Category: Blog

Benjamin Grosvenor and Hyeyoon Park return with the second Beckenham and Bromley Festival

Jon Jacob

This is a little niche and perhaps bordering on the hyper-local for regular readers of the Thoroughly Good Blog, but it wouldn’t be Thoroughly Good if I didn’t highlight something happening on my own patch here in South East London, a tantalising 10-minute bike ride away from me here in Hither Green: the second Beckenham and Bromley Festival is scheduled for 17th – 19th September 2021.

The Bromley & Beckenham International Music Festival will this year stage four concerts at Bromley Parish Church, St Peter and St Paul’s Church.

Artistic Directors and Bromley residents Benjamin Grosvenor and Hyeyoon Park (this brings my tally of classical music talent on my doorstep to a mind-boggling ten people) founded the festival with festival director Raja Halder, putting on four concerts and raising £4200 for a local hospice too.

Watch Hyeyoon Park and Timothy Ridout perform Martinu’s Three Madrigals in the Beckenham and Bromley International Festival 2020

This year violist Timothy Ridout and cellist Bartholomew LaFollette return, plus there’s a festival debut from BBC Young Musician winner Laura van der Heijden. Concert programmes will include Rachmaninoff’s Trio Élégiaque No.2, Schubert’s Trio No.2 in E-flat and Britten’s Lachrymae, one of the 20th century’s greatest works for viola and piano, and the festival finale including Brahms’ titanic Piano Quintet.

The festival will also feature Joseph Tawadros in a programme of his own original music. Born in Cairo and raised in Sydney, Tawadros is a multi-award winning composer, improviser and champion of his extraordinary instrument, the Oud. His music draws on Arabic traditions combining it with western classical, jazz, world, folk, metal and bluegrass. 

Joseph Tawdross

Free tickets for under-12s and a fiver for under-21s. Everyone else, £22. Not bad.

To book tickets and get directions to St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Bromley, visit the Beckenham and Bromley International Festival website.

Restrictions might be lifting on 19th July but things are from clear, according to the RPO

Jon Jacob

News that COVID restrictions will be eased across England on 19 July is undoubtedly good to hear. The bookending of this painful period symbolised by the removal of mandatory mask-wearing and greater freedom in the hospitality sector gives a sense of uplift. Renewal. Recovery.

Be wary of getting carried away however. Arriving in my (and countless other journos) inbox as soon as the Prime Minister made his announcement was this comment from James Williams, the MD of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra:

“Whilst the Government’s announcement advising that Covid restrictions will be lifted from 19 July gives us all the sense of hope we need, to date the Government has failed to provide the performing arts with a sustainable operational roadmap that will ensure the economic viability of performances and the safety of venues, artists and audiences.

“There is an important task to be done rebuilding public confidence and providing the necessary reassurance that returning to the concert hall and the enjoyment of live performances can be done safely. This requires from Government a robust roadmap that sets out a transition from socially-distanced concerts to full-capacity events based on clear criteria, risk management protocols and meaningful, shared data from the Events Research Programme.

“Economically, venues and ensembles need full-capacity concerts, but the transition must be operationally and economically sustainable; the return to another lockdown in the autumn would be catastrophic for the sector. 

“The RPO is fully committed to playing its part in the ‘building back’ that lies ahead, including enriching lives and supporting wellbeing after numerous lockdowns. But to be viable the economic sustainability of our work depends upon audiences and performers being safe in the concert hall.”

Restrictions are not over until all parts of the economy are able to function in the way they were before the pandemic hit.

What BBC Proms concerts are on TV in 2021?

Jon Jacob

The BBC has announced which of this year’s Prom concerts will be broadcast on TV. The season starts on Friday 30 July and finishes with the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday 11 December. Twenty concerts will be broadcast across BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC Four.

Every Prom concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and via the BBC Sounds app.

Friday 30 July

First Night Of The Proms
Part one is broadcast on BBC Two (8pm). Part two is broadcast on BBC Four (9pm).

Read more about tonight’s music in All You Need to Know: Vaughan Williams, Poulenc and Sibelius		Katie Derham
Sunday 1 AugustScottish Chamber Orchestra/ Maxim Emelyanychev BBC Four, 8:30pm

Read more about tonight’s music in All You Need to Know: Mozart Symphonies 39, 40, and 41		Tom Service
Thursday 5 AugustCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/ Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla BBC Four, 8pmPetroc Trelawny
Friday 6 AugustBBC National Orchestra of Wales/ Elim Chan with Sol GabettaBBC Four, 7pmSuzy Klein
Saturday 7 AugustThe Golden Age of Broadway BBC Two, time TBCKatie Derham
Sunday 8 AugustNational Youth Orchestra/ Jonathon Heyward with Nicola BenedettiBBC Four, 7pmJess Gillam
Friday 13 AugustAurora Orchestra/ Nicholas Collon BBC Four, 7pmTom Service
Sunday 15 AugustPhilharmonia Orchestra/ Santtu- Matias Rouvali with Víkingur Ólafsson
BBC Four, 7pm		Josie d’Arby
Thursday 19 AugustOpera Gala: To Soothe the Aching Heart BBC Four, 7pmPetroc Trelawny
Friday 20 AugustNubya Garcia
BBC Four, 7pm		Clive Myrie
Sunday 22 AugustLondon Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle BBC Four, 8pmSuzy Klein
Thursday 26 AugustChineke! / Kalena Bovell with Jeneba Kanneh-Mason BBC Four, time TBCTom Service
Friday 27 AugustAcademy of St Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell BBC Four, 7pmJosie d’Arby 
Sunday 29 AugustCarnival of the Animals with the Kanneh-Mason Family and Michael Morpurgo
BBC Four, 8pm		Katie Derham
Thursday 2 SeptemberBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/ Ilan Volkov with Lucy Crowe
BBC Four, 7pm		Jess Gillam
Friday 3 SeptemberMoses Sumney meets Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphony OrchestraBBC Four, time TBCClara Amfo
Saturday 4 SeptemberCarnival of the Animals with the Kanneh-Mason Family and Michael Morpurgo
BBC Two, time TBC		Katie Derham
Saturday 5 SeptemberEnglish Baroque Soloists/ Monteverdi Choir/ John Eliot Gardiner BBC Four, 7pmPetroc Trelawny
Thursday 9 SeptemberSinfonia of London/ John Wilson with Miah Persson BBC Four, 7pmSuzy Klein
Friday 10 SeptemberArcangelo and Jonathan Cohen in Bach’s St Matthew Passion BBC Four, 7pmAnna Lapwood
Saturday 11 SeptemberLast Night of the Proms BBC Two/ BBC One, time TBCKatie Derham

Manchester Collective and Multi Story Orchestra team up with Southbank Centre for 2021/2022

Jon Jacob

It seems utterly incredible to be even considering a 2021/2022 season.

On Saturday I heard a friend and also a colleague worry about the possibility that there would be some kind of stipulation placed on the 19th July easing of restrictions. Like them, I look on the new Health Secretary’s promises with a degree of optimism. The 19th July like 21 June seems like such an arbritary date, based not on the prevalence of transmissable virus, rather the total number of those vaccinated. Whose to say that date won’t move?

Still. September 2021 seems long enough away to imagine of non-socially distanced audiences, an open members bar, and casual non-directed toing and froing in the Festival Hall foyer. Maybe. Just maybe. It might just happen. Just beyond the summer.

The Southbank Centre are previewing their forthcoming non-distanced season with some impressive new partnerships too. The Multi-Storey Orchestra now move from Peckham to Waterloo. I’m also really pleased to see Manchester Collective having secured a place in the Southbank Centre’s ongoing line-up. A good programming match.

Edward Gardner and Santtu-Matias Rouvali have their first appearances in their respective roles as Principal Conductors of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra in September. Karina Canellakis debuts in her new titled position as Principal Guest Conductor of the LPO and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra comes with five special projects in partnership with the Southbank Centre under their new Music Director Vasily Petrenko.

And there’s the promise of the New Music Biennial in 2022 too.

BBC Radio 3 will be in residence for the opening week, and will broadcast Tippett’s rarely-performed The Midsummer Marriage;

Manchester Collective will appear at the Purcell Room (2 Oct & 3 Dec) and Queen Elizabeth Hall (24 Apr & 14 May) showcasing artists including Hannah Peel, Lyra Pramuk, Vessel and Abel Selaocoe.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Sebastian Comberti play a Bach Saint-Saens Mashup

Jon Jacob

One of the unexpected highlights during the London Mozart Players Croydon concert with Sheku Kanneh-Mason was a touching arrangement of The Swan from Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals, and the opening movement of Bach’s G Major cello suite.

The duet was played as an encore after Sheku’s performance of the Dvorak Cello Concerto.

Now the London Mozart Players have released a separate recording of the duet as a YouTube Premiere, to launch their online Spotlight On Series – concerto performances with new generation performers including Jess Gillam, and Isata Kanneh-Mason. Fourteen year-old d Leia-Zhu also appears in the line-up later this year with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

The films will be available to watch for 30 days from first broadcast via the LMP website www.londonmozartplayers.com, with individual concert tickets (per household) at £10.

A 4-concert package is also available until 24 July: £30 (four concerts for the price of three). The films can be watched anywhere in the world where there is Internet access.

The series has been filmed and edited by Simon Weir at Classical Media.

Discover more about Spotlight On via the LMP website.

Sitkovetsky Trio’s new album release previewed with an animation by Pavel Hudec

Jon Jacob

The Sitkovetsky Trio have a new album out this coming Friday including a recording of the Ravel Piano Trio. They’ve commissioned animator Pavel Hudec.

The Journey of the Pantoum: shows some of the events surrounding the creation of the Ravel Piano Trio in A minor, and the influences that Ravel was inspired by, his Basque roots and the rush to finish the piece as World War 1 drew nearer. Various characters appear throughout the film, including the Sitkovetsky Trio at Theater Chatelet. 

An impressive creation that draws the eye.

Sitkovetsky Piano Trio’s Ravel Piano Trio is released by BIS on Friday 2 July.

Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky appeared on the Thoroughly Good Classical Music Podcast back in 2019. Find the podcast on Spotify and Audioboom.

Stephanie Childress, Isata Kanneh-Mason and London Mozart Players at Cadogan Hall

Jon Jacob

With no programme there’s a risk of not quite knowing what it is you’re listening to. This isn’t necessarily a problem, especially for those of us who consider curiosity to be the only requirement for the live music experience. Not knowing is A Boon.

Not knowing can also throw up some surprises. For the first twenty minutes of the London Mozart Player’s Cadogan Hall gig I thought I was listening to a Mozart overture from an opera I couldn’t quite remember the title of. Hence why I applauded heartily after the final chord, only to discover a few seconds later that the applause had petered out and the work was unfinished.

Something in the music that followed triggered a thought: that sounds like Beethoven, doesn’t it?

The confusion says something about early Beethoven symphonies I had forgotten about. Beethoven’s symphony number two has hints of Mozart, so too hints of the complexities in Beethoven’s writing that perhaps are more obvious in his later symphonies.

Conductor Stephanie Childress asserted herself on the podium with elegance, poise and panache. I was transfixed by the movement of her arms – motion from her shoulder all the way to the tips of her fingers. There was a sense of flow and grace in every move. Precise direction in a clear baton technique drew out some remarkable ensemble work and arresting textures and articulation.

Isata Kanneh-Mason played with verve throughout the demanding Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1, creating a tender melodic line in the second movement. Her fluid technique came the fore in the bravura third movement packed full of decorative elements that make the soloist reach for both ends of the keyboard. Isata was engaged but unfazed – a performance she fashioned from the instrument in front of her.

On a logistical front (these are unusual times), hats off to Cadogan Hall staff for being the venue who have managed to create as near normal a concert experience (including front of house) as I recall pre-pandemic. The acoustic isn’t quite so generous as St John’s Smith Square, nor as clear as Fairfields in Croydon, nor as supportive as Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool.

Domingo Hindoyan Credit: Ad Lib

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Domingo Hindoyan premiere Dani Howard’s Trombone Concerto

Jon Jacob

It feels like another world here in Liverpool. There’s a buzz about the place. The warm breeze and brolly-clad streets hint at a cosmpolitan feel. This and the art deco interior of Liverpool’s Phiharmonic Hall give distanced concert-going a sophisticated edge.

The Philharmonic Hall staff are organised, effcient, welcoming, and attentive. Ingress is swift and unfussy, middle-aged confusion is quickly addressed with eager eyes and non-aggresive questioning. I feel welcome in a space I’ve never visited before. I feel welcome. And I gasp when I see the interior. That is quite some achievement.

On stage the RLPO are a fresh-faced unpretentious bynch whose low-key low-key outfits bring out the rich colours in the wood and brass. Their presence echoes the joyous interior design. The RLPO have got this licked. Totally.

Their performance of Stravinsky’s Octet celebrates the industrious articulation the composer demands in the score. There’s a beguiling duo between flute and clarinet at the beginning of the second movement momentarily interrupted by the thwack of a mobile escaping from the flautist’s pocket. No matter. This is live. And live feeds on jeopardy. I’m impressed by how full the sound is given there are only 8 players on stage – a reflection of the blissful acoustic.

The Trombone Concerto performed by Peter Moore – tonight’s premiere available live on BBC Radio 3 on 25th June and available stream via the RLPO website from 29th June – is trademark Howard. Her musical language is effortless TV music without the distraction of TV images. Evocative vibes, shimmering suspend cymbals and harmonic slides pepper the work. She creates a tantalising sense of optimism in her music in such a way that listening to it you can’t quite be sure whether you’re getting carried away or not. Music I want to listen to again and again. Some trick. The second movement opens with a impassioned statement from the trombone underpinned by a pianissimo brass line that tricks the ear into thinking there’s an echo in the hall. The concluding movement doesn’t quite hold my attention as much, but I’m not discouraged. Howard’s language here makes her someone whose output I want to explore further. Not sentimental. Not mawkish. Engaging. Invigorating.

Later, Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin. Full of grace in the first movement – all silk pyjamas and warm summer breezes. A sumptous second movement was the undoubted high point. At first, the third movement lost my attention until three quarters of the way through when especially impressive ensemble between woodwind and strings hooked me back in with beautifully interlocking textures and ravishing closing chords in the strings.

Utterly charming (and actually adorable) conductor Domingo Hindoyan is good with a microphone and even better with Prokofiev’s first symphony, drawing out unexpected colours in the first movement, weighty detached strings in the second, and a gratifying and tightly controlled raucousness in the final movement.

A lovely evening.

Dani Howard’s Trombone Concerto receives its broadcast premiere on BBC Radio on 25th June. The concert is available to stream via the Royal Liverpool Philharmomic Orchestra website from 29th June.

Picture Credit: Ad Lib

YCAT announces twelve new artists for 2021

Jon Jacob

The Young Classical Artists Trust has announced twelve musicians to its sought-after roster of young artists.

Seven artists were selected through YCAT’s rigorous audition process from a highly competitive field of 150 applicants:

Adelphi Quartet (string quartet)
Quatuor Agate (string quartet)
Armand Djikoloum (oboe)
Irène Duval (violin)
Ariel Lanyi (piano)
Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux (violin)
Iyad Sughayer (piano)

In addition, young artist agency will represent five shared artists with Concert Artists Guild in the USA, including:

Jordan Bak (viola)
Balourdet String Quartet (string quartet)
Chromic Duo (toy piano/electronic duo)
Geneva Lewis (violin)
Gabriel Martins (cello)

All twelve get the benefit of YCAT’s support services, providing access to performing activities, plus promotional work too.

Names to keep an eye out for.

Don’t be a tool

Jon Jacob

A few days ago I posted a blog extending thanks to an army of classical music PRs who had through their work over the past twelve months brought me opportunities and helped me develop my own thinking. It was heartfelt and appreciated by all of them.

Just the other day I stumbled on some messages posted by a reader that took me a little by surprise.

I receive a lot of spam on the blog, and a considerable amount in my inbox too. I’ve not received anything quite so knowing or targeted.

I read these comments unfazed by the content but unsettled by the intent. Someone who knows me pretty well or who has the read the blog in its present iteration felt compelled to script a position with the intent of causing hurt. That can only have come from somebody with my ‘classical music world’. Nearly a week on I still can’t get head around it.

I share it here and now because I think it should be called out. I don’t especially care whether you like me or not, I have insufficient energy to persuade people to like me. What’s the point?

You don’t represent the community I’ve come to depend on. If you have helped at all it’s simply by helping me focus in on those borderline toxic relationships I could probably do cutting out of my life. Your actions have focussed my attention on real life connections I’d be better without.

Don’t be under any illusions: the worlds that help me find a sense of worth (classical and digital) is riven with people intent on causing hurt. If music and classical and art should reflect and advocate anything it’s forgiveness. I’m working on that. I hope you are too.

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