Christos Christodoulou News
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2022-07-23 09:04:00
Prom 10: BBC Concert Orchestra/Wordsworth - ‘Music for Royal Occasions’, 22 July 2022
Royal Albert HallBliss: Jubilant Fanfare no.1 Handel: Coronation Anthem no.1, ‘Zadok the Priest Walton: Coronation March: ‘Orb and Sceptre’ Elgar: O hearken thou, op.64 William Henry Harris, arr. Jonathan Manners: The Windsor Dances Henry VIII: Pastime with good companie Britten: Gloriana: Courtly Dances Parry: Coronation Anthem: ‘I was glad’ John Ireland: Epic March Judith Weir: I love all beauteous things Byrd: O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth our Queen Handel, arr. Hamilton Harty: Water Music: excerpts from Suite no.1 Vaughan Williams: Silence and Music Cheryl Frances-Hoad: Your servant, Elizabeth (world premiere) Elgar: ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ March no.4 in G major BBC Singers (chorus master: Martin Fitzpatrick)BBC Concert OrchestraBarry Wordsworth (conductor) Copyright: BBC/Chris Christodoulou Having gone to this Prom with an open mind, buoyed by the sight of Handel, Byrd, and Elgar among the rest, I am tempted to conclude so much the worse for open minds. Should one keep an open […]
2022-07-22 11:45:00
Prom 9: Finch/BBC NOW/Matiakh - Ravel, Beamish, and Rimsky-Korsakov, 21 July 2022
Royal Albert Hall Ravel: Shéhérazade – ouverture de féerie Sally Beamish: Hive (world premiere) Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade Catrin Finch (harp)BBC National Orchestra of WalesAriane Matiakh (conductor)Copyright: BBC/Chris Christodoulou Two responses to the Persian legend of Scheherazade, the first clearly influenced by the second, sandwiched a new work (seemingly intended to be danced, though not here) for harp and orchestra in this, the first of my visits to this year’s BBC Proms. Ravel’s early overture Shéhérazade—not his song-cycle of the same name—was heard first in an excellent performance from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Ariane Matiakh. Steven Hudson’s warmly inviting oboe solo, free yet directed, swiftly joined by other fine woodwind soloists, imparted a fitting air of fantasy, of unfolding, Ravel’s motivic working—whatever prejudices one might hear concerning ‘national’ styles—crucial to the piece’s success and that of its performance too. Without ventriloquising the sound of a French orchestra, the BBC […]
2022-07-20 08:50:00
Purcell writ large: a lavish Dido and Aeneas at the BBC Proms
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas - Nicky Spence, La Nuova Musica - BBC Proms (Photo: Christopher Christodoulou)Purcell: Dido and Aeneas; Alice Coote, James Newby, Gemma Summerfield, Madeleine Shaw, La Nuova Musica, David Bates; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert HallReviewed 19 July 2022 (★★★) A large-scale account of Purcell's opera that revelled in the sheer gorgeousness of orchestral textures, and gave us a series of striking moments that never quite added up to operatic dramaWe have no idea what the first performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas sounded like, we're not even sure when it took place. All we have are possibilities, probabilities, and a few certainties, plus manuscript material that dates from well after Purcell's death. So conductors and soloists are free to create a performance in their own image. And whatever the circumstances of the opera's first performance, it is highly unlikely to have taken place in a space as large […]
2021-10-22 07:41:13
London Handel Singing Competition 2021
Finalists of the 2021 London Handel Singing Competition: Bethany Horak-Hallett, Kieran Rayner, Hilary Cronin, Felix Kemp (Photo Chris Christodoulou) The 2021 Handel Singing Competition came to a conclusion on Wednesday, with soprano Hilary Cronin winning the First Prize and Audience Price, and mezzo-soprano Bethany Horak-Hallett winning the second prize. The other two finalists were baritones Kieran Rayner and Felix Kemp. All four finalists performed a programme of Handel arias in front of a live audience at St George's Hannover Square, accompanied by the Lawrence Cummings and the London Handel Orchestra. Both prize winners receive cash prizes and the competition supports the continuing professional development of all the finalists by offering them guaranteed performance opportunities at the London Handel Festival in the future. Hilary Cronin sang arias from Rinaldo, Semele and Brockes Passion. We caught Hilary Cronin this Summer as Mother in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel with British Youth Opera at Opera Holland Park […]
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