Vilancicos de Navidad
Villancicos and instrumental works from Peru, Guatemala, Mexico and Spain
will be performed in the United States and Canada this week. Performers
include Jennifer Lane, Ruth Escher, Richard Savino, Carla Moore, Ingrid
Matthews, Elisabeth Reed, Yuko Tanaka and Peter Maund. 17 December, 8pm,
First United Methodist Church, 811 Fifth Ave, Seattle USA (Info +1 206 325
7066); 18 December, 8pm, St Andrews Presbyterian Church (corner of Douglass
and Broughton), Victoria, British Columbia; 19 December, 4.30pm, Ryerson
United Church, 2195 West 45th Avenue (at Yew Street), Vancouver, BC (with
a pre-concert introduction at 4pm).
Bamert in Tokyo
The London Mozart Players embark upon a Japanese tour 22 January - 1
February under the direction of Matthias Bamert. 22 Jan Tokyo: Akigara Kirara
Hall; 23 Jan Tokyo: Kodaira Citizen's Cultural Hall; 25 Jan Kyto: Yasu Bunka
Hall: 26 Jan Fukui: Harmony Hall; 27 Jan Aomori: Towada Shimin Bunka Center;
28 Jan Tokyo: Metropolitan Arts Space; 29 Jan Ibarahi: Iwai Shimin Hall;
30 Jan Kobe: Portopia Hall; 1 Feb Kagoshima: Venue tbc.
Arthur Pendragon
Following their huge success with Edward II, David Bintley and John McCabe
are collaborating again to produce two new ballets based on Arthurian legends.
The first of these, Arthur Part I: Arthur Pendragon, has been completed,
and will be premièred 25-29 January in the UK by the Birmingham Royal
Ballet. Further information from the websites of John McCabe or the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Brandon Hill Cosi
On January 25-29 are to be performances of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte
(in English) by the Brandon Hill Opera at St George's Bristol UK. The rebuilt
and refurbished building provides an ideal acoustic and setting for small-scale
opera. Richard Studer has artistic direction and Andrew Shulman will conduct
the Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra. Box Office +44 (0)117 923 0359: info
cosi@finetune.co.uk
and previously published news ...
Jornadas Nova Música
The 3rd Jornadas Nova Música focusses on the Portuguese
composer Emmanuel Nunes. The interpretation workshop 'Nova Música'
is run by Wolfgang Niessner, an experienced conductor from the Saltzburg
Mozarteum, and gives the opportunity for young Portuguese composers and
players to contribute. A set of composition seminars will be held by Emmanuel
Nunes, Edwin Roxburgh and Wolfgang Niessner. Ana Ester Neves (a prominent
Portuguese soprano), Pascal Gallois (bassoonist with Ensemble InterContemporain)
and Henk Van Twillert (saxophonist and founder of the Amsterdam Saxophone
Quartet) will all give masterclasses.
A series of conferences will be held on various themes, including Portuguese
music and various aspects of the creation and interpretation of music, and
a series of concerts and recitals has been designed to present the essence
of contemporary musical art, including a special concert in memory of the
recently deceased composer Gérard Grisey, viola player Christophe
Desjardins playing music by Emmanuel Nunes, and two concerts by the Workshop
Nova Música Chamber Orchestra featuring baritone António
Salgado and including works created during the Festival.
Jornadas Nova Música's base will be the Portuguese coastal
town of Aveiro, from 10-19 December. A complete listing of events is at
cadenza.org, and further information is available from Joao Pais.
Warwick Arts Society
Buoyed up by the Lindsays, Warwick Arts Society's 20th Anniversary year concerts in
the British Midlands continue with December showcases of 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
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 - 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).
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.
Medieval Feast
York's involvement in early music is increasing progressively through
the activities of their Early Music Foundation. On 17 December the group
Passacaglia will give a programme of Christmas music. There is more pre-Christmas
and Christmas music. Info boxoffice@yorkearlymusic.org
In Rome for the millennium?
Francesco Carotenuto conducts the String Orchestra of the International Chamber Ensemble in six concerts from 28 December
- 9 January in the All Saints Anglican Church in Rome. Two programmes are
repeated - music by Vivaldi (the Four Seasons, the concerto alla
rustica, the concerto for two violins in A minor and the concerto for
two violins, cello and orchestra in G minor) will be played on 28, 30 December
and 2 January. A programme of music by Vivaldi (the concerto for two violins,
cello and orchestra in D minor), J S Bach (the concerto for two violins
and orchestra in D minor) and Mozart (the divertimenti for strings K136
and K138, and Eine kleine nachtmusik) can be heard on 7,8 and 9 January.
All concerts begin at 9pm. Tickets L 30,000 (with concessions) available
at the door.
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.
Festival of Love
Tonhalle Düsseldorf's New Years Day concert, Romeo und Julia,
features soprano Lucia Alberti, who is at home on some of the World's most
important opera stages - the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, London's
Covent Garden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and La Scala Milan. She will be
joined by the Georgian tenor Shalva Mukeria, winner of numerous prizes.
Son of professional musicians, Mukeria studied clarinet before the discovery
of his extraordinary voice. Conducting the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker
will be Martin Fischer-Dieskau, who has appeared with more than fifty orchestras
worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic, London's Royal Philharmonic
and the Moscow State Orchestra. The concert includes music by Gounod, Bernstein,
Bellini, and Prokofiev, with arias from the operas of Verdi and Puccini.
1 January 2000, 8pm. Tickets (35-70DM) from +49 (0)211 89 96 123.
News of the New
James Macmillan's 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. Macmillan's Easter Triptych on
record was reviewed in Music & Vision
earlier this year.
The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed Macmillan as its new Composer/Conductor
from September 2000.
Tallis Scholars
The UK-based Tallis Scholars under their founder and conductor Peter
Phillips visit the Netherlands 12-13 January (Rotterdam and Enschede). Full
info on their recordings at www.gimell.com.
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.
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. 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.
On 17 March Rosalind Plowright and the Mastersingers Company introduce a
Celebrity Song Series. Box office: +44 (0)20 7233 1618
Even jazz
'Jazz on the level' is a series at St David's Hall in Cardiff, Wales,
continuing on Tuesdays at 8.30: 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.
English Fancie
Camarada has commissioned Richard Rodney Bennett for an Oboe Quartet.
This will be premièred on 29 January in the Holywell Music Room,
Oxford UK, in 'New directions' - part of an ongoing series entitled The
English Fancie - a retrospective series of 20th century chamber music
including many Camarada commissions and first performances. The programme
also includes Bennett's first Oboe Quartet from 1975, with works by Lennox
Berkeley and John McCabe, and Bennett will give a pre-concert talk at 6.30pm.
The next concert in the series will be 'towards the millennium' on 3
March (with a 6.30pm pre-concert talk by Howard Skempton).
Tickets for each concert cost GBP 7 (concessions GBP 5), from The Playhouse,
Beaumont Street, Oxford, +44 (0)1865 798600 or at the door. Info: +44 (0)1252
727240. Both concerts begin at 7.30pm.
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.
Millennium Tales
Charles Vignoles of the Bromley Youth Music Trust in London UK has commissioned
Bob Chilcott for the Borough's Millennium celebrations. It has resulted
in Millennium Tales, a cantata for children's choir, SATB youth choir,
and instrumental ensemble which takes a look at modes of communication down
the centuries. There are performances at Croydon's Fairfield Halls on 16
and 17 February, and at the Millennium Dome on 18 May. Info from Val Withams (tel/fax +44 (0)1494 866389).
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.
Around a curve
The founding of Christchurch and Canterbury in New Zealand in 1850 is
to be musically celebrated in 2000 with a cantata premiered on 26 February
by the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford in the Sheldonian Theatre
directed by Stephen Darlington.
Francis Grier has set a text by Sue Mayo for this celebratory cantata
entitled Around the Curve of the World. A handful of Christ Church
men in 1850 were members of the founding organisation for this special settlement,
which was to be established around a cathedral and a university college.
Christchurch has been the South Island's principal city ever since.
The prime source of this venture is the Canterbury Association 2000,
from which 50 donors have raised over 30,000 pounds towards the commissioning
fees.
New Zealander Paul Whelan takes the baritone role as the founder, John
Robert Godley, who was described by Gladstone as 'a king among men'. Even
the Sheldonian Theatre of 1669 has a link as its construction was financed
by Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury at that time. Furthermore,
Canterbury, New Zealand is named after the Archbishopric of Canterbury.
Première at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford on 26 Feb: Priority
bookings from 22 Nov, +44 (0)870 750 0659. General booking from 6 December:
By internet at http://www.musicatoxford.igw.com
By phone from Oxford Playhouse Box Office +44 (0)1865 798600
By fax to Music at Oxford +44 (0)1865 242867
In person to Oxford Playhouse Box Office, Beaumont St, Oxford OX1 2LW, UK
By post to Music at Oxford, Elms Court, Oxford OX2 9LP, UK
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.
Festival music by the Med
The Aix-en-Provence Festival next summer (June-July 2000) plays host
to Pierre Boulez and William Christie directing Academie europeénne
de musique. Specialists in their chosen fields, each will demonstrate
and teach the developments in instrumental music that heralded the Baroque
period and the second half of the 20th century. Others who will share in
this survey are René Jacobs, Gustav Leonhardt, Laurence Équilbey,
Simon Rattle (with the CBSO), and Daniel Harding (with the Mahler Chamber
Orchestra).
Operas to be performed - all linked to these developments - are Janacek
The Makropoulos Affair, Rossini Cenerentola, Mozart Cosi
fan tutte and Monteverdi Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and Le
Couronnement de Poppée.
For a prospectus refer to www.aix-en-provence.com/festartlyrique/
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.
Schubert Masterclass 2000
The fourth edition of the Dutch
Schubert Foundation (Schubert Stichting)'s Schubert Masterclass will
take place from 16-18 November 2000, with a final concert by students and
teachers on 19 November 2000. Unique in the Netherlands for providing an
inspiring interpretation course for both singers and their pianists, the
Schubert Masterclass is run by bass-baritone Robert Holl and pianist Rudolf
Jansen.
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