** Positive Notes about Selected Concerts **
Season - 2025/2026
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St Andrew's Church, Colyton, Devon
The Friends of St Andrew's do seem to have a knack of booking amazing musicians. This concert continued this trend. Some fine playing to be enjoyed and a bold and varied programme which the erudite Colyton audience lapped up with relish.
The dense and intense Malinconia Op 20 by Sibelius contrasted with the light, elegant Trois Pieces by Nadia Boulanger. The most imaginative move was to end this fine concert with a piece for unaccompanied 'cello by Giovanni Sollima. "Lamentation" may not have a piano part but it does include an amount of singing (vaguely in the style of Gregorian chant) from the soloist. Danial Schultz made this special effect seem both entirely natural and also technically rather easy with the sum proving to be one of many musical highlights of the evening.
One should also mention some stunning pianistic skills from Sejin Yoon making a significant contribution to the proceedings too.
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18th Apr 2026 - 19:30 hrs - ISCA Ensemble - Roger Hendy
Sidmouth Parish Church, Sidmouth, Devon
Roger Swann = horn
A very varied programme: Elgar's Cockaigne, Neilsen's Aladdin Suite (Op34), Barber's Adagio and Hindermith's Symphonic Metamorphosis.
It was particularly satisfying for Roger Hendy to conduct the Hindermith, a piece he had been wanting to direct since he first discovered it on LP in his youth (now a long time ago!).
Horn section: left to right: Simon Thomas, Hilary Gunn, Gemma Peasgood, Roger Swann (principal), Catherine Edington
(Photograph: Joel Munday)
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St Andrew's Church, Colyton, Devon
Presented by "Seaton Music", this event featured two young talented musicians still learning the ropes of chamber music performance. A wide ranging programme only included two works that were as originally intended by the composers: Britten's Six Metamorphoses (only three played this evening) and Peter Facer's Manhattenhenge. This later work was lively and employed the full range of the instrument (including multiphonics) to good effect.
Of all the arrangements played, Clara Schumann's Three Romances (very jolly and lyrical) and three pieces by Lilli Boulanger (arranged by the performers) were highlights.
I was sitting next to someone who quietly disapproved of Ewan Miller's un-ironed and visibly creased white shirt, but your reviewer rather enjoyed the informal style of presentation and the way the bowing seemed to be driven by each of the two musicians wishing to applaud the other.
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13th Apr 2026 - 19:30 hrs - Rigoletto - Conductor: Mark Elder
Mark Elder's first appearance at ROH was fifty years ago, conducting Verdi's Rigoletto. Here he was back again, this time conducting without the aid of a score (a very rare sight in opera). The orchestral playing was well balanced and only rarely (and appropriately) allowed to come up to levels competing with the singers.
Rosa Feola as Rigoletto's daughter Gilda was perfect, capturing the innocence of the role and singing so sweetly and effortlessly.
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6th Apr 2026 - 13:00 hrs - Siegfried - Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Barrie Kosky's production of the Ring continues with the third of the cycle.
From the tightly synchronised banging of sword shards on Mime's metal helmet (always precisely with the music) through to Siegfried (Andreas Schager) trying to blow a grass reed to the woodcock (cor-anglais excellence from the pit) the orchestra and singers were in perfect harmony.
After two and a half operas of deliberate grey the final scenes of the third act set in a glorious techni-colour flower meadow were all the more striking.
A strength of this production is the character building. Mime (Peter Hoare) was truly slimey and Siegfried was the super hero but with the naive ignorance that is an aid to winning Brunhilde but is to become his downfall in Götterdämmerung.
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The Old Picture House, Seaton, Devon
Presented by the ever enterprising "Seaton Music", Péter and Zoltán Katona played to a full house and what a first class concert this was. Just two spanish acoustic guitars (but did Zoltan have his strung with slightly harder strings? your reviewer knows little about guitar but they certainly had the ability to make distinctive sounds when ever the music merited it) but the range of tone colours and styles they could create was a joy.
They regularly tuned strings to non-standard pitch: all done rapidly, accurately and with little fuss (and not an electronic tuner in sight). The fingering fireworks on display for Asturias (Albeniz) and Scarlatti's Metamorphosis (more Katona than Scarlatti) were breathtaking but it was the "orchestration" throughout the concert that made it a truly special evening.
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8th Mar 2026 - 15:00 hrs - Axe Vale Orchestra - Walter Brewster - Suzanne de Lozy & Jane Smith (flutes)
St Andrew's Church, Colyton, Devon
Roger Swann = horn
Franz Doppler's Andante and Rondo for Two Flutes, Op25 is a piece that doesn't get heard too frequently! Charming rather than profound perhaps but attractive and tuneful none the less. It certainly doesn't outstay it's welcome. Soloists Suzanne de Lozy & Jane Smith (drawn from the orchestras regular flute section) captivated the audience with their tidy, tightly coupled, playing.
Schubert's 4th Symphony, D417 "The Tragic", is also a concert rarity and as such is exactly the sort of repertoire that orchestras such as the AVO should be bringing to life. The work has a dark, ominous opening movement and a wonderfully sombre slow movement.
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21st Feb 2026 - 19:30 hrs - ISCA Ensemble - Roger Hendy - Joel Munday (violin)
St David's Church, Exeter, Devon
Roger Swann = horn
Joel Munday (always a welcome guest soloist) played the Beethoven Concerto with his usual technical flare and sensitive lyrical phrasing. What was unusual was choosing to play the set of cadenzas written by Alfred Schnittke (which include sections for timpani and (at one point) violin accompaniment). It's a fascinating combination, with Schnittke aluding to various other (later) great violin concertos as well as providing a unification (very much in the structural if not tonal style of Beethoven) by frequent use of the first movement opening four crotchet theme.
The slightly jarring change between the two composer's work may not be to everyone's taste but your reviewer enjoyed Joel's refreshing innovation in his choice.
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16th Feb 2026 - 19:30 hrs - The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - conductor: André de Ridder
With André de Ridder making his debut as ENO Music Director Designate and Danielle de Niese in the key role of Jenny Smith expectations were high for this opening night of Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht's opera.
These expectations weren't completely met. The music was good and the singing excellent but director Jamie Manton's production sometimes felt a little more like G&S than it should. A little more grit and seedy style was necessary. Perhaps this is due to ENO being severely starved of cash?
The lasting message offered by Weill / Brecht that "mankind doesn't need typhoons or huricanes to destroy it, it can do this just fine by itself" does have an uncanny ring of truth about it in the current political world we live in.
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29th Jan 2026 - 17:30 hrs - Prez Hotlaś
Le Pisani, Seaton, Devon
Billed as "Am Evening of Mediterranean Dining and Live Music" and presented by Seaton Music this was a splendid meal (including a smooth creamy yet crisp chardonnay wine from Portugal) followed by an hour's music from solo guitarist Prez Hotlaś.
Sensitive (and technically very accomplished) guitar playing throughout. The programme included two of his own compositions and works by two of his favourite guitarist/composers, Ewan Dobson and Anoine Dufour (both Canadian).
Prez kept the mood gentle with his well deserved encore: a short work by the English 16th century composer, Robert Johnson (c. 1583–1633).
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19th Dec 2025 - 19:45 hrs - Last Days - Conductor: Naomi Woo
Oliver Leith's score was conducted with vigour and enthusiasm by Naomi Woo and it did have some effective moments of good orchestration. Perhaps it overdid the loud-everyone-makes-their-own-noise sections? (this writing quickly overstays it's welcome for an audience).
Faustine de Monès stood in for an indisposed Patricia Auchterlonie as "Superfan" and sung beautifully, she is given some stratospheric soaring cantabile passages.
Overall the evening suffered from zero characterisation. Nobody was particularly interesting and you never really cared what they did.
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14th Dec 2025 - 15:00 hrs - Oxana Taylor (violin) - Antony Clements (piano)
Sidmouth Parish Church, Sidmouth, Devon
Both members of the ISCA Ensemble (with ISCA leader Antony Clements at the keyboard rather than the more usually seen violin) presented a full programme (1:30hrs of music) featuring violin sonatas by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven and ending with the flourish of Kreisler's very well known Praeludium and a lesser known Romance by Igor Frolov.
There was much to enjoy: Oxana's playing was expressive (and always in tune) and fluid and Antony's knowledge of the violin repertoire and the challenges therin meant he was a very sensitive accompanist. Very wise decision to play with the piano lid down: the balance was very good.
Roger Hendy organised the concert (and the mince pies) in aid of Red Cross.
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13th Dec 2025 - 19:30 hrs - Treasure Island
Colyton Town Hall, Colyton, Devon
Presented by Colyton Theatre Group
the annual pantomine to a script by Ben Crocker was directed by Emily Thomas and featured an all star cast drawn from Colyton and surrounding area.
What a hoot! Pantomine Dame, "Mum Hawkins" (played by Mark Usher) was matched by the pirates dressing as women and the members of the WI dressing as pirates. Love interest in the plot was provided by the Alex Tulloch as Jim Hawkins and the the Squire's daughter played by Holly Seeney who was in fine voice all evening. A really good night's entertainment.
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The Grove, Exmouth, Devon
Singing outside this busy pub (where every customer seemed to be sporting a super Christmas jumper) provided some excellent and very welcome festive entertainment for all customers.
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11th Dec 2025 - 19:30 hrs - Wihan Quartet
St Andrew's Church, Colyton, Devon
The third of the 75th "Seaton Music" season's concerts and it will be hard for the remaining concerts in the season to beat this. We enjoyed some string quartet playing of the highest quality with energy and expressiveness matched with precision.
Each of the four players seemed acutely aware of the importance of their line within the harmonic structure, pushing forward (and obviously enjoying do so) certain notes just enough to ensure the audience were aware of a particular chord. The adagio in Haydn's Op 54 No. 1 has points of dark harmony which were magically resolved to light major chords. Similarly the complexities of the two slow movements in Fanny Mendelssohn's first string quartet were made to sound most apparent, without at any time getting in the way of the music.
The concert ended with a brilliant (in all senses) "Death and the Maiden" (Schubert D810).
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6th Dec 2025 - 19:30 hrs - ISCA Ensemble - Roger Hendy - Cameron Todd (trumpet)
Sidmouth Parish Church, Sidmouth, Devon
Roger Swann = horn
Very fitting to open the concert with a preformance of orchestra member David Norris's Elegy for Strings, played in memory of Mike Ogonovsky (former horn player) and Richard Featherstone (former violin) both of whom have recently died.
Cameron Todd's peformance of the Hummel trumpet concerto was assured, lively (particularly the final movement) and attractive. Beautifully controlled trills throughout and a free rounded E flat trumpet tone.
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The Gateway, Seaton, Devon
A special festive "Seaton Music" fringe event. Some attractive (artificial) candles and obligatory decorated Christmas trees along with complimentary mince pies (Excellent!) might have suggested a light hearted festive evening but Alex Wilson had selected an interesting representation of music connected with Christmas from around Europe.
Good to include Sadie Harrison's Shchedryk (inspired by (rather than based on) the Ukranian "Carol of the Bells"). Finish composer's Selim Palmgren's "Snowflakes" was particularly evocotive - you could feel the ice in the air!
Including one of Josef Matthias Hauer's "Zwolftonspiel" (In this case "Weihnachten 1946") was a fascinating choice. It certainly demonstrated that "twelve tone" music need by neither harsh nor difficult to listen too.
The whole evening was a fine example of Seaton Music's enterprising search for new takes on established ideas.
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27th Nov 2025 - 19:30 hrs and 28th Nov 2025 - 14:30 hrs - Torbay Symphony Orchestra - Richard Gonski
Civic Hall, Totnes, Devon
Roger Swann = horn
The TSO performed the Rite of Spring in full as the second half of the event with the first half being an introduction to the piece, placing into context the year of it's first performance (1913) by including several excerpts from other works of the same period. A brief description of the choreography was also included.
The event was repeated the next day and both times the hall was completely full. Richard Gonski's knowledge and enthusiasm for the work is immediately obvious.
Horn section: Back row, left to right: Roger Swann, Daffydd Ellis, Gemma Peasgood, Catherine Garland, Hilary Gunn (principal), Simon Thomas. Front row: Jo White, Simon Keates
(Photograph: TBA)
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22nd Nov 2025 - 19:30 hrs - Exeter Bach Choir - Mathew Jeffrey - Julia Featherstone (sop), Alice Risdon (mezzo), Michael Graham (tenor), Julian Rippon (baritone)
St David's Church, Exeter, Devon
Roger Swann = horn
The chairman of the Exeter Bach Choir gave the soloists a vocal introduction which made it sound like the start of an Elvis gig (or at the very least like the dreaded "Friday Night is Music Night". This seemed to throw the soloists and conductor. It was difficult to judge what the audience made of it!
Conductor Matthew Jeffrey chose very fast tempos in the CPE Bach Magnificat.
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13th Nov 2025 - 19:30 hrs - Red Priest
The Gateway, Seaton, Devon
The second of the 75th "Seaton Music" season's concerts.
A group whose publicity emphasises there whacky energetic happy approach to baroque music and who, on hearing, do communicate their joy of playing music from this period of history.
Piers Adams can certainly play the recorders fast! and he can swap between instruments even faster!
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St Andrew's Church, Colyton, Devon
Great concert presented by the Friends of St Andrew's. Catalan'cellist Gerard Flotats captured the effortless, spacious, flowing pace required when performing unaccompanied Bach ('Cello suites 3 and 1) and imaginatively used Preludes by Edmund Finnis (b 1984) as introductions to the major works. Although written in an entirely different style this juxtoposition worked rather well.
The concert ended with his own arrangement of a traditional Catalonian song associated with his home village. This was far from a simple arrangement of the tune, rather the melody was the starting point for a meandering and enchanting sound world. A very inovative way to close this wonderful evening.
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19th Oct 2025 - 15:00 hrs - Axe Vale Orchestra - Walter Brewster - Chris Gradwell (clarinet)
St Andrew's Church, Colyton, Devon
Roger Swann = horn
Interesting to include the curious arrangement of movements from Orff's Carmina Burana for 10 wind instruments by F K Wanek. This does reiterate some of the main tunes but, predictably, rather fails to capture the scale and excitement of Orff's original.
Chris Gradwell gave a thoroughly professional performance of Finzi's Five Bagatelles Op 23. Complete with his "George Melly" hat, this was a controlled, accurate, performance which enjoyed the moments of humour in this otherwise rather whimsical piece.
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The Old Picture House, Seaton, Devon
The first of the 75th "Seaton Music" season's concerts featured this talented young wind quintet. Although formed only a few years ago and tonight including deputy oboist Polly Bartlett (Francesca Cox just having given birth to a baby earlier that day) they played with a sense of ensemble that might be the envy of many much longer established groups. Some amazingly agile passage work was breathtakingly tight (for example in the last movement of Reicha's Quintet Op 91 No. 3.
They presented a varied (and technically challenging) programme including Hindemith's quirky Kleine Kammermusik Op 24 No 2 (again very accurate [but by no means boring] handling of many complicated entries) and a colourful arrangement of Six Dances based on Bartok'sMikcokosmos vol 6 by the quintet's horn player, George Strivens.
This concert has set a high bar for the rest of the 75th season to meet!
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