You know how you have been promising yourself that this is going to be the year that you finally check out some decent classical music? Well, now is your chance, because you aren’t going to find bigger stars in such a variety of styles than this.
What?
The Great Performers series at the Barbican Hall in the City of London is, as the title suggests, concerts by some of the best musicians and orchestras in the world of music. From September 2009 until July 2010, you can hear everything from Renaissance madrigals by Monteverdi to contemporary opera.
Who?
Individual soloists include the pianists Emanuel Ax, Murray Perahia, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinists Sarah Chang and Hilary Hahn (who was named Gramophone Artist of the Year 2008), while the orchestras are some of the finest: the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic and Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw – all coming to town with their best conductors.
Voices
In addition to the massed voices of choirs The Sixteen and Les Arts Florissants – both celebrating thirtieth birthdays this year – a host of top-flight singers appear across the season. These include the bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, currently the Barbican’s Artist in Focus, and Juan Diego Flórez, one of the world’s great opera tenors. Or, if you like the high life, countertenors giving their falsettos a work out are: America’s finest, David Daniels; Europe’s finest, Andreas Scholl; and young pretender to the throne, France’s finest, Philippe Jaroussky. The ladies make an appearance too, including Dawn Upshaw, Christine Schäfer and Danielle de Niese (who promises to sizzle in Handel’s opera ‘Semele’).
What else?
Throw in a handful of contemporary operas – ‘Angels in America’ by Peter Eötvös, ‘After Life’ by Michel van der Aa and ‘Phaedra’ by Hans Werner Henze – and there is no excuse for not trying out at least one of these world-class events. Book it now!
