Roman River Music’s Festival ’17 from 9 September to 1 October
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SAFFRON OPERA GROUP COMPLETES ITS WORLD-CLASS RING CYCLE

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ENSEMBLE PRESENTS GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG

Saffron Opera Group performs Götterdämmerung at 2pm on 17 September 2017 at Saffron Hall (Audley End Road, Saffron Walden CB11 4UH)

Box Office – 0845 548 7650
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 TICKETS NOW ON SALE FOR OPERA SUPERSTARS ANNA NETREBKO AND YUSIF EYVAZOV’S RETURN TO LONDON’S ROYAL ALBERT HALL ON WEDNESDAY 23 MAY 2018

CLICK HERE for ticket information

Two of opera’s biggest stars, soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Yusif Eyvazov return to London for an evening of arias, songs and duets in London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. Performing a dazzling mix of works by Verdi, Puccini, Cilea, Boito, Mascagni, Catalani and others they’re accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.

Anna Netrebko has redefined the meaning of being an opera star. Today’s reigning prima donna, she routinely headlines major productions at leading opera houses across the globe and was the first classical musician to be chosen as one of Time Magazine’s most influential 100 influential people. With her distinctively beautiful voice, abundant charisma, and arresting stage presence she makes an indelible impression with each of the roles she portrays.

“A soprano with star power in the best sense, a charismatic expressivity that pervades every element of her performance.” Anthony Tommasini, New York Times

Yusif Eyvazov is an ‘Honoured Artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan’ and one of the world’s leading tenors.

Eyvazov frequently works with conductors such as Riccardo Muti and Plácido Domingo and appears at all the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan New York, Vienna Staatsoper, Paris Opera, Bolshoi, Mariinsky and many others.

“Such a natural powerful voice with shining heights and without any redundant sharpness. The high ‘c’ comes out of his throat as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He truly is a heroic tenor!”Ursula Wiegand – Der Neue Merker

Anna Netrebko commented: “I can’t wait to perform again at the Royal Albert Hall. I have such special memories of singing there at the Last Night of the Proms and the audience in London is one of the most appreciative and warm. It’s going to be a great evening!”

Yusif Eyvazov commented: “To sing great arias such as Nessun Dorma in the Royal Albert Hall is a dream for all tenors so to get the chance to present such a programme with Anna in this hall is something I’m truly excited about.”

This concert is presented by European concert agency Berin Art Management, www.berin-artmanagement.de.

St John’s Smith Square has announced its 2017/18 Season

In a characteristic programme, punctuated by a range of Festival celebrations, St John’s Smith Square continues its core mission to provide a home for Baroque music within the UK’s only concert hall dating from the Baroque period while equally championing new music. International artists sit comfortably alongside emerging talent and St John’s Smith Square also continues to provide a vital and unique central London home for the best in community music. Read more

Bayreuther Festspiele 2017 

As announced at the closing press conference for the 2016 Festival by Festival Director Katharina Wagner, the Bayreuth Festival is launching a new supporting programme this year. It is entitled Bayreuth Discourse and is designed as a series of events for the academic and artistic analysis of Wagner’s work and legacy.

A two-day symposium will be held in summer 2017. This year’s theme will be ‘Wagner’s Work and National Socialism’. Lectures and discussions will examine facets of Wagner’s personality and the effect of his works and writings during the Nazi regime and the long-term consequences. Four concerts will feature music by opponents and victims of Nazi rule. Read more

Music in the Summer in the Queen City Read more

Daniel Barenboim Unveils The Pierre Boulez Saal’s 2017/18 Season in Berlin

 Daniel Barenboim and Ole Bækhøj announced the second season of the Pierre Boulez Saal on Thursday, June 8 in Berlin. In the spirit of Pierre Boulez, flexibility, openness, and musical curiosity will remain the essential ideas for the 2017–18 programme. Contemporary music will stand side by side with chamber music masterworks of the Classic and Romantic eras and major compositions of the 20th century.

The Boulez Ensemble, founded for the hall’s opening and consisting of members of the Staatskapelle Berlin, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, as well as students and faculty of the Barenboim-Said Akademie and international guests, will be heard in concerts with Daniel Barenboim, François-Xavier Roth, Emmanuel Pahud, Zubin Mehta, and Sir Antonio Pappano, among others. Commissioned new works by Luca Francesconi, Aribert Reimann, and Benjamin Attahir, Pierre Boulez’s last student, will have their world premieres.

A staged production of Luther dancing with the gods, will be seen at the Pierre Boulez Saal for the first time. Director Robert Wilson is creating this project, which features texts by Martin Luther and music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Knut Nystedt, and Steve Reich. This is a collaboration with the Rundfunkchor Berlin for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Three concert cycles are dedicated to major Classical works: Daniel Barenboim, Michael Barenboim, and Kian Soltani perform Beethoven’s complete piano trios. Renaud Capuçon and Kit Armstrong take on Mozart’s violin sonatas; and the Streichquartett der Staatskapelle Berlin presents Schubert’s 15 string quartets.

The Staatskapelle Berlin returns to the Pierre Boulez Saal for three concerts conducted by Lahav Shani, Pablo Heras-Casado, and Lorenzo Viotti.

Jazz and early music offer new programmatic aspects. Trumpeter and vocalist Till Brönner will host a series of five concerts with national and international guest stars entitled “Talking Jazz.” Music from the 15th to 18th centuries is heard in concerts by the RIAS Chamber Choir, the Capella della Torre, the Freiburg BarockConsort, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Orlando Consort, and Il Giardino Armonico.

Music from the Middle East and Northern Africa will once again be featured prominently, with the Arabic Music Days in December 2017 as the centerpiece. Kinan Azmeh, Naseer Shamma, and others will be the headliners. Three lecture concerts offer introductions by the performing artists themselves: Jörg Widmann and François-Xavier Roth present music by Boulez, and Sir András Schiff takes on Bach’s piano partitas.

Other highlights include performances starring Thomas Hampson, Daniil Trifonov, Sergei Babayan, Piotr Anderszewski, Gidon Kremer, Yefim Bronfman, Radu Lupu, Mitsuko Uchido, Martha Argerich, and many others. There will also be, children’s concerts, and academy concerts featuring students of the Barenboim-Said Akademie.

Further information  at: https://boulezsaal.de/ .

The National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company & Harrogate Festival,  4-20 August 2017 (RJW)

The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company has assembled its 2017 season of G & S delights. We first heard of this unique company at the now world-famous International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival with an original professional line-up of ex-D’Oyly Carte principals that included Kenneth Sandford, John Ayldon, Alistair Donkin, Geoffrey Shovelton, Patricia Leonard and Lorraine Daniels when first staging The Yeomen of the Guard. It has developed over the decades to become one of the world’s finest professional Gilbert and Sullivan touring groups. This year it will be performing Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and Princess Ida at Windsor, Buxton, Harrogate Festival, Malvern, Norwich and Newcastle-on-Tyne between 20 July and 30 September.

Pirates of Penzance

The 2017 Festival has a line-up of new faces, and others making a welcome return. Vivian Coates, founder and artistic director of Lyric Opera in Ireland, will direct two new productions – Princess Ida and The Pirates of Penzance. The President of Italy decorated him for his services in promoting Italian opera in Ireland.

Michael McCaffery (Old Vic Company, National Theatre, Glyndebourne and the Bayreuth Festival) directs a new production of The Mikado at Harrogate in August and Donald Maxwell returns to direct HMS Pinafore and star in Princess Ida. Andrew Nicklin takes over the Musical Direction for three of the four shows and Aidan Faughey conducts Princess Ida.

Other frontline newcomers include Anthony Flaum who made his mainstage debut with the English National Opera this year (Nanki Poo and Frederic); Mae Heydorn the Swedish/German mezzo soprano (Glyndebourne, Grange Park Opera) takes Katisha, Buttercup, and Ruth; Emma Walsh (Lyric Opera, Nevill Holt Opera, Winslow Hall Opera) will play Princess Ida, Josephine and Mabel; Natalie Montakhab, a rising star with Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera and English National Opera will play Yum Yum.

Toby Stafford-Allen is known to us as one of Britain’s leading baritones with English National Opera and will play Pirate King, Pish Tush and Captain Corcoran. Simon Wilding, a member of the Bayreuth Festival Chorus, has also starred with English National Opera, Opera Holland Park, and Royal Opera and will play the Sergeant of Police, Pooh Bah and Dick Deadeye. When you add well-known singers like Richard Gauntlett (Major General, Sir Joseph and Ko-Ko); James Elliott (Ralph Rackstraw and Hilarion), Richard Suart (King Gama); Nicholas Sales (Cyril); James Cleverton (Arac) and Gaynor Keeble (Lady Blanche) you can understand why the production teams are excited at laying these new foundations of talent.

The Festival venues are the Royal Hall and Savoy theatres in Harrogate. A busy fringe programme complements the stage performances between August 4^rd and 20^th August 2017. The brochure can be seen at the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival website.

 Raymond J Walker