South
at the ready: percussionist Evelyn Glennie plays a premiere at Cheltenham; violinist Alina Ibragimova (below right) immerses herself in Bath; and baritone Christopher Maltman (below) heads to Brighton
Southern Belles Evelyn Glennie heads to Cheltenham; Joanna MacGregor rules Bath
CHELTENHAM If the thought of a festival meditating on ‘music and maths’ has you reaching for a stiff drink, never fear: Evelyn Glennie is uncorking the world premiere of Joseph Phibbs’s new percussion concerto Tequila Sunrise, a celebration of cocktails from around the world. Director Meurig Bowen likens the job of marrying repertoire to building to that of a sommelier and he’s raided some choice cellars in the search for vintage 2011. The Concerto is part of a percussion weekend – ‘who needs to count better than a percussionist?’ asks Bowen – which includes a 75th birthday tribute to Steve Reich and his ‘fascination with numbers and systems’. But number- crunching isn’t all. Gloucester Cathedral submits to the glories of Renaissance Spain, Tewkesbury
gladly accepts a Bach programme from the returning Magdalena Consort and the radiance of Strauss’s Four Last Songs (soprano Amanda Roocroft with the LPO under Vladimir Jurowski) throws a comfort blanket to the gritty edginess of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Oedipus-reinterpreting opera Greek. Whichever way you do the maths, Bowen’s cocktail shakes and stirs in equal (and generous) measure. WHEN 29 June-10 July WHERE Cheltenham, Gloucs TEL +44 (0)1242 505444 WEB www.
cheltenhamfestivals.com HIGHLIGHTS Stile Antico: The Immortal Glory of Spain (29 June); Evelyn Glennie, Festival Academy Strings: Phibbs
62 BBC MUS IC MAGA ZINE
Tequila Sunrise (1 July); Amanda Roocroft, LPO/ Vladimir Jurowski: Wagner, Strauss, Brahms (2 July); Colin Currie Ensemble: Reich Drumming (3 July); Leif Ove Andsnes: Beethoven, Brahms, Schoenberg (5 July); Magdalena Consort: Bach Cantatas 78, 147, Lobet den Herrn (6 July); Music Theatre Wales: Turnage Greek (7 July); Boris Giltburg, Bournemouth SO/Karabits: Rachmaninov, Musorgsky (8 July).
BATH Bach to bluegrass, pianist Joanna MacGregor is a festival director who knows what she likes. And she happens to like a wide range of themes. ‘Fire in the Flint’
sparks an eclectic series ranging from the Northumbrian pipes of Kathryn Tickell to new Maxwell Davies and James MacMillan’s feisty Piano Concerto No. 2. ‘Songs of Freedom’ makes bedfellows of Paul Robeson and Ute Lemper’s Berlin, Nina Simone and – to mark the 30th anniversary of his untimely death – Cornelius Cardew. ‘Latina Heights’ salsas its way from soprano Patricia Rozario to samba band Umpatacum. Elsewhere, ‘Russia: Weddings and Vespers’ says ‘I do’ to Stravinsky’s Les Noces in the Abbey and candlelit Orthodox vespers in the Roman Baths.
Festival Special REX FEATURES, PIA CLODI, JAMES CHEADLE
Festival Special
Festival Special
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