Best concerts and opera in August
An exciting new opera, unmissable Proms, and a Gilbert and Sullivan to lighten the mood
Itch, Opera Holland Park
Jonathan Dove's new opera, based on books by Simon Mayo, is an exciting ride through the periodic table, as schoolboy Itch aims to gather an example of every element. When a new element emerges, there is a race to monetise it, and a battle for survival between Nature and big business. Highly recommended.
Read more ...Semele, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Handel set to music the story of mortal Semele who hopes for immortality through an affair with Jove. Adele Thomas's new production shows why she would want to escape her claustrophobic earthly life. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment bring the score to life.
Read more ...Summer at Snape, Aldeburgh
Escape to the coast and to ravishing countryside, and get immersed in world-class music with this month-long Suffolk-based festival. Artists include saxophonist Jess Gillam, and singers Danielle de Niese and Jacqui Dankworth (pictured). The King's Singers with Fretwork, Southbank Sinfonia and BBC Concert Orchestra are among the ensembles, and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra close the six-week festival, which also features yoga, a family concert (20 Aug) and children's activities.
Read more ...Prom 22: Isata Kanneh-Mason plays Prokofiev
A marvellous programme for younger music-lovers, with just two exciting pieces. Isata Kanneh-Mason (pictured) is the soloist in Prokofiev's entertaining Piano Concerto No 3. Then Ryan Bancroft conducts the fantastic BBC National Orchestra of Wales, whose annual Proms visits are always an event, in Tchaikovsky's action-packed Symphony No 5. Perfect for a school holiday night out.
Read more ...Prom 30: Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2
John Wilson's annual appearance at the Proms with his Sinfonia of London is always a special occasion that breathes new life into well-known works. Benjamin Grosvenor (pictured) is the soloist in Rachmaninov's romantic Piano Concerto No 2 (the Brief Encounter one). The evening opens with Lili Boulanger's picturesque D'un Matin de Printemps and closes with the Symphony No 1 by English composer William Walton.
Read more ...Ruddigore, Charles Court Opera, Opera Holland Park
The very talented John Savournin (pictured) directs and appears in another refreshing new staging of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, bringing to an end the fine Opera Holland Park summer season. In Ruddigore, the satirists lampoon the etiquette books beloved of their upright Victorian society, and its obsession with the supernatural.
Read more ...Stable Yard, Holland Park, London W8 6LU
Prom 37: Budapest Festival Orchestra
This distinguished Hungarian orchestra under Iván Fischer is joined by the outstanding pianist Sir András Schiff (pictured) for the very beautiful Schumann Piano Concerto, before the Symphony No 3 inspired by Felix Mendelssohn's travels, the Scottish. You can be sure of a stirring encore...
Read more ...Prom 44: Stravinsky's The Firebird
In a season bookended for the first time by women conductors, the Proms debut tonight by New Zealander Gemma New (pictured) is another step forward. Canadian-born, Berlin-based composer Samy Moussa's Symphony No 2 gets its European premiere before Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No 2 with the brilliant young Pavel Kolesnikov and Stravinsky's colourful ballet music The Firebird.
Read more ...Prom 56: Rattle conducts Mahler 9
Say a London farewell to Sir Simon Rattle (pictured) as he leaves the London Symphony Orchestra as music director and heads for Germany. In a poignant last concert in his current role, and after a game-changing tenure, Rattle conducts Mahler's valedictory Symphony No 9, with the BBC Singers joining the LSO. In the first half, Poulenc's post-war cantata, Figure Humaine.
Read more ...Prom 60: Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Making its Proms debut, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra is one of Europe's great orchestras, and here it play Rachmaninov's dramatic Symphony No 3 under Vladimir Jurowski (pictured). Kirill Gerstein is the soloist in Thomas Adès's Piano Concerto, with music by Kurt Weill to start. This promises to be a spectacular evening
Read more ...