Music Festival – ARTMUSELONDON

Plain song: Coleridge-Taylor, ‘The Atonement’, Three Choirs Festival 2025, Hereford

A highlight of a brief visit to the Three Choirs Festival this year was the opportunity to hear Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s little-known and rarely-performed choral work, ‘The Atonement’. The sense of occasion was twofold: this revival in the glorious setting of Hereford Cathedral was like a homecoming for the cantata, which received its premiere in Hereford…

Spiritual awakening: Leon Bosch & Rebeca Omordia in concert and on disc

The African Concert Series was originally founded and curated by pianist Rebeca Omordia to shine a spotlight on African art music: the diverse work of African composers who, as the series website explains, create “a bridge between Western classical music and African traditional music”. Launched in 2019, the series has had a torrid infancy. After…

Unbound: Mahan Esfahani & Carolyn Sampson on disc and in recital

For any listener, there’s a special kind of excitement reserved for when favourite artists – those you’ve been following separately for some time, collected their records and so forth – suddenly collaborate. Examples that spring to my mind include ‘The Marble Downs’, a masterpiece made by one of the UK’s greatest (and much missed, certainly…

Bold testament: ‘Out of Her Mouth’, Dunedin Consort & soloists, Village Underground, London

A couple of watermelons still share the stage with the artists as they receive our applause. They are the lucky ones. Their fallen comrades gave their lives in mostly spectacular fashion, just one of the bravura surprises in this wildly inventive production. ‘Out of Her Mouth’ is a joint venture by Dunedin Consort, who supply…

Chamber Music and much more at Hatfield House – Elizabeth I’s Childhood Home.

Karine Hetherington caught up with British cellist, Guy Johnston, who is curating The Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival for the 11th year in a row. On September 29, the Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival sets off again. How did you first get involved with the magnificent house? Henry V111 housed his children at the Old…