral to mark 150 years to the day since the death of the composer, before recording his epic Damnation of Faust live in concert in Strasbourg on 25-26 April, with a star-studded cast including Joyce DiDonato and Michael Spyres. Nelson made his New York City debut with an uncut concert performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens at Carnegie Hall in 1973, and has been a foremost interpreter of the composer’s music since.
Read moreAhead of its star-studded 20th Anniversary concert, the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra announces future plans, including new Assistant Conductor Hannah Schneider
Ahead of its 20th Anniversary concerts in the Barbican and in Oxford, the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra announces plans for its future, including the creation of a new Assistant Conductor position as part of its Programme as Orchestra in Residence at the University of Oxford. Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra has partnered with its twin city of Bonn to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020. The orchestra will collaborate with Beethoven-Haus Bonn on a number of projects, and has been invited to perform in Bonn as part of the 2020 celebrations.
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