In concert – this Saturday 1 November: Dorothea Röschmann & Joseph Middleton @ Pembroke Auditorium, Cambridge

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reposted by Ben Hogwood Photo (c) Harald Hoffmann

Dorothea Röschmann, soprano & Joseph Middleton, piano
Saturday 1 November 2025, 7.30pm
Bliss Song Series, Pembroke Auditorium, Cambridge

Don’t miss this exceptional recital by Grammy Award-winning soprano Dorothea Röschmann and world-renowned pianist Joseph Middleton, featuring an evocative programme of Schubert, Brahms, Schoenberg and Weill.

Celebrated for her “superbly expressive and richly coloured” voice (The Guardian), Röschmann is one of the most compelling recitalists of her generation. Her artistry brings rare emotional depth to repertoire ranging from the Romantic to the cabaret-influenced songs of 20th-century Berlin. She is joined by Joseph Middleton, praised by The New York Times as “the perfect accompanist” and Artistic Director of the Bliss Song Series—the East of England’s leading platform for song.

Experience two of the world’s finest recital artists in an evening of profound storytelling, wit, and beauty.

Here they are in concert at the Leeds Lieder Festival in 2022:

Their program on Saturday is as follows:

SCHUBERT

  • Romanze aus Rosamunde
  • Des Mädchens Klage
  • Auf dem Wasser zu singen
  • Der Tod und das Mädchen
  • Die junge Nonne
  • Nachtstück
  • Nacht und Träume
  • Der Zwerg

BRAHMS

  • Vier ernste Gesänge

– Interval –

SCHOENBERG

  • Galathea
  • Gigerlette
  • Der genugsame Liebhaber
  • Mahnung
  • Arie aus dem Spiegel von Arkaien

KURT WEILL

  • Berlin im Licht
  • Je ne t’aime pas
  • Klops Lied
  • Nana’s Lied
  • Youkali

🎟 Student tickets: £5 + £2.50 booking fee

Pre-concert talk: 6.45pm
Dr Jane Hines, specialist in German Romantic poetry, Gonville & Caius College
Dr Jane Hines | Gonville & Caius

Published post no.2,703 – Thursday 30 October 2025

On this day – the first performance of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto no.1

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by Ben Hogwood

Today marks 70 years since the first performance of a Shostakovich masterpiece. The Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor Op.77/99 received its premiere at the hands of its dedicatee, David Oistrakh, with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky.

Here it is from one of its most passionate recent exponents, Maxim Vengerov taking the solo part with the Novosibirsk State Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Thomas Sanderling:

Published post no.2,702 – Wednesday 29 October 2025

On Tour – Cabaret Voltaire

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Cabaret Voltaire in rehersal room

from the press release. Photo credits Peter Hill (above), Leon Chew (Cabaret Voltaire, below), Teri Varhol (Gazelle Twin)

Following their return to Sheffield at the weekend for a sold-out Sensoria Festival performance, Stephen ‘Mal’ Mallinder and Chris Watson have announced details of their Final UK Tour, starting on 10 October 2026 at Birmingham Town Hall and finishing at the Sheffield Octagon on 25 October, with Gazelle Twin confirmed as special guest across all the dates. 

Pre-sale opens at 10am GMT on 30 October, followed by general sale at 10am GMT on Friday 31 October. Buy HERE, except Sheffield, available HERE

The announcement follows news of this year’s highly anticipated sold-out tour, which marks 50 years since the live launch of one of Britain’s most influential electronic bands, Cabaret Voltaire, at the Sheffield Students Union Refectory on 13 May 1975.

Talking about the newly announced dates, Stephen Mallinder says: “What a wonderful opportunity to go round the block one more time and share that with one of the most unique and spectacular artists we know. The connective tissue between ourselves, our history, and the world Gazelle Twin now conjures up, will be out there and shared with people. It seems like a special, magical moment.”

Composer, producer, and performance artist Elizabeth Bernholz, aka Gazelle Twin, will be special guest across the tour: “Pinch me. Go on. I’m feeling excessively lucky at the prospect of touring with Cabaret Voltaire in 2026. They are electronic music pioneers, but also the loveliest, kindest folk in music that I could ever hope to share the stage with.”

The current tour continues next month, with supports confirmed: dark experimental pop musician, producer and performer Greta Caroll aka CURRENTMOODGIRL will perform at Glasgow’s SWG3 Warehouse; bass-pushing experimentalist and member of Afro-Futurist performance collective Brownton Abbey, I Am Fya, will support at Manchester Gorilla; engineer turned artistic world builder, Gareth Smith, brings Vanishing’s evocative music and resonant lyrics to Birmingham’s Xoyo; Soborgnost, lo-fi dubwave dancepunk mutation from Jim Osman, will join the bill at London’s ICA, and Alexander Tucker’s electronic guise, MICROCORPS, brings heavy mutant techno modular systems to Brighton’s ACCA.

CABARET VOLTAIRE LIVE – 2025

17 Nov – Glasgow, SWG3 Warehouse w/ CURRENTMOODGIRL – SOLD OUT

18 Nov – Manchester, Gorilla w/ I Am Fya – SOLD OUT

19 Nov – Birmingham, Xoyo w/ Vanishing – SOLD OUT

21 Nov – London, ICA w/ Soborgnost – SOLD OUT

22 November – Brighton, ACCA w/ MICROCORPS – SOLD OUT

CABARET VOLTAIRE LIVE – 2026

21 Feb – Norwich, Synth East Festival

10 October – Birmingham Town Hall w/ Gazelle Twin

11 October – Liverpool Arts Club w/ Gazelle Twin

13 October – Nottingham Rock City w/ Gazelle Twin

14 October – Cardiff Tramshed w/ Gazelle Twin

15 October – Bath Forum w/ Gazelle Twin

17 October – Newcastle Boiler Shop w/ Gazelle Twin

18 October – Glasgow Barrowland w/ Gazelle Twin

19 October – Manchester Albert Hall w/ Gazelle Twin

21 October – Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion w/ Gazelle Twin

22 October – London Roundhouse w/ Gazelle Twin

25 October – Sheffield Octagon w/ Gazelle Twin

Published post no.2,701 – Tuesday 28 October 2025

New music – Frieder Nagel & Daniel Brandt: Who Knows (InFiné)

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adapted from the press release by Ben Hogwood

Frieder Nagel continues his new series with Who Knows, featuring Daniel Brandt — composer, drummer, and co-founder of the acclaimed Brandt Brauer Frick.

A dark and menacing track unfolds under severe rhythmic tension. While constantly building, its long elegiac melodies slowly evolve and dissolve within majestic string arrangements and Nagel’s signature Moog sound. The single is accompanied by two additional versions: a shorter, more condensed radio edit, and a beatless ambient version that brings the meticulously crafted sound design to the forefront.

Nagel and Brandt first met in 2019, when Nagel directed Brandt’s music video Flamingo for Erased Tapes. A year later, they collaborated on a dance opera with Japanese choreographer Fukiko Takase at Uferstudios Berlin, which premiered at the Gluck Festspiele. Who Knows finally captures on tape the unique creative chemistry that sparks whenever the two artists meet.

Frieder expands on the track. “In the end, we are total opposites. Daniel is literally just back from touring Asia — he’s constantly on the move with his band, his solo project, or his work as a producer and director in London. Drums are, in a way, extroverted — expressive and primarily rhythmic. I, on the other hand, live a much calmer life in the woods, focusing on introspective works like audiovisual sound art, installations, or score production, where melody and synthesis take the lead.”

It is precisely this contrast that makes Who Knows so captivating: Nagel’s calm, melodic sensibility colliding with Brandt’s impulsive, almost restless energy. The result is a striking duality — a tension that is hard to define but impossible to ignore.

Where Do As I Please (above), released earlier this year, explored the theme of overcoming creative struggle, Who Knows feels like a blueprint for Nagel’s new artistic direction — moving further away from his downtempo and electronica beginnings toward new shores and inspirations, offering raw, unpredictable music that leaves the listener wondering what comes next.

Published post no.2,700 – Monday 27 October 2025

On this day – the birth of Domenico Scarlatti

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Picture: used courtesy of Wikipedia

by Ben Hogwood

Earlier in the week we marked 300 years since the birth of Alessandro Scarlatti..and now we switch attention to his son Domenico, born 340 years ago today.

Domenico was a prodigious composer of keyboard sonatas, a form he helped revolutionise. Here are some in excellent versions from Anne Quéffelec:

ublished post no.2,695 – Thursday 22 October 2025