THE recital opened with Eugène Bozza’s En Forêt. This was written as an examination piece for the Paris Conservatory in 1941, and it showed.
The demands in this virtuosic work are considerable, and Zoë Tweed treated us to a masterclass in horn technique covering: agility, range, lip trills, hand stopping, fast tonguing, control of extreme registers and glissandi.
I thought it took a moment or two for Ms Tweed to get into the groove, but maybe it was my ear getting acclimatised to the natural harmonics. But the performance showed that En Forêt works perfectly fine as a duet. It was atmospheric and full of life and the piano accompaniment was quite impressionistic. The obligatory call and response hunting calls or tropes added a sense of fun, for me anyway.
In complete contrast to En Forêt, Jean-Michel Damase’s Berceuse is a short, relaxed affair. I thought the performance was enjoyable, but the piece itself didn’t really contribute much to the programme. And to be honest, the same could be said of Charles Koechlin’ s 1925 Sonata for Horn and Piano (1st Movement). The performance did deliver a simple, even quite serene Moderato (sounding more like a traditional Andante).
Sat in between the two was the more interesting Tre Poemi: Lamento D’Orfeo by Volker David Kirchener. The piece is Romantic, well, in its character anyway, but embraced a modernistic style regarding both horn colour and technique. This was evident right at the opening, Ms Tweed pointing the bell of the horn at, or into the open piano lid, with the effect of using the piano’s soundboard and sustaining pedal to lengthen the horn notes.
The duo closed the first half with a fabulous performance of Paul Dukas’s Villanelle. This too was written as an exam piece, but the technical challenges – stopped notes, fast scales, playing without valves using natural horn techniques – were secondary to the piece of music itself.
I absolutely loved the delightful sharing of the musical spoils, warm and sunny with ripples of brilliance. This was easily the most rewarding horn and piano work in the programme.
Astor Piazzolla’s Ave Maria proved to be a cosy introduction to the second half with fine playing from both performers. Wolfgang Plagge’s Monoceros is a piece for solo horn about the legendary unicorn, an animal everybody has heard about but mercifully never seen.
Zoë Tweed delivered an evocative, technically flawless performance; the cute ending depicting the unicorn disappearing into the legendary mists was just lovely. However, I found the piece itself pretty underwhelming; each to our own, I know.
The programme closed with York Bowen’s Horn Sonata, Op. 101. This is a seriously well-crafted work, which in itself is rewarding. Of the three movements, it was the energetic Allegro con Spirito finale that really impressed.
The players were clearly relishing the challenges; wide interval leaps with an evenness of tone (horn) and dazzling ‘orchestral’ textures (piano). What stayed with me was the distinctive timbre of the horn’s low register.
There was a touching mother (Karen Street) and daughter (Zoë Tweed) signing-off, Epilogue. The work was a composed as a tribute to the Prologue in Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.
This concert clearly demonstrated what an exceptional performer Zoë Tweed is. But without doubt the best and most satisfying contribution came from pianist Mark Rogers’ playing of the two Schumann selections from Kinderszenen, Op.15 and Waldszenen, Op. 82. Well, it is Schumann after all, and Mr Rogers played them beautifully.
Matt Goss: The Hits And More at Sheffield Oval, York Barbican, Hull Connexin Live and Leeds Grand Theatre in Spring 2025. Picture: Paul Harris
THE “New King of Las Vegas”, Matt Goss will play four Yorkshire venues on his 2025 tour, The Hits And More, including York Barbican on April 25.
The 21-date itinerary also will take in Sheffield Oval on March 14, Hull Connexin Live on April 24 and the tour’s closing night at Leeds Grand Theatre on April 28.
Pre-sale tickets will be available via on Wednesday (11/12/2024) at ticketmaster.co.uk; general sale from Friday at mattgossofficial.co.uk.
The Hits & More will be a “celebration of all Matt has achieved in his music career and beyond”, from pop pin-up days in Bros to Las Vegas, not forgetting the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing.
Initially he headed to Palms Casino for one year only, but the South Londoner has been performing in the United States for more than 11 years now after his show became an instant success.
He moved to Caesars Palace for the remainder of his Vegas residency and has since played such iconic New York venues as Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden. He even hailed August 8 as “official Matt Goss Day” in Las Vegas.
“Trust me, what I’ve learnt over the years, being on countless stages around the world, this will be your best night of the year!” says Matt Goss. Picture: Paul Harris
Next spring’s tour will mark Goss’s return to the UK concert stage after his hit tour in 2023, when the Matt Goss Experience, with the MG Big Band and Royal Philharmonic, played York Barbican on April 23.
“Trust me, what I’ve learnt over the years, being on countless stages around the world, this will be your best night of the year!” says Goss, who promises sensational songs and an electric atmosphere.
In his Bros days, frontman Matt and drummer brother Luke played to 77,000 fans as the youngest ever band to headline Wembley Stadium in August 1989, with support from Salt’n’Pepa and Debbie Gibson on the Bros In 2 Summer bill.
Bros also played 19 shows at Wembley Arena between 1987 and 1992, later re-uniting for two concerts at the O2 Arena, London, in 2017, when the 40,000 tickets sold out in seven seconds, the fastest ever sell-out for any Live Nation show there.
Best known for their November 1987 number two When Will I Be Famous?, Bros split up in 1992 after releasing their third and final album, Changing Faces.
In 2018, the BAFTA-winning documentary film about Matt and Luke’s lives together and apart, After The Screaming Stops, became that year’s most downloaded BBC production.
The SATCHVAI Band: Joe Satriani, left, and Steve Vai. Picture: Jon Luini
FOR the first time in nearly 50 years of musical friendship, guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have united to form The SATCHVAI Band.
Next summer, they will kick off the British leg of their Surfing With The Hydra 2025 Tour at York Barbican on June 13. Tickets will go on general sale at 10am on Friday at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/satchvai-band/. Further shows will follow in London, Glasgow, Wolverhampton and Manchester.
Satriani, 68, and Vai, 64, initially joined forces for their first tour together, performing with their respective bands in American cities in Spring 2024, whereupon they decided it was time to form a band together.
Satriani and Vai debuted their collaboration in March with The Sea Of Emotion Pt 1, highlightingtheir synergy as they traded solo sections throughout the six-minute opus. Their second collaboration is set for release just before the European tour.
“Satch” and Vai’s careers have been intertwined since their early days. Satriani served as Vai’s guitar teacher during their teenage years on Long Island, New York. Their connection has continued to evolve over the years, even sharing record labels, starting at Relativity Records in the late-1980 and then both calling Sony/Epic Records their home in the 1990s.
The poster for The SATCHVAI Band’s Surfing With The Hydra 2025 Tour, visiting York Barbican on June 13
Together, they have teamed up with a third guitarist on multiple occasions through three decades, participating in the G3 tours, both in the USA and overseas.
“The SATCHVAI Band Tour is happening! I’m so looking forward to sharing the stage with Steve again,” says Satriani. “Every time we play together, it takes me back to when we were teenagers, eating and breathing music every second of the day, pushing, challenging and helping each other to be the best we could be. I guess we’ve never stopped.”
Vai adds: “Touring with Joe is always a pleasure and an honour. He is my favourite guitarist to jam with, and now we have another opportunity to take it to the stage. I feel as though we are both at the top of our game, and the show will be a powerful celebration of the coolest instrument in the world, the electric guitar.”
Satriani has had a packed schedule with the Sammy Hagar-led Best Of All Worlds Tour, while Vai has been playing shows across America as part of the BEAT tour, following the conclusion of the Satch/Vai tour earlier this year.
Spiritato: Opened York Early Music Christmas Festival with Northern Light concert
THE eight members of Spiritato opened this year’s festival in some style, exploring the ‘Northern Light’ that shone from mainly German composers born between the 1620s and the 1650s. By far the best-known of them was Johann Pachelbel, who was the only composer we heard from twice.
The other unifying factor was that all their music was unearthed recently from a collection essentially assembled by Gustaf Düben at the Swedish court, where he was a member of its orchestra from 1648.
On this occasion, Spiritato omitted its much-vaunted trumpets but fielded two violins and two violas, with four instruments in its continuo section. This lent particular muscle to the bass line, no bad thing in Baroque music.
But whenever viola da gamba and bassoon were underpinned by organ, itself rather boomy, the balance was awry and bottom-heavy. Whenever harpsichord replaced organ, the upper strings emerged with much greater clarity.
Although seven of the nine numbers here were designated ‘sonata’, virtually all made use of a ground bass – chaconne if you prefer – at some stage. These sonatas, not to be confused with classical sonata form, had numerous sections, varying in tempo, meter and character.
The opening one, by Heinrich Schmelzer, was a variation sonata, where Spiritato’s rhythms were especially lively. A Pachelbel Ciaccona, its title already hinting at a nod towards Italy and built solely on the top four notes of the descending minor scale, featured riffs for the upper strings, which were eagerly seized upon.
Rather in the manner of jazz, individual instruments were allowed to the fore: Sergio Bucheli’s idiomatic theorbo in a Johann Kaspar Kerli sonata, for example, while Catriona McDermid’s agile bassoon had a moment in the spotlight courtesy of a Krieger sonata – which also had a touching pianissimo ending.
One of the evening’s most memorable offerings was the fifth of Pachelbel’s six Musical Delights, this one a trio sonata in C, where the counterpoint was exceptionally smooth – and silkily delivered.
A Kirchhoff sonata demanded, and received, considerable virtuosity from the violin of the group’s leader, Kinga Ujszászi; she also gave witty introductions to several of the works. She oversaw tempo-changes throughout, including a hyperactive epilogue to the closing Romanus Weichlein sonata.
These composers may not have been among the greatest names in music history. But they were the men who tilled the very ground from which the great J S Bach was to spring in 1685. He owed them much.
Review by Martin Dreyer
York Early Music Christmas Festival runs until December 15. For the full programme and tickets, go to: ncem.co.uk.
Quatuor Diotima: String quartet programme that took no prisoners. Picture: Michel Nguyen
A STRING quartet programme of Janáček and late Beethoven that takes no prisoners is both a compliment to the audience and a mouth-watering prospect. It did not disappoint, and for starters it added an unexpected bon-bon.
Schoenberg’s early Presto in C, written in the mid-1890s before he went off-piste, proved a delightful Haydnesque romp in rondo style. Delivered with panache, it was made to sound much easier than it is.
The second of Janáček’s two quartets, Intimate Letters, which was the last of his chamber works, was completed in 1928 a few months before his death. Astonishingly volatile for a man in his seventies, its emotions represent the culmination of his ten-year infatuation with a young woman less than half his age, Kamila Stösslová, as seen in his 700 or so letters to her.
Many of its most telling interjections occur in the second violin, and Léo Marillier certainly milked them for all they were worth, notably in the second of its four movements. The ensemble retained a decisive edge, bordering on the acidic, by minimising its vibrato – until the finale, where leader Yun-Peng Zhao brought a warmer tone to his high-lying melody.
But generally biting accents allied to ultra-smooth but sudden tempo-changes made this relationship an exciting, rollercoaster affair.
It was a treat to hear Beethoven’s String Quartet Op 130 in B flat with its original finale, the Grosse Fugue (often referred to as Op 133 and played as a separate piece). Some of the audience at its premiere in 1826 were nonplussed by this giant ending, which followed the fifth-movement Cavatina without a break (Beethoven obliged with a new finale a year later, only slightly shorter).
Stravinsky called it “more subtle than any music of my own century”. Either way, it’s a big listen. But this group made it as easy as it can be: the fugue subjects emerged with miraculous clarity, which was achieved mainly through extremely tight rhythms.
The Diotimas are unusual in that their leader appears to make no eye contact with his colleagues, but they listen to each other intently and their voices ebbed and flowed in and out of the texture. With tension almost at breaking point towards the end, the two principal themes made a triumphal final appearance, now fully reconciled to one another. Everest had been climbed, a very special moment.
At the opening of the work, there had been seamless alternations of fast and slow, revealing Beethoven in two minds. Both here and later, it was the Diotomas’ fearless, unapologetic stance that shone through. Some of the humour of the Andante might have been less forceful, but the two German dances were properly balletic and came as a welcome relief.
The Cavatina, a unique title in chamber music since it is normally a short song, was sublime, reminiscent of the variations at the end of the ‘Harp’ quartet, Op 74 which are also in the warm key of E flat. But it was the Grosse Fuge that took the breath away.
Ensemble Augelletti: BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Baroque Ensemble present their new Christmas programme, The Morning Star, at the NCEM on December 13at 7pm
CHRISTMAS festivities gather pace with a community pantomime, Early music festival, cabaret, Strictly dance king and a Muppet movie, as Charles Hutchinson reports.
Festival of the week: York Early Music Christmas Festival, National Centre for Early Music, Bedern Hall and Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, until December 15
YORK Early Music Christmas Festival 2024 is under way, presenting 12 concerts and one (sold-out) choral workshop led by I Fagiolini founder Robert Hollingworth in a celebration of the winter season, its festivities, traditions, darkness and light, mulled wine and mince pies.
Concerts by Solomon’s Knot (Sunday), Stile Antico (December 12), Intesa (December 15) and Awake Arise (December 15) have sold out but tickets are available for Love And Melancholy with soprano Emilia Bertolini (today, 12 noon); Siglo de Oro (today, 6.30pm); Sean Shibe & Aidan O’Rourke (December 9, 7.30pm); Green Matthews (December 11, 7.30pm); Ensemble Augelletti (December 13, 7pm); Contre le Temps (December 14, 12noon) and Yorkshire Bach Choir (December 14, 7.30pm). Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Micklegate Singers: A White Christmas lunchtime concert for York Late Music at Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York
Christmas concert of the week: York Late Music presents Micklegate Singers, A White Christmas, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, today, 1pm
MICKLEGATE Singers chart a journey from Joanna Marsh’s In Winter’s House through wintry landscapes to arrive at a Christmas prelude courtesy of Poulenc, Tallis, Vaughan Williams and more, including the world premiere of York composer James Else’s A Little Snow.
Among further works will be Holst’s Bring Us In Good Ale; Oliver Tarney’s The Waiting Sky and John Harle: Mrs Beeton’s Christmas Plum Pudding (Average Cost 3 Shillings And 6d). Box office: latemusic.org.
Rowntree Players’ principal panto players in Mother Goose, opening today at the JoRo
Let the egg puns get cracking: Rowntree Players in Mother Goose, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday, 2pm and 7.30pm, Sunday, 2pm and 6pm; December 10 to 13, 7.30pm; December 14, 2pm and 7.30pm
MEET Jack (Gemma McDonald), head of hens at Chucklepatch Farm, with its newest addition to the coop, Priscilla the goose (American Abbey Follansbee). Joined by mum Gertrude Gander (alias Mother Goose, Michael Cornell) and his sister Jill (Laura Castle), they head out on their panto adventure.
Desperate for showbiz, Gertrude gives up the Wolds for the bright lights of Doncaster. However, ever-nasty landlord Demon Darkheart (Jamie McKeller) and his assistant Bob (Laura McKeller) will stop at nothing to collect rent, but dishy farmer Kev, the King of Kale (Sarah Howlett) and Fairy Frittata (Holly Smith) will not let the dark side rule in a rollicking romp directed by co-writer Howard Ella. Tickets update: Down to last few tickets or limited availability for most performances on 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Velma Celli: Xmas Roast cabaret songs, comedy and festive fruitiness at Impossible York
Christmas cabaret of the week: Velma Celli’s Xmas Roast, Impossible York, St Helen’s Square, York, Sunday 6pm, doors 5pm
YORK’S international drag diva deluxe, Velma Celli, hosts a fabulous evening of music, comedy and festive frolics. “Come and have yourself a merry Christmas,” says Velma, the Best Cabaret at Perth Fringeworld 2024 award-winning alter ego of West End musical actor and Atlantis Gay Cruises headline act Ian Stroughair, who promises “cabaret meets a partaaaaaay”. Box office: ticketweb.uk/event/velmas-xmas-roast-impossible-york-tickets/13855143.
The Hollywood Sisters: Cat Foster, left, Rachel Higgs, Henrietta Linnemann and Helen “Bells” Spencer
Fundraising festive concert of the week: The Hollywood Sisters & Friends, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7pm
THE Hollywood Sisters, the York vocal harmony group with vintage Hollywood vibes, have added extra tickets after selling out Sunday’s show. Expect a cabaret evening of music, song and a sprinkle of festive cheer featuring the luscious close harmonies of Helen “Bells” Spencer, Cat Foster, Rachel Higgs and Henrietta Linnemann and guest appearances by The Rusty Pegs, Mark Lovell, Phoebe Breeze and Anthony Sargeant.
All profits will go to the fundraising campaign for a new sensory room for dementia patients at Foss Park Hospital, in Haxby Road, York. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Anton du Beke: Christmas song and dance with the Strictly Come Dancing judge and Friends at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Anton du Beke in Christmas With Anton & Friends, York Barbican, December 10, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing judge and dashing dancer Anton Du Beke glides into York in his new festive tour show, joined as ever by elegant crooner Lance Ellington, a live band and a company of dancers for an evening of song and dance with added Christmas dazzle.
“I’ve always dreamed of doing a big Christmas show as it’s the best time of the year, so this is a real treat for me,” says the ballroom king. “It’s the show I’ve always wanted to do with some old faces and some new!” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Jools Holland: Playing to a full house at York Barbican
No year would be complete without…Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, York Barbican, December 11, 7.30pm
BOOGIE woogie pianist supreme Jools Holland makes his obligatory winter outing to York in the company of his top-notch rhythm & blues players and vocalists Ruby Turner, Louise Marshall and Sumudu Jayatilaka.
His special guests will be Soft Cell singer Marc Almond, who previously toured with Holland in 2018, and blues guitar prodigy Toby Lee, his guest on last year’s tour too. Holland will be performing songs from the former Squeeze keyboardist and television presenter’s long-running solo career. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Marc Almond: Jools Holland’s special guest at York Barbican. Picture: Mike Owen
Christmas film double bill: Friargate Theatre, York, presents The Muppet Christmas Carol (U), today, 2.30pm, and Die Hard (15), today, 8pm
FRIARGATE Theatre serves up a double dose of holiday cheer and action-packed excitement, opening with Kermit, Miss Piggy and the Muppet gang being joined by Michael Caine’s Ebenezer Scrooge as they re-tell the Dickens tale with a whimsical and heart-warming twist.
Let’s leave the debate over whether John McTiernan’s Die Hard is or is not a Christmas film to another day. Instead, revel in Bruce Willis’s John McClane battling with terrorists in a high-rise building on Christmas Eve. Box office: 01904 613000 or friargatetheatre.co.uk.
Christmas Cinema at St Saviourgate
Pop-up film event of the month: City Screen Picturehouse presents Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, The Great Hall, Central Methodist Church, St Saviourgate, York, December 12 to 23
CITY Screen Picturehouse, York, is setting up a pop-up screen at Central Methodist Church for the Christmas season, kicking off on December 12 with The Muppet Christmas Carol (U) at 4pm and Bridget Jones’s Diary (15) at 7PM.
Next come Home Alone (PG) at 4pm and Love Actually (15) at 7pm on December 13; Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone (PG) at 4pm and Elf (PG) at 7.20pm on December 14, then Ali Plumb’s Untitled Christmas Film Quiz Project at 5pm and The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG) at 8.30pm on December 15.
Paddington In Peru (PG) will be shown at 4pm on December 16; Die Hard (15) at 7pm that night; The Polar Express (U) at 4pm and It’s A Wonderful Life (U) at 7pm on December 17; The Muppet Christmas Carol (U) at 4pm and Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone (PG) at 6.45pm on December 18, then Home Alone (PG) at 4pm and Wonka (PG) at 7pm on December 20.
Paddington In Peru (PG) returns at 4pm on December 22, followed by Elf (PG) at 7pm, before the season concludes with The Polar Express (U) at 4pm and It’s A Wonderful Life (U) at 7pm on December 23. Box office: picturehouses.com/YorkXmas.
Mat Jones in A Christmas Carol for two nights at Friargate Theatre. Picture: Vintage Verse
Solo show of the week: Mat Jones in A Christmas Carol, Friargate Theatre, York, December 13 and 14, 7.30pm
RING in the Christmas season with Mat Jones’s spellbinding rendition of Charles Dickens’s Victorian festive classic, brought to life in vivid detail from Dickens’s original performance text as Scrooge encounters the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come en route to the redemption of London’s most miserable miser.
“A Christmas Carol is not just a story; it’s a celebration of the human spirit and the power of kindness,” says Jones. Box office: 01904 613000 or friargatetheatre.co.uk.
York artist Jo Walton setting up her exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
Exhibition of the week: Jo Walton, Steel, Copper, Rust, Gold, Verdigris, Wax, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, until January 23 2025
WHEN Rogues Atelier artist, interior designer, upholsterer and Bluebird Bakery curator of exhibitions Jo Walton asked poet Nicky Kippax to put words to images she had sent her, she responded with “The heft of a cliff and a gathering of sea fret”. Spot on, Nicky.
Into the eighth month of recovery from breaking her right leg, Jo is exhibiting predominantly large works that utilise steel, copper, rust, gold, verdigris and wax in the bakery, cafe and community centre, whose interior she designed in 2021.
STRICTLY Come Dancing judge and dashing dancer Anton Du Beke glides into York Barbican next Tuesday in his new festive tour show, Christmas with Anton & Friends.
Anton, 58, will be joined as ever by elegant crooner Lance Ellington, a live band and a company of dancers to create an evening filled with song and dance with added Christmas dazzle.
“I’ve always dreamed of doing a big Christmas show as it’s the best time of the year, so this is a real treat for me,” says the king of the ballroom. “It’s the show I’ve always wanted to do with some old faces and some new!
“Don’t forget to bring your voices for a mega sing-a-long with some of my favourite Christmas songs. It’s going to be lots of fun and full of Christmas cheer.”
In the past few years, Anton has been appearing in pantomime over the winter months, making his debut as Buttons in Cinderella at Richmond Theatre in 2021-2022, followed by protagonist Jack in Jack & The Beanstalk at Churchill Theatre, Bromley, in 2022-23 and Smee alongside Paul Chuckle’s Starkey in Peter Pan at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, in 2023-24. “Only goodies! I can only play goodies,” he says. “It’s fun but it’s a lot of time to spend away from my children.”
Hence his decision to launch Christmas With Anton & Friends, whose tour runs from November 24 to December 21, hot on the heels of his autumn terpsichorean travels in Showman: An Evening With Anton Du Beke.
The tour poster for Anton Du Beke’s Christmas show
He was still on that song, dance and chat tour when conducting this interview on November 19, on top of his Strictly judging commitments for the BBC.
“I’m on the road at the moment, and then we’ll do four weeks of the Christmas show,” he said at the time. “So we’ve been rehearsing the Christmas show in the day and doing the Showman show at night.”
Exit the Showman, enter the snow man. “I used to do Christmas shows at the Royal Albert Hall and loved it,” says Anton. “Now I’m doing this new tour. It’s all Christmas songs, and it’s going to be such fun. Lance Ellington is with me again, the band, and I’ve got my wonderful dancers and a female singer too.
“This one has been done with the team: Kelly Chow, our dance captain, has sort of put it together choreographically; my musical director, Clive Dunstall, has done all the arrangements, writing all this stuff while being on tour with me. It’s been quite the task but so exciting!
“There’ll be Christmas trees on stage and everyone in Christmas jumpers and hats. We’ll have a big medley at the end, about nine minutes long, starting with Mariah Carey [All I Want For Christmas Is You] and ending with Slade [Merry Xmas Everybody]. Six songs in all.”
The show will span Christmas classics to more contemporary numbers, from It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year to Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire. “There’s a lovely song called [Everybdody’s Waiting For] The Man With The Bag. It’s a classic, not that new, but rarely played…so Lance and I will be doing it as a duet,” says Anton.
“I’ve always dreamed of doing a big Christmas show as it’s the best time of the year,” says Anton Du Beke. Picture: Bev Comboy/Plank PR
Summing up the show, he says: “I love Christmas so much and everyone in the show is so looking forward to doing these shows. If you love Christmas as much as I do, you will have a great time.
“I love Christmas songs! My producer doesn’t entirely love them and my wardrobe mistress is much more into Halloween than Christmas, but I love Christmas much more than Halloween.”
Showman, now Christmas With Anton & Friends and Strictly, of course: Anton is busy, busy, busy. “Yes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Strictly is great because I don’t have to do anything now other than turn up, judge and leave! I’m not choreographing, like when I was one of the professional dancers. I just turn up on Saturdays and that’s lovely,” he says.
“I just feel like everyone else is doing the work and I do my bit with the other judges, and it’s a very exciting series this year. The standard is so good that I’m at the stage where I’m waiting for a mistake because you don’t expect someone to do something wrong.
“It’s difficult to say who’ll win. The great thing is that the winner is not decided by the judges but by the public.”
How does judging contrast with dancing with a celebrity partner each year? “I’m enjoying it enormously because I can make the joke that I now make the final every time!” says Anton.
Together again: Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice will reunite for 2025 tour, visiting York Barbican on July 18. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk
“That’s the big thing: I’m now involved for the whole series, even if it’s only 25 seconds of chat per couple, not dancing. That’s the joy for me, always being involved, whereas I never wanted to be voted off when competing because I loved being in it.
“Not one of those couples would rather be out than in, regardless of the circumstances, even if they know a dance has not been great, because the best thing is to be in it. There’s no fun when you’re out.”
His 2025 diary is filling up. “Next year is working out already,” he says. “I’m doing the Strictly tour, January into February, then a spring tour, Anton: The Musicals, a celebration of big musicals with great numbers from the shows and a lovely combination of old and new.”
Look out too for Anton & Giovanni Together Again, The Live Tour, when Du Beke and Pernice play York Barbican on July 18 2025 at 7.30pm.
Anton Du Beke in Christmas With Anton & Friends, York Barbican, December 10, 7.30pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Velma Celli: Chestnuts toasted cabaret style at the Xmas Roast
YORK’S international drag diva deluxe, Velma Celli, hosts a fabulous evening of music, comedy and festive frolics in the Xmas Roast at Impossible York, St Helen’s Square, York, on Sunday at 6pm.
“Come and have yourself a merry Christmas,” says Velma, the Best Cabaret at Perth Fringeworld 2024 award-winning alter ego of West End musical actor and Atlantis Gay Cruises headline act Ian Stroughair, who promises “cabaret meets a partaaaaaay” with sing-alongs too.
“It’ll be a Xmas Roast with all my favourite chestnuts. Very exciting!” he says. “My costume is being made Chloe Moore, who made the black costume for my Show Queen! show at York Theatre in May. I asked her if she could now make one in red and it looks fabulous.”
Velma Celli in the Show Queen red dress designed by Chloe Moore
Recorded in Woodthorpe, York, with The Dandys’ Andy Firth – who also produced fellow York singer and good friend Jessica Steel’s 2022 album Higher Frequencies – it features piano arrangements by Scott Roberts of It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, The Christmas Song, Last Christmas, Joni Mitchell’s River and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.
Looking ahead, Velma will be heading out on the road in 2025 for regional and West End dates. These include: March 14, Velma Celli’s God Save The Queens!, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarbough, tickets fromhttps://shorturl.at/JwAHA; March 15, Show Queen!, Skipton Town Hall, tickets from https://shorturl.at/MJVaO; March 29, Show Queen, The Welsh Millennium Centre, Cardiff, tickets from https://shorturl.at/Fv0LR; April 4, A Brief History Of Drag, The Playhouse, Sheffield , tickets from https://shorturl.at/hDDiv, and April 18, Show Queen!, The Beggars Theatre, Millom, Cumbria, tickets from https://shorturl.at/U4W9J.
Velma Celli’s Show Queen tour poster
Further shows follow on May 24, Show Queen!, Cowes Fringe, Cowes, Isle of Wight, tickets on sale in the New Year; May 23, Show Queen, The Stage Door, Southampton, tickets from https://thestagedoor.org.uk/product.php/950; June 2, Show Queen!, The Duchess Theatre, West End, London, tickets from https://shorturl.at/XbL27; June 13, A Brief History Of Drag!, Hull Truck Theatre, tickets from https://shorturl.at/2saW5, and June 20, Show Queen!, Dudley Town Hall, tickets from https://shorturl.at/rnCQX.
In 2024, for a fourth year, Velma participated in Yorktoberfest in the Clocktower Enclosure at York Racecourse, playing to 600 to 1,000 revellers at each party. “It’s chaos but it’s great fun,” says Ian.
Unlike in 2022 and 2023, however, he will not be hosting Castellana in the Sophia Gardens spiegeltent in Cardiff this Christmas season. “I travelled back and forth to Wales for two years for these Christmas shows but there’s only so long you can do five-hour commutes to Cardiff, so I’m not doing Castellana this year,” he reasons.
Ian Stroughair
Did you know?
IAN Stroughair will be performing at York’s Annual Community Carol Concert at York Barbican on December 15 at 2pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
THE Ebor Singers serve up a festive treat of choral favourites in A Christmas Celebration – Handel, Chilcott and Rutter at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, on Sunday.
Directed by Paul Gameson and accompanied by organist David Pipe, the York choir will be joined by a string quartet for Part One of Handel’s Messiah. Solos will be taken on by choir members Amy Walker, Hugo Janacek, Jason Darnell and Jonty Ward.
“Part One of Handel’s Messiah takes us from prophecy to the birth of Jesus, and Handel draws on the most popular musical genres of the day for his Messiah: part-German passion, part-Italian opera, part-English anthem,” says Paul.
Messiah Part One will be complemented by carols by John Rutter and Bob Chilcott. “The Christmas music of Rutter and Chilcott carols, both highly distinctive and accessible, have been a perennial feature of Christmas concerts and services for the past 40 years,” says Paul.
“We will perform some of their favourites, including Rutter’s The Angels Carol and Chilcott’s The Shepherds’ Carol.”
The Ebor Singers’ 20th -anniversary season will continue next year with Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater on March 8 and music from the English Civil War and the Siege of York May 17, both at York Minster.
Tickets for Sunday’s 7.30pm concert are on sale at eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-ebor-singers-messiah or on the door.
Intesa’s Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgetti: Baroque Around The Books mini-tour
MUSICAL duo Intesa will embark on a Baroque Around The Books mini-tour of four community libraries after their appearance at this month’s York Early Music Christmas Festival.
This National Centre for Early Music cultural wellbeing initiative on December 16 and 17 is a partnership between the NCEM and Explore York Libraries and Archives.
Suitable for all, the initiative began early this year and now returns with the involvement of NCEM Platform Artists Intesa, the young European viol and voice duo of Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgetti, who will be staying on in York for a short residency and library musical tour after their December 15 festival performance at Bedern Hall, Bedern.
At 11am that day, Intesa will present A Merry Conceit, exploring the theme of seeking light in the midst of dark and wintry weather in a programme of Dowland, Hume and Cuccini works alongside a selection of Armenian folk songs.
Musaelian and Giorgetti, who met at the Royal Academy of Music, formed their musical partnership in 2023, Intesa being the Italian word for ‘understanding’ or ‘a meeting of minds’. They share a passion for the sound of the viol and its combination with the voice.
Intesa’s Lucine Musaelian
The workshops will provide the communities of York with an opportunity to celebrate and discover Early Music with these two talented young performers. In turn, Baroque Around The Books reinforces the NCEM’s ongoing commitment to support, encourage and nurture the skills of emerging artists in the UK and beyond.
On December 16, Intesa will tour Tang Hall Explore at 12 noon and York Explore at 2.30pm (both free entry, no booking required); on December 17, Acomb Explore, 11am (booking required; acquire free ticket at Acomb Explore or online at tickettailor.com/events/exploreyorklibrariesandarchives/1145052), and Clifton Explore, 1.30pm (free entry, no booking required).
Tickets are free for these informal concerts thanks to an initiative by the NCEM, working in association with Explore York, supported by the Mayfield Valley Arts Trust.
NCEM director Delma Tomlin says: “Intesa are one of three ensembles from Europe performing at this year’s York Early Music Christmas Festival, and it’s a pleasure to welcome them to York for this brilliant tour.
“Baroque Around The Books concerts are free of charge and it’s wonderful to be working with our partner Explore York once again. We look forward to sharing the wonderful world of Early Music with new audiences from York communities.”
Explore York chief executive Jenny Layfield says: “This partnership with the NCEM is truly inspiring. There’s something wonderful about bringing such talented musicians into library spaces, offering our communities the chance to stumble upon a high-quality experience.
“I had the pleasure of attending one of the sessions organised by NCEM earlier this year and I absolutely loved it. If you have the opportunity to attend a performance at one of our Explore centres this December, I wholeheartedly recommend it!”
