Gerald Finley, Antonio Pappano in recitalBarbican 10th December
You know the soloist is special when the Royal Opera’s music director Antonio Pappano is the accompanist. The singer in question is Canadian baritone Gerald Finley, a performer whose generous voice and stage presence translate naturally to the concert hall. Finley’s programme includes Ravel, Liszt and Beethoven, but there’s also more than a nod to the British Isles with Respighi’s colourful Four Scottish Folksongs and Shostakovich’s Romances on Verses by English Poets.
Hidden Gems, Concerto Italiano & Rinaldo AlessandriniKing’s Place, London 9th December
It’s not often that we get to see Rinaldo Alessandrini—king of Italian baroque and a magician at the keyboard—in the UK, so seize this chance to hear him and his brilliantly virtuosic ensemble Concerto Italiano. While some composers on this programme of Trio Sonatas will be familiar—Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel—others such as Porpora and Uccellini are more unusual. Together they promise to offer a vivid portrait of a genre at its virtuosic and lyrical apex.
Ludus Baroque: Bach’s Christmas OratorioCanongate Kirk, Edinburgh 20th December
Some may prefer Handel’s Messiah, but it’s Bach’s Christmas Oratorio that gets to the heart of the mystery and wonder of the Nativity. You’ll hear no finer performance this December than this from superb period ensemble Ludus Baroque and the Marian Consort, surrounded by the austere beauty of Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk.
You know the soloist is special when the Royal Opera’s music director Antonio Pappano is the accompanist. The singer in question is Canadian baritone Gerald Finley, a performer whose generous voice and stage presence translate naturally to the concert hall. Finley’s programme includes Ravel, Liszt and Beethoven, but there’s also more than a nod to the British Isles with Respighi’s colourful Four Scottish Folksongs and Shostakovich’s Romances on Verses by English Poets.
Hidden Gems, Concerto Italiano & Rinaldo AlessandriniKing’s Place, London 9th December
It’s not often that we get to see Rinaldo Alessandrini—king of Italian baroque and a magician at the keyboard—in the UK, so seize this chance to hear him and his brilliantly virtuosic ensemble Concerto Italiano. While some composers on this programme of Trio Sonatas will be familiar—Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel—others such as Porpora and Uccellini are more unusual. Together they promise to offer a vivid portrait of a genre at its virtuosic and lyrical apex.
Ludus Baroque: Bach’s Christmas OratorioCanongate Kirk, Edinburgh 20th December
Some may prefer Handel’s Messiah, but it’s Bach’s Christmas Oratorio that gets to the heart of the mystery and wonder of the Nativity. You’ll hear no finer performance this December than this from superb period ensemble Ludus Baroque and the Marian Consort, surrounded by the austere beauty of Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk.
