The Royal Philharmonic Society Awards have announced its 2025 shortlist nominees. This article only features those nominated for vocal works. The Awards will feature performances from a range of nominees and is hosted by BBC Radio 3 presenters Jess Gillam and Tom McKinney, with trophies presented by RPS Chair Angela Dixon. The Awards ceremony will be held for the first {…}
Aldeburgh Festival has announced its 2025 edition. Here is a rundown of the vocal performances on offer. First up is “A Visit to Friends,” a new opera by Collin Matthews and William Boyd. It stars Lotte Betts-Dean, Susanna Hurrell, Marcus Farnsworth, Edward Hawkins, and Gary Mattewman. Jessica Cottis conducts and Rachael Hewer directs. Performance Date: June 13 & 14, 2025 James {…}
Britten Pears Arts announced the launch of a three-year, £13.4 million capital program helping the organization maintain and further its mission. The endeavor ensures Britten Pears Arts’ buildings and sites have improved accessibility for everyone, starting with moving forward with updates to the Snape Maltings Concert Hall. Other uses for the investments are to ensure financially sustainable, and aid the {…}
(Photo credit: Edmund Choo, Zaira Biagini, & Simon Goldsmith) The English Touring Opera and Britten Pears Arts have released the casting for its new c0-production of Dame Judith Weir’s “Blond Eckbert.” Baritone Simon Wallfisch returns to the English Touring Operas for the first time since 2015, in the title role. He is joined by soprano Aoife Miskelly, who sings the {…}
A shortlist of this year’s Royal Philharmonic Society Award recipients has been released. For the purposes of this article only opera related nominees are included. The full list can be found here. Chamber-Scale Composition Nilufar Habibian – “Az nahāyate tāriki” (“From the deep end of darkness”) Conductor Alice Farnham; Alpesh Chauhan; François-Xavier Roth Ensemble BBC Singers; Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective Impact {…}
England’s Aldeburgh Festival has announced its 2023 edition. For the purposes of this article, our focus will be solely on vocal and operatic performances. On the opera front, audiences will get a chance to experience Sarah Angliss’ “Giant,” which tells the story of Charles Byrne, “a man whose corpse was stolen to order and put on public display.” The work {…}
(Credit: Philip Vile) The Aldeburgh Festival has announced its 2022 season. The festival opens on June 3, and runs through June 26, 2022. For the purpose of this article we will focus on the vocal works. Here is the full slate. Baritone Kieran Rayner performs music by Schubert, Debussy, and Finzi alongside pianist Bradley Wood. Performance Date: June 4, 2022 {…}
Chiltern Arts presents excerpts from Benjamin Britten’s “Saint Nicolas” cantata via a free-to-view 20-minute video celebrating the story of Santa Claus. Director Bill Barclay has created a powerful, spiritually uplifting film that anticipates the time when we will once more come together to celebrate musicmaking. The film features Royal Opera House tenor Nick Pritchard and British choral and orchestra conductor, {…}
(Credit: Robert Workman) The Aldeburgh Festival is set to present a 2013 production of Britten’s “Peter Grimes” on BBC iPlayer. The production stars Alan Oke in the title role with Giselle Allen as Ellen Orford. The work was conducted by Steuart Bedford. The performance also featured the Britten-Pears Orchestra and the choruses of Opera North and Guildhall School of Music {…}
The Aldeburgh Festival is set to showcase Thomas Larcher’s “The Hunting Gun” this June. The production, which will take place on June 7 thought 9 at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall, will feature a cast that includes Samuel Boden, Peter Schöne, Sarah Aristidou, Giulia Peri, and Olivia Vermuelen. This will be a special set of performances for Schöne, who will {…}