News of the New

James Macmillan, whose Easter Triptych on record was reviewed in Music & Vision earlier this year, will conduct the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in his new Symphony No. 2 in Scotland in early December Ayr (and BBC broadcast) 2 Dec, Glasgow 3 Dec and Edinburgh 4 Dec. Macmillans new Magnificat for choir & orchestra will be broadcast live from Wells Cathedral on 2 Jan. He has a large-scale Mass in preparation for Westminster Cathedral on 22 June next.

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed Macmillan as its new Composer/Conductor from September 2000.

Going Dutch

The Dutch composer Louis Andriessens 60th birthday is acknowledged on 10 December with a Barbican concert from the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins. Included is the UK première of De Tijd, exploring the phenomenon of time. Also as accompaniment to a screening of Peter Greenaway's film will be the music for M is for Man, Music, Mozart.

and previously published news ...

1999/2000 season in Budapest

The Budapest Philharmonic's 1999/2000 season includes music by 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 features Britten's Peter Grimes (staged by Balazs Kovalik - 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).

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. 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).

Ten-day tour

The Northern Sinfonia, which is based in Newcastle, UK, is shortly off on a ten-day tour of Germany - 22 November - 3 December - with Evelyn Glennie, the UK's foremost solo percussionist. Cities to be visited are Düsseldorf, Köln, Stuttgart, Hannover, Berlin, Bielefeld and Osnabrück.

On 24 November the orchestra takes a detour to Bombay to play in the National Centre for the Performing Arts in the presence of the Indian President, and will be conducted by Jean-Bernard Pommier.

Del Cuarto Elemento

Music by James Dillon, featured recently at Norway's Ultima Festival, can be heard in several countries during the coming weeks. Cellist Rohan de Saram will give the UK première of Eos on 23 November at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Dillon, who is currently working on music for Stuttgart's ECLAT Festival in February, will celebrate his 50th birthday in October 2000. Info: Edition Peters.

Tallis Scholars

The UK-based Tallis Scholars under their founder and conductor Peter Phillips visit 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.

Grimes on Bartok Radio

Balazs Kovalik's new production of Peter Grimes, with Andras Molnar in the title role, will be broadcast in Hungarian on Bartok Radio (Hungarian Radio 3) on Friday 26th November between 7 and 10pm. Tamas Busa sings Balstrode, Katalin Pitti Ellen Orford, Annamaria Kovacs Auntie, and Maria Sudlik Mrs. Smedley. The conductor is the Hungarian State Opera's music director, Janos Kovacs.

Palm-Sunday

A BBC commission for The Cardinall's Musick to Michael Finnissy has produced a ten-minute work entitled Palm-Sunday, based in part on Bruckner's motet Vexilla Regis. The première is to be heard in a BBC concert in Worcester Cathedral on 27 November celebrating musical landmarks of the Millennium. Andrew Carwood conducts the Finnissy motet, and the rest of the concert engages the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales under Richard Hickox.

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 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

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 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).

Montsalvatge

Budapest's Vigad Concert Hall is the venue for the Hungarian Chamber Symphony Orchestra's interesting programme on 28 November, 7.30pm. Soprano Katalin Pitti and pianist Gabriel Gorog join the orchestra, and Alberto Santana conducts Prokofiev's Classical Symphony Op 25, Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No 4, Op 70 in D minor, Tres postals illuminades by Xavier Montsalvatge and Mignons Lied, Die drei Zigeuner and Die Loreley by Liszt. Info: lialba@mail.matav.hu 

The Burning Bush

A distinctive integration of traditional musics will be heard at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on 28 November. Lucie Skeaping, Arab folk musicians and the The Burning Bush, an ensemble specialising in traditional Jewish world music, will present it using a wide array of exotic instruments.

Even jazz

'Jazz on the level' will be a series at St David's Hall in Cardiff, Wales on Tuesdays at 8.30: 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.

Yehuda Kanar recital

Cellist Yehuda Kanar and pianist Julian Jacobson play Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei, Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata, Fauré's Elégie and Rachmaninov's Sonata on 1 December, 8pm at Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street, London W1. Info: +44 (0)20 8952 2009.

Warwick Arts Society

Buoyed up by the Lindsays, Warwick Arts Society's 20th Anniversary year concerts in the British Midlands continue with the Skampa Quartet (Dec 3), who set Suk's Meditation and Richter's Divertimento alongside Dvorak in the newly refurbished Royal PumpRooms, Leamington Spa. Events at St.Mary's, Warwick include the Wren Baroque Soloists (30 Nov). December showcases two mediaeval-inspired groups - The City Waites (Dec l0) and Sirinu (Dec l6) - at the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, while the Mellstock Band revives raucous memories of Thomas Hardy's Wessex in the historic village of Salford Priors (Dec 15). Next year's Warwick and Leamington Festival will be on 1-l5 July 2000.

Full details : 01926-410747 /496277.

RD

Medieval Feast

York's involvement in early music is increasing progressively through the activities of their Early Music Foundation. On 3 December is held a Medieval Feast for the Archbishop of York, a re-creation of the celebration in 1437, and on 17 December a programme of Christmas music by the group Passacaglia. There is more pre-Christmas and Christmas music. Info boxoffice@yorkearlymusic.org

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. The series includes many Camarada commissions and first performances. 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.

Epic Journey

Sir Colin Davis conducts a Berlioz Odyssey commencing on 5 December. This is described as an 'epic journey' and will involve the London Symphony Orchestra, various soloists and choirs. Full information on +44 (0)845 60 60 888.

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 's final concert of Rogier's music in London this Autumn is at St James, Piccadilly, 10 December, 7.30pm: Missa Domine Dominus Noster - also featuring The Wallace Collection in Rogier's festive polychoral Christmas music.

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.

Uppsala Choral Symphony

Soprano Gunilla Stephen-Kallin, mezzo Ulrika Tenstam, tenor Lars Cleveman, bass Gunnar Lundberg, the Störkyrkans Kor, and the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra will be conducted by Gustaf Sjökvist in a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No 9 at Universitetets Aula, Uppsala, Sweden on 16 December, 7.30pm. Tickets: 077-1707070.

Adam lay y bounden

Howard Skempton's carol setting of Adam lay y bounden is to be premièred by the choir of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh on 28 December.

Classics and lasers

The Munich Philharmonic has chosen an existential theme - 'Man between Earth and Cosmos' - for its New Year's Eve concerts. The programme is in three parts: vox mundana/music of the earth, vox humana/music of mankind and vox coelestis/music of the cosmos. Music performed will include La Création du monde by Milhaud, Scriabin's Le Poème de l'extase, Wotan's Farewell and the Magic Fire Music from Wagner's Die Walküre and Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. Laser choreography will be provided by Laserland (who provided impressive laser-lit performances for the handing over of Hong Kong to China, and at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro). The two events are in the Munich Philharmonia at the Gasteig, Munich, Germany, 30 December, 7pm and 31 December, 5pm.

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.

Oreste and Oresteia

The English Bach Festival Opera presents a short season in January at the Linbury Studio Theatre of the Royal Opera in London. Oreste by Handel, not heard in England since 1734, will be staged on January 14 and 22 at 7.30 and 16 and 23 at 4. At the reverse end of the chronological scale Xenakis' Oresteia will be given its first performance in England of the new complete version. Dates: Jan 15,18,19,21 at 7.30.Box office: +44 (0)207 304 4000.

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.

Uncommon Artistry

The Plymouth Music Series in Minneapolis has announced its 1999-2000 season, called 'Uncommon Artistry'. 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.

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.

A variety of conductors

The Philharmonia Orchestra's Spring/Summer 2000 concerts at the Royal Festival Hall in London bring a variety of conductors to the rostrum. Leonard Slatkin (Principal Guest), Vladimir Ashkenazy, Junichi Hirokami, David Zinman, Vladimir Conta, Richard Hickox; and Valery Gergiev conducting four concerts devoted to works associated with Diaghilev (two with the Kirov Orchestra). Mikhail Pletnev plays Tchaikovsky's complete works for piano and orchestra in two concerts. Slatkin will present two American concerts, including a première.