James King News
tenor (1925-2005)
Commemorations 2025 (Birth: James King)
- Heldentenor
- United States of America
- musician, opera singer, music teacher
Last update
2024-03-24
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2024-03-23 09:49:00
Writing Italian-influenced music in the depths of Northamptonshire: organist William Whitehead on the music of English Baroque composer George Jeffreys
[…] before the recording. Further volumes of Jeffreys's music are planned for Musica Brittanica, so the composer's music will be out there.Jeffreys wrote some service music, though none is on the disc, but the majority of his choral music is settings of poetic and Biblical texts. During the Civil War and after, public worship became deeply Puritan and public sung worship came to an end. In private, there were still enclaves based in Royal circles; until King Charles I's capture, the King's household preserved some musical traditions whilst Queen Henrietta Maria had dispensation to have sung Roman Catholic services.Jeffreys sets both Biblical texts and poetical texts, though we don't know all the poets. These settings were probably sung for Jeffrey's patron, Christopher Hatton (who was descended from a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, another Christopher Hatton). We don't have much detail, though we know that they had a chest […]
2024-03-11 08:14:00
BBC Ten Pieces celebrated its 10th anniversary last week by announcing a new collection of ten works by women composers across eight centuries.
Sally Beamish, Hildegard von Bingen, Margaret Bonds, Lili Boulanger, Reena Esmail, Cassie Kinoshi, Marianna Martines, Laura Shigihara, Errollyn Wallen, Judith WeirBuilding on ten years opening up the world of classical music to 7-14 year olds, BBC music education initiative Ten Pieces celebrated its 10th anniversary last week by announcing a new collection of ten works by women composers across eight centuries. The selection features a broad range of orchestral, vocal and gaming music by Sally Beamish, Hildegard von Bingen, Margaret Bonds, Lili Boulanger, Reena Esmail (BBC commission), Cassie Kinoshi (a BBC/ABRSM/Music For Youth co-commission), Marianna Martines, Laura Shigihara, Errollyn Wallen, and Master of the King’s Music Judith Weir.Nine of the ten pieces were featured across the BBC Radio 3 schedule on Friday 8 March as part of its International Women’s Day celebrations, when the station marked the occasion with 24 hours of music only by women composers.BBC Ten Pieces aims to open up the world […]
2024-03-08 09:15:00
A vivid account of Szymanowski's rarely performed Harnasie from the LPO, with a visual installation from Wayne McGregor & Ben Cullen Williams that never quite matched the terrific music
Wayne McGregor & Ben Cullen Williams: A Body For Harnasie - London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner - Royal Festival Hall (Photo: Mark Allan)Tania León: Raíces, Ravel: La Valse, Wayne McGregor & Ben Cullen Williams: A Body for Harnasie (based on Szymanowksi's Harnasie); London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner, Robert Murray, Vlaams RadiokoorReviewed 6 March 2024Szymanowski's rarely performed late ballet-pantomime in a terrific performance that vividly brought out the work's colour and symphonic depth, with a visual installation that did not always match thisKarol Szymanowski's Harnasie is one of his late, folk-imbued works inspired by the music of the Polish Tatra mountains. Harnasie, the ballet-pantomime which Szymanowski worked on from 1923 to 1931, not only uses the music but sets its story in the Tatra mountains too. It remains, however, an unjustly neglected work. On 6 March 2024 at the Royal Festival Hall, Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra gave us […]
2024-03-02 09:03:00
Shamus O'Brien: withdrawn by the composer for political reasons, Stanford's most popular opera languished in the 20th century but all that seems set to change
Retrospect Opera's recording of Stanford's Shamus O'Brien in rehearsalCharles Villiers Stanford’s opera Shamus O'Brien premiered in 1896 in London. It was easily his most popular opera, running for over 80 performances in the West End before going on an extensive tour in Britain and Ireland, then in 1897 it also enjoyed a two-month run in New York. An explicitly Irish work, set against the backdrop of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, Stanford withdrew the opera shortly before the First World War. As the politics of Home Rule intensified in the 1910s, Stanford, an ardent Unionist, worried that the opera might foment Irish nationalism and anti-English sentiment; the ban effectively remained in place until his death in March 1924.King Baggot and Vivian Prescott in the 1912 silent film Shamus O'BrienBut after that, the opera returned to the stage and was broadcast by the BBC in the 1930s. Since then the work has rather […]
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