Venus Unwrapped
This is the start of a year-long celebration of female composers at Kings Place. The history of women in music, from medieval times to the present day, will be traced in 60 events featuring more than 100 composers. It all begins with a portrait of Barbara Strozzi, contemporary of Monteverdi and pupil of Cavalli.
Kings Place, London, 10 January and throughout 2019
The Queen of Spades
Since his Verdi at Covent Garden and Debussy at Glyndebourne, director Stefan Herheim is no longer an unknown quantity in the UK. And his startling 2016 staging of Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, first seen in Amsterdam, which makes the composer himself the central character, promises to be a highlight of the Royal Opera season.
Royal Opera House, London, 13 January-1 February
SoundState
The Southbank Centre’s new festival of contemporary music packs a lot into five days. Ensemble Modern joins the SBC’s resident orchestras, flautist Claire Chase and composers Rebecca Saunders and Du Yun are featured artists, while the premieres include works by Louis Andriessen, Helen Grime, Dai Fujikura and Anders Hillborg.
Southbank Centre, London, 16-20 January
Anthropocene
Scottish Opera’s latest commission sees composer Stuart MacRae and writer Louise Walsh’s most ambitious collaboration yet. Anthropocene is set on an expedition to Greenland, when an Arctic research team discovers something unexpected beneath the ice. Matthew Richardson directs the premiere, with Stuart Stratford conducting.
Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 24, 26 January, then touring
Kátya Kabanová
Given the sheer breadth of the repertory nowadays, it’s remarkable that three versions of the same Janáček opera should be opening in the UK within a few weeks. Opera North revive Tim Albery’s 2007 production, while those at the Royal Opera and Scottish Opera are brand new, directed by Richard Jones and Stephen Lawless respectively.
Opera North: Grand Theatre, Leeds, 2-27 February, then touring; Royal Opera: Royal Opera House, London, 4-26 February; Scottish Opera: Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 12-16 March, Festival theatre, Edinburgh, 21 and 23 March
Thomas Larcher
Larcher’s music may not be very well known here so far, but with a residency at the Aldeburgh festival this coming summer, and three works included in the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s current Barbican season, that is going to change. Karina Cannellakis conducts the UK premiere of Larcher’s Alle Tage, while his Insomnia begins Sakari Oramo’s concert.
Barbican, London, 8 February and 22 February
Un Ballo in Maschera
Welsh National Opera’s departing artistic director David Pountney and former music director Carlo Rizzi continue their Verdi series with one of his most enigmatic masterpieces. They opt for the American version of the Ballo score, with Glyn Hughes Jones as Riccardo, Mary Elizabeth Williams as Amelia and Roland Wood as Renato.
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, 9-23 February, then touring
Berlioz
With 2019 short on big musical centenaries, the 150th anniversary of the death of Berlioz features prominently. Manchester is the early focus, with concert performances of the dramatic legend The Damnation of Faust and the opera Béatrice et Bénédict, while in Glasgow the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra plays the rarely heard sequel to the Symphonie Fantastique, Lélio.
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 10 February (Damnation of Faust) , 16 February (Béatrice et Bénédict); City Halls, Glasgow, 17 February (Lélio)
Into the Little Hill
A concert performance of George Benjamin’s first foray into music theatre, his bewitching retelling of the Pied Piper story, with Anu Komsi and Helena Rasker as the soloists, is the focus of the composer’s concert with Ensemble Modern, which also features the premiere of a commission from Cathy Milliken and works by Christian Mason and Luigi Dallapiccola.
Wigmore Hall, London, 5 March
Haitink at 90
Bernard Haitink has been part of London musical life for so long he has associations with almost all the capital’s orchestras. But in recent years he has appeared most regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra, and it’s with them he is celebrating his 90th birthday, conducting the fourth symphonies of Bruckner and Mahler, alongside concertos by Mozart and Dvorak.
Barbican, London, 10 March (Mozart and Bruckner), 14 and 21 March (Dvorak and Mahler)