Category: Music

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Dawn Landes delves into The Liberated Woman’s Songbook at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, after Glastonbury debut

Dawn Landes: Playing York for a fifth time next Wednesday

AMERICAN country roots singer-songwriter Dawn Landes will showcase The Liberated Woman’s Songbook at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, on July 2.

Arriving on the back of making her Glastonbury debut on Sunday, she will be performing in York for the first time since her November 2018 gig with keyboardist husband Creighton Irons at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, where she  contemplated the “big themes of midlife” in mid-tempo songs of heartbreak, youth fading into the distance and love lost and found.

Playing solo this time Landes will interweave songs from her seven previous albums with her celebration of women’s voices of activism, freedom and equality, rooted in her March 2024 album that re-imagines 11 folk songs spanning 1830 to 1970s’ Women’s Lib.

The project began when Landes stumbled on the 1971 collection The Liberated Woman’s Songbook at a thrift store during the pandemic. Following the 2022 overturn of the Roe v. Wade case in the United States, the songs took on an even greater urgency, she says. “We’re suddenly back in 1971 all over again,” Dawn reflects. “I know we’re in for a long fight, and it helps to find solidarity where you can.”

Recorded in Upstate New York and and her home of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, The Liberated Woman’s Songbook features contributions from Emily Frantz (Watchhouse), Kanene Pipkin (The Lone Bellow), Rissi Palmer, Charly Lowry, Annie Nero and Lizzy Ross (Violet Bell).

“A lot of work went into the album,” says Dawn, 44. “I still feel I’m learning because I never took a course in women’s history, so it’s been an initiation into feminism for me.

The cover artwork for Dawn Landes’ album The Liberated Woman’s Songbook

“I did a lot of research and I continue to do that research. I just wanted to share with people what I’d learned because the important thing was to see how much progress there had been. Like how it took 100 years for women to get the vote – and it feels like we’re going backwards now.”

Dawn’s learning curve continues. “I didn’t intend to say I know everything about feminism [with this album]. There are 77 songs in the original 1971 songbook and I’ve only done 11 on the album,” she says. “But I do more in the full-length concerts – two hours – with full costumes, projections and guests musicians, like I played at the [London] Barbican last year, where Peggy Seeger joined me – and there are more songs that I’ve discovered.

“I really enjoy doing the full performances because it’s a more theatrical show in theatres, with the songs’ characters coming through, and I feel it works best in that setting, even more than as a double album.”

Finding the songbook was a light-bulb moment for Dawn. “I don’t remember which book store I was in, but I travel a lot, and wherever I go, I like to find a good cup of coffee and a good bookshop,” she says.

“I used to work in one, and I love second-hand bookshops in particular. When I found the book, I loved the cover and I was curious about the songs. Stuck at home in the pandemic, I unearthed the book and learned a song a day as my daily medicine when I was thinking, ‘how am I going to get through this day?’“

She felt connections with “female singers, who maybe I didn’t know and like-minded activist poets, when there’s not a lot of space for that to happen, where you can feel part of a community.

“I still feel I’m learning because I never took a course in women’s history,” says Dawn Landes

“I do feel that sense of community, which otherwise I feel I’m lacking, though even when I do the songs solo I still feel a connection to the women of the past,” she says. “A lot of people have come up to me at shows to say they had family members who had worked in the mills of North Carolina in poor working conditions, in the heat, in full skirts and black dresses.”

Looking ahead, without giving too much away, Dawn says: “I have some plans to do something this summer, so hopefully I’ll have something out soonest. I started on it in the spring.” Watch this space.

First comes her UK tour, where playing the Bluebird Bakery could not be more apt for Dawn. “I have an album called Bluebird, of course,” she says, recalling her 2014 release and its title track, sure to feature in Wednesday’s set list. “There’s a Bluebird Theater (CORRECT) I’ve played in Denver, Colorado, and my goal is to play all the Bluebirds in the UK.”

Dawn Landes, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, July 2, doors 7.30pm for 8pm start; box office: https://www.seetickets.com/event/dawn-landes/rise-bluebird/3372912?aff=id1bandsintown. Also Hebden Bridge Trades Club, July 3, 7.30pm; thetradesclub.com.

Did you know?

DAWN Landes was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on December 5 1980. She spent many years living and performing in Brooklyn, New York, where she studied at university, then in Nashville. Now she is based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

In York, she played Fibbers twice in 2006, supporting The Earlies in May and Fionn Regan in September, then opened a five-date UK and Irish tour at Fibbers, Toft Green, in January 2015 and performed at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, in November 2018.

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South Bank Singers to perform Her Music We Sing choral concerts in aid of Kyra Women’s Project tomorrow and on July 1

South Bank Singers performing at their Of All The Birds – A Winter Chorus concert in
January

SOUTH Bank Singers perform Her Music We Sing, a celebration of choral music by female composers across six centuries, from Renaissance madrigals to Baroque sacred compositions and contemporary works, at St Clement’s Church, Scarcroft Road, York, tomorrow, 3pm, and Holy Trinity Church, Micklegate, York, July 1, 7.30pm.

Works by Maddalena Casulana and Sulpitia Cesis feature alongside the rich romanticism of Fanny Hensel; the expressive lyricism of Amy Beach; the bold contemporary soundscapes of Stef Conner, Louise Drewett and Sarah Ann Marze, the lyrical beauty of Priscila Vergara and hopeful introspection of Victoria Benito, complemented by madrigals arranged by group member Marian Smales.

The York chamber choir’s summer concerts will be directed by Chilean-born composer and conductor Carlos Zamora, who works in the Royal Academy of Music’s composition and contemporary music department.

Since 2021, Carlos has directed South Bank Singers with passion and precision, shaping
their sound and expanding their repertoire with his artistic vision. His music has been performed on five continents and has been recorded widely.

“These concerts are a celebration of the outstanding choral music created by women across the centuries right up to the present day,” says the musical director. We’re thrilled that several of the featured UK-based composers will be joining us for the concert on June 28. Among them are a teacher of composition and a student of composition, both at the Royal Academy of Music in London.”

South Bank Singers musical director Carlos Zamora

Admission to both concerts is free with a collection in aid of the York charity Kyra
Women’s Project. South Bank Singers chairman Duncan Wills explains: “The choir has always aimed to combine music making and performance with good causes. We nominate a different charity for each concert and are delighted to be supporting the valuable work of Kyra on this occasion.”

Established in 2011, the 30-strong choir rehearses on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at St Clement’s Church to perform a diverse repertoire of less traditional, mostly a cappella choral music from the Renaissance period to contemporary works, in beautifully curated themed concerts.

Anyone who is considering joining a small chamber choir is welcome to contact the choir. “If you’re musical, have a voice that blends well with others and are keen to be part of an
ensemble where every voice matters, South Bank Singers could be the perfect fit for
you,” .

“The choir has openings in all voice parts, particularly tenors and basses. Please visit the website for further information at southbanksingers.co.uk.”

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REVIEW: York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until July 5 ***1/2

Annabel van Griethuysen’s hostess Marlene Cabana vamping it up in York Light Opera Company’s Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen Photography

EUROBEAT is essentially Eurovision by another name, and if you love the campery, pageantry and “political” shenanigans of Eurovision, then you will love Eurobeat.

Presented in York its third iteration (after 2008’s Eurobeat…Almost European and 2016’s Eurobeat Moldova), this affectionate send-up is the work of Aussie composer, writer and lyricist Craig Christie, a Eurovision devotee whose love of the annual song contest pre-dates Australia’s inclusion since 2015’s special guest appearance.

Should you still be wondering why the faraway land of Oz is involved, apparently Aussies have a long-standing affection for Eurovision and the nation is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Emma Swainston’s Astrid Lungstomberg waving the flag for Swedish entry Semaphore Of Love

Christie updates his show with each re-telling, tongue pushed further into cheek, politically and culturally savvy to the world’s woes, and steeped in Eurovision’s tropes, gauche jokes and awkward silences, while keeping the distance of a mischievous onlooker.

In the words of York Light director Neil Wood, “it’s fun”. “It ends up as more of an event, though it’s still a theatre show, and from the audience point of view, it’s a blast!” he says. “If you want to come in costume, you’re more than welcome to do so. We’ll have slash curtains, glitter and haze, everything you’d expect from Eurovision, but without the big budget.”

No-one took up the costume invitation at Wednesday’s press night: auditorium conditions were too hot and airless for that, but a Portuguese flag was waved enthusiastically from the front row, probably doubling as a cooling fan too.

Zander Fick’s punctilious martinet, Master of Protocols “Boring” Bjorn Bjornson, in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

Welcome to Lichtenstein, hosts apparently by default of Eurobeat 2025. Up on the mezzanine level are Joy Warner’s Fanny Feuberger and Simon Kelly’s Kevin Kupferblum, starchy Cultural Ambassors with their regal airs and cod European accents.

They look over everything and, in turn, tend to be overlooked by show-off show hostess Marlene Cabana (Annabel van Griethuysen), glamorous Lichtenstein singing star, who has a costume change for every song and a putdown quip or three for every contestant and national stereotype.  She is as much the mouthpiece for Christie as an echo of Terry Wogan and Graham Norton’s mickey-taking.

Annabel Van Griethuysen (could the lead actress have a more pan-European name?) is fabulous from start to finish. Her five-star Marlene is an irresistible, irrepressible force, with no time for woke sensibilities, and an Alpine European accent befitting a Bond Girl of Connery days. She takes the demands of direct address in her sassy stride, always accompanied by eye contact.

This Is How I Dance (by not dancing): Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe) in statuesque form for Lithuania in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

As well as parading her operatic prowess in her singing, especially in Act Two, Van Griethuysen does pretty much all of the script’s heavy lifting, aided occasionally by the staid Cultural Ambassadors and Zander Fick’s Master of Protocols, “Boring” Bjorn Bjornson, a moribund martinet whose every energy-draining interjection is begrudged by Marlene as unnecessary competition for her limelight-hogging.

Trained in opera and jazz singing, Fick has been carving a niche for himself on the York stage in a series of impressively understated yet bang-on performances since moving here from South Africa in April 2023. Once again he favours less is more as he blossoms on the arid terrain of the humourless killjoy, making being “boring” highly watchable.

The importance of being Earnestasia: Emma Rockliff performing Romanian entry Listen

In Act One, somewhat reluctantly on each occasion, hostess Marlene has to make way for the ten acts (nine European, plus the United Kingdom, she quips), looking to upstage them on each costume change. The songs must do their talking for them.

Christie plays on each nation’s Eurovision history and characteristics, kicking off with the infectious, over-calculated melody hooks of Sweden’s Semaphore Of Love, sung by Emma Swainston’s Agnetha-blonde Astrid Lungstomberg.

Poland’s Obwody Wirujące (Kit Stroud, Sophie Cunningham and Chloe Branton), all hard hats and robotic movements, clash for attention with three maids in traditional dress, their song pulling in different directions too. Romania’s Earnestasia (Emily Rockliff) throws in every outdated Eurovision cliché, boom-bang-a-bang style, in Listen. 

Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) at odds with each other in the United Kingdom’s typically unloveable Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore

The United Kingdom’s  Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) are akin to a washed-up cabaret act from a bygone era on a crash course to nil points with Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore. Or more accurately, why don’t you love us anymore, post-Brexit?

Representing Lithuania are Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe), seriously Eastern European yet delightfully, cutely devoid of self-awareness (unlike hostess Marlene) in singing This Is How I Dance, statuesque to a T, eschewing dance steps in the best moment of Wood and Sarah Cragg’s amusing choreography.

Greece is the word: Chloë Chapman’s Persephone performing Oh Aphrodite, a song she also choreographed

On song for Greece is Persephone (Chloë Chapman), tapping into Greek tragedies in the highly theatrical Oh Aphrodite. Portugal’s Mateus Villela (boy band looker Cain Branton) lives up to the lonesome title Guy With The Guitar, ushering off violinists while stoically declining to play his allotted instrument until the last note in one of Christie’s titular best jokes.

Vatican City (rather than Italy) gives Christie the chance to take pot shots at the Catholic church before Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony (Evie Latham, Lizzie Kearton, Sophie Cunningham and Emma Swainston) catch the Sixties girl group habit in Good Girl – throwing in a Bucks Fizz costume “strip” for good measure.

Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony: Vatican City’s answer to a Sixties’ girl group

Christie’s best pastiche goes to France’s Estelle LaCroix (Amy Greene), in red beret and matching lipstick, with a mime artiste to one side and a cyclist with baguettes and string of garlic to the other, as she sings the Gallic ballad Je Vous Deteste Tous, resolutely in French bien sur, her disdain writ large.

Norway closes the contest with Hammer Of Thor (Daniel Wood and Matt Tapp) hammering out the heavily metallic The Vikings, wherein an accountant sheds his day-job skin to join the Nordic warrior beside him as if on a Jorvik Viking Festival weekender in York.

Time for an interval break, one where audience members must pick their top three, either by utilising a somewhat resistant QR Code or resorting to time-honoured pen and paper.

Pulling the heart strings, but not playing the guitar ones: Cain Branton’s Mateus Villela holds back on his fret work in Portuguese entry Guy With A Guitar

Van Griethuysen’s hostess comes even more into her element as the Eurovision send-ups continue, the tension rises and the forced jollity of a Euro party takes over. Martin Lay’s band has fun; costumier Carly Price has even more fun.

Who wins? That’s up to you each show, but you’re on to a winner here if Eurovision is your guilty pleasure.

York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York,  until July 5. Performances: 7.30pm, tonight and July 1 to 4, plus 3pm, June 28 and 29 and July 5. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Who wins at Eurobeat? You decide in the audience vote

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REVIEW: Dear Evan Hansen, having good days at Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday *****

Good day…or not? Ryan Kopel’s Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen

DEAR Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day, and here’s why. “Words Fail” may be Evan’s climactic song in this Nottingham Playhouse touring production of Benji Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levenson’s musical, but words will not fail this review’s  praise of the Olivier, Tony and Grammy Best Musical award winner.

Pasek and Paul were the Oscar-gilded composers of The Greatest Showman and La La Land, and nine years since its premiere, director Adam Penford re-imagines this similarly impactful work through a contemporary lens.

He does so with an “exciting mix of musical theatre legends and rising stars”: his stellar company being led by Ryan Kopel (from Newsies) as Evan Hansen, Lauren Conroy (Into The Woods)as Zoe Murphy, although she was absent on press night,  and West End luminary Alice Fearn (Wicked, Come From Away) as Evan’s mum, Heidi.

Kopel’s Evan is a friendless, bullied, 17-year-old American high school senior struggling with social anxiety and depression, who would like nothing more than to fit in and befriend Zoe Murphy (Tuesday understudy Lara Beth-Sas). Especially with his mother Heidi (Fearn) always being too busy with her nursing work and legal studies to see him,  and his father long absent.

Evan’s therapist (the never-seen Dr Sherman) asks him to write letters to himself – the Dear Evan Hansen letters of the title – as a therapeutic exercise to explore his feelings and boost his positivity when courage and words desert him in the presence of others.

“Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day, and here’s why,” each letter should start. Except that for Evan, they either don’t start at all or when one finally does, today is going to be anything but a good day. That letter is snatched off him by fellow friendless school outsider, Zoe’s brother, Connor (Will Forgrave, understudying Killian Thomas Lefevre), Dear Evan Hansen’s riff on Heathers’ JD.

It will be the last words Connor ever reads, spoiler alert. When Connor’s parents (Helen Anker’s Cynthia and Richard Hurst’s baseball-loving American jock Larry) assume it to be his suicide note, Evan tries to explain otherwise, but words fail him, and so, trouble this way lies…

…And lies and lies again as the lies pile up, a form of self-preservation that utilises the writing skills of Puck-like family friend Jared Keinman’s (Tom Dickerson) to concoct past text messages from the outsiders’ “secret friendship”, along with the relentless drive of social media “ambulance chaser” Alana Beck (Vivian Panka) to set up a fundraising appeal to reopen the orchard where the two teens met.

In doing so, he deceives Connor’s parents and Zoe, as she starts to warm to him. The thing is, it’s not that simple. Yes, he is lying, but he is doing so to comfort them, to make them feel better, to build a full picture that puts the destructive, nihilistic Connor in a better light.

You should find yourself at Dear Evan Hansen this week

The other thing is, it’s not that simple either, because suddenly he has Zoe where he always wanted her to be, with him.  Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma! What would you have done in these circumstances?

Evan has an angel on one shoulder, but the heavier tug of the devil on the other, so how much does everything come down to him, or are Jared and Alana complicit too by seeing an opportunity to further their own popularity? Could the pre-occupied Heidi have done more to guide him?

Pasek and Paul’s wonderful songs and Leversen’s witty, sharp, probing dialogue addresses Evan’s rising predicament with admirable complexity. Not only his mother will tell him he is not a bad lad; chances are you will feel that way too, and the compassion that ultimately prevails does not seem unreasonable. Kindness wins out here; you wish it would more often in a world in such a rotten state.

Recalling Joshua Jenkins’s remarkable performance as neuro-divergent schoolboy Christopher Boone in the National Theatre’s The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time – although Christopher was incapable of lying – Ryan Kopel gives the outstanding lead performance of the year in a touring musical. So much pent-up energy, so much inner turmoil, expressed in movement, expression, vocal mannerisms and angelic, pure singing voice.

Beth-Sas’s Zoe is part rose, part thorn; Fearn brings West End star quality to Heidi, especially in her devastating showdown with Evan and her rendition of So Big/So Small, but Forgrave’s Connor could be darker (to match LeFevre’s haunting, gothic presence at Leeds Grand Theatre last November).

Dickerson amuses as scene-stealing prankster Jared, while Panka’s Alana is as persistent as a bee trying to escape from a window. You absolutely connect with Anker and Hurst’s struggling parents too.

Michael Bradley’s band are on top form, especially the beautiful strings, in a score of powerful, emotive, melodic song after song from the heart, topped by Waving Through A Window and You Will Be Found.

Top marks too to Penford’s exhilarating, emotionally-layered direction; Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s brisk, punchy choreography to rival her work in SIX The Musical;  Morgan Large’s set (and costume) design, with its use of sliding, see-through doors, and the state-of-the-art video design by Ravi Deepres, complemented by Tom Marshall’s cacophonous sound design.

Do not miss this Generation Z musical with far wider appeal.

Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day, and here’s why. You are going to book tickets NOW for a 7.30pm evening performance, tonight until Saturday, or 2.30pm matinee on Friday or Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

‘Together we can help shape a future where young men feel empowered, understood and supported,’ says Menfulness chief exec Jack Woodhams as York charity visits GOH

Menfulness team members meet the Dear Evan Hansen cast, including Ryan Kopel (Evan Hansen), centre, on the Grand Opera House stage

THIS week’s run of Dear Evan Hansen at the Grand Opera House offers opportunities to discuss often stigmatised issues such as mental health, loneliness and identity, especially among young people.

On Tuesday, the theatre’s nominated charity, Menfulness, visited the Cumberland Street venue, being on hand for members of the audience to talk with if they had any questions.  

Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a teenager with a social anxiety disorder that inhibits his ability to connect with his peers. The York wellbeing and suicide prevention charity, dedicated to supporting men’s mental health, is campaigning to support young men as they navigate adulthood in the complex world of 2025. 

The charity has received numerous requests to deliver workshops focusing on masculinity, choices and the challenges faced by this age group.

Menfulness chief executive officer Jack Woodhams says: “We believe we can make a significant and lasting impact through tailored workshops and reflective journals. These new projects will be co-produced with young men, ensuring their voices and experiences shape the content. 

The Menfulness team with Grand Opera House venue director Josh Brown, second from left, theatre manager Kat Moir and University of York research fellow Emma Standley, who is helping to co-ordinate the campaign

“The sessions will be designed to be delivered in school settings, fostering open conversation, emotional awareness and positive decision making.  Together we can help shape a future where young men feel empowered, understood and supported.”

Grand Opera House venue director Josh Brown says: “We’re really proud to support Menfulness as our nominated charity for 2025, and Dear Evan Hansen is a fitting collaboration for raising awareness of the important work they do.  

“Dear Evan Hansen is about mental health struggles in the modern world, and the importance of community and support to finding self-acceptance; work that Menfulness recognises and does great work to help people with. 

“QR codes will be around the building, which visitors can scan to find out more about Menfulness, access support, or kindly donate. Mental health charities such as Menfulness are very much needed in the world, and we are delighted to help spread the word of the fantastic work they do.”

Dear Evan Hansen  is a poignant coming-of-age story with themes of social anxiety, loneliness and grief, but also connection, support, self-acceptance and, above all, hope. Menfulness promotes support for young people, highlighting the message that they are not alone. A message that  Evan ultimately comes to understand when he tells himself: Today is going to be a good day, because today at least you’re you. And that’s enough.”.

Menfulness team with Josh Brown (Venue Director), Kat Moir (Theatre Manager) and Emma Standley (Research Fellow at the University of York who is helping to co-ordinate the campaign)

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 27, from Gazette & Herald

Hats galore: Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre’s guys in Guys And Dolls at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

BE Amazing Arts and more amazing arts besides add up to attractions aplenty for Charles Hutchinson’s list of recommendations

Burgeoning talent of the week: Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre in Guys And Dolls, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

MALTON company Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre heads to York to present Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ musical fable of Broadway, Guys And Dolls.

Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, this oddball romantic comedy finds gambler Nathan Detroit seeking the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck. Into the story venture his girlfriend, nightclub performer Adelaide, fellow gambler Sky Masterson and straight-laced missionary Sarah Brown. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The Wandering Hearts: Introducing new album Deja Vu (We Have All Been Here Before) at Pocklington Arts Centre

Americana gig of the week: The Wandering Hearts, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 8pm

BRITISH Americana and folk band The Wandering Hearts combine enchanting harmonies and heartfelt songwriting influenced by Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and First Aid Kit.

Tomorrow’s set by Tara Wilcox, Francesca “Chess” Whiffin and A J Dean-Revington features songs from 2018’s Wild Silence, 2021’s The Wandering Hearts and 2024’s Mother, complemented by a showcase of new album Deja Vu (We Have All Been Here Before), released on June 20. Norwich singer-songwriter Lucy Grubb supports. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Snow Patrol: More chance of sunshine than snow at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Friday

Coastal gig of the week: Snow Patrol, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Friday; gates open at 6pm

SNOW Patrol visit Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Friday for the first time since July 2021. The Northern Irish-Scottish indie rock band will be led as ever by Gary Lightbody, accompanied by long-time members Nathan Connolly, lead guitar, and Johnny McDaid, piano. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Danny Lee Grew: 24K Magic at Friargate Theatre, York

Magic show of the week: Danny Lee Grew, 24K Magic, Friargate Theatre, York, Friday, 7.30pm

CLACTON-ON-SEA magician Danny Lee Grew presents his new mind-boggling one-man show of magic, illusion, laughs, gasps and sleight of hand sorcery. 24K Magic showcases the kind of magic usually seen on television, but now live, in the flesh and under the most impossible conditions. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

Olly Murs: Returning to York Racecourse for Summer Music Saturday

Back on track: Olly Murs, York Racecourse, Summer Music Saturday, June 28, first race at 1.55pm; last race, 5.25pm, followed by concert

ESSEX singer, songwriter, actor and television personality from Olly Murs completes his hat-trick of appearances at York Racecourse this weekend, having played the Knavesmire track in 2010 and 2017.

Performing after Saturday’s race card, his set list will draw on his seven albums and 25 singles, including the number ones Please Don’t Let Me Go, Heart Skips A Beat, Dance With Me Tonight and Troublemaker and Top Five hits Thinking Of Me, Dear Darlin, Wrapped Up and Up. Race day tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.

Hotbuckle Productions’ Little Women, on tour at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Peter Mould

Ryedale play of the week: Hotbuckle Productions in Little Women, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

SHROPSHIRE company Hotbuckle Productions follow up last year’s tour of Pride And with Adrian Preater’s typically inventive make-over of Louisa May Alcott’s American novel Little Women, performed by a cast of only three, Joanna Purslow, Gemma Aston and MaryAnna Kelly.

Hotbuckle explore girlhood, family and female ambition in Alcott’s tale of love, loss and the challenges of growing up in 19th century Massachusetts in a fast-paced, humorous, multi-role-playing adaptation that crosses age and gender traditions as the four March sisters journey from adolescence to adulthood. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Justin Moorhouse: Giving two of the greatest performances of his life at Pocklington Arts Centre this weekend

Comedy gig of the week: Justin Moorhouse, The Greatest Performance Of My Life, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 3pm and 8pm

ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE comedian, radio presenter and actor Justin Moorhouse covers subjects ranging from pantomimes to dreams, how to behave in hospitals, small talk, realising his mum is a northern version of Columbo, and how being a smart-mouthed child saved him from a life of continually being beaten up. Funny, interesting, perhaps it will warm the soul too. Box office:  01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Dawn Landes: Performing at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York

Country gig of the week: Dawn Landes, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, July 2, 8pm

AMERICAN country roots singer-songwriter Dawn Landes showcases The Liberated Woman’s Songbook, her March 2024 album that re-imagines music from the women’s liberation movement.

Inspired by a 1971 songbook of the same name, Landes breathes new life into powerful songs spanning 1830 to 1970, amplifying the voices of women who fought for equality throughout history. Box office: seetickets.com/event/dawn-landes/rise-bluebird/.

James Sheldon’s Mr Darcy and Rosa Hesmondhalgh’s Lizzy Bennet in Pride And Prejudice at the SJT, Scarborough

Introducing America’s most performed living playwright to North Yorkshire: Pride And Prejudice, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, July 3 to 26, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

BOLTON Octagon Theatre artistic director Lotte Wakeham directs American writer Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice in a co-production with the SJT, Hull Truck Theatre and Theatre by the Lake, Keswick.

Austen’s story of love, misunderstandings and second chances is staged with music, dancing and humour aplenty in a whirl of Regency parties and courtship as hearts race, tongues wag and passions swirl around the English countryside, with a cast led by Rosa Hesmondhalgh’s Lizzy Bennet and James Sheldon’s  Mr Darcy. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Danny Hendrix, Christopher Finn and Sarah Palmer in The Koala Who Could. Picture: Pamela Raith

Children’s show of the week: The Koala Who Could, York Theatre Royal, July 3, 1.30pm; July 4, 10.30am and 4.30pm; July 5, 11am and 2pm 

JOIN Kevin the koala, Kangaroo and Wombat as they learn that “life can be great when you try something new” in this adaptation of Rachel Bright and Jim Field’s picture book, directed by Emma Earle (Oi Frog & Friends!), with music and lyrics by Eamonn O’Dwyer (The Lion Inside). 

Danny Hendrix (Wombat/Storyteller 1), Sarah Palmer (Cossowary/Storyteller 2) and Christopher Finn (Kevin/Storyteller 3) perform this empowering story of embracing change – whether we like it or not. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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USA singer-songwriter Juliet Lloyd to play York, Leeds & Sheffield on debut UK tour

Juliet Lloyd: Debut UK tour

AMERICAN singer-songwriter Juliet Lloyd will play FortyFive Vinyl Café, Micklegate, York, on July 10 on her debut British tour.

The ten-date itinerary will take in further Yorkshire gigs at Café No 9, Sheffield, on July 6 (7.30pm) and Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, on July 7 (8pm), supported by Zoe Cure.

Drawing on influences ranging from Laurel Canyon-era singer/songwriters to Lilith Fair rockers, confessional country/folk balladeers to indie pop, Washington DC musician Lloyd released her latest album Carnival in 2024.

The UK tour was preceded by her May 16 single Wild Again, a song born out of a New York Times podcast about efforts to return the whale that played Willy in the 1993 film Free Willy to the wild.

“It’s an insane, heartbreaking story that asks all kinds of thorny questions about human responsibility and humility, and what’s the ‘right’ thing to do and is that the same as the ‘kind’ thing to do,” says Juliet.

“There was a line that one of the trainers said in the podcast, explaining that they were trying to ‘train him to be wild again’. The complete absurdity of that statement hit me in the moment, and I immediately started jotting down lyrical ideas.”

Raised in rural New York, Juliet was a classically trained pianist and jazz trumpet player from an early age before studying songwriting at Berklee College of Music and becoming a fixture in the Boston singer-songwriter scene.

The artwork for Juliet Lloyd’s latest single, Wild Again

Lloyd released her debut album, the heavily jazz-influenced All Dressed Up, in 2005, although she rejected the “jazz” label at the time. “I am a piano player and a woman, so I was immediately compared to Norah Jones—and I bristled at that,” she says. “Listening back now, I can totally see that it was true, and it of course wasn’t a bad thing.”

After the slick piano pop of her sophomore album, 2007’s Leave The Light On, elicited five of its songs being placed on reality TV shows on MTV and VH1, in 2009 she walked away from writing and recording for more than ten years, feeling burnt out and unhappy with her career progression, like so many other independent artists.

She switched to a lucrative corporate job, but after going through a divorce in 2019, in the midst of the global pandemic, Lloyd found herself pulled back toward the siren call of songwriting, whereupon she made the leap to pursue it full time.

In 2022, she released High Road, an EP of five Americana/soul-tinged songs produced by Jim Ebert that earned her songwriting awards both in Wasahington DC and nationally.

Next came her first full-length album since her return. Recorded in an unhurried process over nearly 15 months and produced by Todd Wright, Carnival’s nine songs are a study in contrasts.

Light and dark, devastating and self-deprecating, apologetic and angry, conversational and conceptual, they weave elements of pop, folk, soul and rock to create an often unexpected platform for Lloyd’s unflinching storytelling.

“These songs have helped me make sense of emotions and experiences that have happened both recently and those that I’ve buried for 20-plus years, to confront truths about myself and about others that I’ve been afraid or unwilling to say out loud,” Juliet says. “I’ve never been a confrontational person. But this is definitely a confrontational album – and I love it.”

The cover artwork for Juliet Lloyd’s 2024 album, Carnival

Carnival is full of deeply personal songs drawn from Lloyd’s experiences and relationships. “Coming out of that album cycle, I was feeling a little exhausted by my own navel-gazing and I was craving inspiration elsewhere,” she says.

“So, a lot of the songs I’m writing now are an evolution of sorts – focused more on external stimuli and finding the personal stories and humanity in that.”

Carnival’s songs are marked by urgency and honesty. “I’ve always been envious of writers who say they write songs because they have to, because they had these things they just had to get out of themselves,” says Juliet. “I had never really felt that way until this album. I’ve become someone who writes because they have to.”

Take the song Sorry Now, for example, written as an interrogation of her divorce. “I had a really visceral memory of sorting through our shared stuff when I moved out, boring things like kitchen utensils and towels, and what felt so mechanical at the time now feels coloured with sadness,” says Juliet.

“I wanted to pose questions in the lyrics, to myself and to whoever needs to hear them, because I still don’t have everything figured out, and that’s okay.”

Carnival marked a shift in her songwriting too. “Though I still primarily consider myself a piano player, I write and play more guitar now,” says Juliet. “That definitely influences the kinds of songs I write, because I’m so limited by the chords I can play right now. It’s forced me to be simple and to put more of an emphasis on lyrics than I may have in past.”

Lloyd performs 150 shows a year, both solo and with her band, at clubs and listening rooms across the United States. Now comes her debut UK tour. Doors open at 7pm for her FortyFive Vinyl Café show; tickets are on sale at fortyfiveuk.com/events/juliet-lloyd. For Sheffield, wegottickets.com/event/650457; Leeds, seetickets.com/event/juliet-lloyd/hyde-park-book-club/3322164.

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REVIEW: Shed Seven, Live Summer 2025, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 14 *****

 Rick Witter fronting Shed Seven in their Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut. Picture: Andy Little

IT’S been a dream of ours for some time to head out to the coast to play Scarborough OAT,” said Sheds frontman Rick Witter, when tickets went on sale for their long-overdue debut at what he branded “Yorkshire’s very own Hollywood Bowl”.

Overdue? Here’s why. York band, from up the A64. Anthemic hits, ripe for crowd roars from pitch level and the terrace banks behind. Not to mention early singles by the nautical name of Ocean Pie and Dolphin, both aired here in a 21-song set list.

Overdue, yes, and yet the timing felt just right. “It’s worked in our favour,” reckoned Rick in his York Press interview. And here’s why.

Shed Seven are a band re-born, going for gold anew rather than growing old on the Britpop heritage treadmill. Two number one albums in 2024, their 30th anniversary year. Match fit for outdoor exertions, as much as the indoor Shedcember seasons. The back line firmed up by “new” signings Tim Wills, on keyboards and guitar, and Rob “Maxi” Maxfield behind the drum kit that still bore the Liquid Gold livery from last autumn and winter’s travels.

Samantha Seth leading The Shed Seven Choir at Scarborough Open Air Theatre. Picture: Andy Little

Bolstered by 2017’s Instant Pleasures and the more constant pleasures of 2024’s A Matter Of Time, more Premiership-quality songs than ever are worthy of the set list, to the point where Casino Girl, She Left Me On Friday, The Heroes, Devil In Your Shoes, Cry For Help and Why Can’t I Be You? could be left out of the match-day squad.

Back in the distant day, your reviewer once called for more theatricality in Sheds’ shows, coupled with more technological aplomb (projections, razzmatazzier lighting), not merely the addition of a keyboard player, to a band that always had chemistry, terrace tunes that stuck like gum to summer soles, audience rapport aplenty and a lean, lippy totem out front.

Now, if Carlsberg did Shed Seven gigs, they would probably do this one, this way, this set list, getting better all the time. Warm weekend night. Capacity crowd of 8,000. Typically low-key, high-efficiency event management by Cuffe & Taylor and venue staff. Canny choice of supports, the sunshine Liverpool Nineties’ pop of Cast and Jake Bugg, dressed as Milk Tray Midlands Man.

8.45pm, enter Wills and Maxfield, stalwart bassist Tom Gladwin and guitarist Paul Banks, then Witter in dandy sequin shirt (from Phix Clothing, should you be wondering), sparkling from the off in instant singalong opener Room In My House.

Rick Witter and Rowetta: In Ecstasy, in Scarborough, on a seaside Saturday night. Picture: Andy Little

Witter had promised “some great ideas”for the Live Summer 2025 shows, in keeping with Huntington School choir singing Bully Boy in last summer’s Museum Gardens gigs, and boy, did they deliver.

For presentation top marks, there were projections to either side of the stage; razzmatazziest lighting, and a huge Shed Seven insignia, lit up in ever-changing colours.

Content was built on regular rotation of supplementary players. Through the darkening night, the Sheds would be joined by a five-piece Manchester choir, led by Samantha Seth, temporarily christened The Shed Seven Choir for Scarborough and upcoming gigs at Glastonbury, Manchester Castlefield Bowl and Leeds Millennium Square. If it worked for The Rolling Stones, it works wonders for Shed Seven.

Glory be, the brass section was back from Museum Gardens 2024, this time Tom I’Anson, on trombone, Jamie Brownfield, on trumpet, and Mike Smith, on saxophone, kitted out in Shed Seven Summer ’25 T-shirts.

Arms outstretched: Shed Seven fans in excelsis at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Returning too were York acoustic guitarist Stuart Allan, tucked away studiously to the side, and Happy Mondays’ Rowetta, resplendent in red, to resume her rowdy jousting with Witter at the height of In Ecstasy.

By then, the set had taken in the early urgent days of Speakeasy and Ocean Pie, and Witter looking up to the Scarborough heavens in 2024’s mystical, magical Starlings. Riding on the crest of Wills’ keyboard wave, its yearning poetic beauty promptly met its marrow in a devotional cover of The Smiths’ There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

In keeping with last summer, Going For Gold segued into Elvis’s Suspicious Minds, this time embellished by both brass and a choral coda, before the Sheds’ answer to Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Power Of Love,  Let’s Go Dancing, the swaggering Getting Better and Parallel Lines, stretched to a maximum high, closed the set.

Still the “great ideas” kept a’coming in the encores. First up, a piano being wheeled on, centre stage, for Paul Banks.“I’ve never played piano on stage before, even though I play piano/ keys on all the records. Been too nervous to do it until now!” he said later.

Rick Witter and Paul Banks, at the piano, performing Your Guess Is As Good As Mine, the song they wrote aged 14, at Scarborough Open Air Theatre. Picture: Andy Little

Cue Better Days, and the next surprise, Your Guess Is As Good As Mine, written by Rick and Paul in Huntington School days and since performed at their acoustic duo gigs but never on piano, nor at a Sheds gig until now. Why the long wait? Your guess is as good as mine.

“Really loved playing it on Saturday,” Paul reflected afterwards. “I don’t think Rick and Paul aged 14 would have believed it.”

And what’s this? A band of drummers, Global Grooves, rehearsed by Maxi in Manchester, whose idea it was to bring them over the Pennines. All a matter of keeping time for extra oomph and visual drama in Talk Of The Town and Disco Down. Catch them again at Castlefield Bowl and Millennium Square.

Chasing Rainbows, what else, bade us farewell, sung into the salted sea air by one and all beyond the final bow and team photo of band, brass, choir and Rowetta. It had been a glittering night to match Rick’s shirt.

Beat that! The Global Grooves drummers playing in Shed Seven’s encores at Scarborough Open Air Theatre. Picture: Celestine Dubruel

Shed Seven set list, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 14, 8.45pm

Room In My House; Let’s Go; Speakeasy; Where Have You Been Tonight?; Ocean Pie; Starlings; There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths cover); Dolphin; High Hopes; Bully Boy; In Ecstasy (with Rowetta); Going For Gold/Suspicious Minds (Mark James/Elvis Presley cover); On Standby; Let’s Go Dancing; Getting Better; Parallel Lines.

Encores: Better Days; Your Guess Is As Good As Mine; Talk Of The Town; Disco Down; Chasing Rainbows.

The poster for Shed Seven’s Live Summer 2025 series of outdoor concerts

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Why each day is going to be a good day for Alice Fearn in Dear Evan Hansen in York

Alice Fearn’s Heidi Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Marc Brenner

THE wait is almost over to Dear Evan Hansen, the Olivier, Tony and Grammy award winner for best musical, to arrive at the letter Y for York.

Tomorrow is going to be a good day, and here’s why,  because composers Pasek & Paul and book writer Steven Levenson’s show opens at the Grand Opera House that night for the last English stretch of a debut UK tour that will end in Edinburgh the following week.

In a story built around suicide and mental health issues, Ryan Kopel’s Evan Hansen is a friendless, bullied, 17-year-old American high school senior struggling with a social anxiety disorder and depression, who wants to fit in and befriend Zoe Murphy. Especially with his mother Heidi always being too busy with her work to see him and his father long absent.

Evan’s therapist asks him to write “Today is going to be a good day, and here’s why” letters to himself as a therapeutic exercise to explore his feelings and boost his positivity when courage and words desert him in the presence of others.

When Zoe’s brother Connor dies, Evan entangles himself in a web of lies, but in doing so, he gains everything he wanted: the chance to belong, but at what cost to others, especially Connor’s parents and Zoe, as his false words comfort them.

 “It gets you talking,” says Alice Fearn, who plays Evan’s mum, in the wake of such landmark roles as Elphaba in Wicked and Captain Beverley Bass in Come From Away. “You think, ‘of course I wouldn’t lie about that’, but then you think there might be an element of  enlightenment why he does. On the one hand, it’s selfish, but on the other, it’s selfless. You come away understanding Evan’s choices; you think of it as a ‘situation error’.”

At the heart of Evan’s deceitful actions is a desire to “belong”. “We all want to belong, to be popular, and for people to like us, which we obviously want as humans,” says Alice. “But also, young people are connecting with who the young characters represent, how they’re all different. That’s what they’re seeing: how they interact with other at school.  They feel seen – and when I did Wicked, I found that as well.

“Sometimes people go to the theatre for a complete escape, but what I think people are enjoying now in Dear Evan Hansen is recognising Evan’s dilemma and particularly that personality trait and the decision he makes. People don’t want to feel alone when they’re finding things hard to deal with – those things that happen to all of us – and now it’s happening on stage.”

Another significant factor in Dear Evan Hansen is the rising influence of social media. “It has such an impact. Now the whole world will find out about something in minutes, not just friends or at school. Now, because things are blown up in huge way on social media, Evan feels the gravity of what’s happening so much more.

“That’s something that mums and dads connect with, how young people say ‘that’s what I’m having to deal with’.”

Alice’s character, the ever-harassed Heidi, faces her own dilemma. “The most important thing, when I read the script for the first time, was realising what she is in Evan’s story. She’s trying to make the most of a difficult situation in her life , making sure they have a comfortable life financially, better than she had in her childhood, thinking ‘how can I improve that for my child?’,” she says.

“But also, as a single parent, that commitment to work is taking time away from being with Evan. So, what you have to do when playing Heidi is show how hard working she is, but how distant she becomes because of that workload – where if you’re not there 24/7, there will be a distance between you. I’ve had single mums come up to me after the show to say ‘that’s my story’.”

Alice has not penned her equivalent of Dear Evan Hansen letters “but though I’m not a journal keeper, as you hit your 40s [Bath-born Alice is 41], a big chunk of your life has gone by, and you think, ‘maybe I should appreciate what is happening to me today’,” she says.

“Whereas in your 20s you never feel you’re going to get old, now, if I’m having a downer day, I try to say, ‘aren’t you lucky to be in this show; call your mum and dad; go out to lunch with friends’. It’s like a version of  ‘today is going to be a good day, and here’s why’.

“Now, in those moments, you find yourself thinking, ‘wow, I’m lucky to be here today’, and I do that more than I did when I was younger. The tiniest thing can make it a good day, rather than a terrible one.”

Alice has treasured her experiences in Dear Evan Hansen. “What I shall keep is what people get from this show. We’ve had a standing ovation after each show because people are so moved by it,” she says.

“The other thing has been working with Ryan Kopel, one of the brightest young talents I’ve ever worked with. We laugh, we cry, we have fun, we test things out. It’s very enjoyable to play opposite him. That’s something I’m incredibly grateful for: I now  have a ‘stage son’ for life.”

Dear Evan Hansen, Grand Opera House, York, June 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgticket.com/york.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival, Contre le Temps/York Waits /Ensemble Augelletti, various venues, May 25

Contre le Temps

THE final day of the festival was full of good things. The early afternoon found the female-voice quartet Contre le Temps in the Quire of Beverley Minster, nobly unearthing the role of women in the music of the Middle Ages.

Inevitably, Hildegard von Bingen was the only female composer on display, but there was a wealth of music about women, both sacred and secular, with Dufay the only other named composer.

The quartet took a while to find its feet. There was some odd tuning in the opening Salve Decus, not all of it attributable to the processional presentation or even mediaeval waywardness. Nerves began to calm in a Dufay lament, before we moved into higher gear with two works devoted to the Virgin Mary, including an Ave Maria from the Winchester Troper.

We had travelled briefly into the secular with an angst-ridden lament by Dufay for three voices. However, the fun really began when in a single macaronic piece from the Montpellier Codex, Quant Voi l’erbe Reverdir (When I See The Grass Turning Green), we began with a lilting triplum in French – love in springtime – before a motetus in Latin on love for the Virgin. But the punch-line was that it had all been part of Jacob’s dream, sacred and secular love neatly converging.

That message was neatly reinforced by Dufay in a four-voice rondeau, Ma Belle Dame Souveraine, where the sovereign lady of the title could equally easily be taken either as the Virgin or the object of courtly love.

Hildegard was aptly represented by the antiphon O Tu Illustrata, where the upward-jumping lines symbolised the baby leaping in Mary’s womb, as well as Hildegard’s private ecstasy. In the verse that followed, there were some soaring lines that found the quartet at its most appealing, blending beautifully throughout a wide range. The music showed the composer at her most typically emotional.

That left time for a brief excursion to northern Spain, with a motet from the Codex Las Huelgas, a prayer for sins to be washed away by the Virgin’s ‘river of pardon’. The balance was restored by a return to the more earthly, some might say earthy, delights of human beauty – in French, naturally – from the Cyprus Codex (actually compiled there by French musicians).

Contre le Temps laudably tried to communicate with all their audience by moving around, although some of the choreography was more distracting than meaningful. But there was no mistaking the group’s commitment, breathing new life into some rarefied manuscripts.

* * * * *

York Waits

WITHIN an hour, we had a complete contrast with York Waits at St John’s Church, North Bar Without, two singers and five players on a rumbustious pilgrimage to Walsingham.

At this group’s heart lie shawms and sackbuts, instruments that never pretend to be precious, destined as they were to be played outdoors. Ultimately their music owes more to folk traditions and these singers’ style reflects that too: nasal, straight-toned, lusty.

After a quick nod to religion with Gregorian chant, we were into Byrd’s Walsingham variations, a keyboard piece cleverly arranged here for violin and four recorders by Tim Bayley. Three raucous dances arranged by another group member, Elizabeth Gutteridge, from Arbeau’s Orchésographie (1589) brought all the main noise-makers into play, but they were less suited to Byrd’s penitential O Lord, How Vain, which was intended for four viols and a singer.

Gutteridge’s version of Byrd’s The Queen’s Almain showcased William Marshall’s virtuoso skills on the sackbut. There were particularly pleasing recorder contributions in Richard Nicholson’s Bergamasca – variations on a ground – and in Campion’s Never Weather-beaten Sail, where the voices of Deborah Catterall and Gareth Glyn Roberts served the poetry well.

At this point, two bagpipes joined the fray, courtesy of Michael Praetorius. A brief return to the sacred side of the mission via Tallis and Guerrero soon yielded to a reminder of Kemp’s famous jig on this route, which brought plenty of percussion into action.

After a repeat of the title song, As I Went To Walsingham, which faded out tastefully with three voices alone, we had as encore a rousing French chanson about a pretty young nun. Its text was hardly biblical but it certainly produced a joyful noise from the whole group.

* * * * *

Ensemble Augelletti

THE festival ended on a high with the quintet Ensemble Augelletti (‘little birds’) in Toll Gavel United Church. The group, now nearing the end of its tenure as New Generation Baroque Ensemble, had appeared at the York Early Music Christmas Festival but, for some reason, without a cellist. This time they had one: it transformed them from highly competent to seriously exciting.

She was Carina Drury, always vivid and so totally attuned to her colleagues that she became in effect the engine-room of the entire programme, to everyone’s advantage.

The evening reflected the tastes of John Courtney, an 18th-century music lover and bon vivant who divided his time between Beverley and London. Handel’s name recurs most frequently in Courtney’s diaries, which accounted for two trio sonatas from his Op 5.

The latter, No 3 in E minor, was the most bravura piece of the evening, its complex counterpoint drawing particular virtuosity from Drury and from the harpsichord of Benedict Williams.

Corelli’s trio sonatas were more or less the archetype of the genre and recurred often in Baroque programmes. Here, in D minor, we had two frisky allegros, of which the second was especially balletic.

English composers were represented by Purcell, with dances culled from three of his semi-operas, where Olwen Foulkes’s recorder delivered some tasty descants, and by William Boyce, with a minuet that fluctuated teasingly between major and minor, again with recorder to the fore.

Not quite English, but often called the ‘London Bach’, Johann Christian, who spent the latter part of his career there, was heard in a delightful trio that brought Ellen Bundy’s fluent violin alongside recorder and cello. But it was the Italian style that dominated Courtney’s musical experiences.

Sammartini’s concerto, Op 2 No 1, found running semiquavers being tossed nonchalantly between the parts, before a spirited finale of stop-start rhythms.

In similar style, although also anticipating the Classical period, was a D major sonata by Johann Friedrich Fasch, a contemporary of Bach who deserves more attention than he tends to receive. All five players combined tellingly in its furioso final Allegro, which brought down the curtain on a stimulating event.

Ensemble Augelletti are no longer the fledglings their title suggests: they have taken wing in commanding fashion. This programme was recorded by BBC Radio 3 and may be accessed on BBC Sounds.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on York Musical Society Choir & Orchestra, Verdi Requiem, York Minster, June 21

Soprano Elinor Rolfe Johnson

YORK Musical Society has lately developed a love affair with Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. After giving a mere three performances in the 20th century, it has now chalked up four since 2000. Saturday evening showed why.

David Pipe was clearly enjoying his third outing here in this work with a choir numbering 140 voices. He has grown as a conductor with each performance. I cannot remember when this choir has been so riveted to his every gesture.

He also had the orchestra watching him very carefully, with Nicola Rainger as his leader for the last time after 18 notable years in that position. So much for statistics. He also had a first-rate solo quartet at his disposal. Pipe aligned all these talents superbly.

Any choir can sing loudly, but a choral pianissimo can be much more telling: the whispered opening here was just what was needed for atmosphere and the a cappella Te Decet built upon it reverently.

At the other end of the spectrum was the quartet’s strongly pleading Christe, Eleison. Similarly, the Dies Irae began powerfully enough, with truly heraldic trumpets and thunderous off-beat percussion, but much more terrifying was Trevor Eliot Bowes’s bass Mors…Mors, subtly spaced and sotto voce.

Alison Kettlewell declaimed the wide mezzo-soprano span of Liber Scriptus comfortably. After the choral basses had dug into Rex Tremendae with gusto, there was a restrained delicacy to Recordare, involving Kettlewell and the fluent soprano Elinor Rolfe Johnson. They later conjured a nicely controlled Agnus Dei with the chorus in respectful attendance. Peter Davoren’s tenor had opened a touch effortfully, but he trod carefully though the Ingemisco, sustaining a pleasing line.

The soloists blended beautifully in a touching Lacrymosa, with the orchestra rounding off the entire Dies Irae tenderly. The double-choir Sanctus, surely an evocation of heaven, was taken at a brisk pace, which the chorus thoroughly relished.

But they had enough left in the tank for a truly impassioned Libera Me, in which Rolfe Johnson came into her own with marvellous control and yet enough power to gleam at the top. We could only marvel at the majestic grandeur of it all. This was York Musical Society – both choir and orchestra – at the peak of its powers.

Review by Martin Dreyer