Billie is a keen music student in London, and a former Bachtrack intern. She started piano lessons and singing at the age of four and is still doing both regularly. She sings in Ralph Allwood’s Rodolfus Choir and has a particular interest in Benjamin Britten.
Although the evening Proms slots remain the most popular, the lunchtime and late-night concerts also attract large audiences, and often contain gems with lesser-known artists and works. The Proms season is mainly known for its large-scale classical music concerts, but does also encourage a diverse range of styles, as a cappella group Naturally 7 demonstrated on Monday evening.
This was my second visit to the Brandenburg Choral Festival, and I was looking forward to seeing younger performers tackle some challenging music. The experience outlined in the programme that Oakham School Chamber Choir have had is impressive, with the school giving over 80 concerts a year and touring recently to Dublin and Paris.
After the overload of concerts and carol singing around Christmas, most choirs have a well-deserved break before starting for another year, but not Vivamus. This young London-based choir entered 2013 in style with a candlelit concert for Epiphany. The concert’s main advertised work was Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, with other composers on the programme including Leighton, Howells and Whitacre.
World renowned harpist Catrin Finch has gained respect not only for her playing but for promoting this undervalued instrument in the classical music world. This concert was to celebrate the release of her new CD Blessing, a collaboration with celebrated composer John Rutter.
The International Wimbledon Music Festival is only in its fourth year, and yet it has world-class musicians coming to perform in SW19. The standard of music making on this opening night was second to none, and the quality matched that of some of London’s biggest venues.
The Royal Hospital Chelsea was founded in 1682 by Charles II to provide soldiers with a rewarding retirement location, and the grounds and buildings are all fitting for the residency of the Chelsea Pensioners. Their concert season ranges from choral music for Remembrance to string quartets and piano trios, but tonight’s performance saw string orchestra classics from the London Serenata.
The “Bach B minor” is a classic amongst choral singers, but although parts of it are so familiar and the name is often tossed around casually, upon hearing it you are reminded why it has the status it does. Bach never heard the mass in its entirety and the movements were written years apart, explaining why there is such a huge range of style; this means we are spoilt as an audience.
From the book of Tobit, Tobias and the Angel is a story from the Apocrypha which is not usually printed in Bibles anymore, due to concerns about its authenticity. However it is an inspirational story which lends itself well to music, and Jonathan Dove’s adaptation is definitely very captivating.The story sees young Tobit of Nineveh and Sara of Ecbatana both praying for their suffering to end.
