Planet Hugill
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Planet Hugill is a London-based classical music blog written by composer, journalist and singer Robert Hugill. Get Classical music news, opera, concert & CD reviews, live performance previews, features and musings on contemporary music from classical music composer, Robert Hugill.
Planet Hugill
2d ago
Leeds Lieder 2024 - Joseph Middleton, James Newby - Through the Noise at Hyde Park Book Club
Matyas Seiber, John Jacob Niles, Thomas Traill, Joseph Suder, Percy Grainger, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Ravel: Cinq Mélodies populaires grecques, Mahler: Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen; James Newby, Joseph Middleton; Leeds Lieder & Through the Noise at Hyde Park Book Club
17 April 2024
A new collaboration sees Leeds Lieder at a cool café/bar with an engaging and beautifully sung programme of songs inspired by folk-music
A former fuel storage tank is not the usual venue for ..read more
Planet Hugill
3d ago
In June, we are presenting Out of the Shadows at Omnibus Theatre, Clapham as part of 96 Festival, its celebration of queerness and theatre. Out of the Shadows is an evening of my music, featuring two recent cantatas and a selection of my songs performed by tenor Ben Vonberg-Clark, baritone Jonathan Eyers and pianist Nigel Foster.
As a little taster, here are two songs from my song cycle, For David, on his Birthday performed by Ben Vonberg-Clark and Nigel Foster and recorded at Hinde Street Methodist Church in 2023 when Out of the Shadows was premiered. The recording engine ..read more
A City Full of Stories: Anna Phillips on her work with Academy of St Martin in the Fields' SoundWalk
Planet Hugill
3d ago
Illustrations of SoundWalk by Ruby Wright
Anna Phillips is a harpist who is currently studying for a Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music. She had the opportunity to take part in the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields' SoundWalk project as part of an elective with the Open Academy Department at the Royal Academy of Music.
The Connection at St. Martin’s is a day centre that supports homeless people to help rebuild their lives, through helping them on their way out of homelessness and through artistic programmes. The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (ASMF) chamber orchestra ..read more
Planet Hugill
4d ago
Tête à Tête is not just planning its Summer opera festival in London but is creating a whole Spring and Summer of opera. In May, the company is heading to Newcastle, joining forces with members of the Royal Northern Sinfonia for two days of workshops for opera makers, aimed at encouraging the development of new opera in the North East [further information]
June sees the company in London working with student composers from the Royal College of Music (RCM) to present Revolutions, an evening of six short operas by RCM composers performed by RCM students. The programme being presented on 2 ..read more
Planet Hugill
4d ago
Mural: chamber music by Gabriel Vicéns; Stradivarius
Reviewed 15 April 2024
At times fierce and concentrated, Gabriel Vicéns music can evoke Webern and Felmann, but it also brings in his own visual element
New York City-based, Puerto Rican-born composer, guitarist, and visual artist Gabriel Vicéns' fourth studio album Mural, released on the Stradivarius label, features seven of Vicéns chamber pieces for various ensembles including piano trio, Pierrot ensemble, and woodwind quintet.
Gabriel Vicéns is a gifted guitarist and improvisor, as well as performing with a free jazz/experimen ..read more
Planet Hugill
5d ago
Pianist/composer Bill Laurance is perhaps best known as a member of the band Snarky Puppy, but he recently joined forces with Manchester-based The Untold Orchestra to release a disc of his music combining the 18-piece string orchestra, conducted by Rory Storm and led by Simmy Singh of the Manchester Collective, with Laurance's keyboards. Whilst he played jazz and swing as a teenager, Laurance studied classical music, composition and performance at the University of Leeds.
The new disc, Bloom is released on the ACT label and features nine tracks recorded in Manchester. The disc's official vide ..read more
Planet Hugill
5d ago
Islington Festival (Photo: Marc Gascoigne)
Islington Festival of Music and Art is returning with fourteen events across nine venues in and around Islington from 5 to 20 July 2024. This year's festival takes as its theme, From the Homeland, and events take us through the landscapes of Czech Republic, Hungary and Denmark, as well as journeys from India to Scotland and Australia to America.
The festival opens with a Czech theme as Joana Ly (violin), Miguel Ángel Villeda Cerón (cello) and Martin André (piano) perform music by Smetana, Martinu and Dvorak, and the festival final ..read more
Planet Hugill
5d ago
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Jessica Cottis
Catalyst: Coleridge-Taylor, Julius Eastman, Gavin Higgins, Dani Howard, Prokofiev; National Youth Brass Band and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Tess Jackson, Jessica Cottis; Royal Festival Hall
Reviewed 14 April 2024
From Julius Eastman's creative provocation in the Clore Ballroom to the stupendous combined brass band and orchestra in Higgins new piece, an astonishing day of music making full of energy, discipline, control and sheer love of music-making
Under the catch-all title of Catalyst, the National Youth ..read more
Planet Hugill
1w ago
The Paradox Orchestra - Fifty Years of Pink Floyd - Leeds Minster
The Paradox Orchestra is a relatively new professional ensemble based in Yorkshire. Founded in 2020 by Michael Sluman, a young professional oboist, the orchestra consists mostly of graduates of Leeds Conservatoire.
Created to fill what Michael perceived as a gap, the orchestra provides work for young professional musicians in Yorkshire and in three years has developed into an impressive group with educational and charity work alongside its sold-out concerts in historic venues. Describing itself as reinventing pop, rock ..read more
Planet Hugill
1w ago
John Dowland: Lachrimae, or Seaven Tears - Sean Shibe, The Dunedin Consort
Milton Court Concert Hall
Rowallan Manuscript, Straloch Manuscript, Dowland, Purcell, Geminiani, James MacMillan arr. George Duthie, David Fennessy, Linda Catlin Smith, Cassandra Miller; Sean Shibe, The Dunedin Consort, John Butt; Milton Court concert hall, Barbican
Reviewed 11 April 2024
Moving from the sheer magic of Dowland writing for lute and viols through to contemporary music for guitar and strings, ending with Cassandra Miller's mesmerising new concerto. A programme full of good things that never quite ..read more