The Dead – Niamh Cusack, The Fourth Choir, Jamie Powe – Wilton’s Music Hall (Photo: Kathleen Holman)
January on Planet Hugill Handel in 1749, Mozart in 1775 and Schubert’s 228th birthday
Our newsletter January on Planet Hugill, is out, looking back at a month when we took time to recharge batteries, but also managed to hear both of Handel’s oratorios from 1749, eavesdrop on Mozart’s sound-world from 1775 as well as celebrating Schubert’s birthday at Wigmore Hall. Interviews this month included a feature on Vaughan William’s Riders to the Sea, getting a rare outing in February, and a deep dive into the world of composer Steven Daverson’s mix of orchestra and live electronics.
Our record reviews this month include rarities such as sonatas by JS Bach’s ‘other’ composer son, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Ethel Smyth’s earliest orchestral work, one of the other concertos for Left Hand commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, Walton’s complete songs (there aren’t many but they are terrific) and the final symphony by Canadian composer Jacques Hétu.
Vladimir Putin has issued a decree granting Russian citizenship to the veteran Italian stage director Giancarlo del Monaco. Son of the famed tenor Mario del Monaco. Giancarlo directed Rigoletto at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow […]
The general director of the Orchestre philharmonique du Québec, Jean-Marc Léveillé, left the organisation this month, citing ‘irreconcilable divergences between the general management and the artistic director, Alexandre Da Costa’. One of Léveillé’s supporters speaks […]
The violinist Jonny Gandelsman of New Paltz, NY, has been granted a MacArthur Fellowship for ‘reimagining classical works and nurturing the creation of new music across styles and genres’. The Moscow-born artist receives a $800,000, […]