Note For Note: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered An interview with author and amateur pianist, Howard Smith
Howard Smith has had a top-flight career in the world of computing and computer programming. On approaching retirement, he decided to leave his career and try something completely different – learn to play the piano. Howard had started the learn to play the piano as a child but was uninspired by the rigid approach adopted at that time and did not continue with his studies. In his book, Note For Note – Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered he describes the new and creative approaches which his teachers adopted to enable him to engage with the process of learning to play.
Live performance is back! Courtyard Classics Live! a four-day outdoor festival of music and drama takes over Beckenham Place Park, 22 to 25 July
The curtain will rise for the first time on Courtyard Classics Live! this summer in the stunning surroundings of Beckenham Place Park. From 22 – 25 July, this four-day festival will feature some of the UK’s top musicians and actors onstage at this new courtyard concert venue, perfect for soaking up beautiful music in the evening sun.
Opera Holland Park is delighted to introduce Opera in Song: three programmes of Czech, English, Italian, Russian, German, French and Spanish music, designed by Julien Van Mellaerts in collaboration with Dylan Perez, to complement and illuminate the operas in the company’s 2021 Season.
Following the government announcement that social distancing restrictions will be lifted on 19 July, Glyndebourne has confirmed that it will release more tickets to Glyndebourne Festival performances after that date. Audiences were previously capped at 50% of capacity.
All seats in the opera house’s 1,200-capacity auditorium will now be available for performances between 19 July and 29 August, with additional tickets to Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Verdi’s Luisa Miller, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and three concerts by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Ensuring the safety of its audiences remains Glyndebourne’s top priority. Glyndebourne is strongly encouraging the continued use of face coverings in the auditorium, in line with the theatre industry’s ‘See it safely’ guidance. A number of other safety measures will remain in place for Festival 2021 performances from 19 July onwards, including temperature testing, enhanced cleaning and contactless ticketing.
Glyndebourne chose to invest in a loss-making Festival this year in order to protect jobs and provide work to freelance artists, technicians and craftspeople. Every additional ticket that is sold this summer will support Glyndebourne’s long-term survival.
Public booking for the additional tickets will open at 10.00am on Sunday 18 July from click here
Previous announcement
Glyndebourne has confirmed its plans to proceed with its annual opera festival in 2021, with adaptations to ensure the show can go on, even if social distancing is still in place.
Glyndebourne Festival 2021 will run from 20 May until 29 August with new productions of Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová, Rossini’s Il turco in Italia and Verdi’s Luisa Miller, alongside a revival of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. In a change to original plans, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde will be presented as a semi-staged concert with a full orchestra, seated on the stage, to do justice to the opera’s epic score.
Samuel Hudson discusses his 2021 Three Choirs Festival with John Quinn
Samuel Hudson (c) Michael Whitefoot
When Samuel Hudson took up his post as Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral in autumn 2019, he must have been very excited. Not only was he to be in charge of the music at one of England’s leading cathedrals, but also the post carried with it the artistic directorship of the Three Choirs Festival one year in every three – and it was to be Worcester’s turn to host the festival in the summer of 2020. He moved to Worcester from Blackburn Cathedral, where he had been Director of Music since 2011, and his musical pedigree is strong. He was organ scholar successively at Girton College, Cambridge and Wells Cathedral, after which he held posts at two significant churches, St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, London and All Saints’ Church, Hertford, prior to his move to Blackburn.
A thrilling new production of Wagner’s Die Walküre will headline the 2021 Grimeborn Opera Festival
Wagner’s Die Walküre headlines the 2021 Grimeborn Opera Festival and is staged over three nights at Hackney Empire in a version by Jonathan Dove not seen in London since its premiere in the 1990s. Other festival productions will be staged in Arcola’s exciting new covered outdoor venue, Arcola Outside.
New Season’s Preview: Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich 2021/2022
Tonhalle, Zurich (c) Georg Aerni
The Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich has just announced its new season’s programme. The orchestra moves back into its splendidly renovated old hall, the Tonhalle, down by the lake. It has taken four years to re-paint, re-gild, put in a new floor, seats, air-cooling and humidity system, create a terrace with a view of the lake and the Alps and modernise backstage. A new organ has been installed, and I can testify it sounds magnificent. Everyone looks forward to the opening of the new season, in the ‘new old hall’. ‘See you am See’ (See you by the lake) is the orchestra’s current slogan – typically, partly in English, partly in German.
THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES ITS 2021/22 ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL SEASON (11 PREMIERES, 34 CONCERTS AND A NEW PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR, EDWARD GARDNER)
The London Philharmonic Orchestra today announced its 2021/22 season at the Royal Festival Hall, featuring 34 concerts of brilliantly curated programmes performed by many of the world’s leading musicians – and all in front of live audiences.
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