As the new season is upon us, it’s a good time to draw your attention to a handful of rising stars (risen in a few cases) to look out for in the coming months. As someone editing reviews from across the globe, I come across many new names, but have limited myself here to those performers I have seen in action.
Tabita Berglund
Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund – no relation to the late, great Finnish conductor Paavo – has made quite an impression on the couple of occasions I caught her: an unfussy style, precise detail and a good ear for balance, both in concert and in her debut at Garsington Opera. Berglund originally trained as a cellist, but studied conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music and has just finished a stint as Principal Guest Conductor of Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming appearances include concerts in Vienna, Tokyo and Stockholm.
Quatuor Agate
I caught this young French string quartet Quatuor Agate at Wigmore Hall last year and was bowled over by their big, bold playing in Brahms’ Second String Quartet. Johannes Brahms is central to the quartet’s repertoire – their name derives from Agathe von Siebold, dedicatee of his Second String Sextet – and they’ve recorded the three quartets. They're touring to some impressive venues this season and I’m particularly looking forward to hearing them play Ravel.
Elisabeth Brauß
Following a spell as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, German pianist Elisabeth Brauß is making a name for herself in the UK. Stylistically assured, her playing bristles with vitality. I recall a terrific Prokofiev Second Piano Sonata at Wigmore Hall, although with some sparkling Scarlatti. Her imaginative programming juxtaposes composers from different eras. In addition to piano recitals, this season finds her playing Mozart’s “Jeunehomme” concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
María Dueñas
Teenage violin prodigies are nothing new, often flickering briefly before disappearing, but the recent crop now reaching their 20s – including Daniel Lozakovich, Johan Dalene and Chloe Chua – look to have real staying power. It’s hard to believe that classy Spanish violinist María Dueñas is still only 21, so meteoric has her rise been. She won the Yehudi Menuhin Competition in 2021, playing Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, the work I heard her play at the Proms in 2023. She also recorded a terrific Beethoven concerto in which she included cadenzas by Kreisler, Saint-Saëns, Spohr, Wieniawski and Ysaÿe, as well as her own.
Ben Glassberg
British conductor Ben Glassberg is only 30 but already has two opera houses under his belt! Since 2021 he has been doing excellent work as Music Director at Opéra de Rouen (I heard a vivid Carmen there last season) and in January he became MD of Volksoper Wien as well (where he conducts a new Carmen very soon). I first saw him conduct at ENO’s excellent open-air Hansel and Gretel in Regent’s Park, a stylish performance with a reduced orchestra, somehow conjuring up the magic in Humperdinck’s score. His operatic schedule is bulging this season.
Dani Howard
In 2021, critics raved about the world premiere of Dani Howard’s Trombone Concerto, written for young British player Peter Moore. It’s an energetic, eloquent work which displays Moore’s dazzling virtuosity. It also demonstrates Howard’s skills as an orchestrator, which I’ve since heard to great effect in the 2022 premiere of Ellipsis. Howard is versatile across a range of genres; for the Marian Consort she composed a striking vocal octet Unbound. She’s also composed a Saxophone Concerto for Jess Gillam and, this season, Mathilde Lloyd premieres a new work for trumpet and piano.
Huw Montague Rendall
English baritone Huw Montague Rendall has an impeccable operatic pedigree – his parents are mezzo Diana Montague and tenor David Rendall. He has already impressed with his Mozart roles – Guglielmo, Papageno and Almaviva – at Covent Garden and Glyndebourne, with a fine sense of comic timing and his lyric baritone. In France, he’s already sung a highly praised Pelléas in Rouen (“the Pelléas of his generation” according to Le Figaro), a role he revisits in a new production at the Opéra de Paris this season. After hearing an excerpt from Billy Budd on his first solo disc, I’d be very keen to hear him in Britten’s opera.
Anastasia Kobekina
Russian cellist Anastasia Kobekina was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2018–21, so was frequently on BBC Radio 3, often playing in London’s Wigmore Hall. She returned there in January for a sensational recital with French pianist Cédric Tiberghien where her playing of Shostakovich was a “frenetic joy to watch”. At the BBC Proms in recent weeks, she had the honour of performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic, an intimate, interior performance where “her feathery articulation came to the fore in many pin-drop moments”.
Hongni Wu
Chinese mezzo Hongni Wu was a 2018 winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has just graduated from The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker programme. She was a particularly memorable Suzuki to Asmik Grigorian’s heartbreaking Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly in March, bringing dignity and tenderness to the role. JPAs earn plenty of stage experience during their two-year training, but Hongni Wu has made the most of her opportunities. Just last weekend she won third prize in the Éva Marton International Singing Competition in Budapest.
Beth Taylor
Scottish mezzo Beth Taylor first came to prominence as a finalist in the 2023 Cardiff Singer of the World competition, which I thought she should have won. That summer also saw her impress in a couple of BBC Proms, including the magnificent concert performance of Les Troyens, in which Taylor sang Didon’s sister, Anna. This year, she returned to Glyndebourne for the revival of Giulio Cesare, her mezzo, rich and burnt caramel in colour, making for a dignified Cornelia.
View all upcoming listings for artists mentioned in this preview.
