The spirit of music-making: Elgar at The Anvil

By Eleanor Knight, 10 February 2026

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“Elgar’s piece is a sort of musical bingo card”

Reviewed at Anvil, Basingstoke, Basingstoke on 8 February 2026

Elgar, Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85

Elgar, The Music Makers for soloists chorus and orchestra, Op.69

Parry, I was glad

Adrian Bradbury, Cello

Elizabeth Lynch, Mezzo-soprano

Brighton Festival Chorus

Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra

James Morgan, Conductor

An operatic big hitter: Juan Diego Flórez

Olivia Bell, 2nd June

This was less a concert of two halves than one of two tenors: able to dramatise the music of Puccini and Verdi far more effectively than his earlier Mozart, Flórez came alive.

****1

Daniel Hope and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the Bristol Proms

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, 31st July

As one of the headline acts for the newly established Bristol Proms, award-winning British violinist Daniel Hope played alongside the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra for the first orchestral performance on the Bristol Old Vic Theatre stage for over a century.

***11

Scottish Ballet's Double Bill: Life in the Fast Lane, Death in the Slow

Margaret Willis, 3rd November

Scottish Ballet’s brief trip south of the border - just two performances - not only brought a company of vital athletic dancers to the capital but also chose the occasion to announce its new artistic director.

Mahler's Third struggles to coalesce in Cadogan Hall

Mark Valencia, 12th November

Pietari Inkinen conducts the Prague Symphony Orchestra in Mahler's monumental Third Symphony.

***11

Havergal Brian's monumental Gothic Symphony

Andrew Benson-Wilson, 17th July

A work scheduled to last nearly two hours could be excused for starting with a long slow build up, but Havergal Brian’s massive Gothic Symphony (the longest symphony ever composed) bursts onto the scene with a brisk and bustling march-like flourish, contrasted briefly with a delicate violin solo that reminds us that this is very much an English composition.

****1

A labour of love and determination: L’Enfant et les sortilèges

David Smythe, 16th November

Virtual Opera made real as Ravel's miniature masterpiece is recorded remotely around the world and melded with Leanne Vandenbussche’s picture-book drawings and the London Philharmonic Orchestra's soundtrack to create magic.

****1

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Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.