We begin our final news round-up of the year with the news that pianist Ella O’Neill has been awarded the 2024 RPS Gerald Moore Award. This prestigious award for piano accompanists is given every two years by the Royal Philharmonic Society. Ella said ‘I am honoured and humbled to follow such an illustrious list of pianists – many of whom are fellow Samling artists – as a recipient of the Gerald Moore Award.’
Ella explains more about what the award means to her here on the RPS website:
royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk
Lucy Crowe has received the Santley Award, given annually to two distinguished singers, composers of vocal music or researchers into vocal music by the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
wcom.org.uk/awards
Olivia Warburton won the ‘Rolf Mares’ Hamburg Theatre Prize for the most outstanding performance in the 2023/24 season for the solo opera Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank by Grigori Frid.
Opera News
Louise Alder made her US operatic debut and role debut as Micaëla Carmen at San Francisco Opera.
English Touring Opera have announced their main touring production for the coming spring. Jessica Cale and Samantha Price both make role debuts as the two star-crossed lovers in Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Samantha makes her ETO debut. The cast also includes Harry Grigg in the ensemble. Our North East followers can see them at Gala Theatre, Durham on 19 March.
englishtouringopera.org.uk/productions/the-capulets-the-montagues
Edward Kim sang his first title role, appearing in Don Giovanni with The Opera People at the The Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre in Singapore.
Hugo Brady is one of the Pilgrims and Jo Ramadan plays chamber organ in a filmed production of Britten’s Curlew River currently available to stream on BBC Four. The film was made in and around Orford Church in Suffolk to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the opera’s premiere there.
bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0025b0t/curlew-river
Carla Caramujo takes up a new position as Artistic Director of the Óbidos Opera Festival in Portugal.
Christmas Recordings
Benjamin Appl has released an album of Christmas music from Germany and around the world. This is a very personal project for Benjamin as he reunites with the famous Regensburg Cathedral children’s choir that he sang with as a child and for ‘Stille Nacht’ he is joined by his guitarist mother Edeltraud Appl. The album was selected as Recording of the week by Presto Classical who describe it as ‘classy, introspective seasonal offering’ and it was included by The Times in their Christmas recommendations.
outhere-music.com/en/albums/christmas-album
Benjamin joins the Liverpool Philharmonic this season as Artist in Residence and makes his conducting debut with them on 11 January for a performance of Messiah.
liverpoolphil.com/the-orchestra/orchestra-season-202425/artist-in-residence/
Another Christmas recording to make The Times selection is ‘A Christmas Fantasia’ with the Chapel Choir of Royal Hospital Chelsea directed by William Vann, which we shared in October’s news round-up. William and the choir have just released a second Christmas album which pairs choral versions of Vaughan Williams’ Herefordshire carols with the piano and voice versions recorded several years ago by Derek Welton and Iain Burnside.
rvwsociety.com/carols-from-herefordshire/
Angharad Lyddon and Benedict Nelson are the soloists on the world premiere recording with The Choir of King’s College London of Edward Nesbit’s 2022 Christmas cantata ‘Nativity’ which sets part of the The Tilethatchers Play from the York Mystery Plays and poems by the Welsh metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan.
delphianrecords.com/products/edward-nesbit-nativity
Other Recordings
Nick Pritchard joins flautist Yu-Wei Hu and the Oxford Bach Soloists directed by Tom Hammond-Davies for a recording of three cantatas by J.S. Bach, including a special arrangement for high voice and flute of Ich habe genug.
signumrecords.com/product/bach-cantatas
You can hear Nick singing more Bach on ‘The Art of Obligato’ directed by violinist Davina Clarke and exploring the interplay between Bach’s writing for voices and instruments.
prestomusic.com
Jean-Paul Pruna has released his debut album, ‘Suites’, a solo recording of baroque French Suites, made on a 1909 Pleyel instrument in tribute to the pioneering French pianist Marcell Mayer.
editionshortus.com
Another pianist with a debut album is Krystal Tunnicliffe on a complete recording of William Walton’s songs with her long-term duo partner soprano Siân Dicker and guitarist Saki Kato.
delphianrecords.com/products/william-walton-complete-songbook
Anna Huntley is one of the three soloists with the English Symphony Orchestra on ‘The Song of Songs, The Poet in Exile’, a collection of songs by the exiled Jewish composer Walter Arlen.
signumrecords.com/product/the-song-of-songs
Recordings of the year
It’s that time of year when reviewers and magazines pick their favourite recordings of the year. The rediscovery and recording by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyrics of Fausto by Louise Bertin, with Nico Darmanin in the role of Valentino, is an almost unanimous choice, with Gramophone Magazine, Presto Classical and The Guardian all including it in their selections.
Gramophone Magazine’s extensive list also includes recordings featuring Louise Alder, Lucy Crowe, Jennifer France, Stuart Jackson, Nick Pritchard and Anna Stéphany.
gramophone.co.uk/features/article/critics-choice-2024-our-favourite-classical-recordings-of-the-year
The Times top twenty includes Nardus Williams‘ debut album ‘Handel in Rome’ with the Dunedin Consort and Ruby Hughes ‘End of My Days’ with the Manchester Collective.
thetimes.com/culture/classical-opera
Presto Classical’s list also includes the recording by Gabrieli and Paul McCreesh of The Dream of Gerontius with a full line-up of Samling Artist soloists – Nicky Spence, Anna Stéphany and Andrew Foster-Williams.
prestomusic.com/classical/awards
A very Happy Christmas from all of us at Samling Institute and we look forward to hearing about more successes from our family of Samling Artists in 2025.
