Are there any crusty readers out there who, like the author, recalls Roger Miller’s hit song ‘England Swings’? That was the 1965 US pop chartbuster with vivid, stereotyped lyrics, telling of bobbies on bicycles, rosy red-cheeked children and dapper gents with derby hats.
Britain’s groovy reputation in the Swinging Sixties was a magnet for American musicians and artists, as well as young tourists by the charter plane load. They came to play, sway and in many cases, stay. American celebrities who have spent significant time living here include musical icons Tina Turner, Susie Quatro and Madonna, actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin
Spacey and Gillian Anderson, and writers Bill Bryson and Francesca Simon.
Jimi Hendrix, born in Seattle, was one of the greatest rock legends to live, love, write and perform in Sixties London. He also infamously died here in 1970, from an accidental drugs overdose. You can visit his Mayfair flat at 23 Brook Street, which shares Georgian walls with the former home of composer George Frideric Handel. Together these make up the fascinating Handel & Hendrix in London museum. Jimi’s carefully restored bedroom is on the top floor, complete with hippy-style decor and his favourite black hat, feather boas and acoustic guitar.
If you’re in the mood for more swinging, there are plenty of Sixties themed tours out there, like the Ultimate Swinging 60’s Experience Tour on a Routemaster Bus or Free- Tours-by-Foot’s acclaimed Rock‘n Roll London. Those with deeper pockets may prefer the luxury Rock N Rolls Tour of Swinging London, in a Rolls Royce of course.
Since the tragedy of 9/11, when two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City, there have been many literary, visual and performing arts responses to the day. What did the people trapped inside do and think when they became aware of the unfathomable threat that could end their lives? One such response to 9/11 is the opera Between Worlds, which was performed at the Barbican two years ago. Tansy Davies composed the music; Nick Drake wrote the libretto. The opera takes place for the most part inside the north tower on September 11, covering the time before dawn until the end of the day, by which time both towers had collapsed. Music, song and design are interwoven to create imagined scenes with people expressing their gnawing, desperate need to make contact with their loved ones. They want to be sure that if they die, a loving, enduring spirit will follow in their wake, rather than angst. Looking up, people on the ground, the ‘chorus’, share the captives’ sense of helplessness. Horror is eating them up, too.
Most people think opera is stuffy, elitist, for pompous connoisseurs, obsessed with ego-centric characters and their silly dalliances, adorned in expensive costumery, singing in front of sumptuous sets. Why do people spend so much on flummery? Between Worlds shows how relevant opera can be to our inner and exterior lives; each of us can relate, personally, to the sorrow, grief, fear, love and life experiences of the people in the towers. The tales of the doomed and the grievers could be our stories.
Indeed, there are many historical and contemporary operas that will resonate with all of us; and if, as a scathing critic, you visit the exhibition, Opera: Passion, Power and Politics at the Victoria & Albert Museum (until 28 February 2017), curated in collaboration with the Royal Opera House (ROH), you could find yourself thereafter a frequent member of the audience, listening to opera on Spotify while you are at the computer, or singing arias to yourself as the bath water turns cold. Opera could very well become part of your life.
The exhibition encompasses a collage of visual and performing art (more than 300 operatic objects are on view); it is not just a series of galleries with pretty pictures and explanatory, jargon filled panels. We see – and hear - how music, singing, lighting, set design, graphics, fashion, painting, drawing, printing, sculpture, jewellery making and carpentry work together to bring opera into being. Operatic excerpts and commentary on the audio guide (more a soundtrack than just a guide) enrapture us as we travel through the galleries learning about 400 years of operatic history. Each gallery focuses on a city and an opera that premiered in the city. When the exhibition was in the making, the then director of the ROH, Kasper Holten, determined that the “exhibition will show us opera as the soundtrack to the history of Europe. We hope to show audiences, both those in love with opera already and those who are still missing out, that the art form is alive and kicking and has as much to say to the society around today as it did 400 years ago”.
First we visit Venice in 1642 and explore the premiere of Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea. This tells the story, set in the first century AD, of the Emperor Nero’s infatuation with the beautiful Poppea who tries to make him divorce his wife and make her the Empress of Rome. The challenges of love, lust, greed, immorality, morality and betrayal vie with each other in an intriguing tale, which could be transposed to the pages of the tabloid press of 2017. We then venture in 1711 to London where we learn about Handel’s Rinaldo, the first Italian opera created for the English stage. It was set during the Crusades. This gallery displays somewhat hostile reviews in The Spectator magazine at the time of the opera’s premiere, yet the public loved the opera, in spite of the journal’s derisiveness, for its pageantry. In Vienna, we encounter Mozart’s comic opera, The Marriage of Figaro, premiered in 1786. The opera pokes fun at the arrogance of the aristocracy at the time and their presumption that they had the right to take advantage of the ‘lower orders’; the droit du seigneur is quite an issue here. Are there parallels with parliamentary behaviour today? In 1842, Milan welcomes Verdi’s Nabucco, a biblical story about the plight of the Jews as they are exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II. The narrative stirs reflection upon the plight of endangered exiles and conflicts in the Middle East in our times. Visiting Paris, we greet Wagner’s Tannhauser in 1861, a tale of lust culminating in damnation. Audiences did not appreciate the opera to say the least; maybe it made them feel uncomfortable. Wagner withdrew the work and despised Paris ever after. The once-scandalous Richard Strauss’ Salome, a setting of an Oscar Wilde play, premiered in Dresden in 1905. In St Petersburg, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk made its debut. It tells the story of a lonely woman in 19th-century Russia who falls in love with one of her husband's workers and is driven to murder. Stalin suppressed the opera two years after it premiered in 1934. In a newspaper, Stalin attacked Shostakovich for “trifling with difficult matters”…The opera, he wrote, was an “ugly flood of confusing sound”. Its themes of oppressive social surroundings and conventional mores and depiction of the Gulag challenged the righteousness of Stalin the omnipotent.
As we move from city to city we see pass opera related exhibits such as the amended and re-amended notes on Handel’s original score for Rinaldo, costume armour for the opera’s Crusaders, and a working, mechanised, colourful replica of a Baroque theatre, where mermaids in Rinaldo sing as we watch a ship pitching through a stormy sea before the clouds part and it reaches safety. Mozart’s own piano is displayed. The material from the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsenck includes Shostakovich’s autograph score, costume and set designs, posters and programmes. Archive footage reveals Shostakovich playing the music for Act III feverishly on the piano. We see Salvador Dali’s costume designs for Salome and opera related paintings by Manet and Degas. In a closing section we watch excerpts from 20th century operas, such as Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Einstein on the Beach, composed by Philip Glass, screened on the walls.
Would the exhibition be too ‘grown up’ for young children, those perhaps under 11? The music and artistic artefacts would undoubtedly appeal to anyone of any age. Would the large screen extract from George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, revealing domestic brutality, disturb? Given what children are exposed to by social media and television, and the prettified violence of fairy tales and children’s novels, it is debatable how affecting it would be. Think deeply! On a more benign note, young people studying music would be fascinated by the exhibition, mesmerised, appreciating how the power and vigour of both the libretto and the music relate to each other.
There are operas written especially for children, which are enjoyed by so-called adults, too. Recently, the company OperaUpClose commissioned and staged an enchanting opera, Ulla’s Odyssey. Homer’s Odyssey inspired Ulla’s, which grapples judiciously with contemporary issues such as climate change and female leadership. The audience, toddlers included, hailed the work with a standing ovation. Indeed, OperaUpClose Close is dedicated to increasing awareness and appreciation on of opera among the population at large. It presents contemporary and historic operas, in English, which are transposed to modern settings. The artistic director, Robin Norton-Hale, notes that 82% of the audience attending Ulla’s Odyssey at Kings Place were seeing their first opera, and “a staggering 92% of that group told us that they will now definitely see another opera in the future”. Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, for three adults and ninety children, The Firemaker’s Daughter, composed by David Bruce, which is based on the same named children’s novel by Philip Pullman, Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck and Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen are several of the most highly acclaimed and endearing operas for children.
Enlivening and enriching, the exhibition is living proof that opera is for each and every one of us, not just for ‘them’. Take deep breaths before you start singing about its wonders so that your voice will be all the more potent.
From the world’s greatest classical musicians to young artists making their debut, Wigmore Hall’s 2017/18 Season promises to be accessible to more people than ever before.
Situated in the heart of Marylebone, London’s Wigmore Hall is a unique venue to experience exceptional performances, set apart from other concert venues by the clarity of the acoustic in the iconic and intimate auditorium. Nowhere else in London can you get as up close and personal to the performers and musicians. If it is your first time visiting, or your five-hundredth time, the 2017/18 Season is packed with something for every musical taste.
In announcing Wigmore Hall’s 2017/18 Season John Gilhooly, Director of Wigmore Hall, who is responsible for all areas of the Hall’s programming, commented: “Our partnerships with artists have never been stronger. Musicians love the atmosphere in the Hall, they love the intimacy, they love being able to communicate with everyone in the audience. This is reflected in the number of projects they are prepared to take on specifically for Wigmore Hall. Everyone at Wigmore Hall is deeply grateful to our many supporters who enable us to present such a rich, diverse and adventurous programme and for making all artists feel like they’re returning home”.
Wigmore Hall has a strong history of supporting and profiling American classical artists. In past seasons the likes of mezzo-
soprano Susan Graham and the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Centre have taken to the Wigmore stage. 2017/18 Season will be no different as the Hall is pleased to welcome some of the greatest American performers in the industry.
Joyce DiDonato, the acclaimed mezzo- soprano, will be performing a programme of Strauss and Debussy at Wigmore Hall this autumn, alongside the Brentano String Quartet. DiDonato will also be performing a piece written specifically for her by the American composer Jake Heggie that responds to the creative genius and tragic end of Rodin’s muse and lover Camille Claudel. DiDonato’s artistry and consummate professionalism promises to enthral the audience, and she will be sharing her experience and wisdom in a Masterclass a few days earlier.
Violinist Joshua Bell stands among today’s great performers. He is renowned for impassioned music making and will be in London this season with the musicians of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Bell and the ASMF are uniting further in a performance at Wigmore Hall that will show the clarity and beauty of works by Bach and Tchaikovsky.
Wigmore Hall welcomes the best of all instrumental performances and have a strong Jazz programme. For the last season, Jazz pianist, bandleader and composer Vijay Iyer has held a residency at the Hall. In the final concert of his series, Vijay is expanding his
classic Trio with three great horn players to build the Vijay Iyer Sextet, for a concert not to miss. The extraordinary Dianne Reeves takes to the stage in March when she will be performing works from her GRAMMY Award- winning albums.
Whatever your interest or experience of chamber music, there is something for every taste at Wigmore Hall.
Click here to see what's on at Wigmore Hall this season.
Support Wigmore Hall
American Friends of Wigmore Hall was set up to strengthen classical music ties between the UK and the US. Funded by its membership, the organisation supports American artists and projects on both sides of the Atlantic, with a preference for those where there is a connection with Wigmore Hall.
If you would like to support chamber music and song and international musical partnerships, please consider making a donation to American Friends of Wigmore Hall.
American Friends of Wigmore Hall is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organisation (TIN 30-0125674). Donations to it are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
For more information please contact: Marie-Hélène Osterweil
President of American Friends of Wigmore Hall - email americanfriends@wigmore-hall.org.uk or call +44 (0)20 7258 8220
The Summer of Love may be feasting its fiftieth, but it’s a mere babe next to the world of jazz, which this year celebrates its first 100 years. Not only is 2017 the centenary of the first ever jazz recording– Livery Stable Blues by the New Orleans’ Dixieland Jazz Band– but would have seen the 100th birthdays of three of jazz’s best-loved stars, Ella Fitzgerald (25 April), Thelonius Monk (10 October) and Dizzy Gillespie (21 October).
For all these reasons, Jazz 100 has curated a year-long programme to mark the musical milestones, kicking off with International Jazz Day at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in spring and partying on through the year with loads of incredible gigs and events.
A summer jumping with jazz jewels opens with a rare public performance from Woody Allen and his New Orleans band, playing London’s Royal Albert Hall in July. As well as a long and illustrious filmmaking career, Woody Allen has a legendary devotion to his beloved clarinet and sax, famously missing acceptance of the 1978 Academy Award for Best Picture because he was busy playing at his weekly Dixieland jazz gig. In the jazz spirit of improvisation, Woody’s upcoming show will have no playlist and none of his musicians know in advance what he will ask them to play.
The weeklong Manchester Jazz Festival heats up at the end of July with over 100 concerts, films and other electric events. Festival highlights include the New York Brass Band and the Haggis Horns, and the Festival’s full sensory experience will be abetted and refreshed by jazz brunches and afternoon teas.
As ever, this year’s BBC Proms (14 July - 9 September) are rich with jazz sounds. Prom 27 pays a delectable double tribute to Ella and Dizzy’s 100th birthdays; the music of jazz giant Charles Mingus is honoured at Prom 53 by the rocking Metropole Orkest and its dynamic young conductor Jules Buckley, and Prom 57’s Swing No End matinée promises blues, boogie-woogie, bebop and a slice of musical action from the 1930s and 1940s. Charismatic singer and radio presenter Clare Teal will officiate at its rip- roaring battle of the bands, led by bandleaders extraordinaire Guy Barker and Winston Rollins.
BluesFest, the brilliant annual jazz, blues and roots festival, caps off October (27-29), this year headlined by exclusive classic gold appearances from Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers. Last but not least, the 25th EFG London Jazz Festival will shatter the chill of late autumn with two full weeks of gigs by a diverse range of artists in concert halls, clubs and stages across the capital. Chief amongst this year’s thrills will be renowned South Africans Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela, the Jazz Voice opening gala, the effervescent Harlem Gospel Choir and mindblowing piano-mandolin duets from Brad Meldau and Chris Thile.
Are there any crusty readers out there who, like the author, recalls Roger Miller’s hit song ‘England Swings’? That was the 1965 US pop chartbuster with vivid, stereotyped lyrics, telling of bobbies on bicycles, rosy red-cheeked children and dapper gents with derby hats.
As we move from city to city we see pass opera related exhibits such as the amended and re-amended notes on Handel’s original score for Rinaldo, costume armour for the opera’s Crusaders, and a working, mechanised, colourful replica of a Baroque theatre, where mermaids in Rinaldo sing as we watch a ship pitching through a stormy sea before the clouds part and it reaches safety. Mozart’s own piano is displayed. The material from the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsenck includes Shostakovich’s autograph score, costume and set designs, posters and programmes. Archive footage reveals Shostakovich playing the music for Act III feverishly on the piano. We see Salvador Dali’s costume designs for Salome and opera related paintings by Manet and Degas. In a closing section we watch excerpts from 20th century operas, such as Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Einstein on the Beach, composed by Philip Glass, screened on the walls.
From the world’s greatest classical musicians to young artists making their debut, Wigmore Hall’s 2017/18 Season promises to be accessible to more people than ever before.
The Summer of Love may be feasting its fiftieth, but it’s a mere babe next to the world of jazz, which this year celebrates its first 100 years. Not only is 2017 the centenary of the first ever jazz recording– Livery Stable Blues by the New Orleans’ Dixieland Jazz Band– but would have seen the 100th birthdays of three of jazz’s best-loved stars, Ella Fitzgerald (25 April), Thelonius Monk (10 October) and Dizzy Gillespie (21 October).
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