Alex Otterburn News
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2024-03-29
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2024-03-18 07:35:00
Quite an achievement: the North London Chorus' ambition rewarded in a performance of Ethel Smyth's The Prison that intrigued and engaged
Henry Brewster (HB) in 1897Beethoven: Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, Smyth: The Prison, Brahms: Nänie: Rebecca Bottone, Alex Otterburn, North London Chorus, Meridian Sinfonia, Murray Hipkin, Lucy Stevens; St James Church, Muswell HillReviewed 16 March 2023A welcome opportunity to hear Ethel Smyth's late work live, in a fine performance which rewarded the choir for its daring in programming The PrisonEthel Smyth's late work, The Prison, which she described as a 'Symphony for soprano, bass-baritone soli, chorus and orchestra' does not get many concert outings, despite being rediscovered on disc [see my review]. The enterprising North London Chorus under their conductor Murray Hipkin gave a rare performance of Ethel Smyth's The Prison at St James Church, Muswell Hill on 16 March 2024 with the Meridian Sinfonia and soloists Rebecca Bottone and Alex Otterburn. Also in the programme was Beethoven's Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt and Brahms' Nänie. Lucy Stevens, who has developed a show […]
2024-02-23 12:43:00
Being performed for the first time for almost 20 years: Murray Hipkin & the North London Chorus give us a chance to finally experience Ethel Smyth's The Prison in concert
[…] but for some reason Smyth's symphony for soprano, bass-baritone, chorus and orchestra never seemed to have anything of a life after her own death.The work was finally recorded and issued in 2020 on Chandos in a terrific performance, by an American choir and orchestra [see my review]. Now the work is getting a proper outing in concert in London when Murray Hipkin conducts the North London Chorus and Meridian Sinfonia with soloists Rebecca Bottone and Alex Otterburn in a performance of Ethel Smyth's The Prison at St James' Church, Muswell Hill on Saturday 16 March 2023.It is fatally easy to be lazy and assume the work has rightly been confined to the dustbin of musical history, but exposure to the piece makes you realise that it is past generations who were being lazy. As Smyth's German-influenced, late-Romantic, tonal music went out of fashion, as Smyth herself, elderly, very deaf and still a […]
2023-10-10 06:41:00
John Findon takes the title role in ENO's magnificent revival of David Alden's production of Britten's Peter Grimes
[…] the courtroom to witness the local coroner and drunkard, Swallow (sung cunningly by Clive Bayley) conducting an inquest into the death of William Spode, Grimes’ first apprentice, who died in his fishing boat. Although acquitted of any wrongdoing, the ‘locals’ thought otherwise and were out for his blood. The cast is further strengthened by Adam Sullivan as Bob Boles (fisherman and Methodist), David Soar (Hobson, the carrier) and Ronald Samm (Revd Horace Adams) while Alex Otterburn (Ned Keene) plays the role of apothecary with a touch of deviousness while getting the better of Mrs Sedley in their exchange of banned substances. Apart from Ellen Orford the only other friend that Grimes could call on is retired old seadog, Captain Balstrode, boldly and authoritatively sung by Simon Bailey, who, despairingly, tells Grimes to go. Therefore, guilt-ridden and driven to near insanity following the death of his apprentices, he vanishes towards the […]
2023-05-20 20:09:00
Wozzeck, Royal Opera, 19 May 2023
Royal Opera HouseWozzeck – Christian Gerhaher Marie – Anja Kampe Captain – Peter Hoare Doctor – Brindley Sherratt Margret – Rosie Aldridge Drum Major – Clay Hilley Andres – Sam Furness First Apprentice – Barnaby Rea Second Apprentice – Alex Otterburn The Fool – John Findon Soldier – Lee Hickenbottom Tenor Solo – Andrew Macnair Marie’s Son – Jonah Elijah McGovernDeborah Warner (director)Hyemi Shin (set designs)Nicky Gillibrand (costumes)Adam Silverman (lighting)Kim Brandstrup (choreography)Royal Opera Chorus (chorus master: William Spaulding)Orchestra of the Royal Opera HouseAntonio Pappano (conductor)Images: Tristram KentonAndres (Sam Furness), Wozzeck (Christian Gerhaher)Thirty years ago, in Sheffield, a teenage schoolboy saw his first opera in the theatre. It was Wozzeck, directed by Deborah Warner for Opera North. Quite an opera with which to begin, you might say, and indeed in many ways it was, yet why would you wish to begin with something that was not ‘quite an opera’? He knew a […]
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