Events

Mozart Divertimento in DElgar Serenade for Strings

Giacomo Puccini La Rondine Bruno Ravella director La rondine (The Swallow) is a moving tale of young love and heartbreak – and what else, you may ask, is opera about? Arguably Puccini’s most modern opera, La rondine was premiered in Monte Carlo in 1917, and includes one of Puccini’s most gorgeous creations, the quartet, ‘Bevo […]

Gaetano Donizetti Rita (in English) Directed by Lysanne Van Overbeek Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari Il Segreto di Susanna (in Italian) Directed by Daisy Brown This duo of one act comedic operas presents a glorious representation of married life in one form or another – each with their own dark shadows lurking in the background. Rita, the somewhat […]

Henry Purcell Dido and Aeneas Libretto by Nahum Tate If Opera concert performance with guest conductor Christian Curnyn and the Bristol Ensemble. The course of true love runs far from smooth for Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Trojan hero Aeneas in Purcell’s famous opera.  We are thrilled that our If Opera Company singers will be […]

Felix Mendelssohn Piano Trio in D minor Frank Bridge Miniatures In 1839, when Mendelssohn produced his Piano Trio in D minor, Op 49, Robert Schumann immediately proclaimed it ‘the master trio of the age’. The beloved chamber work has a classical-era structure but is unmistakably Romantic, with its extended lyrical themes, often a dialogue between […]

Bristol Ensemble Baroque The Vauxhall Players Introduced by Dr Matthew Spring This programme intermixes music composed by William Herschel during his years in Bath (1766-82) and in the six years he spent in the North of England, with music by those who worked with him and whose music he knew: Charles Avison, Thomas Linley, Venanzio […]

Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture Bruch Violin Concerto Beethoven Symphony No.1 Emil Huckle-Kleve violin Mendelssohn’s lyrical and dramatic Hebrides Overture (also known as Fingal’s Cave) opens this concert of music by German composers. Bruch’s iconic Violin Concerto is one of the most popular in the genre, full of sustained emotion, stunningly beautiful melodies, and romantic themes. The concert’s finale is Beethoven’s sparkling Symphony No. […]

Ralph Vaughan Williams Suite for Viola – Group 1 The Lark Ascending On Wenlock Edge Marking the 150th birthday of one of England’s best-loved and most distinctive composers, this programme features one of the nation’s most treasured works, The Lark Ascending, in an arrangement for solo violin, piano and string quartet. The ravishing and wistful Suite for […]

Ralph Vaughan Williams Suite for Viola – Group 1 The Lark Ascending On Wenlock Edge Marking the 150th birthday of one of England’s best-loved and most distinctive composers, this programme features the nation’s most treasured work, The Lark Ascending, in an arrangement for solo violin, piano and string quartet. The ravishing and wistful Suite for […]

Milhaud  La Création du Monde Max Richter Nature of Daylight Haydn Symphony no 6 Le Matin Wagner Siegfried Idyll Copland Appalachian Spring This performance opens with Milhaud’s La Création du Monde, a jazz-inspired ballet and ends with a celebration of nature with Copland’s Appalachian Spring. In between, the ensemble explores more complex human emotions with Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight and the wonderful Siegfried […]

Bristol Choral Society Bristol Ensemble Hilary Campbell – conductor Steven Kings – piano Marija Struckova – piano Vanessa Bowers – soprano Jamie W Hall – baritone Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms Fauré Requiem Not for Fauré the Requiem ‘shock and awe’ of a Mozart, Berlioz or Verdi. Refined over a decade, his Mass for the Dead […]

City of Bristol Choir Bristol Ensemble David Ogden conductor Amy Dickson saxophone Richard Johnson piano Rebecca Afonwy-Jones mezzo soprano Felix Kemp baritone Richard Blackford Pietà Ralph Vaughan Williams Dona nobis pacem Anatoly Avdievsky Ukrainian Lullaby With its dramatic, visual quality, gripping narrative and vividly descriptive scoring, Pietà by Richard Blackford is a beautiful setting of the Stabat Mater text interspersed with poems from the Ukrainian born poet Anna […]

Bristol Ensemble Fitzhardinge Consort Raffaele Esposito – mandolin Sally Bartholomew – bassoon Roger Huckle – violin Simon Kodurand – violin Imogen Triner – oboe Vivaldi Gloria Bassoon concerto in E RV484 Mandolin Concerto in C RV425 Oboe & Violin Concerto RV 548 Violin Concerto - Winter St George’s is transformed into a candlelight auditorium taking […]

Stroud Choral Society Bristol Ensemble Simon Bell conductor A performance of Handel’s Messiah at St George’s Church, Nailsworth. Tickets £20 for adults, £10 for children aged 12 to 17 years (plus booking fees), free for children under 12 years of age. Book online at www.ticketsource.co.uk.

Gershwin Concerto in F Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Phillip Glass Mishima Copland Hoedown from Rodeo Viv McLean piano Viv McLean returns to perform Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, a jazzy, optimistic, richly-textured work packed full of fabulous tunes and toe-tapping rhythms. It was commissioned by Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra, the day after he had heard […]

Monmouth Choral Society performs Handel’s Messiah with Bristol Ensemble, conducted by Steven Kings

Schubert String Trio in B flat D 471 Phillip Glass String Quartet No. 2 ‘Company’ Mozart String Quintet in G minor K.516 This programme of music for 3, 4 and 5 players is a fascinating exploration of the versatility and inventiveness of chamber string ensemble repertoire. Schubert’s Trio was an unfinished work, set aside by […]

Following two hugely successful performances in Bath Abbey, Voices for Life brings Stardust to Wiltshire Music Centre! Join 80 local primary school children as they take you on a musically magical journey through space accompanied by the Bristol Ensemble, narrated by Jon Monie (Bath pantomime) and directed by Greg Hallam (London Youth Choir). Stardust tells the tale of 6 […]

Handel Coronation Anthems Mozart Coronation Mass K.317 Marking the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and the 70th anniversary of the Coronation in 2023, Cirencester Choral Society is joined by Bristol Ensemble to perform music by Handel and Mozart under the baton of conductor Carleton Etherington. Handel’s Coronation Anthems were composed for the coronation of King […]

Bath Choral Society Bristol Ensemble Handel Messiah Bath Choral Society returns to Bath Abbey for its annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, the dramatic oratorio that tells the familiar story of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection.  It is full of glorious choruses and intricate arias that build to the overwhelming majesty of the final Amen.