Wagner’s 1877 Grand Festival makes a thrilling return to the Albert Hall

In May 1877, Richard Wagner brought to London, for eight concerts, what would become known as Wagner’s Grand Festival. The year before, Der Ring des Niebelungen had been heard for…

Benjamin Britten’s Canticles at the Temple Church

This first vocal recital of the year at the Temple Church featured all five of Britten’s Canticles, works spanning nearly three decades and closely connected to the operas from the…

A Shot of Coffee in New York

Johann Sebastian Bach composed some of the most sublime religious music in the Western canon, yet in everyday life he was an earthy fellow. With his long-time collaborator Christian Henrici,…

Il Pomo d’Oro bring Purcell and Carissimi to the Barbican

It was clear which ‘queen’ the capacity audience at the Barbican had come to see, and it wasn’t the tragic Queen of Carthage whose downfall and death are brought about…

Powerful performances from The English Concert at the Wigmore Hall

Works written for performance in Hanover, Rome and London featured in this all-Handel programme given by the English Concert.  The evening’s second half was taken up by Dixit Dominus, dating…

The Carver Choirbook is ‘unwrapped’ by The Sixteen at Kings Place

Kings Place’s annual celebration of a particular ‘theme’ has entered its sixteenth year, and in 2024 it is the turn of Scotland to be ‘unwrapped’.   The year-long series will explore…

Songs of Antiquity: James Newby and Joseph Middleton at Wigmore Hall

Titled Songs of Antiquity, this recital by baritone James Newby and pianist Joseph Middleton began and ended both in the past and in darkness, the Prologue and Epilogue composed by…

A seasonal masterpiece: Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols at Temple Church

Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, for three-part treble voices and harp, is one of the composer’s most joyful works, its expression direct, strong and true.  It was composed in the…

Resonemus laudibus: a Renaissance Christmas from The Sixteen at Wigmore Hall

“Let praises resound!” was the rallying cry of this Wigmore Hall lunchtime recital of Christmas music by The Sixteen.  It’s common, these days, for vocal ensembles to juxtapose old and…

The English Concert celebrate Saffron Hall’s 10th anniversary with a superb Rodelinda

Not many concert venues double up as school assembly halls.  Actually, that statement does a double disservice: first, to Saffron Hall, which opened on the site of Saffron Walden County…