Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Howells

Music by a Scottish composer leads the Berkeley Ensemble's programme at the English Music Festival in Dorchester-on-Thames. 

This well devised programme brought out the best of The Sixteen in first rate performances under the charismatic Harry Christophers.     

Cecil Armstrong Gibbs’ largely forgotten Symphony no. 2, "Odysseus" proves exhausting, while works by Ireland and Howells tap into rich veins of mythical wistfulness and excruciating pain.

Kitty Whately’s parents, Kevin Whately and Madelaine Newton, joined the mezzo and pianist Joseph Middleton, reading poetry to illuminate the themes of the song groups.

A highly satisfying, eclectic programme in the best Town Hall tradition at Freemason's Hall, not afraid to include salon pieces along with highlights from prime organ repertoire.

The tone was set for a shrewdly programmed hour of contrasts.

Royal Northern Sinfonia welcomed their new chamber pianist in residence, Alisdair Beatson, with some brilliantly imaginative programming.

The perfect invitation to daydream on a hot afternoon. 

Stunningly beautiful commemorative British choral music from Tenebrae under Nigel Short at Perth Festival of the Arts in St John’s Kirk’s wonderful acoustic.

The Sixteen launched us into the final days before Christmas with a well-thought out and diverse combination of songs on The Three Kings.

Watery September sunshine and an autumnal air hung over Wigmore Hall, appropriate conditions for a recital of late clarinet sonatas.

The choir tackle an ambitious, if overly long programme of Advent-themed works with mixed results.

How would the Choir of King's College, Cambridge cope in the difficult acoustic of Sydney Opera House? Under the direction of Stephen Cleobury, they delivered a polished programme.

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, with their director Graham Ross, wound up their North American tour with music for Advent at Fairmount Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, with music by Howells, Britten, Tavener, Rutter, and Roderick Williams's haunting "O Adonai et Dux domus Israel."

Unusually for a classical concert, the Queen's Hall was decked out with cabaret tables. Seated at the front I had a unique perspective on audio elements such as blend and separation of instruments and such visual elements as musicians' cues (varying from direct eye contact to trusting peripheral vision) and the normally overlooked feature of footwork.Herbert Howells 1921 Rhapsodic Quintet Op.

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.

The theme of tonight’s concert, revealed the programme notes, was that of “marking time and preserving timeless values” – Christmas being a season that connects the past with the present.

The King’s Singers epitomise a cappella musicianship. The group was originally formed in the 1960s by choral scholars of King’s College, Cambridge (and one from Christ Church, Oxford), but its current membership includes members who were previously choral scholars at Oxford, and even one member from New Zealand.

For this Christmas concert we were transported from the Auckland Philharmonia’s usual venue at the Auckland Town Hall to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell. It was interesting to compare the sound of the orchestra; the cathedral has a slight echo that seemed to boost the richness of the orchestra’s sound, at times (like at the climax of Bizet’s Farandole) becoming almost shockingly loud.

The music of Herbert Howells has long been a fixture in British churches but continues to be absent from our concert halls. It’s true that much of his output, and almost all of his most popular works, are for unaccompanied choir or choir and organ, but his orchestral works include two piano concertos, a fantasia for cello and orchestra and several works for string orchestra among their number.

There’s a trend amongst programmers nowadays to provide concerts with a ‘hook’: an extra-musical incentive to pull the punters in, or at least help performers pinpoint their pieces.

We trudged through the snow to Kings Place, full of anticipation for an evening of beautiful music and festive cheer. The Barts Chamber Choir, conducted by Ivor Setterfield provided this, with a wonderful program from traditional audience carols to lesser known pieces by Berlioz, Howells and Vaughan Williams.