Nicolas Hodges releases Dusapin’s Piano Concerto: À quia, on BIS prior to the UK premiere in Glasgow of Steen-Andersen’s spectacular Piano Concerto
On 30 November, BIS releases a disc of music by Pascal Dusapin, including his ‘À quia’ piano concerto, performed by contemporary pianist Nicolas Hodges. Hodges returns regularly to the UK over the coming season, giving the UK premiere of Simon Steen-Andersen’s Piano Concerto – a multimedia spectacle featuring a video doppelgänger and prepared piano – in Glasgow on 12 January, and performing Ligeti’s Piano Concerto in the Barbican on 2 March as part of a Total Immersion day on the composer.
Read moreGuy Johnston to perform in 100th Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge, premiering Judith Weir’s new carol, O Mercy Divine
Internationally-renowned cellist Guy Johnston, a former chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, returns for the 100th Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and as Carols from King’s on BBC Two on 24 December, marking Stephen Cleobury’s 37th and final Christmas as Director of the world-famous choir before his retirement. Guy Johnston will give the world premiere of a new carol, O Mercy Divine, by Master of the Queen’s Music, Judith Weir. The recording will later be released on the King’s College Label.
Read moreChristophe Rousset & Les Talens Lyriques complete their trilogy of Salieri’s gory French operas composed in the looming shadow of the French Revolution
Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques complete Salieri’s trilogy of blood-thirsty operas written in French with a recording and performances of Tarare opening in Versailles on 22 November and continuing on tour to Vienna, Paris and Caen. On 31 August, their CD of Salieri’s Les Horaces recorded during highly-acclaimed performances in 2016, was released on Aparté, following their earlier recording of Les Danaides. All three operas were composed in the looming shadow of the French Revolution, and their gory political intrigues hint at the growing dissidence prior to the Terror.
Read moreOdaline de la Martinez champions African-American composers in her Seventh London Festival of American Music
Pioneering Cuban-American conductor-composer Odaline de la Martinez Puts African-American composers centre-stage at her seventh biennial Festival of American Music. The Festival showcases the unjustly neglected music of ten African-American composers past and present in a song recital on 28 February. Martinez also celebrates her 70th birthday with the World Premiere of her complete opera trilogy: ‘Imoinda’: A Story of Love and Slavery on 27 February, with librettist Joan Anim Addo. This is the first modern Afro-Cuban opera addressing this topic, taking inspiration from a novel by the first published female writer, the Renaissance figure Aphra Behn.
Read moreInsula orchestra launch their 18/19 Season and release a CD of Beethoven Piano Concertos with Nicholas Angelich
Insula orchestra and Laurence Equilbey launch their 2018/19 Season coinciding with a new disc of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos no. 4 and no. 5 with pianist Nicholas Angelich in September. On 8 March 2019, Laurence Equilbey and Insula orchestra will present a staged production of Weber’s Der Freischütz in Aix-en-Provence for International Women’s Day. Directors Clément Debailleul and Raphaël Navarro will create a magical realisation of the work, which then tours to Vienna, Ludwigsburg, and Brussels before the season finishes with an experimental, semi-staged Mozart’s Requiem with director Yoann Bourgeois on 27-30 June 2019 at the orchestra’s home, La Seine Musicale.
Read moreChristophe Rousset & Les Talens Lyriques celebrate Couperin’s 350th anniversary with a tour of North America, Canada, and Mexico
Marking François Couperin’s 350th anniversary, Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques celebrate the music of the royal court of Versailles with a tour of the US, Mexico and Canada in October 2019. Christophe Rousset is a leading figure in performances of music of the French Court, and has frequently championed the work of Lully, Couperin, and Rameau, with 25 years of critically-acclaimed performances and recordings.
Read moreEcologically-sustainable Ring Cycle explores Wagner’s theme of the exploitation of the earth’s natural resources
In their 2018/19 season, Göteborg Opera launches an epic, four year project to mount its first Wagner Ring Cycle which will create a landmark as a more ecologically sustainable opera production. The cycle directed by Artistic Director Stephen Langridge opens with Das Rheingold on 17 November and runs until 9 December 2018. It stars local Swedish stars including Anders Lorentzson as Wotan, King of the Gods and Katarina Karnéus as Fricka and will be conducted by Evan Rogister. Following in the footsteps of the great Wagnerian soprano Birgit Nilsson, Sweden has produced some of the greatest Wagnerian voices in subsequent generations.
Read moreOxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Marios Papadopoulos launch their 20th anniversary season with a star-studded line- up: Martha Argerich, Maxim Vengerov, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Rowan Atkinson, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Vadim Repin
Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Marios Papadopoulos celebrate their 20th anniversary year with a 2018/19 season featuring top international artists and composers, including Krzysztof Penderecki, Martha Argerich, Vadim Repin, Nicola Benedetti, Angela Gheorghiu and actor Rowan Atkinson. There are four premieres by Krzysztof Penderecki, Giorgos Koumendakis, Manuel Martínez Burgos and Richard English.
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