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Classical Music

Best Concerts and Opera in January

By Claudia Pritchard on 18/12/2022

The big sounds of Rachmaninov herald an anniversary year packed with his music. Plus, the forgotten Kennedy, and a Wagner fantasy

Sir Stephen Hough: Song Cycles, Wigmore Hall

Culture Whisper's favourite instrumentalist of 2022, pianist Sir Stephen Hough, is also a composer. At this remarkable concert today's top singers, including soprano Ailish Tynan and tenor Nicky Spence, perform some of his songs, among them the world premier of Songs of Love and Loss. There are settings of Rainer Maria Rilka, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Oscar Wilde – and Lady Antonia Fraser.

WHEN

Mon 2 Jan 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP

The Magic Flute, Royal Opera House

This very beautiful production of Mozart's late opera has serious and comic strands. The Queen of the Night's daughter is mysteriously abducted, but joining the search is the hapless bird-catcher Papageno. With starry new casts, this is an uplifting start to the opera year.

WHEN

Mon 9 Jan to Fri 28 Jan 2023. Eight performances, start times vary. Running time c 3hr including one interval

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Leia Zhu is the young soloist in Beethoven's Violin Concerto

A Fresh Take on Beethoven, Queen Elizabeth Hall

With the new year comes a suitably youthful concert to inspire the next generation of musicians. At only 16, violinist Leia Zhu (pictured) is the phenomenal young soloist in Beethoven's Violin Concerto. And conductor Leslie Suganandarajah is in his 20s. As was Mozart when he wrote his Symphony No 31 which closes this perfect programme for young music-lovers.

WHEN

Thurs 12 Jan 2023, Concert with one interval

WHERE

Queen Elizabeth Hall
South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3, BBC Symphony Orchestra

In 2023 the musical world marks 150 years since the death of Russian-born Sergei Rachmaninov. The BBCSO under Kiril Karabits is joined by the young Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova (pictured) in his romantic Piano Concerto No 3. After the interval, Ukrainian composer Boris Lyatoshinsky’s tempestuous Symphony No 3, written in 1951. 'If Lyatoshinsky had lived in Moscow during Soviet times, instead of staying in Kyiv, his name would stand next to Shostakovich' says Karabits. 'It's just great music. Really great music'. Definitely one to discover.

WHEN

Sun 15 Jan 2023, 3PM

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

Least Like the Other, Royal Opera House

Rosemary, the older sister of President John F. Kennedy, was kept out of the public eye, her mental health issues resulting in a disastrous lobotomy at the age of 23. Designer and video artist Netia Jones also directs Brian Irvine's opera, which etches a searing portrait of 1940s America. Societal taboos, egotistical medics and dubious treatments are examined in this kaleidoscopic score. With Amy Ní Fhearraigh (pictured) as Rosemary.

WHEN

Sun 15 to Thurs 19 Jan 2023. Four performances, times vary. Running time c1hr 10min without interval

WHERE

Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Rachmaninov Symphony No 1, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Maybe it was under-rehearsed, maybe the conductor was drunk... Whatever went wrong in March 1897 at the St Petersburg premiere of Sergei Rachmaninov's first symphony, the composer was so traumatised by the terrible reception that it took him years to regain his confidence. Now this sweeping, romantic work is much-loved. Hear it in Rachmaninov's 150th anniversary year when the LPO under Enrique Mazzola (pictured) is joined by Syrian clarinettist Kinan Azmeh in the UK premiere of his own Clarinet Concerto. To open, Amphitheatre by another contemporary player/composer, Brett Dean.

WHEN

Wed 18 Jan 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Isata Kanneh-Mason and the Maxwell Quartet

If you haven't yet discovered the piano-playing of Isata Kanneh-Mason (pictured), take this chance to enjoy both her musicianship and her fascinating repertoire. There are powerful personal stories behind each of the three works played, by child prodigies Felix Mendelssohn and Ernö Dohnányi, and by Jamaican-born contemporary composer Eleanor Alberga. A really fascinating programme by great communicators.

WHEN

Fri 27 Jan 2023, 7PM

WHERE

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Sound Unwrapped, Kings Place

A year-long exploration and celebration of our whole aural world, musical and beyond, brings together sound artists from mainstream music, electronics and more. In this early concert in the series, Harry Christophers' classically-minded singers The Sixteen (pictured) are joined by jazz pianist and BBC presenter Julian Joseph for the musical magic that occurs when upper parts improvise over a bass line.

WHEN

Fri 27 Jan 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GE

The Shackled King/Brünnhilde's Dream

The opera veteran Sir John Tomlinson is renowned as the mighty, flawed Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle, and he has also played, on stage, tragic King Lear. He brings both experiences together in The Shackled King, a new sung piece by the British composer John Casken based on Shakespeare’s play. King Lear. The world premiere of this short, powerful work, commissioned by instrumentalists Counterpoise, is scored for bass, mezzo-soprano and ensemble. Rozanna Madylus sings Lear’s daughter Cordelia, her sisters Goneril and Regan, and the Fool. She sings again in Brünnhilde’s Dream (pictured), a sequence of words and music, inspired by Wagner’s opera Die Walküre, in which Brünnhilde speaks for Everywoman while remaining a mythic figure.

WHEN

Thurs 26 Jan 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP

Tannhaüser, Royal Opera House

Fantasy and morality tale combine in Wagner's opera about a ballad singer finding his way in life after a year enjoying the pleasures of Venus. German tenor Stefan Vinke takes the title role in this playful production by Tim Albery, with Norwegian star soprano Lise Davidson (pictured) as his true love, Elizabeth. An all-star cast includes baritone Gerald Finley.

WHEN

Sun 29 Jan to Thurs 16 Feb 2023. Six performances, start times vary. Running time c4hr 30min, with two intervals

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Best Concerts and Opera in January

The big sounds of Rachmaninov herald an anniversary year packed with his music. Plus, the forgotten Kennedy, and a Wagner fantasy

Sir Stephen Hough: Song Cycles, Wigmore Hall

The Magic Flute, Royal Opera House

A Fresh Take on Beethoven, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3, BBC Symphony Orchestra

Least Like the Other, Royal Opera House

Rachmaninov Symphony No 1, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Isata Kanneh-Mason and the Maxwell Quartet

Sound Unwrapped, Kings Place

The Shackled King/Brünnhilde's Dream

Tannhaüser, Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Rachmaninov

Mozart

Sir Stephen Hough

Nicky Spence

Lise Davidson

Isata Kanneh-Mason

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