Jessica Duchen brings her latest novel Ghost Variations to life
Author Jessica Duchen presents her latest novel “Ghost Variations” - about the mysterious rediscovery of Schumann’s suppressed Violin Concerto - in a series of concerts with violin and piano duo David Le Page and Viv McLean. Marking the 80th anniversary of the modern premiere of Schumann’s Violin Concerto, the tour kicks off in London at the cabaret venue Crazy Coqs at Brasserie Zédel off Piccadilly Circus on 23 October, followed by intimate salon concerts at Burgh House in Hampstead and Lampeter House in Pembrokeshire alongside concert venues in Bromsgrove and Leicester
Read morePianist Paul Berkowitz makes returns to London after 25 years to release new Schubert CD and perform at St. John’s Smith Square
Canadian pianist Paul Berkowitz makes his return to the London stage after 25 years to celebrate the culmination of a 30-year Schubert cycle project. Berkowitz will perform Schubert’s 19th, 20th and 21st piano sonatas at St. John’s Smith Square on 9 November to mark the release of his latest CD on Meridian records. Berkowitz has chosen the final three sonatas for this concert, as they are the works he began his Schubert recording cycle with. This concert will be the first time Berkowitz will have performed the last three Schubert sonatas all in one concert, having been playing them his whole life.
Read moreIn the long shadow of revolution: Mariinsky Orchestra return to the UK
The Mariinsky Orchestra returns to the UK for a series of concerts at the BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall, Birmingham and Belfast with music of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich composed in the shadow of the Russian Revolution, now 100 years ago. At Cadogan Hall on 8 and 9 October, Valery Gergiev presents a programme in which he couples the music of Stravinsky with that of his teacher and mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov.
Read moreChristophe Rousset & Les Talens Lyriques announce a celebration of the senses for their 2017/2018 Season
Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques launch their new 2017/2018 season glorifying the senses with music by Lully and Couperin evoking the aromas of French Royal Court under Louis XIV. Marking Couperin Le Grand’s 350th anniversary, Rousset will complete the discography of the composer’s chamber music, which he will tour to Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice, Reggio Emilia’s Teatro Valli and the Barbican. The dualities of light and dark, scent and sound, life and death take centre stage throughout the season, not least through the many renditions of the Orpheus tale. Lully’s opera Alceste and Gounod’s Faust carry the ever-present whiff of the underworld whether in Versailles or at the Theatre des Champs- Elysées, while their Wigmore recital entitled Love and Death in Venice will be no less redolent of the stench of decay and the perfume of youth. Also, before his return to the UK in January, Christophe Rousset replaces Ivor Bolton for two performances of Handel’s Semele at the Musikverein on the 11 October 2017 and at Royal Festival Hall on the 18 October 2017 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Louise Alder as the title role.
Read moreMarios Papadopoulos and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra announce their 2017/18 season
The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and their Music Director Marios Papadopoulos announce an exciting 2017/18 season featuring top names including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Avi Avital, Valery Gergiev, Steven Isserlis, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maxim Vengerov and Lars Vogt. The season opens on 13 October at Oxford Town Hall with Valery Gergiev conducting a programme of Rossini, Mendelssohn and Stravinsky.
Read morePeter Moore and Richard Uttley perform world premiere of Jack White’s Three After-Dinner Pieces
Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) musicians Peter Moore (trombone) and Richard Uttley (piano) perform the world premiere of London Music Masters (LMM) Composer Award Holder Jack White’s Three After-Dinner Pieces. The two lunchtime concerts are part of YCAT’s Lunchtime Concert Series and take place on 27 September at Colston Hall’s ‘The Lantern’ and Wigmore Hall on 3 October. Three After-Dinner Pieces has been commissioned by LMM in collaboration with YCAT with whom they have a creative partnership. The two lunchtime recitals also include works by Beethoven, Bruch, Fauré and Sulek.
Read moreMadeleine Mitchell performs the world premiere of Grace Williams’ Violin Sonata
Madeleine Mitchell performs the world premiere of Grace Williams’ Violin Sonata at the first ever International Conference on Women’s Work in Music at Bangor University on 7 September. The conference is marking the 40 the anniversary of the death of the Welsh composer Grace Williams (1906-77) and runs from 4-7 September.
Read morePalazzetto Bru Zane announces its 2017-2018 Season marking the bicentenary of Charles Gounod
Palazzetto Bru Zane, founded in 2009 in Venice as a center to promote French Romantic music, instigates a re-evaluation of the operas, sacred works and chamber music of Charles Gounod (1818-1893) to mark his bicentenary in 2018. With a series of recordings and publications devoted to Gounod, Palazzetto Bru Zane mounts a year-long celebration culminating in the annual festival in Paris in June for a performance of Faust in its original version by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques and a new production of La Nonne sanglante (the Bloodied Nun) at the Opéra Comique by David Bobée with Insula Orchestra and Laurence Equilbey. Further operas can be heard across Europe - Le Tribut de Zamora in Munich in January, the revived production of Cinq-Mars in Leipzig and a concert of melodies in English performed at the Wallace Collection in London on 22 June. Gounod Gothique will explore his sacred works from September 2017 to June 2018 from Belgium to Paris while Gounod, Mystic or Sensualist will be the theme of Palazzetto Bru Zane’s spring festival in Venice.
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