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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Fiona Maddocks

Classical music: Fiona Maddocks’s 10 best concerts and operas of 2023

United States ENO Danielle de Niese Rosemary Kennedy Irish National Opera
Soprano Danielle de Niese in a red dress, seated on a chaise longue, singing into a bakelite telephone receiver
Soprano Danielle de Niese at the ‘ever more capacious and inclusive’ Cumnock Tryst in Ayrshire. Photograph: Stuart Armitt

1. The Cumnock Tryst
Ayrshire; October
Founded by composer James MacMillan in his ex-mining home town, this plucky annual event grows ever more capacious and inclusive. As well as star soprano Danielle de Niese, a highlight was a new work created by 350 local people, A Musical Celebration of the Coalfields. If anything deserves the epithet “making change through music”, it’s the Cumnock Tryst.

2. Manchester Classical
Manchester; June
The inaugural gathering of the city’s musical groups – the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic orchestras, Manchester Camerata, Manchester Collective, students, the locally based Indian Choir of England and more – under one roof at the Bridgewater Hall: 16 performances in two days, creating an infectious festival weekend.

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