Osian Ellis News
Welsh harpist and composer (1928-2021)
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- composer, music teacher, harpist
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2024-04-23
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2024-04-06 08:42:00
Spell Book, Witch & Stone Fruit: composer Freya Waley-Cohen on the power of ritual and spells
[…] Book since 2019, with the Barbican concert and the recording, Freya sees the project as complete. This isn't the first time that she has had ideas that developed into complete projects, but it is always good to come out the other side. That said, Rebecca Tamás' work is incredibly inspiring and Freya will be taking elements of Spell Book forward into other things.Freya Waley-Cohen: Spell Book - Longborough Festival Opera, 2022 (Photo: Matthew Williams Ellis)The Colin Currie Quartet premiered Freya's Stone Fruit at Wigmore Hall on 27 February 2024. Working with a percussion ensemble allowed Freya to get playful. The work uses sets of vintage china tea cups as Freya found that each cup has a subtly different tone and she describes the resulting microtonal instrument as sounding delicate and intense. To create it, she tinkered with different sets of cups till she came up with the ones she […]
2024-04-05 08:55:00
West Green House Opera: new artistic director Tom Elwin introduces the 2024 season
Thomas Elwin as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at West Green House Opera in 2021(Photo: Matthew Williams-Ellis)West Green House Opera returns this Summer for its fourth season in the magical theatre on the lake. Running from 19 to 28 July 2024 the season features Verdi's Falstaff, Rossini's Il barbiere di Sivigla and Puccini's Suor Angelica. As ever, one of the non-musical attractions of the festival is the setting, with Marylyn Abbott's gardens form both a spectacular operatic backdrop and a source of pre-opera delight.The opera company also has a new artistic director, Tom Elwin. Best known as a tenor, he was Lensky in West Green's 2021 production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin [see review on OperaToday] and his roles last year included Gennaro in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia with English Touring Opera [see my review], Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme also with ETO and Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with Wild Arts [see my review].For Tom, one of […]
2024-02-26 07:40:00
Marking the centenary of Puccini's death, Opera Holland Park in his early Messa di Gloria
[…] production of Tosca2024 sees 100 years since Puccini's death and Opera Holland Park are marking that by performing Tosca (in Stephen Barlow's iconic 2008 production) and Edgar (a great rarity on the operatic stage) this Summer. But on Thursday 22 February 2024 the company launched its Puccini commemoration early with a concert at Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street. The centrepiece was Puccini's Messa di Gloria performed by chorus of Opera Holland Park (chorus master Dominic Ellis-Peckham), the City of London Sinfonia (marking the 20th anniversary of its collaboration with the opera company) conducted by John Andrews with soloists David Butt Philip and Ross Ramgobin. In the first half there was a selection of Puccini's songs and operatic excerpts performed by sopranos Eleanor Broomfield and Fflur Wyn, and tenors Phillip Costovski, Joseph Buckmaster and José de Eça, accompanied by a quartet from the City of London Sinfonia.The large venue with its […]
2024-02-16 00:00:00
Some lesser-known 20th century Cello Concertos
[…] 2 Melodies, op.53 [8'00]10 (arr. Michael Freyhan) Melodies of the Heart, op.5 no.3 - Jeg elsker Dig (Ich Liebe Dich) [2'42]11 (arr. Michael Freyhan) Lyric Pieces. Book 3, op.43 no.6 - To Spring [3'20]Raphael Wallfisch- cello, London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon HandleyASV CDDCA 1176 [recorded May 2001; issued 2004][Digital download; flacs, cover and inlay scans, booklet sourced from internet]Recording venue: All Saint's, Tooting, LondonRecording engineer and Producer: Chris CrakerMalcolm Arnold:01 - 03 (ed. David Ellis) Cello Concerto, op.136 (1988) * [20'19]04 - 06 (orch. David Ellis) Concertino for Flute and Strings, op.19a (1948/2000) ^ [8'16]07 - 11 (ed. David Ellis) Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet, op.140 (1990) ' [12'34]12 - 14 (orch. David Ellis) Saxophone Concerto (1942/1994) " [10'06]15 - 17 Symphony for Strings, op.13 (1946) # [21'51]Raphael Wallfisch- cello*, Esther Ingham- flute^, John Turner- recorder', Carl Raven- alto saxophone; Northern Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Ward*#; Manchester […]
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