From the Stage to the Pit

As we approach the summer, orchestras across the UK begin to bring their seasons to an end before the Proms arrive. We’ve got some excellent concerts to choose from over the next few months, with some spectacular season finales planned. As usual, the proms aren’t announced yet so keep a lookout for that as they will take over most of the orchestral event listings for July, August and September.

BY JOSH CIRTINA // PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE IN THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA SYMPHONIC HIGHLIGHTS

THE RITE OF SPRING – HALLÉ ORCHESTRA

7.30pm, Thursday, 20 April, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

7.30pm, Friday, 30 June

Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham Christian Reif conducts two performances of Stravinsky’s timeless masterpiece. In Manchester

The Rite is paired with Dobrinka Tabakova’s Earth Suite: Pacific, both works taking inspiration from ‘the overwhelming force of Nature’ and the programme is completed with another 20th century classic, Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto. In Nottingham The Rite is prefaced by Lili Boulanger’s contemporaneous D’un matin du Printemps. Also in this technicolored programme are Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol

Two evenings full of excitement and character –thoroughly recommend!

MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 3

– ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

7.30pm, Thursday, 27 April

Royal Albert Hall, London ‘Mahler’s love of nature imbues his Symphony No.3 in this, the final concert of Vasily Petrenko’s series at the Royal Albert Hall. Written from his purpose-built composing hut that overlooked the Austrian Alpine vistas, this six-movement, colossal work evokes a canvas of life and a reflection of nature’s beauty, with the huge orchestra and choir bringing to life – musically – the blooms of the forest and the silence of the night; culminating with a stunning finale that embraces – above all else – the state of heavenly love.’ … AND there’s a pretty big trombone solo … !

HYMN OF THE FORESTS

– LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

7.30pm, Saturday, 6 May

Royal Festival Hall, London

‘I felt a cathedral grow before me in the vast expanse of the hills and the vault of the sky.’ For Janacek, the whole of creation was a cause for celebration, and with its jubilant trumpets, thundering organ and raw, unbuttoned lust for life, there’s something primal about his Glagolitic Mass – a choral work unlike any other. Edward Gardner conducts the peak of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s season with this epic work.

Gaming Concert

– BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF WALES

7.30pm, Wednesday, 17 May

St David’s Hall, Cardiff

‘Breath-taking music from the soundtracks to some of the biggest games on the planet are brought to life by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in this exhilarating video games concert, conducted by gaming music royalty, Eímear Noone.’ I’m pretty sure this will be a fun one for the trombones…

Bella Italia

– ULSTER ORCHESTRA

7.45pm, Friday, 26 May

Ulster Hall, Belfast

The Ulster Orchestra’s season comes to a close with their Music Director and Chief Conductor Daniele Rustioni taking us on a tour of Italy. Violist Timothy Ridout performs Berlioz’s joyful and stirring Harold in Italy, followed by Elgar’s tour de force overture In the South. The concert concludes with Respighi’s simply aweinspiring Pines of Rome. Sure to be a great event.

Bbc Philharmonic At The Aldeburgh Festival

7.30pm, Monday, 12 June

Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk

The BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Rumon Gamba, present a really interesting programme in their second of two nights at the 2023 Aldeburgh Festival. First on the programme is Benjamin Britten’s dark and brooding Sinfonia da Requiem (his first orchestral work), followed by Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Metacosmos; ‘The idea and inspiration behind Metacosmos, which is connected as much to the human experience as to the universe, is the speculative metaphor of falling into a black hole – the unknown’. Concluding the programme is Tchaikovsky’s enduring and emotional 6th Symphony.

BY BECKY SMITH // PRINCIPAL TROMBONE AT THE ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA

Opera Picks

We are well and truly heading for the busy summer opera season now, and it can’t come too soon! Winter does seem to have dragged its heels this year.

Due to the recent, well publicized, Arts Council Funding cuts we had the sad news that Glyndebourne Touring Opera has cancelled its entire programme this year, Welsh National Opera have had to reduce their touring schedule and English National Opera are very much under threat of closure entirely, so it is more important than ever we support opera, the musicians and the independent festivals.

GLYNDEBOURNE will get under way on 19 May and runs until 27 August, with a great variety of opera on offer. I am not familiar with some of the shows they are presenting, so I would go for Dialogues des Carmelites by Poulenc. ‘One of the most devastatingly powerful operas in the repertoire, Dialogues des Carmélites is also one of the most beautiful. Steeped in Debussy, Monteverdi and Verdi, Poulenc’s lyrical score balances cinematic drama and scope, charged with the violence of revolution, with moments of startling simplicity and beauty.’

GARSINGTON OPERA opens on 31 May with the Barber of Seville by Rossini. However, the one for me from their six-week festival would be Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. A bizarre request led Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal to come up with a work that combines opera, comedy and of course, fabulous music.

THE GRANGE FESTIVAL is a mix of opera and concerts, so there really is something for everyone. From their opera schedule I would be torn between Cosi van Tutti by Mozart, or Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck, both taking place across various dates in June. I’m less familiar with Cosi, (there are no trombones in it!) but it is a classic, and there are some really beautiful moments in the Gluck.

As well as these, we have Opera Holland Park, Grange Park Opera (not to be confused with The Grange Festival), and all the permanent houses across the UK performing opera throughout the year that also need your support, the Royal Opera House, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera and English National Opera.

Please keep music and opera alive by making it one thing you go to this summer! ◆