La Scala di Seta
One of Scottish Opera’s welcome innovations this season under its newly established music director Stuart Stratford has been its Sunday afternoon concert performances of rarely seen operas. The series continues with an early one-act comedy by Rossini, La Scala di Seta (The Silken Ladder)
Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 2 April; Perth Concert Hall, 7 April
Les Fêtes d’Hébé
Although Rameau was the most important French composer of the 18th century, there are still a significant number of his major works that have yet to be staged in the UK. The Royal College of Music knocks one off that list with the first production of the opera-ballet Les Fêtes d’Hébé, which premiered in Paris in 1739.
Royal College of Music, SW7, 5 & 6 April
Music of Today: Bent Sørensen
As a free, early-evening prelude to the Philharmonia’s concert with conductor Jakub Hrůša, both its London and Basingstoke audiences get the chance to hear their latest Music of Today programme, which is devoted to Danish composer Bent Sørensen. Kwamé Ryan conducts three of the pieces, all with typically evocative titles: The Deserted Churchyards, The Weeping White Room and Minnelieder – Zweites Minnewater.
Royal Festival Hall, SE1, 6 April; The Anvil, Basingstoke, 7 April
Martland Memorial
The composer Steve Martland died suddenly in 2013, at the age of 58. Like the works of his friend Mark-Anthony Turnage, Martland’s vivid, engaged music tended to trample across musical boundaries, and Turnage has now composed a tribute to his brother-in-arms.
