1 Three Choirs festival
It’s Worcester’s turn to host the choral extravaganza and while there are no major premieres this year, the combined choirs do perform a couple of the repertory staples – Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass – and a major rarity in Mendelssohn’s oratorio St Paul.
Various venues, Worcester, 22-29 July
2 Malcolm Sargent’s 500th Prom
Throughout the 1950s and 60s Malcolm Sargent was the Proms’ chief conductor and very much its public face. It’s 50 years since Sargent died and his 500th Prom from 1966 is recreated for Prom 13, the BBC’s latest exercise in nostalgia. Andrew Davis conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a programme that includes Schumann’s Piano Concerto, with Beatrice Rana as soloist.
Royal Albert Hall, SW7, 24 July
3 La Clemenza di Tito
Mozart has always been the foundation of the Glyndebourne repertoire, and a staging of his last opera is the final new show of the current season. The production of La Clemenza di Tito is directed by Claus Guth, making his Glyndebourne debut, and conducted by the company’s music director Robin Ticciati.
Glyndebourne Opera House, nr Lewes, 26 July to 26 August
4 The Imaginary Museum
Julian Anderson’s new piano concerto, a BBC co-commission with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, promises to explore “contrasting worlds and sensations”. It’s the centrepiece of Prom 16, a programme that’s all about pictorial images, featuring two of Liszt’s symphonic poems, Hamlet and From the Cradle to the Grave, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
Royal Albert Hall, SW7, 26 July
