George Parris

Festen opera review: Brilliant dance of light and dark Mark-Anthony Turnage and Lee Hall have created a compelling work but you won’t necessarily leave it smiling

A real privilege to experience Festen tonight — the new opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage which I hope will go down as one of the greats. I’m still processing how brilliant that music was — it felt so natural yet at the same time so different.

www.thetimes.com/culture/clas...

Amazing to get 500 people listening to our Palestrina concert on Sunday. “Fantastisk kvalitet och perfekt balans”, wrote Heidi Korhonen-Björkman in HBL. The past two evenings we’ve toured the same programme to Hämeenlinna and Turku. Bit tired now.

‪This is very interesting re. RVW’s choral piece ‘O Vos Omnes’ (1922) where he actively tries to avoid or transform C major‬. It’s an amazing rendering of that text, and I’m personally very glad that VW didn’t seem to have an issue with A major. #Jerusalem #iykyk

Tuhannet kiitokset!!

Back in Finland with sun and ice, which means it’s Aurore Festival time. Such a joy to be part of this!

This evening Arte Minima Ensemble from Portugal gave a stunning performance, and tomorrow the festival concludes with Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli.

Super happy to see this nomination in particular. They say ‘riveting’ and ‘daring’, I say BONKERS, relevant, and hands down the musical highlight of my 2024. #RPSAwards @tippettmf.bsky.social

This’ll be the other one — George W. Parris, who I don’t think has made it to Bluesky yet. We’re each other’s best promoters.

My short-lived new-year phase of being a felt-tip artist came to an end with this, seen here in its final resting place on a friend’s bookshelf.

I wonder what I’ll become next new year.

This is just so beautiful.

The wonderful Daniel Kidane with also-wonderful Manchester Camerata in rehearsal.

It’s been a fantastic Focus Day so far here @wigmore-hall.bsky.social So rare to get a set of events so concentrated on one composer. Looking forward to this evening’s performance!

And (although a piece, rather than a composer) Pärt’s ‘O Holy Father Nicholas’.

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė

Thank you, David!

The Carice Singers (a vocal ensemble I created in 2011) is looking for a new Chair of its Board of Trustees! A very exciting time for the group, which has been operating within a professional context since 2018. www.thecaricesingers.co.uk/chair-of-the...

The most warm-spirited, generous and inimitable person — deeply saddened by her passing but happy that we met those precious few occasions. She made enormous contribution to our understanding of Irish music, inc. her beautiful book on Ina Boyle.

This looks like a party I’d love to join!