Flame of Wrath

The young pianist Gabriel Keen will play a number of works by contemporary British composers, including the extensive A Flame of Wrath by Laurence Armstrong Hughes and music by Avril Anderson, Brian Chapple, Jimmy East, Andrew Glover, Julian Johnson and Martin Vishnick at the BMIC (British Music Information Centre) in London on 5 October, 7.30pm. The BMIC also has a new series of concerts - 'Cutting Edge' - at The Warehouse, Waterloo, London.

Albright Tributes

Three free concerts in October pay tribute to Michigan composer William Albright (1944-1998), whose death in September last year has been a great loss for musicians in Ann Arbor and for American music (info: Chris Kim) :

A 'Michigan Composers' concert - 'Music of Bill Albright' - will be held on 11 October, 8pm at Hill, as part of the 39th Conference on Organ Music, with a chance to hear the following works by Albright: Halo for organ and metal instruments, Take That for percussion and Sweet Sixteenths for organ. Music by Theodore Morris, William Bolcom, Calvin Taylor and Larry Visser will also be performed.

Brave New Works, in conjunction with the University of Michigan, present an Albright tribute on 23 October, 8pm at the Britton Recital Hall, Ann Arbor. Albright works performed will be Shadows - Eight Serenades for solo Guitar (played by Matthew Ardizzone), Abiding Passions for woodwind quintet, and the Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (Tim McAllister, alto sax and Kathryn Goodson, piano). Albright by Albright student Carter Pann will also be performed. Donations to the William Albright Scholarship Fund at the door.

A concert of music written by Michigan composers in memory of William Albright will be presented by the School of Music and the Society of Composers Inc. on 24 October, 7pm at the Kerrytown Concert House. Donations to the Scholarship Fund at the door.

Tallis Scholars

The UK-based Tallis Scholars under their founder and conductor Peter Phillips visit Spain (El Escorial Monastery) on 9 October, the USA 11-17 October (Kansas City 11th; Raleigh/Wingate 12th; New York 14th & 17th; Boston 15th & 16th), Italy 24-28 Nov (Rome, Bolsena, Frosinone, Grotta Ferrata, Milan), and the Netherlands 12-13 January (Rotterdam and Enschede). Full info on their recordings at www.gimell.com.

Song at St John's

The 30th Anniversary Season commencing in October at St John's Smith Square, London, contains Song at St John's, a blossoming of solo song with piano. Four overlapping series commence on 11 October, the first celebrating anniversaries of Richard Strauss and Poulenc. The first recital brings Sir Thomas Allen to the platform. Four Russian evenings commence on 27 November with Galina Gorchakova. A Millennium Song Series, 'Across Time and Space', explores themes of time, culture and society. There will be a Study Day led by Roderic Swanston on 16 January with the first recital on 7 February bringing Susan Bickley and Paul Robinson for a programme drawn from Italy, Spain, Russia and the UK. Finally, on 17 March Rosalind Plowright and the Mastersingers Company introduce a Celebrity Song Series. Box office: +44 (0)20 7233 1618

Transformation

Major refurbishment to the tune of 2.5 million pounds has transformed St George's Bristol into an arts venue for nearly 600 people. The building's natural acoustic is perfect for music. The relaunch on 15 October brings the resident Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for a Beethoven programme under Sir Roger Norrington.

A BBC Lunchtime Series entitled Northern Lights will commence on 21 October. Repertory is drawn from Scandinavia for eight concerts. Much of the music will be new to the UK, so therefore UK readers should take note. Amongst composers to be heard are Peteris Vasks, Per Norgard, Tryge Madsen, Tore Rangstrom and Veyo Tormis. The BBC Celebrity series on Friday evenings includes Joanna MacGregor's 'Sound Circus', the Brodsky Quartet and Joshua Rifkin's Bach Ensemble.

St George's new resident chamber ensemble is Zenith, which includes Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time in its inaugural concert on 22 October. Info/box office: +44 (0)117 923 0359.

English Fancie Camarada

The English Fancie Camarada presents a retrospective series of 20th century chamber music at the Holywell Music Room, Oxford, UK, all starting at 7.30pm. On 13 November, 'the war years', you can hear the Phantasy for Piano Quartet by Frank Bridge, Fantasy for String Quartet by Herbert Howells, the Quintet for Oboe and String Quartet by Arnold Bax, Alan Rawsthorne's Oboe Quartet, the Delius Cello Sonata, and Britten's Phantasy Quartet.

Further concerts (including many Camarada commissions and first performances) will be held on 4 December - 'War years - the aftermath', 29 January - 'New directions' (with a 6.30pm pre-concert talk by Richard Rodney Bennett) and 3 March - 'towards the millennium' (6.30pm pre-concert talk by Howard Skempton).

Tickets cost GBP 7 (concessions GBP 5) per concert, from The Playhouse, Beaumont Street, Oxford, +44 (0)1865 798600 or at the door. Info: +44 (0)1252 727240.

The Sixteen in sixteen cathedrals

From February to November 2000, The Sixteen will perform in 16 of England's finest cathedrals. Starting in York and ending in Canterbury, the choir will sing some of the best renaissance music by Byrd, Taverner and Tallis - composers connected historically with the cathedrals. Watch out for a new page on The Sixteen website, which (by the end of October) will give further information and booking details.

and previously published news ...

Musicatreize in October

The French ensemble Musicatreize will perform Via Crucis by Liszt and Lux Aeterna by Ligeti (Laon Cathedral, 1 October, 8.30pm); Office des oracles by Ohana and Prophetiae Sibyllarum by Lassus (with le Choeur contemporain - Eglise de la madeleine, Aix, 10 October, 8.30pm and Eglise de la trinité, Paris, 15 October, 8.30pm); music by De Orador, Marti, Gesualdo, Gouttenoire and Lassus (Rouen, 17 October); music by Kopelent, Janequin, Berio and Ohana (Aix en Provence, 28 October, to be confirmed, and Brucknerhaus, Linz, 30 October, 7.30pm). Info: musicatreize@wanadoo.fr.

New dance

The Baldwin Dance Company will present 'Julius Tomb' - one of three works choreographed by Baldwin - as part of a UK national tour this autumn: Corn Exchange, Newbury (1 Oct); University College, Swansea (7 Oct); The Gantry, Southampton, (9 Oct); Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank (23 Oct); Wimbledon Theatre (27 Oct); Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh.(6 Nov).

Musical Mosaic 8 in Calgary

Well-known pianist and composer Gordon Rumson, whose article about Denis ApIvor was published recently here, will be performing ApIvor's Eyes that last I saw in tears (after T.S. Eliot) at a concert on 2 October with Mezzo-soprano Caroline Horne. Clarinettist Barbara Hume will also be playing in 'Song and Dance' - Musical Mosaic 8 at Pleasant Heights United Church, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, at which you can hear Gordon Rumson's own Four Antiques (1990-1), music from Five Compositions for Voice and Piano by Arthur Fickénscher, a Suite by Paul Z. Fu and music by Ann Southam, Bach, Debussy, Anton Rubenstein, Satie, Schubert and Schumann. The concert begins at 8pm.

Uncommon Artistry

The Plymouth Music Series in Minneapolis has announced its 1999-2000 season, called 'Uncommon Artistry'. The Gershwin (George and Ira) musical Of Thee I Sing will be performed on 2 October in Orchestra Hall; Handel's Solomon in Bethel College on 30 October; Witness will be partially African American with a song cycle from John Williams and Dream N. the Hood, a rap symphony by Gregory T.S.Walker to be programmed in Orchestra Hall on 19 Feb; The Kings Singers will present Aha! Cappella at Wooddale Church on 7 April; Czech composer Jan Jiraseks reworking of Bach's St Luke's Passion will be sung on 12 May at the Ted Mann Concert Hall. Info: +1 612 624 2345.

Welsh National Opera tour

In Cardiff during October Welsh National Opera will perform Poulenc's The Carmelites (2, 7, 20), Mozart's Don Giovanni (12, 16, 22), and Verdi's Rigoletto (21, 23). Thereafter they tour these operas to Southampton (26-30 October), Bristol (2-6 November), Belfast (9-13 November), Birmingham (16-20 November), Liverpool (23-27 November), and Oxford (7-11 December).

Master Singers

The following Britten-Pears School Masterclasses at Aldeburgh, UK this autumn are open to the public: Nelly Miricioiu (Italian opera) 30 September-8 October (concert on 9 October); Thomas Allen (Mozart and Britten) 13-20 October (concert on 21 October); Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Ian Partridge (Bach) 23 October - 1 November (concert on 2 November). Email: enquiries@aldeburghfestivals.org.

RFH Classics International

London's Royal Festival Hall's Classic International Series continues with a procession of great orchestras of Europe and one American will dazzle the musical scene on the South Bank: La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, Milan directed by Riccardo Muti (4 October), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Claudio Abbado (11 October), Pierre Boulez directing the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (22 October), the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome conducted by Myung Whun Chung (21 and 22 November), the Vienna Philharmonic again with Seiji Ozawa (15 March), and the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch (19 May).

Forgotten genius of Renaissance Spain

A native of Flanders, Philippe Rogier (c1561-1596) lived and worked mostly in southern Spain, and his music reflects both styles. Magnificat will perform three concerts of Rogier's music in London this Autumn. All concerts are at St James, Piccadilly, 7.30pm: Missa Ego sum qui sum (5 October), Missa Inclina Domine (30 October) and Missa Domine Dominus Noster (10 December, also featuring The Wallace Collection in Rogier's festive polychoral Christmas music).

Visiting Symphony Hall

Birmingham's Symphony Hall's autumn season includes the following visiting orchestras: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (6 Oct), Leipzig Gewandhaus (14 Oct), Slovenian Philharmonic (16 Oct), and Czech Philharmonic (17 Oct). Info: +44 (0)121 212 3333.

BBC Concert Orchestra

The BBC Concert Orchestra is unusually focussed in advance publicity for its 1999/2000 season, shared between the Royal Festival Hall and Fairfield Halls, Croydon. John Williams conducts a new work for guitar and orchestra supported by recent film scores (RFH 6 Oct, FHC, 7 Oct), Cristina Ortiz plays the Rachmaninov Paganini Variations etc (RFH 2 Nov), and concerts with other celebrities go through to July. Info: concert.orch@bbc.co.uk.

Early Music Vancouver

Early Music Vancouver's 1999-2000 season begins on 8 October with Monteverdi Madrigals of War and Love - a programme of music of the early Italian baroque. 8pm at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, 189 West 11th Avenue. A highlight of the season will be the visit of Musica Antiqua Koln to the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on 8 November, with concertos for one, two, three and four solo violins by Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann.

Finnissy at Ultima

Metier has produced three CDs of music by the English composer Michael Finnissy: string quartets, the composer playing Folklore, and Voces Sacrae singing Seven Sacred Motets. The NMC label has also produced a CD with major chamber works, so Finnissy's music is receiving growing attention. The composer appears as pianist at Norway's Ultima Festival in Oslo on 9 October playing part of his The History of Photography in Sound.

Kathryn Thomas and Neil Crossland

Flautist Kathryn Thomas and pianist Neil Crossland will play Prokofiev's Sonata No 2 and a Sonata by Otar Taktakishvilli at a free lunchtime recital at Guys Hospital Chapel, London on 11 October, 1:10-1:50 pm, as part of the Southwark Festival.

A second chance to hear the Taktakishvilli will be at Sheffield's University Drama Studio, Glossop Road, on 4 November, 1:10pm, at another free lunchtime recital by the same performers, during which you can also hear Poulenc's Sonata, a work for solo piano by Ruth Byrchmore, Neil Crossland's Reminiscences and Debussy's Syrinx for solo flute. Thomas and Crossland will also be performing at Bradford's Alhambra Theatre on 9 February 2000.

Even jazz

'Jazz on the level' will be a series at St David's Hall in Cardiff, Wales on Tuesdays at 8.30: Rickey Woodard Quartet, 12 Oct; Just East of Jazz, 30 Nov; John Etheridge's Sweet Chorus, 25 Jan; Tony Coe Trio, 15 Feb; Marlene Verplank and her Musicians, 7 March. Box Office: +44 (0)1222 878444.

Beethoven cycle

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will give a Beethoven symphony cycle at the Royal Festival Hall in London commencing October 14 with conductor Sir Roger Norrington. Info: +44 (0)171 960 4242.

Oxford Contemporary Music

Commencing 15 October, Oxford Contemporary Music has a stimulating programme of events opening with Thomas Ades opera Powder her face. Following is a wide range of performers, composers and music - Terry Riley, Poul Ruders, James Wood, and from jazz, Fred Hersch, Myra Melford, Gerard McChrystal, Tommy Smith, and others. Info: oxfordfestival@ofcm.ndirect.co.uk.

1999/2000 season in Budapest

The Budapest Philharmonic's 1999/2000 season includes music by Richard Strauss, Mahler and Brahms (18-19 October, conducted by E. Lukacs); Brahms and Dvorak (conducted by Tamas Vasary, with J Achucarro, piano); Liszt, Mozart and Tchaikovsky (13-14 December, conducted by Zuohang Chen, with Barry Douglas, piano); Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven (31 January, with the Beaux Arts Trio); Bach, Mozart and Bartók (28 February); Mahler's 3rd Symphony (20-21 March); Sibelius (3-4 April); Beethoven's Symphonies 1 and 9 (15-16 May).

Budapest Opera premières include Britten's Peter Grimes (staged by Balazs Kovalik - 13, 14, 17, 19, 23, 28 November and 18, 20 January), Three Sisters by Peter Eotvos (based on Chekhov, staged by Istvan Szabo - 2, 5 April) and Bizet's Carmen (staged by Mikos Szinetar - 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30 May).

Other events in Budapest include the Nureyev Ballet Competition (16 March finals, 17 March gala. Opera House); Verdi's Requiem (1,3 November. Opera House).

October at Tonhalle Düsseldorf

Highlights at Düsseldorf's Tonhalle include 'Sárka' from Smetana's Ma Vlast, Dvorák's cello concerto (soloist Natalia Gutman) and Glazunov's Symphony 5 (Dresdner Philharmonie / Walter Weller, 19 October at 8pm, großer Saal); Miserae by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (with Peter Nikolaus Kante, speaker), Schönberg's Ode to Napoleon Op 41b (with Peter Nikolaus Kante, speaker and Stefan Litwin, piano) and Beethoven's Eroica Symphony (Düsseldorfer Symphoniker / Leon Botstein, 22 October at 8pm, 24 at 11am and 25 at 8pm, großer Saal); cellist Yo-yo Ma plays Mark O'Connor's Appalachia Waltz, Bright Sheng's Seven Tunes Heard in China, The Cellist of Sarayevo by David Wilde, and the Kodály solo cello sonata (27 October at 8pm, großer Saal). Info: tonhalle@compuserve.com.

Galliard Ensemble

The Galliard Ensemble Wind Quintet will play in London's Purcell Room as part of 'Fresh Young Artists Platform' on 7 December, 7.30pm. The ensemble will give the world première of a work written for them - Paul Patterson's Westerley Winds, the European première of Philip Bimstein's Casino for quintet and tape, and music by Berio, Briccialid, Pärt and Tinoco. Tickets GBP 10 (GBP 8, concessions) from boxoffice@rfh.org.uk or phone +44 (0)171 960 4242. Other Galliard Ensemble appearances include 20 October (Mozart and Poulenc - Leeds City Art Gallery); 6 November (Arnold, Tinoco, Françaix, Ligeti, Berio and Patterson - West Dean College Chichester); 27 November, 11am (Birtwistle, Olsen, Lindberg, Tinoco and Ligeti - Huddersfield Festival, St Paul's Hall); 6 February 2000, 9pm (Cambini, Briccialdi, Holst, Ibert, Pärt, Ligeti and Patterson - Balliol College Oxford).

A Tale of Three Cities

An international conference is to be held at London University's Senate House, 22-24 October 1999. Entitled, A Tale of Three Cities: Janácek's Brno Between Vienna and Prague, the aim of the conference is to re-assess the self-image of Brno and Moravia between (roughly) 1850 and 1930, using Janácek as a focus. Info from Royal Holloway College.

Music to move you

'Music to move you' is an eight-concert season announced for the St David's Hall as the National Concert Hall of Wales from September through to May 2000. Apart from top ranking British orchestras and conductors there will be visits by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.

Exploring Mozart

The months ahead for the London Mozart Players include the Mozart Series of four concerts at St John's, Smith Square with an unusual format. Each concert will contain a symphony and a concerto with a rare chamber work, such as the Adagio and Rondo K617 for flute, oboe, viola, cello and glass harmonica. There is a short talk about some aspect of the evening's music at each concert. Email info@lmp.org.

Steel and Gold

'Steel and Gold' is the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's title for a forthcoming Rachmaninov retrospective. Over October and November, five concerts will contain the three symphonies, Symphonic Dances, and a concert version of his opera The Miserly Knight, as well as works by contemporaries. A series booking will also include a free celebrity concert with Artur Pizarro. Info: bbcso@bbc.co.uk

Biped

A European tour by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company will bring Biped, a new work to a commissioned score by Gavin Bryars to Paris for a season 9-20 November. The work explores a new animation technology of motion capture.

Judith Lang Zaimont

Forthcoming U.S. performances of the music of Judith Lang Zaimont include the world première of her Piano Sonata on November 14, 1999 at Washington D.C.'s Phillips Gallery by Bradford Gowen.

St Ceciliatide International Festival

The 5th St Ceciliatide International Festival of Music takes place at Stationers' Hall in the City of London 20-28 November. American musicologist Joshua Rifkin and the Bach Ensemble play Bach concertos and the Ouverture in D (minus the oboes, trumpets and drums it later acquired) 24 Nov. Fiori Musicale present Vivaldi's Seasons on 20 & 21 November with new music by Geoffrey Burgon reflecting on the Vivaldi work and interweaving with it. Chapelle du Roi sing Guerrero's Vespers for St Ceciliatide on 22 Nov, and the Finnish Yggdrasil Quartet mark the 150th anniversary of Chopin's death on 25 November with pianist Fumiko Shiraga playing new chamber arrangements of Chopin's two piano concertos. The Lindsay Quartet plays Beethoven on the 26th and Fiori Musicale reappear on 27 and 28 November with James Bowman presenting two choral works by Zelenka and Bach Cantata 54 (Widerstehe doch der Sunde).

About Time in Ely

On Sunday 12 December a BBC Millenium concert will take place in Ely Cathedral presenting The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in a programme including Haydn's Te Deum and Beethoven's Ninth plus the première of Mark-Anthony Turnage's About Time. Info: +44 (0)1353 660349.

Bach Millennium Pilgrimage

From 25 December 1999 to 1 January 2001, The Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and John Eliot Gardiner will perform all 200 of Bach's surviving church cantatas, each on the precise liturgical date for which it was written, in abbeys, cathedrals and churches throughout Europe. The project will cost more than 5 million UK pounds (approx. 7.5 million US dollars), and will involve Gardiner in 150 air flights. Deutsche Grammophon will record the concerts, and many will be televised.

Danielpour Première

The illustrious Guaneri String Quartet, which has a residency at the University of Maryland, is to première a Concerto for string quartet and orchestra by Richard Danielpour with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin at Washington's Kennedy Center on 13, 14, and 15 January 2000 then in New York at Carnegie Hall on 25 January.

What Next?

Elliot Carter's recently premièred one act comic opera What Next? is at the Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden, 25 and 31 March 2000. With text by Paul Griffiths (after Jacques Tati's film Traffic), What Next? is conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Nicolas Brieger, with decor by Gisbert Jaekel.