Benjamin Hamilton

Conductor & Musical Director | Passionate about #Opera and #ClassicalMusic transformation 🎶| Current work: Ethel Smyth’s "Entente Cordiale” w/ @retrospectopera

[𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄𝘀 @JKAConductor]

"Andrews is a past master at extracting the best from underpriced scores and he and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera excel themselves in a properly reflective reading, allowing his players to relish Bantock's instrumental colourings along the way." @RetrospectOpera @operamagazine

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Editor's Choice - October 2025

Review of Kennedy-Fraser and Bantock's The Seal-Woman (Retrospect Opera, 2025) in @LimelightArtsAu, 8 September 2025, by Clive Paget:

https://t.co/1j7qJ4CMqJ

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Congratulations to our former Trustee Andy King on the Keynote at the International Society for the Study of Egyptomania conference this weekend. https://t.co/PXH2uKBrXV

Find out more about The Seal-Woman: https://t.co/CGJtSvWoIb

And The Happy Prince: https://t.co/JP02PLYCci

[Benjamin Hamilton @B_F_Hamilton]

@LeahBroad @annalapwood @BBCRadio3 Perfect time (and material!) to start music appreciation :)

[𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄𝘀 @JKAConductor]

And the reviews are in for #TheSealWoman with
@RetrospectOpera! Fair to say not all the critics agree entirely about its stageability, but are absolutely unanimous in praise for the beauty of the score and wonderful performances. Congratulations team!

[Benjamin Hamilton @B_F_Hamilton]

@YehudaShapiro @MartinSmithVln @JKAConductor @RetrospectOpera @ScottishOpera No need to fish for compliments here…Seal of approval firmly granted 🤣

[Benjamin Hamilton @B_F_Hamilton]

So proud of having worked on this with the simply amazing team. Bravo all @RetrospectOpera! 😍

[𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄𝘀 @JKAConductor]

And the reviews are in for #TheSealWoman with
@RetrospectOpera! Fair to say not all the critics agree entirely about its stageability, but are absolutely unanimous in praise for the beauty of the score and wonderful performances. Congratulations team!

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

‘All credit to Retrospect Opera [...] Yvonne Howard is in fine voice as The Cailleach [...] Best of all is Catherine Carby as the seal woman’

- Review of Bantock and Kennedy-Fraser’s The Seal-Woman, Christopher Cook, BBC Music Magazine, 7 August 2025

https://t.co/KxX66PPTI2

[𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄𝘀 @JKAConductor]

"Retrospect Opera has an excellent track record in recording largely unknown British operas: this latest release is not a disappointment.... Conductor John Andrews leads his forces in a well-shaped reading of the score." ⭐⭐⭐⭐ from Opera Now.
https://t.co/Qx4CMgxjgF

[𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄𝘀 @JKAConductor]

“Throughout the performance is well played and sung… The extensive booklet notes are thorough and absorbing. This was clearly a labour of love… there��s no question it is good to have this extremely enterprising release”https://t.co/jGuTIE0meM

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

"Throughout the performance is well played and sung ... The extensive booklet notes are thorough and absorbing. This was clearly a labour of love."

- Review of Kennedy-Fraser & Bantock's The Seal-Woman by Kevin Mandry for British Music Society, July 2025

https://t.co/3S67Ofj2Va

[Zarah Sultana MP @zarahsultana]

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[Benjamin Hamilton @B_F_Hamilton]

Many congratulations to @Dr_Chris_Wiley for his piece on Smyth’s Entente Cordiale in this month’s @operamagazine magazine – perfectly timed as the opera, which I will be recording with @RetrospectOpera next year, turns 100!

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

#OTD in 1925, @DameEthelSmyth's Entente Cordiale was premiered at the Royal College of Music, London. To commemorate this centenary, our own @Dr_Chris_Wiley has written an article for @operamagazine. #EthelSmyth To donate to our upcoming recording: https://t.co/jnvCEKsw6c

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Review of Kennedy-Fraser/Bantock, The Seal-Woman (Retrospect Opera) by Jim Westhead, MusicWeb International: https://t.co/I4HpNxCthF

[Benjamin Hamilton @B_F_Hamilton]

Thank you @classicjacko for all you do for inclusion. :-)

[Sam Jackson @classicjacko]

If this ‘critic’ had bothered to do his research, he would have seen that it’s not called ‘The Relaxing Prom’. It’s a ‘Relaxed Prom’, often attended by those with additional needs. The @bbcproms is for everyone. And I make absolutely no apology for that. https://t.co/JEDly9Ysdx

[Benjamin Hamilton @B_F_Hamilton]

Congratulations @jsavournin

[Opera with Opera News @operamagazine]

Waterperry Opera Festival ⁦@WaterperryOpera⁩ has appointed John Savournin ⁦@jsavournin⁩ as CEO and Artistic Director from September 1.

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Great mention of the @RetrospectOpera recording of C.V. Stanford's Shamus O'Brien this morning on @BBCRadio3, following broadcast of a movement from one of Stanford's symphonies. Listen from 13:13-13:51 here: https://t.co/OMeuHlQTDW

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

The longer version of the interview with @jkaconductor about our recording of Kennedy-Fraser and Bantock's The Seal-Woman has now gone live: https://t.co/6II8ivbuHH

To order our recording of The Seal-Woman: https://t.co/2nVyWkcJHi

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Here's a short video featuring @jkaconductor interviewed by @B_F_Hamilton in advance of our recent launch of Kennedy-Fraser and Bantock's The Seal-Woman: https://t.co/Eri0Y1xpml

To order our recording of The Seal-Woman: https://t.co/2nVyWkcJHi