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Breaking news: Anti-Tory opera to open in Cheltenham

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norman lebrecht

December 21, 2010

I’ve just had a press release announcing that Mark-Anthony Turnage’s anti-Thatcher opera, Greek, is to have its first revival for ten years in the English heartland festival at Cheltenham.

I wonder what they’ll make of it in the shires.

Also on the cards is the concerto debut of wild-lad pianist, James Rhodes, and a kooky little sub-theme on the connections between maths and music from Pythagoras to Steve Reich.

Press release follows:

Cheltenham Music Festival, one of the UK’s most established and well-loved music festivals, announces its programme for 2011. The programme features top-notch performers, mainstage classics and cutting-edge contemporary music – all in a variety of stunning locations in and around this beautiful Cotswolds town.

Highlights of this year’s festival include:

Evelyn Glennie gives the world premiere of a new percussion concerto by Joseph Phibbs that celebrates cocktails from around the world – a cocktail shaker will inevitably be part of the proceedings!
From Pythagoras to the avant-garde, the Festival delves into the connections between music and maths, building on the success of the Science Festival tie-up, Sound Mind, in 2010.
A special percussion weekend features not just Evelyn Glennie, but Graham Fitkin’s new band Fitkin and Steve Reich’s minimalist masterpiece from 1971, Drumming, played by the Colin Currie Ensemble.
Other premieres include a new saxophone quartet by Gavin Higgins, Martin Butler’s Nonet, Edward Rushton‘s new twist on the popular mythical story of Pandora, and a piano quartet by RPS Composition Prizewinner Charlotte Bray
Performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage‘s controversial debut opera Greek by Music Theatre Wales. A startling yuppy era retelling of the Oedipus story, in its first production in the UK for ten years.

A taste of renaissance Spain in Gloucester Cathedral with award-winning Stile Antico. Music by Victoria, Morales, Guerrero and Palestrina will mark the 400^th anniversary of thedeath of composer Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Performances by exciting young artists including pianist James Rhodes in his concerto debut, a Dvo?ák chamber music double-bill featuring cellist Natalie Clein, and a performance from one of classical music’s hottest new properties, guitarist Milos Karadaglic.
Wagner, Brahms and Strauss’ Four Last Songs from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski and Amanda Roocroft, and an all-Russian programme from theBournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Karabits and pianist Boris Giltburg.