Rosetta Music Productions
Rosetta Music Productions is the brainchild of conductor, Tom Higgins and Michael Letchford. Their aim is to perform orchestral and operatic works which have been unjustly neglected since their premieres or which appear to have been ‘lost’: orchestral scores and parts no longer being readily available from publishers or other sources.
Recently, Tom Higgins issued for the BBC Music Magazine the world premiere recording of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s last completed work for the stage: ‘The Rose of Persia’, the parts of which were thought not to be available in the United Kingdom. However, a set of parts was traced to a collection in Australia. ‘ The Rose of Persia’, features the celebrated Hanover Band (performing on instruments of the late 19thcentury period), and leading British singers. The two-set disc received critical acclaim world-wide. It also features other rarely heard works by Sullivan including the ‘Macbeth’ Overture.
In addition, Tom Higgins also discovered a rare manuscript which assisted Sir Charles Mackerras in the reconstruction of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s ‘Cello Concerto.’
Rosetta also have plans for the presentation of rarely performed works by Sir Edward Elgar, Haydn Wood and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Click here to hear Celeste Lazarenko singing 'Madonna mia'from 'A Summer Night' with Tom Higgins at the piano
Tom Higgins has established a reputation for conducting ‘lost’ or unjustly neglected works. Of operas seldom heard or are long-forgotten in the United Kingdom, he has recently conducted Menotti’s ‘The Consul’, Mascagni’s ‘L’amico Fritz’ and Bellini’s ‘Beatrice di Tenda’.
In February 2004 he conducted Adolphe Adam’s ‘Si j’etais roi’ for Opera Omnibus – a work which has long-merited a revival in Britain.
For the concert hall Tom Higgins revived a movement from Sullivan’s ballet music to Thespis, one of the composer’s early operas which was thought lost.
The music had been recently ‘discovered’ and this movement, edited by Tom Higgins, was included in several concerts conducted by him in Fairfield Halls, Croydon