In its 53rd Season, Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic boldly champions the power of unity, forging profound connections within our diverse communities through the spirit of collaboration. This Season is a testament to our unwavering commitment to inclusivity and innovation, spotlighting groundbreaking compositions by women and American composers alongside timeless masterworks of the classical canon. Through this dynamic fusion of tradition and exploration, the 2024|2025 Season not only celebrates the depth of musical expression but also illuminates the boundless resilience and creativity of the human spirit. Prepare to be captivated, inspired, and moved as we embark on a journey that embodies the essence of what makes the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic a beacon of artistic excellence and cultural enrichment. 

Transporting audiences into a realm of festive delight, "Holiday Dreams" offers a captivating blend of seasonal cheer and musical charm. Grace-Evangeline Mason's "The Imagined Forest" sets a magical tone, weaving together melodies that evoke the spirit of the holidays. Tchaikovsky's classic "Nutcracker Suite" is reimagined by local legend Duke Ellington by infusing familiar melodies with jazz-inflected brilliance that captivates listeners with its exuberant energy and nostalgia. The second half of the concert features a selection of holiday choral works, filling the hall with the joy of the season as we collaborate with the stunning Alexandria Choral Society! 

The Maharaj-Degavino Duo at St Mary's Creative Space, Chester

Programme to include;
Hummel: Sonata in D major
Gabriel Fauré: Sonata No 1
Blaz Pucihar: Sonata for Flute & piano
Mason: The Butterfly and the Stone
Chick Corea: Free Fall
Geoff Eales: Remembrance
Geoff Eales: In the Pocket

Antonín Dvořák Selections from Cypriše (Cypresses)

Joseph Haydn String Quartet in D Major, Op 20 No 4

Grace-Evangeline Mason Midnight Spires

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet in E Flat Major, Op 44 No 3

ESO Concertmaster Robert Uchida takes centre stage as he performs Brahm’s beloved Violin Concerto, which was dedicated to prominent violinist Joseph Joachim. Vaughan Williams’ delightful Symphony No. 5, dedicated to fellow composer Jean Sibelius, is one of his most serene works, filled with “spiritual radiance.” Grace-Evangeline Mason described her piece, The Imagined Forest, as a “fantastical journey” through a surreal musical space.

BRAHMS Violin Concerto

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 5

GRACE-EVANGELINE MASON The Imagined Forest
NA Premiere

Featuring new works by composers of our time, Isaac Shieh shines the spotlight on an instrument that is rarely heard in a solo setting, the natural horn.

In the past few decades, as ‘Early Music’ develops, there is a renewed interest in natural horn playing, with an increasing number of horn players now pursuing historical horns as a specialisation. A new generation of players has emerged, pushing beyond the boundaries and perceived capabilities encapsulated by existing repertoire.

This programme features several new commissions that push the instrument into new technical, musical, and sonic paradigms. The new commissions from Rockey Sun Keting, Amanda Cole, and Robin Haigh evoke the natural surroundings through the sound of the horn. Georgia Scott’s work explores Descartes’ theory of mind-body dualism versus true embodiment, and how that ties in with the performer’s own experience of embodiment about his artistic voice. Grace-Evangeline Mason’s work explores the idea of “perfection” through an “imperfect” voice. These new works are juxtaposed by existing works by Jacques-François Gallay and Benjamin Britten, which form bridges to tie in the themes explored in the new commissions.

Gustav Holst was a composer who saw further than other artists: a creative spirit grounded in the heartland of British music, whose vision reached out to embrace English folksong, Hindu poetry and the outer limits of the cosmos itself. In his 150th anniversary year, The Carice Singers present an evening of Holst’s masterly choral music, including the Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, and in tribute to Holst’s lifelong commitment to new music, they interweave it with recent works inspired by the same sense of the limitless.

Kings Place welcomes you to an hour of transportive music with its resident quartet, Piatti. Come and unwind and get a taste of classical music and all its variety in this Soundbites series, with minimalist icon Philip Glass, and fellow American star composers, Caroline Shaw and John Adams. A London premiere of Joseph Phibbs’ Quartet No. 4 (in his 50th birthday year) and world premiere arrangements of Christmas songs by composers Grace-Evangeline Mason and Lucy Walker.

The Talland String Quartet will be delighting listeners with Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No 5, preceded by 'Midnight Spires' by Grace-Evangeline Mason (named as the 'Face to Watch' for classical music in The Times 2020 Calendar of the Arts.) It should be an excellent afternoon of music, plus a chance to see what is on display in this wonderful gallery.

Welcoming back Dominic, and brilliant flautist Meera, for a closely-packed audience and relaxed atmosphere for this concert. Lyrical romantic sonatas by Hummel and Fauré will be followed by recent, but no less melodious, works by the Slovene composer Blaž Pucihar and by Grace-Evangeline Mason - an evocative miniature that the duo premiered four years ago. Jazz improvisations on themes by Chick Corea and Geoff Eales will bring the afternoon to an exhilarating end.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Sonata in D Major, Op. 50
Gabriel Fauré - Sonata No.1 in A Major
Blaž Pucihar - Sonatina for flute and piano
Grace-Evangeline Mason - The Butterfly and the Stone
Chick Corea - Free Fall
Geoff Eales – Remembrance, In the Pocket

Gustav Holst takes us on an epic interstellar journey across our solar system, exhilarating and mysterious. From Mars the Warrior to the Ice Giants of Uranus and Neptune, The Planets is a musical vision like no other.

We’ve more celestial sounds in store from Grace-Evangeline Mason. Her ABLAZE THE MOON has been described as ‘an amorous nocturne’ and we performed its premiere at the BBC Proms in 2023. 

Opening our 24-25 Season is the force that is Beethoven, and Paul Lewis is one of the finest interpreters of his piano music. With our Chief Conductor John Storgårds in command, we are all set for our season launch and we’d love you to come along for the ride! 

Andrew Forbes is an innovative Scottish organist, who celebrates classic works whilst exploring new possibilities for the organ — particularly in his frequent collaborations with composers. He is Director of Music at Glasgow Cathedral. Programme to include;
Concert Fantasia in B flat, Albert Lister Peace
Two Pieces, Op. 53, Joseph Jongen
i. Chant de Mai
ii. Menuet-Scherzo
Prelude and Fugue on the name of ALAIN, Maurice Duruflé
Where the Birds Sing, Grace-Evangeline Mason
Communion: Les oiseaux et les sources, (Messe de la Pentecôte) Olivier Messiaen
Orpheus: Symphonic Poem, Franz Liszt
Missa cum Jubilo, Roxanna Panufnik
i. Kyrie
ii. Gloria

A New Song – British Masterpieces for Choir and Organ

2024 WILLIAM BYRD FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT: ‘A New Song –British Masterpieces for Choir & Organ’, performed by Mark Williams and Cantores in Ecclesia, Blake Applegate, Director, at Holy Rosary Church.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the William Byrd Festival. For the first time in its history, programming will include British composers of the past century in addition to Byrd, whose music will be presented alongside works by Britten, Finzi, Howells, MacMillan, and others. Liturgical performances of Byrd’s three mass settings, Choral Evensong, and other long-standing festival traditions will remain and provide context as we explore Byrd’s legacy. 

As part of St Mary’s, Nantwich, Summer Lunchtime Concert Series 2024, Lauren Scott performs a solo recital of her own works and works by Debussy, Grace-Evangeline Mason and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The natural world has long been a source of inspiration for musicians, writers and artists from across the world. Composers over the ages have been repeatedly inspired by landscapes, seascapes, and the animal kingdom. And so, one of the themes at the 2024 Three Choirs Festival is the environment, at a time when we can both celebrate works which remind us of the innate beauty of the world around us, but also recognise that our natural resources are under serious threat. Join us in this programme of Grace Evangeline Mason’s The Imagined Forest, Holst’s Hymn of Jesus and Stanford’s Stabat Mater.

In his 150th anniversary year, The Carice Singers (conducted by George Parris) and harpist Olivia Jageurs present an evening of Holst’s masterly choral music as part of the Lichfield Summer Festival.

including The Evening Watch and the Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, and in tribute to Holst’s lifelong commitment to new music, they interweave it with recent works inspired by the same sense of the limitless, including works by Electra Perivolaris, Grace-Evangeline Mason and Urmas Sisask.

Lauren Scott;s solo recital on the theme of "The Wayfaring Stranger" will include both lever & pedal harps and a lovely programme of music from her latest album (Glass Cathedrals by Grace-Evangeline Mason, No One Can Stop Me Now by Monika Stadler & The Wayfaring Stranger arranged by Andy Scott ) Plus some Debussy, John Thomas, Greensleeves arranged by harpist Keziah, traditional music & some of her own compositions and her Whale piece Tickets available online & on the door on the day.

LANGE NACHT DES MUSIKTHEATERS IN BELVEDERE

Ein großes Sommer-Event von und mit dem Institut für Gesang | Musiktheater - Institut für Alte Musik - Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: Fakultät Architektur und Urbanistik, Fakultät Medien

Projektleitung: Prof. Jochen Biganzoli und Bernd Niedecken

Von 18.00 bis 23.00 Uhr Musik, Performance, Oper, Skulptur, Installation, Theater, Lieder, Texte, Getränke, Tanz, Architektur, Kulinarik, Barock, Video, Verrücktes, Deutsche Erstaufführung, Kulturen, Spaß…
Ab 23:00 Uhr Ball und Party im Studiotheater

Orte: Studiotheater Belvedere, Beethovenhaus und Innenhof

German Premiere: ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ - Grace-Evangeline Mason
Director: Jochen Biganzoli
Conductor: Márton Terts
Studierende Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar

In Vorbereitung auf die deutsche Erstaufführung der Oper "The Yellow Wallpaper" zur "Langen Nacht des Musiktheaters" in Belvedere am 6. Juli gibt die englische Komponistin Grace-Evangeline Mason in einer Video-Präsentation Einblicke in ihr Werk und ihr Schaffen als Komponistin in der noch immer von Männern dominierten Welt der Opernkomposition.

Nach ihrer Präsentation steht sie darüber hinaus dem Publikum für Fragen und/oder offene Diskussion zur Verfügung.

Der Eintritt ist frei. Die Präsentation findet in englischer Sprache statt.

• Toccata in F, BuxWV 156 – Dietrich Buxtehude

• Nova Cyclopeias Harmonica (from Apparatus Musico-Organisticus) – Georg Muffat

• Circuli – Franz Danksagmüller

• La lugubre gondola (from Mysteries for organ) – William Bolcom

• Orpheus, Symphonic Poem – Franz Liszt, arr. Jean Guillou                  

• Through Eden’s gates (from The Garden of Eden) – William Bolcom

• Where the Birds Sing – Grace-Evangeline Mason (b.1994) Irish premiere

• Fantasia on How Firm a Foundation (from Gospel Preludes) – William Bolcom

Passenger Seats returns! Your chance to sit amongst the orchestra during the performance in this family-friendly concert - this time for a programme based on fairy tales including Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel Overture, Prokoviev: Cinderella suite, Grace-Evangeline Mason: The Imagined Forest, and Ravel: Mother Goose suite.

All from across our land are invited to this Service for the Day of Reflection, “The Hope of Lament”. The service is jointly hosted by Belfast Cathedral and the Corrymeela Community, in partnership with many organisations involved with community reconciliation and restoration.

This service is for everyone who has lived through or continues to be impacted by the violence of “the Troubles” which continues to affect all in this nation.

In this service, and on this day, we offer a space to reflect on the conflict in, and about, Northern Ireland as well as the future that is before us.

This afternoon, we’ll hear a selection of music that showcases and exemplifies the exciting breadth of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra's work, featuring composers with whom the orchestra has been working and championing. Chief Conductor John Storgårds takes to the podium at MediaCityUK.

We also journey to Storgårds’ native Finland with three of the composers on today’s programme. Outi Tarkiainen’s Midnight Sun Variations had its world premiere in 2019 when Storgårds conducted the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the BBC Proms, and Sebastian Fagerlund's essay for violin and orchestra, Helena's Song, was a co-commission for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Lotta Wennäkoski pays tribute to fellow Finnish composer Sibelius in Verdigris, a highly original work. Today’s performance of Verdigris is the second of two for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra this spring, following one in April at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.

Also on the programme are two British composers, Grace-Evangeline Mason and Piers Hellawell.

Mason earned the prestigious BBC Young Composer of the Year award in 2013. Just ten years later, her lush, painterly work ABLAZE THE MOON, premiered at the 2023 Proms with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth.

St Catherine's will be hosting an Organ Recital by Claudia Grinnell, who in the summer will take up the post of Director of Music at Edmunsbury Cathedral. The programme will include works by Josef Rheinberger, Grace-Evangeline Mason, Dietrich Buxtehude, Ghislaine Reece-Trapp and Richard Rodgers (arr. Grinnell). Join on Tuesday 30th April at 4.30pm in the Prep School Hall, no booking required.

Grace-Evangeline Mason Midnight Spires 
Joseph Haydn String Quartet in D Major, Op 20 No 4 
Ludvig van Beethoven String Quartet No 3 in D Major, Op 18 No 3 
Dmitri Shostakovich Two Pieces for String Quartet, Op36a

One of the most internationally renowned Finnish composers, Kalevi Aho wrote his brand-new work as a commission for the cellist Jonathan Roozeman and the 2015 winner of the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition Christel Lee. The concerto of two equal soloists hearkens to the light, virtuosic, and first and foremost danceable world of the Baroque era. The same can be said of Ludwig van Beethoven’sseventh, the composer’s most fast-paced and perhaps most entertaining symphony. The young British composer Grace-Evangeline Mason’s breakthrough work The Imagined Forest, which delighted audiences at the BBC Proms Festival, exudes English country romanticism.

The 2024 Cathedral Organ Recital Series welcomes first-rate organists to play Truro’s acclaimed Father Willis Organ. This week we welcome Joel Colyer. This recital will be live-streamed on the Truro Cathedral page at 13:10 and their youtube channel. The programme includes; David Bednall - Fanfare Processional (5')William Byrd - The Queenes Alman (3'), Percy Whitlock - Reflections (15') i - After An Old French Air ii - Pazienza iii - Dolcezza, Herbert Howells - Lambert's Clavichord (6') i - Lambert's Fireside iii - Hughes' Ballet iv - Wortham's Grounde, Grace-Evangeline Mason - Light, Revealing (5'), and Kenneth Leighton - Paean (5').