Featured Articles and News

Pianist and author Jack Kohl discusses his new book of essays with Robert Beattie

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Robert Beattie in conversation with pianist and author Jack Kohl  Jack Kohl is a pianist and writer from the north shore of Long Island, New York. In 2019 he published a series of essays, Bone over Ivory: Essays from a Standing Pianist. In 2021 he follows this up with a new series of essays, From … Read more

The Kathleen Ferrier Awards Competition 2020 announces winners

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KATHLEEN FERRIER AWARDS 2020

The prize winners of the 65th Kathleen Ferrier Awards Competition were announced on 13 December at the end of the competition’s final, streamed from Southwark’s Henry Wood Hall.

Jessica Cale

The prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Awards, held annually in memory of the great British contralto, are renowned for kick-starting the careers of outstandingly talented young singers. This year Jessica Cale won the first prize of £12,500. Jessica, from Pembrokeshire, studied at the Royal College of Music, having already worked extensively with The Sixteen and the Monteverdi Choir. She has appeared with the Gabrieli Consort, at Ryedale Festival Opera and was a finalist in the 2020 London Handel Festival Singing Competition.

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Sometimes a Light Surprises: J.M.W. Turner at Tate Britain

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Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings; It is the Lord, who rises with healing in his wings: when comforts are declining, he grants the soul again a season of clear shining, to cheer it after rain. William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) was one of the earliest of the nineteenth century romantic poets, much … Read more

The latest opus of Graham Johnson: Francis Poulenc: The Life in the Songs

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He who would valiant be ‘Gainst all disaster, Let him in constancy Follow the Master. There’s no discouragement Shall make him once relent His first avowed intent To be a pilgrim Who so beset him round With dismal stories, Do but themselves confound His strength the more is. No foes shall stay his might, Though … Read more

SOPRANO JULIET PETRUS IN CONVERSATION WITH RICK PERDIAN

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Rick Perdian talks to soprano Juliet Petrus

Juliet Petrus

In February, Juliet Petrus garnered critical acclaim for her Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Hamburger Kammeroper. Midway through the run, the first wave of the novel coronavirus shuttered theaters in Germany and Petrus returned to London, where she has spent the rest of 2020 with her husband and son as lockdowns come and go in the UK.

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Bampton Classical Opera returns with a seasonal concert in Witney, Oxfordshire, on 12 December

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BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA 2020

BAROQUE CHRISTMAS CANTATAS
A concert for St Beornwald’s Day
Saturday 12 December 2020, 4pm
St Mary’s Church, Church Green, Witney, Oxfordshire OX28 4AW

Bampton Classical Opera presents a seasonal concert at St Mary’s Church in Witney, Oxfordshire on Saturday 12 December at 4pm, to mark St Beornwald’s Day, the annual celebration of the patron saint of Bampton. The concert will feature two fine baroque pastoral Christmas cantatas: Alessandro Scarlatti’s ‘Non sò qual più m’ingombra’, and Antonio Caldara’s ‘Amarilli vezzosa’.

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Poetry Truth and Understanding

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Poetry Truth and Understanding. That trinity comes out from my church-attendance friends as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Pontius Pilate was almost as witty as Jesus himself. My vote for the fifth Prefect of Judea goes with the Orthodox Church’s, who revere him as a hero: unlike the spoilsport Western Church, who portray him as a villain. What is truth? is the question that the Godhead Himself must constantly ask as well as urge his followers to ask. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things which are God’s says Jesus, in the response to the Pharisee’s trick question as to whether it is lawful to pay your taxes. Good Christians do well to follow Our Lord’s advice. So, no apologies to the super-taxed wealthy. And absolutely no excuse for your responsibilities toward God.  Those responsibilities are both complex and a delight. Further thought is needed.

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