The Academy of Ancient Music reconnects us to a more genuine Messiah

By Edward Sava-Segal, 20 December 2020

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“voices perfectly balanced, with an acute sense of the polyphony underlining their singing”

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 19 December 2020

Handel, Messiah

Rowan Pierce, Soprano

Iestyn Davies, Countertenor

Ben Johnson, Tenor

Ashley Riches, Bass

Choir of the Academy of Ancient Music

Academy of Ancient Music

Richard Egarr, Director

Freudian slip: Handel’s Tamerlano recast as Trumpian tantrums

Mark Pullinger, 26th March

Opha Phelan’s staging presents the action as a grand, Freudian social experiment. It’s a risk – but the production is lifted by outstanding performances from the cast and the Academy of Ancient Music.

***11

Ed Lyon excels in Monteverdi’s Songs of Love and War

Stephen Pritchard, 12th February

Tenor Ed Lyon fulfils a long-held ambition to sing Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals, conducted by his former teacher, Laurence Cummings at Milton Court.

*****

Strong team for a Good Friday St John Passion

Roy Westbrook, 18th April

The greatest music of the 18th century – no arguments, please – is given a fine reading at London's Barbican.

****1

Academy of Ancient Music delivers a majestic Messiah

Charlotte Gardner, 16th December

Laurence Cummings and the AAM serve up Messiah-shaped serenity at the Barbican.

****1

Actéon and Pygmalion: three transformations for the price of two

Roy Westbrook, 9th October

Ovid’s Metamorphoses makes an ideal curtain-raiser to the Academy of Ancient Music's new season, with works by Charpentier and Rameau conducted by Laurence Cummings... who also sings!

****1

Academy of Ancient Music are inspired in Handel's Orlando

Roy Westbrook, 30th June

“A concert performance with neither scenery nor action would be a sacrilege,” wrote one authority of this opera. Nobody told the Academy of Ancient Music...

****1

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Edward Sava-Segal

Edward has been living in New York for the last 25 years, one of the reasons being the extraordinarily rich cultural life in this city. He has studied piano and classical music in his early years. He switched later on to computer science and data architecture but he kept an unwavering interest in following the classical music phenomenon here in New York and in his travels. Edward occasionally reviews fine arts events for the most prestigious literary magazine in Romania, his home country.