REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on York Early Music Festival, Fretwork/Helen Charlston, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, July 4

Fretwork: Marking 400th anniversary of Orlando Gibbons’s death

THIS year’s festival raced off the starting line in top gear with the six viols of Fretwork and mezzo soprano Helen Charlston. They focused entirely on the secular music of Orlando Gibbons, the 400th anniversary of whose untimely death at the age of 41 is being commemorated this year.

Gibbons is much better known these days for his sacred music, which is very much part of the backbone of cathedral repertory. His secular output is largely based on vocal techniques. The truth of this was underlined here by a single voice and viols doing duty for five unaccompanied voices in his madrigals – in accordance with the composer’s assertion on his title page in 1612, “apt for viols and voyces”.

Helen Charlston’s mezzo is so firmly centred that she is able to extend its resonance smoothly to either end of her range; there are no gear-changes. Furthermore, her diction is excellent. On this occasion, for my money, she was standing slightly behind the ‘sweet spot’ for voices in this arena and thus the consort was too far back as well. But the audience would not have guessed this from their close co-operation.

Melancholy was the dominant theme in much of the poetry set, no more so than in Sir Walter Raleigh’s What Is Our Life? Charlston spelt out the emotional force here, as in the lament by an anonymous writer Ne’er Let The Sunne, where lower viols provided eloquently darker colour. The counterpoint in each of these songs was sumptuous and all the clearer for its presentation in this rarer format.

Helen Charlston: “Mezzo so firmly centred that she is able to extend its resonance smoothly to either end of her range”. Picture: Julien Gazeau

Early music is making a point of getting living composers involved these days, with Nico Muhly filling the bill at this festival. His setting of words from Psalm 39, sandwiching the autopsy report of Orlando Gibbons, is more satisfying than that may sound. He describes it as a “ritualised memory piece” about Gibbons, writing it for five viols and four male voices.

The version here, however, was an authorised arrangement by Fretwork’s own Richard Boothby for mezzo soprano solo along with the viols. This makes sense not only as being more easy to perform, but also because Muhly’s setting owes a good deal to Gibbons’s own verse anthem to the same psalm, Behold, Thou Hast Made My Days As It Were A Span Long. Several later composers used the words “Lord, let me know mine end”, also from Psalm 39.

At its centre, we learn of Gibbons’s convulsions, where the viols are hesitant, fragmented and stuttering. But its climax lay at “Hear my prayer, O Lord”, with the voice pleading repeatedly against sparse accompaniment.

Earlier we had heard the top three viols alone, and then all five punctuating the voice, often quite rhythmically. Muhly uses ornamentation, rather than out-and-out counterpoint to highlight the text, and eventually repeats the opening words in his postlude. While its aura is more Jacobean than modern, it is still a touching evocation of a great talent.

The most fulfilling of the purely viol pieces in the programme was Go From My Window, a set of variations that pits the two bass viols virtually in competition with one another. Equally exciting was the vivid Pavan and galliard in six parts, while two of Gibbons’s three five-part In Nomines underlined the fertility of his imagination. Fretwork is a tautly interlinked ensemble that breathes as one – exactly what this repertory demands.

Pablo Zapico: “Showed how Spain and Italy first took the guitar seriously”

Pablo Zapico, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, July 5

THERE are times, usually when listening to early music, when you have the feeling of drinking at the very fountainhead of a musical type. One such rarity came with the appearance of Pablo Zapico and his Baroque guitar.

He showed us how Spain and Italy first took the guitar seriously, with a sweeping survey of 17th century composers, notably Gaspar Sanz and Santiago de Murcia in Spain and Francesco Corbetta leading the Italian pack.

The origins of the guitar lie in the vihuela de mano, a waisted, plucked-string instrument, known in Italy as the viola de mano. Both were tuned exactly like a lute. Their heyday was the 16th century, but by the start of the 17th they had been superseded by the five-course Spanish guitar on display here, with a simplified form of notation.

The most remarkable feature of its predominant style was the strumming effect used alongside pure melody. In the hands of an expert like Zapico this can sound like two instruments being played at once, whereas he can switch between the two in the flash of an eye.

In five whimsical Preludios we sampled the improvisational possibilities with this instrument, often quite chromatic and all the time infused with headstrong Mediterranean temperament. In similar style, we had a volatile Jacaras by Sanz with high and low contrasts that sounded as if right out of the flamenco tradition.

In La Jotta, by de Murcia, based on a Baroque dance, there was a dominant tune heavily syncopated. The best was kept till last. In Sanz’s Canarios, based on a style originating in the Canaries, there were cross-rhythms galore, delivered with extreme rapidity. It was utterly breathtaking.

Zapico is a master of his craft.

The Tallis Scholars: “Intimacy that larger groups struggle to emulate”

The Tallis Scholars, York Minster, July 5

WITH Spanish music assuming some importance at this year’s festival, it was appropriate that Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars began and ended their Glorious Creatures event with Sebastián de Vivanco, who was an almost exact contemporary of Victoria and was born, like him, in Avila.

In between, they focused on Renaissance music about the beauties of nature, with a couple of sidetracks into the newer world of Nico Muhly.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this ensemble is its small size, here a mere ten voices. This enables an intimacy that larger groups struggle to emulate. It also puts a premium on the contribution of individual singers, especially the four sopranos, who are double the number of each of the lower parts.

Before the interval, the soprano contribution was typically clean but also a touch too heavy for an ideal blend. After the interval, however, there was a change and the top line became more relaxed and less anxious.

Vivanco’s setting of Sicut Lilium (‘Like the Lily’) from the Song of Songs was positively luscious, bordering on the erotic, whereas in Palestrina’s version of the same text, written a generation earlier and given here by an octet, textures were sparer and more delicately fragrant. Both were marvels of their kind.

At the centre of the programme was Lassus’s Missa Vinum Bonum, preceded by its eponymous motet, which leans so heavily on the fruit of the vine that it dabbles with giddiness (no fault of the choir).

The text quickly falls back on the wedding at Cana, where Christ changed water into wine, as justification for a good drink or two.

The mass itself makes copious use of the motet’s music, so it too is infused with jolliness. Ofcourse Lassus quickly inserts a penitent ‘Christe’ into the Kyrie – at least it was here – but there was plenty of syncopation in the Gloria, deftly handled, and after a vivid Resurrection the Credo accelerated dizzily towards its Amen.

Some of that spirit percolated into a crazy Hosanna In Excelsis. Naturally there was a modicum of remorse in the Agnus Dei, but it was about as terse as could be imagined. The liturgy has rarely been so earthy.

On either side of Lassus we had music of Muhly. There was something appropriate about his Marrow (2017), which sets the first eight verses of Psalm 63. Preceding the “marrow and fatness” we had “in a barren and dry land where no water is”, evocative of the present drought. Sure enough, Muhly conjures a heat-haze here.

His A Glorious Creature (2023) similarly sets musings on the sun by Thomas Traherne. Using all ten voices individually, Muhly makes expansive use of ‘the sun’, reflecting its extent and influence.

Thinning down its centre for grains of dust and sand, he then broadens out with Traherne’s linking of the sun with the soul. Here the choir revelled in the immense impact of the text, melding superbly.

Later we enjoyed settings of Descendi In Hortum Meum (I Went Down Into My Garden) by De Rore, Dunstable and Palestrina. The earliest, and the most telling here, was the Dunstable, which with the solo voices of alto Caroline Trevor and the tenors Steven Harrold and Tom Castle was an oasis of tender intimacy.

There remained a magnificent Magnificat Octavi Toni by Vivanco, made all the more spiritual by its plainsong interjections. But Spanish vitalidad kept bursting through. We were brought back down to our knees by the encore, Purcell’s incomparable Hear My Prayer.

Reviews by Martin Dreyer

York Early Music Festival continues until July 11. For full details and tickets, go to: ncem.co.uk.

Reviews by Martin Dreyer

York Early Music Festival continues until July 11. For full details and tickets, go to: ncem.co.uk.

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

The Divine Comedy to play York Barbican & Sheffield City Hall on October tour for orchestral album Rainy Sunday Afternoon

Neil Hannon: New album and autumn tour. Picture: Kevin Westerberg

NEIL Hannon will promote The Divine Comedy’s 13th studio album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, on a 16-date autumn tour that visits York Barbican on October 21, preceded by Sheffield City Hall on October 16.

Tickets will go on sale at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/the-divine-comedy-2025/ on Thursday, April 17 at 10am for Hannon’s return to the Barbican for the first time since April 30 2022.

Much has happened to Northern Irishman Hannon, 54, in the wake of his last studio set, 2019’sTop Five-charting Office Politics. The Divine Comedy’s entire back catalogue was lovingly remastered and rereleased in 2020, followed by the Top Five success of February 2022 compilation Charmed Life – The Best Of The Divine Comedy, marking the completion of the Derry-born singer, songwriter, musical score composer and cricket enthusiast’s third decade as a recording artist.

Hannon then wrote all the original songs for Paul King’s 2023 musical fantasy film Wonka, pronounced by the Official Charts Co as “the UK’s most popular film of 2024”.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon will be released on September 19.  Written, arranged and produced by Hannon and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, the album spans his usual range of emotions:  sad, funny, angry and everything in between.

“My musical output is, for better or worse, a representation of my personality,” says Hannon. “A good chunk of that personality revels in the rumbumptious; celebrates the silly. And I made ample use of that for the Wonka songs.

The sleeve artwork for The Divine Comedy’s September 19 album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, one that “works through some stuff: mortality; memories; relationships; political and social upheaval”

“I have, though, like everyone, a darker, more melancholy side. And for one reason or another it has been much in evidence of late. I needed to use this album as an outlet for those feelings.

“To work through some stuff. Mortality; memories; relationships; political and social upheaval. Everyone should get to make an orchestral pop album once in a while. It should be available on the NHS.”

Rainy Sunday Afternoon is available to pre-order now via www.thedivinecomedy.com. Album formats include standard black and limited-edition colour LPs, standard CD and a limited-edition deluxe CD with a bonus disc, Live In Paris & London.

The Divine Comedy’s autumn tour will take in: October 6, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool; October 7, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham; October 8, Forum, Bath; October 10, The Glasshouse, Gateshead;  October 11 and 12, Barbican, London; October 13, Dome, Brighton; October 15, Corn Exchange, Cambridge; October 16, Sheffield City Hall (box office, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk).

The itinerary will continue with: October 17, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton University;  October 18, Swansea Arena; October 20, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow; October 21, York Barbican; October 23, New Theatre, Oxford; October 24, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, and  October 25, Beacon, Bristol. European and Irish dates will follow next year.

Hannon’s visit to York Barbican on his Spring 2022 tour was his first York concert since May 2011.  That bygone night, the Irish chamber-pop leprechaun performed at York Minster, but the “divine” in The Divine Comedy was not the reason he could be found in northern Europe’s largest Gothic cathedral.

The Dean and Chapter had agreed to allow Tribeca Arts impresario Ben Pugh to run a series of rock/world concerts in the Minster, and if Hannon let slip a couple of X-rated words – one to describe Minster arsonist Jonathan Martin, the other in a lyric – the wrath from above did not befall him. He looked up heavenwards only when sipping red wine from a glass, mouthing “sorry” playfully.

REVIEW: York Musical Society, Bach’s Mass in B minor, York Minster, March 15

Baritone soloist David John Pike

FOLLOWING a call to prayer, the concert opened with a gravitas-laden Kyrie. It took a moment or two to get into the groove, but despite the ever-generous Minster acoustic, I could hear the choral fugue weaving its way through to a pleasing cadence.

The Christe soprano duet— Zoë Brookshaw and Philippa Boyle — with obbligato violins was in the altogether sunnier key of D major. The singers’ clear, confident deliveries and crisp string articulation brought a welcome relief and respite.

But then back to a second Kyrie fugue. This worked much better; maybe the choir were more at ease with the vocal demands, but I think the greater clarity and confidence benefited from Bach’s doubling of instruments and voices.

Assured string and clear trumpet playing added much to the celebratory opening of the – D major again – Gloria. I did lose a bit of choral detail, but this is a given in this acoustic. Nicola Rainger was on fine form with a disciplined, technically challenging violin obbligato accompaniment to Philippa Boyle’s captivating Laudamus Te.

Despite the impressive, soaring trumpet contribution, the Gratias Agimus Tibi seemed to have that ‘morning after’ quality. The balance between soprano (Zoë Brookshaw), tenor (Nicholas Watts) and flute obbligato (Della Blood) with muted strings was nigh-on perfect.

Indeed, David Pipe’s judgement was an impressive feature throughout the concert. The Qui Sedes Ad Dexteram Patris was sung by countertenor Tom Lilburn, and very well indeed. The clarity, almost purity of tone, worked really well with Jane Wright’s oboe d’amore obbligato accompaniment.

Baritone David John Pike fared less well in the following Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus. I lost detail in the lower register, but as the aria is scored for the bass voice, this really wasn’t surprising. Janus Wadsworth was excellent on horn, but again I found it tricky to hear the bassoon playing with any real clarity.

The closing Cum Sancto Spiritu proved to be an enjoyable fugal first-half signing-off. The tempo was suitably energetic, and the strings in good nick with fine, crisp articulation.

This brought us to a welcome 15-minute break where the audience seemed to bypass chat about the performance in favour of how cold it was.

The Credo is in itself an altogether satisfying movement, probably on account of its clearly defined symmetrical structure. There was an impressive account of Et In Unum Dominum Jesus Christum from Zoë Brookshaw (soprano) and Tom Lilburn (countertenor) with sympathetic string commentary.

The aria Et In Spiritum Sanctum was more suited to the baritone range and gave David John Pike the chance to showcase what a very fine singer he really is. The oboe d’amore obbligati support was really well judged too. However, I could have sworn they were placed stage left. But not so. Of the three central choral sections, the opening five-part chorus Et Incarnatus Est De Spiritu Sancto fared best. In a quiet setting, the performance shone brightly.

By the time we reached the end of the Sanctus, it was clear that, to use a footballing metaphor, there were a lot of tired legs out there. The demands on the chorus are massive and unrelenting.

Yet, following a poignant Agnus Dei performed by Tom Lilburn with yearning string commentary, they rallied to deliver a splendid Dona Nobis Pacem to bring this enormous spiritual journey to a satisfying conclusion.

Finally, we should mention the consistent quality support from organist Shaun Turnbull and the authoritative direction of conductor David Pipe. But I am going to leave the last word with tenor Nicholas Watts. His performance of the Benedictus aria— with lovely flute accompaniment (Louise Evans, I think) — was, for me, the highlight of the concert.

Review by Steve Crowther

More Things To Do in York and beyond when the XXX factor hits the gallery walls. Hutch’s List No. 11 from The York Press

York Pop artist Harland Miller with his new work York from his XXX exhibition at York Art Gallery. Picture: Olivia Hemingway

FROM Harland Miller’s Pop Art to Emma Rice’s theatrical world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, these are exciting times for arts exploits, Charles Hutchinson reports.

XXXhibition launch of the week: Harland Miller: XXX, York Art Gallery, until August 31, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

YORK-RAISED artist and writer Harland Miller has returned to York Art Gallery to launch XXX, showcasing paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series, including the unveiling of several new paintings, not least ‘York’, a floral nod to Yorkshire’s white rose and York’s daffodils.   

Inspired by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.

David John Pike: Baritone soloist at York Musical Society’s concert

Classical concert of the week: York Musical Society, Bach Mass in B minor, York Minster, tonight, 7.30pm

DAVID Pipe conducts York Musical Society’s singers and orchestra in Bach’s epic choral work, replete with magnificent choruses, resplendent fugues, moving arias and soloists Zoe Brookshaw and Philippa Boyle (both soprano), Tom Lilburn (countertenor), Nicholas Watts (tenor) and Canadian/British/Luxembourger David John Pike (baritone), who returned to music after initially training and working as a chartered accountant. Tickets: available from York Minster or on the door.

Tayla Kenyon: Exploring memories and the choices we make in Fluff at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Fringe play of the week: Teepee Productions and Joe Brown present Fluff, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

NOW is the time for Fluff to do the ultimate puzzle: her life. As she navigates her way through her most treasured and darkest memories, she desperately needs to piece together her life, story by story, person by person.

Tayla Kenyon performs solo in her darkly comedic 75-minutre play, co written with James Piercy, as she explores memories and the choices we make, using a non-linear plot line to enable the audience to feel, first hand, the devastating effects of dementia. Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Ewan Wardrop in rehearsal for his role as reluctant hero Roger Thornhill in Wise Children’s production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, premiering at York Theatre Royal from March 18

World premiere of the week in York: Wise Children in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, York Theatre Royal, March 18 to April 5, 7.30pm plus 2pm, March 26 and April 3; 2.30pm, March 29 and April 5

IT would be strange if, in a city of seven million people, one man were never mistaken for another…and that is exactly what happens to Roger Thornhill, reluctant hero of North By Northwest, when a mistimed phone call to his mother lands him smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy. Now he is on the run, dodging spies, airplanes and a femme fatale who might not be all she seems.

Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice turns film legend Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller on its head in her riotously humorous reworking. Replete with six shape-shifting performers, a fabulous 1950s’ soundtrack and a heap of hats, this dazzling co-production with York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse plays with heart, mind and soul in a topsy-turvy drama full of glamour, romance, jeopardy and a liberal sprinkling of tender truths. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Nina Wadia’s Gemma and Sam Bailey’s April in NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

Musical of the week: NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, Grand Opera House, York, March 18 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees, Wednesday and Saturday

DIRECTED by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, comedian Pippa Evans’s hit-laden musical is set in Birmingham in 1989 and 2009. Back in the day, school friends Gemma Warner and April Devonshire are planning their lives based on Number One magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley. Twenty years later, Gemma (Nina Wadia) and April (The X Factor winner Sam Bailey) face  the most dreaded event of their adult lives: the school reunion.

Drama, old flames and receding hairlines come together as friends reunite and everything from the past starts to slot into place. Sinitta, Eighties’s pop star of So Macho and Toy Boy fame, will be the guest star all week in a show featuring Gold, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Tainted Love, Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves et al. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

In the Strummer time: Stiff Little Fingers’ Ali McMordie, left, Steve Grantley, Jake Burns and Ian McCallum pay tribute to The Clash punk hero at York Barbican. Picture: Will Byington

Punk gig of the week: Stiff Little Fingers, Flame In Our Hearts Tour, York Barbican, March 18, doors 7pm

NORTHERN Irish punk legends Stiff Little Fingers’ tour title is a nod their 2003 track Summerville, recorded to mark the untimely passing of Joe Strummer of The Clash.

Frontman Jake Burns says: “The opening line to the song is ‘You lit a flame in my heart’ and still stands strong today as it did when I wrote it. Joe was a legend and a huge influence on myself and the band. Calling the tour Flame In The Heart keeps Joe in everyone’s memory.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. Meanwhile, Monday’s double bill of The Darkness and special guests Ash has sold out.

Nearly here: Paddy McGuinness brings his Nearly There tour to York Barbican next Thursday

Comedy gig of the week: Paddy McGuinness, Nearly There, York Barbican, March 20, 7.45pm

FARNWORTH comedian, television and radio presenter and game show host Paddy McGuinness plays York on his first stand-up itinerary since 2016. Launching the 40 dates last year, he said: “It’s been eight years since my last tour and there’s lots of things to laugh about! I’m looking forward to getting back in front of a live audience, along with running the gauntlet of cancel culture, click bait and fake news.” Tickets update: only a handful of single seats still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Dr Rangan Chatterjee: Health and happiness tips at York Barbican

Meet “the architect of health and happiness”: Dr Rangan Chatterjee, The Thrive Tour 2025, York Barbican, March 21, 7.30pm

JOIN Dr Rangan Chatterjee, inspirational host of Europe’s biggest health podcast, Feel Better, Live More, author and star of BBC One’s Doctor In The House, for two transformative hours of learning the skill of happiness, discovering the secrets to optimal health, breaking free from habits that hold you back and discovering how to make changes that last. “Be empowered, be inspired and learn how to thrive,” he says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 10, from Gazette & Herald

The poster for Brain Play, to be staged by 1812 Youth Theatre as part of National Theatre Connections at Helmsley Arts Centre and York Theatre Royal

LIKE Tom Stade’s comedy show, tipping winners is a Risky Business, but Charles Hutchinson is confident his recommendations will be triumphant.

Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Youth Theatre & National Theatre Connections, Brain Play, Helmsley Arts Centre, today to Friday, 7.30pm

UNDER the National Theatre Connections banner, Helmsley company 1812 Youth Theatre presents Chloe Lawrence-Taylor and Paul Sirett’s Brain Play, first in Helmsley and later at York Theatre Royal on March 21 at 7.30pm.

When Mia’s dad suffers a traumatic brain injury and struggles to leave the house, she makes it her mission to find the cure for his symptoms. Delving deeper and deeper into the world of neuroscience, Mia is desperate to make him better, but first she must contend with her own brain. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

John Shuttleworth: 40 years of bonhomie, bon mots and persistently, perkily mundane yet profound songs at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall and Hull Truck Theatre. Picture: Tony Briggs

Comedy positivity of the week: John Shuttleworth, Raise The Oof, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Hull Truck Theatre, April 2,7.30pm

JOHN Shuttleworth, the good-natured Sheffield sage and perky Yamaha organ purveyor of charmingly mundane songs fashioned by actor Graham Fellows, celebrates his 40th anniversary on his Raise The Oof tour, full of nostalgia and new stories.

Here come tales of his early days with neighbour Ken Worthington, the humorous realities of married life with miserable wife Mary, and John’s hopes for a late-career breakthrough. Box office: Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

Becca Drake: Guest poet at York Literature Festival’s Howl Owt night at The Blue Boar

York Literature Festival gig of the week: Howl Owt, The Blue Boar, Castlegate, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

JOIN Chloe Hanks and Stephanie Roberts from Howlers Open Mic and Henry Raby from Say Owt for an evening of performances by York poets and writers, bolstered by a special guest.

This time, their roles will be reversed with the Say Owt crew taking over the open mic and the Howlers welcoming the guest, Becca Drake, York poet, Little Hirundine printmaker and researcher. Performers can sign up for three-minute open-mic spots on arrival. Admission is free.  

Neil Foster’s Cosme McMoon, left, Jackie Cox’s Florence Foster Jenkins and Mike Hickman’s St Clair in Rowntree Players’ Glorious!

York play of the week: Rowntree Players in Glorious!, The True Story Of Florence Foster Jenkins, The Worst Singer In The World, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

COVER your ears! Here comes Glorious! The True Story Of Florence Foster Jenkins, The Worst Singer In The World, as told by Peter Quilter in his joyous and heart-warming comedy with music, based on the life of an eccentric 1940s’ New York socialite with a passion for singing but a voice for disaster.

Enthusiastic but tonally erratic soprano Florence (played by Jackie Cox) gave private recitals, sang at extravagant balls, made bizarre recordings and revelled in a triumphant sold-out final performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall at 76. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Mike + The Mechanics: Mike Rutherford, centre, re-living 40 years at York Barbican with Andrew Roachford, left, and Tim Howar

40th anniversary celebration of the week: Mike + The Mechanics, Looking Back – The Living Years, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

AFTER opening their Refueled! tour at York Barbican in April 2023, Mike + The Mechanics return next Friday on their Looking Back – Living The Years 40th anniversary travels. Expect the set list to combine Over My Shoulder, The Living Years and All I Need Is A Miracle with selections from their nine albums and a “drift into some of Genesis’s much loved classic tracks”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

David John Pike: Baritone soloist for York Musical Society’s concert at York Minster

Classical concert of the week: York Musical Society, Bach Mass in B minor, York Minster, Saturday, 7.30pm

DAVID Pipe conducts York Musical Society’s singers and orchestra in Bach’s epic choral work, replete with magnificent choruses, resplendent fugues, moving arias and soloists Zoe Brookshaw and Philippa Boyle (both soprano), Tom Lilburn (countertenor), Nicholas Watts (tenor) and Canadian/British/Luxembourger David John Pike (baritone), who returned to music after initially training and working as a chartered accountant. Tickets: available from York Minster or on the door.

Tom Stade: Risk-taking comedy at Helmsley Arts Centre

Comedy minefield of the week: Tom Stade: Risky Business, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm

TOM Stade’s sense of ‘funny’ and today’s ‘funny’ do not always see eye to eye, bur that’s cool; it’s not his way to follow the herd, he says. The Vancouver-born, Scottish-based humorist much prefers to take the path less travelled, a path that brings this independent spirit and irrepressible force of nature to Helmsley to airdrop his unflinching comedy into an ever-changing minefield. Navigating the tightrope of today’s divisive times may be a risky business but Stade reasons that without risk there can be no reward. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Nicola Mills: Songs and stories at Milton Rooms, Malton

Taking the “posh” out of opera: Nicola Mills, Opera For The People, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 7.30pm

VICTORIA Woods meets Pavarotti in Nicola Mills’s funny and inspiring show, wherein she combines her down-to- earth Northern roots with operatic singing and telling tales of working-class life, from performing in some of Europe’s finest opera houses to taking opera to the streets.

Expect not only opera on a night when the audience will choose songs from Mills’s Song Menu, spanning Mozart to musicals to Elvis Presley. Box office:  01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Tayla Kenyon in her solo play Fluff at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York on Sunday. Picture: Patrick Murray

Fringe play of the week: Teepee Productions and Joe Brown present Fluff, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

NOW is the time for Fluff to do the ultimate puzzle: her life. Fluff hates puzzles, however, especially word searches. She can never find the words, nor understand why there is a half-eaten birthday cake and a woman who keeps visiting her room. As she navigates her way through her most treasured and darkest memories, Fluff desperately needs to piece together her life, story by story, person by person.

Tayla Kenyon performs solo in her darkly comedic 75-minutre play, co written with James Piercy, as she explores memories and the choices we make, using a non-linear plot line to enable the audience to feel, first hand, the devastating effects of dementia. Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

York Minster to be illuminated with wildlife 3D projection in Colour & Light 2025 free event from February 12 to March 2

Colour & Light: York BID free event returns to York Minster from February 12

YORK Minster’s South Transept is to be illuminated with York wildlife down the centuries for the return Colour & Light from February 12 to March 2.

Building on the impact of the 3D projection mapping illuminations at York Minster in 2023 and York Art Gallery in 2024 that drew tens of thousands of spectators from York and beyond,  this year’s large-scale visual arts project will highlight the city’s heritage and creativity once more in celebration of  the city’s UNESCO Media Arts status.

This free event promises a “mesmerising projection” of famous and lesser-known stories of York’s animal world, from the peregrine falcons that call the Minster home and the foxes that roam the city after dark, to the horses on which the Romans rode into Eboracum and the legendary dragons carved into York’s history.

Carl Alsop, operations manager at York BID, says: “Colour & Light is fast becoming a highlight of York’s cultural calendar. The event started at York Minster in 2023, so we’re proud to partner with them again for our 2025 event.

“We’re particularly excited as this year’s projections showcase the diversity of wildlife and unique animal stories that makes York so special. By encouraging families and visitors to explore the city centre during these quieter months, we’re not only creating magical experiences but also supporting local businesses and reinforcing York’s vibrant evening economy.”

Colour & Light 2024 on the frontage of York Art Gallery

Lisa Power, York Minster’s head of events and participation, says: “We are thrilled to welcome Colour & Light back to York Minster this February. The inaugural display in 2023 saw the city welcome tens of thousands of people during what is often the coldest, darkest and quietest time of the year.

“This year’s projections will bring York Minster’s heritage to life, this time through a spectacular display of flora and fauna illuminating the cathedral’s South Transept. We hope that this beautiful display will once again remind everyone that York is open all year round!”

Colour & Light will run nightly from 6pm to 9pm with projections on a ten-minute loop. The final hour each evening will feature a designated quiet hour with reduced noise and crowd levels, ensuring everyone can enjoy the event. No tickets are required.

Colour & Light 2025 is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, highlighting the importance of investing in cultural initiatives to support local economies and enhance community well-being.

 Visitors are invited to explore York’s shops, restaurants and cafés as part of their evening. Join the conversation on social media via #ColourAndLight2025.

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond at the height of Christmas cheer. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 46, from Gazette & Herald

Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s production of Deborah McAndrew’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.

Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 18 to 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26

HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature musical arrangements by John Biddle to to complement Dickens’s tale of Oliver Twist being brought up in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol: Festive favourite makes its return to Leeds Grand Theatre

Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025

FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.

“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

The poster for HAC Around The Tree, the last show of 2024 at Helmsley Arts Centre

Festive celebration of the week: HAC Around The Tree, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm

JOIN the Helmsley Arts Centre Singers, 1812 Theatre Company, 1812 Youth Theatre, Ryedale Writers and invited guests for an evening of theatre, music, poetry and prose around the Christmas tree. The bar will be serving mulled wine and mince pies to spark up the festive spirit in Helmsley Arts Centre’s last event of 2024. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Step Into Christmas: Festive hit after festive hit at York Barbican

Christmas songs galore: Step Into Christmas, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

THIS feel-good Christmas show brings all the magic of the season to musical life with favourite festive songs, from All I Want For Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Stay Another Day and Let It Snow to White Christmas, Do They Know It’s Christmas, A Winter’s Tale and Merry Xmas Everybody. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Chapter House Choir: Choral music old and new in the Nave of York Minster

Carol concert of the week: Chapter House Choir, Carols By Candlelight, York Minster Nave, Friday, 7.30pm, doors 6.45pm

THE Chapter House Choir, directed by musical director Benjamin Morris, combine with the Chapter House Youth Choir, directed by Charlie Gower-Smith, for this ever-popular candle-lit concert, first performed in 1965 and now held in the Nave. In addition to traditional choral music old and new, festive music will be played by the chamber choir’s Handbell Ringers. For returned tickets only, check yorkminster.org/whats-on/event/carols-by-candlelight/or contact 01904 557256.

Gary Stewart: Presenting tributes to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland at York Barbican

Tribute gig of the week: Gary Stewart presents Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm

SCOTTISH-BORN Easingwold musician Gary Stewart presents Weetwood Mac and his Graceland band in a celebration of two career-defining works, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, from 1977, and Paul Simon’s Graceland, from 1986. “With combined sales of more than 50 million worldwide, both albums have stood the test of time and are cherished to this day,” says Stewart.

“Littered with gossip and controversy, Rumours and Graceland elevated their artists to new heights of popularity, inspiring the popular music canon for decades to come. This evening celebrates a time of artistic discovery and re-creates the excitement of the era, with these seminal albums lovingly interpreted by some of today’s finest touring musicians.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Mike Newall: Laidback storytelling at York Barbican

Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Christmas Special, York Barbican, featuring Mike Newall, Friday, 8pm

MANCUNIAN Mike Newall, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, takes top billing on with his laidback storytelling, Swiss clock timing and tack-sharp turn of phrase. “He’s like your best, most humorous friend – only funnier,” says promoter and master of ceremonies Damion Larkin. Two support acts feature too. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Holly Cassidy with the puppet of Cracker in A Christmas Cracker at Friargate Theatre, York. Picture: Tom Jackson

Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, December 21 to 24, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day

IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.

When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

The Snowman: Two screenings with a live orchestra at York Barbican

Christmas film event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm

CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.

Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

RIP Jeremy Muldowney, York performer, director, playwright, prop maker, teacher, linguist, church warden and sailor

Actor Jeremy Muldowney, with Her Majesty’s The Queen’s raven, Gabriel, when playing Noah in The Noah Project in 2012. Picture: Copyright of The Press, York

THE funeral of York Shakespeare Project founding member and stalwart Jeremy Muldowney will be held at Holy Trinity, East Parade, Heworth, York, tomorrow at 2pm.

In a Facebook statement announcing his death aged 70 on August 3, YSP’s committee said: “Jeremy was a great supporter of YSP and took part in Richard III in 2002 – our very first show – as well as eight further productions, including King John in 2006, which he directed.

“Many will also remember him as the first port of call for any prop, no matter how exotic or obscure. This was a role he first filled as early as our second play, The Taming Of The Shrew, in 2003. He returned to the committee in 2022 to help shape the new Project. A lovely man, much missed.”

Theatre@41, Monkgate, posted: “Having been part of York Shakespeare Project from its first ever production – Richard III in 2002 – to the beginning of its second act with a new production of Richard III in 2023, Jeremy embodied so much of what community theatre is about, pitching in all sorts of roles on stage and off, and finding creative ways to bring plays to life – no matter the setting or budget.

“At Theatre@41 particularly, he was involved as cast and crew on YSP’s productions of The Merchant Of Venice, Richard II, Troilus And Cressida and Julius Caesar. Our thoughts are with Jeremy’s family and friends.”

York Shakespeare Project actor and lawyer Clive Lyons commented on Facebook: “I can’t adequately express my sense of shock and loss – Jeremy was a friend, a teacher and a perfect gentleman.

“Though almost pathologically ‘nice’, he was never bland, and he wore his great learning so very lightly. Though his wisdom could be profound, in my own first YSP production, Merry Wives Of Windsorhe was Shallow. And infinitely kind, helpful and welcoming as I returned to acting in a new town among strangers after many years’ gap.

“At one rehearsal, I accidentally clobbered him in a staged fight. I was mortified – but Jeremy’s only, immediate and overwhelming concern was to reassure me.

“The more recent YSP Richard III #2, could be rather fraught backstage at times – but Jeremy’s calm, competent, good-humoured and reassuring presence in the wings just somehow made it all OK. In every best sense of the word, Jeremy Muldowney was a gentleman. And ‘was’ feels incomprehensible.”

Jeremy’s roles for York Shakespeare Project included Ratcliffe in Richard III, Prince Escalus in Romeo And Juliet, a Messenger in King John, Tubal in The Merchant Of Venice, Cicero and a Poet in Julius Caesar and Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York, in Henry IV.

In December 2006, he directed what Kenneth McLeish and Stephen Unwin’s A Pocket Guide To Shakespeare’s Plays described as “something of the runt in the litter of Shakespeare’s plays on English history”, King John, at Friargate Theatre.

The York Press review commented: “Director Jeremy Muldowney most certainly did not have such an attitude [to the play]. What others saw as unappealing as a fat chav’s tattoo, he viewed as the perfect opportunity for his debut Shakespeare show.

“Here were virgin fields to explore, and explore them he does within an idiosyncratic production where the most unlikely stage footwear, the docile slipper, is adapted for medieval, even militaristic purposes and swords have the look of toys from the children’s playpen.

“King John is not a tragedy – the king never rises before the self-inflicted fall – and so it has to fight its corner as a black political satire on the ineptitude of a regal buffoon. Rightly, Muldowney and his lead actor, Pulak Sahay, do not play for farcical laughs.”

In August 2012, Jeremy appeared in York company HidDen Theatre’s production of The Noah Project under the direction of Charles Hunt, York ghost walker, foreign student tutor and Mystery Plays enthusiast.

“Jeremy had the unique challenge of working with Her Majesty’s raven, Gabriel, and several doves in his role as Noah, and he did so admirably!” recalls HidDen’s tribute.

“Our big coup de theatre is a real raven and real doves,” said Mr Hunt at the time. “The raven is Her Majesty The Queen’s raven, Gabriel, from the Tower Of London, who now lives at Knaresborough Castle, where they have their own ravens, and the doves come from Dovejoy in Batley, where they’ll fly back to. We couldn’t get a real one to fly back to the ark, so that’ll have to be a stuffed one.”

The role of Noah was apt: Jeremy was an experienced sailor with his own boat and once sailed to America on the Golden Hind.

Beyond his contributions to the York stage scene as a playwright, director, performer and prop maker – drawing on his collection of objects, weaponry, muskets and swords for YSP – he was a teacher and linguist too.

Jeremy, of Second Avenue, Heworth, served as church warden at Holy Trinity for 30 years and worked as the learning and participation officer for more than 20 years at the York Minster Centre for School Visits, the young person’s educational service, where he specialised in looking at medieval texts.

Jeremy’s funeral will be taken by Holy Trinity’s vicar, the Reverend Michael Woodmansey, and will be streamed at the request of his family at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Oslo1PFwT0. Donations in memory of Jeremy may be made to the R.N.L.I (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s verdict on York Early Music Festival, The Sixteen, Masters Of Imitation, York Minster, July 6

The Sixteen: Master Of Imitation programme at York Minster

A SURPRISE introduction: as per usual the concert was prefaced by a clerical welcome plus loo, safety and mobile phone instruction. This closed with a prayer, which I thought was a bit of a no-no. But then I got the (possible) subtext: England were to embark on a penalty shoot-out. And it worked; we won!

The Sixteen’s Masters Of Imitation celebrates the art of parody in renaissance music, focusing on the works of Orlande de Lassus to link this inspired programme together.

Today we are very used to the term ‘parody’ meaning to imitate, to exaggerate the style of a particular writer or artist but to comic effect. Here Lassus’s parody works are akin to creating a musical patchwork quilt: taking musical bits, passages from his own historic compositions or his great predecessor Josquin des Prez, for example, and reworking the material into an entirely new composition. This latter process being a dedicated act of homage.

The concert opened with the timeless beauty of the plainchant Lauda Jerusalem Dominum. It was performed as a processional with the tenor calls answered with soprano responses. There is invariably a deep simplicity of beauty in these non-metric, homophonic lines and this, being The Sixteen, was no exception.

Lassus’s reworking of the plainchant (it has the same text) was a thing of beauty. Here melodies rising high into the air, the singing just glorious. But there was also a sense of fun, of joy as the music rhythmically danced. And word painting too. I think it was this sense of warmth, of Lassus’s humanity that was communicated so effectively.

Lassus’s motet Osculetur Me Osculo Oris sui is scored for two choirs and the composer exploits the different sonorities to dramatic effect, such as Trahe Me Post Te. I was reminded of the music of the Gabrielis, but doubt I’m the only one to have made this connection.

And then there was the sensuous setting of some quite juicy texts:

“Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth;

for thy love is better than wine

Thy name is as oil poured out;

therefore the young maidens have loved thee.”

Be rest assured, the Latin text gives these lines a “cloak of decency” (Bob Dylan).

To be honest, I had never heard of Maddalena Casulana. According to a leading authority in these matters, Wikipedia tells us “she was an Italian composer, lutenist and singer of the late Renaissance. [Casulana] is the first female composer to have had a whole book of her music printed and published in the history of western music, dedicated to her female patron Isabella de Medici”.

Her pretty radical dedication reads: “These first fruits of mine, flawed as they are … show the world the futile error of men, who believe themselves patrons of the high gifts of intellect, which according to them cannot also be held in the same way by women.”

Of the two madrigals I found the second much more rewarding. The choir was reduced by half, which added some welcome relief from conductor Harry Christophers’ insistence on performing the programme with a full complement of singers. Greater clarity of line and text massively enhanced enjoyment. This love song was a real gem.

It is perhaps worth noting that this rediscovery and promotion of Maddalena Casulana’s music –this may be the first time these works have been committed to a CD recording, Masters Of Imitation, available at all good record shops near you – is clearly significant.

In The Sixteen’s 2023 Choral Pilgrimage, Harry Christophers programmed the world premiere of two commissioned works by female composer Dobrinka Tabakova.

I struggled with Lassus’s eight-part Credo from his Missa Osculetur Me. There was just so much wonderful contrapuntal detail unable to escape from the Minster acoustic black hole. At times passages hung in the air, just a haze of sound, albeit a beautifully sung one. And yes, the closing coming together and Amen final cadence was delicious.

Jean Guyot de Châtelet’s arrangement of Josquin, adding six extra parts to Benedicta es Caelorum Regina, was thrilling, if somewhat eccentric. There were juicy false relations and a spine-tingling Amen. This is original music composition and performance of the highest order.

Other memorable highlights included Josquin Desprez’s Benedicta es Caelorum Regina with its exquisite tenor opening, its slightly whacky atmosphere of splendour and its forceful, dramatic descending scales prosecuting the message-with-a-twist:

“The Word became flesh from you,

by whom all are saved.”

Lassus’s Magnificat Benedicta es Caelorum Regina was another, with its clear contrapuntal lines and exciting antiphonal exchanges that seemed to dissolve or evaporate, allowing the light to shine.

Although there is no doubting the brilliance of Bob Chilcott’s choral music – surely every choir in the UK worth its salt must have Chilcott in its repertoire – his music just doesn’t “turn me on” (John Lennon). But this specially commissioned sacred parody of Lassus’s secular madrigal, Lauda Jerusalem Dominum, undoubtedly called for a personal rethink.

The setting was pretty conservative – no surprises here, Chilcott is a pretty conservative composer. But there were truly magical moments. For example, the delicate ostinato soprano patterns, beautiful on their own terms, then as a gorgeous backdrop for the soaring melodies.

I would have liked greater contrasts in scoring and dynamic, but the rich tonal harmonic identity, distinctive variations in colour and ending delivered a tasty punch. The performance was of the usual exemplary quality; instinctive melodic shaping, expression and care for detail. And so musical.

The concert as a whole showed yet again Harry Christopher and The Sixteen’s deep understanding of repertory and, just as importantly, communicated an infectious engagement in the music itself. The audience response was both instinctive and rapturous.

They really are a class act.

Review by Steve Crowther