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17. May 2018

Kent Nagano & OSM: New CD “A quiet Place” at Decca (May 2018)

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and Kent Nagano are proud to present the world premiere recording of the chamber version of Leonard Bernstein’s ‘A Quiet Place’, adapted by Garth Edwin Sunderland. It will be released on 22 June, ahead of the Bernstein centenary on 25th August 2018.

Premiered in 1983, Bernstein’s opera ‘A Quiet Place’ was the composer’s last work written for the stage and remains one of his lesser known large-scale compositions. The concert-version presented on the new album features a chamber orchestra and was recorded live at the Maison symphonique de Montréal  in May 2017.

Kent Nagano was introduced to Bernstein by Seiji Ozawa in 1984 and studied with him until his death in 1990. Nagano says, “For Bernstein music was life – the two were synonymous, inseparable. He never stopped exploring and pushing his own compositional language. The goal in this particular adaptation is to allow the spirited brilliance and poetic depth of the work to shine through – including dance rhythms and elements of American folklore. Our hope is that the timeless and universal quality of the piece and the genius of the composition are laid bare in this new recording.”

 

25. April 2018

Kent Nagano conducts concert for Hamburg International Music Festival (April 2018)

On Sunday, 29 April, Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg Kent Nagano will conduct a concert on the occasion of the Hamburg International Music Festival in the Elbphilharmonie.

Together with the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the vocal ensemble Singer Pur they will present a large spectrum of repertoire, from Renaissance works to music from the 20th century.

Find here further information on this concert.

The concert will be broadcast live on 11 a.m. by public German radio channel NDR Kultur.

 

 

20. April 2018

About Kent Nagano and the “Wagner Readings” (April 2018)

In the beginning of April 2018 Kent Nagano, Concerto Köln and musicians of the project “Wagner Readings” met for the first music workshop in Cologne. On the occasion of this workshop, Concerto Köln presented a public talk with Kent Nagano and radio presenter Michael Schwalb.

Read here an article about the talk and the development of the Wagner Readings in Cologne’s daily newspaper Kölner Stadtanzeiger. (German language)

Please find parts of this article translated into English below:

Kent Nagano on the “Ring” collaboration with Concerto Köln

“As we began with the workshops, we threw time out the window.” A rather odd expression used by the star conductor, Kent Nagano, in conversation with the WDR editor, Michael Schwalb. Throwing time out the window – how? Usually, Nagano explains, orchestral work is dictated by time: until the performance, both ensemble and conductor must achieve a certain level of interpretation during rehearsals or else there is potential for failure.

However, the scientific-artistic project, “Wagner Readings”, sponsored by the Arts Foundation NRW and launched by the current general music director of the Hamburg State Opera together with the early music ensemble, Concerto Köln, does away with this time pressure completely: “What does Wagner’s ‘Martellato’ indication mean? We discussed this for 45 minutes.” Obviously this wouldn’t be possible within a normal rehearsal time frame.

But the “Wagner Readings” are quite simply not normal: the first performances of the “Ring” are not scheduled to take place until 2021 – and those in a mode that is commonly referred to as “historically-informed.” But what exactly does that entail in the case of this operatic tetralogy? Which vocal and playing techniques did Wagner have in mind? All of this is currently undergoing research and being developed in close collaboration with musicologists. Concerto Köln will subsequently attempt to put it into practice under Nagano’s direction. “There are more questions than answers. We’re linked by the common ground of the unknown”, he candidly admits in the Balloni Hall located in Cologne’s Ehrenfeld district.

(Article written by Markus Schwering, translated into English by Jennifer Smyth.)

19. April 2018

Kent Nagano conducts Bruckner in Hamburg (April 2018)

On 22 and 23 April Kent Nagano will conduct the 8. Philharmonic concert of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg in the Elbphilharmonie. On the program will be Anton Bruckner’s 5. Symphony.

Click here for further information on the concerts.

 

27. March 2018

Kent Nagano conducts concerts in Chicago (March 2018)

On 29, 30 and 31 March Kent Nagano will conduct concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Symphony Centre of Chicago.

Works by Wagner, Bernstein and Schumann will be on the program.

Find here more information on the concerts.

 

23. March 2018

The OSM and Kent Nagano reveal season 2018/19 (March 2018)

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Kent Nagano unveiled the programming for season 2018/19, marking the OSM’s 85. season. At a glance, the season will offer more than 100 concerts, 60 or so programs, 112 artists and 2 tours.

“The OSM’s 85th season is a reflection of the strong Montreal tradition, a musical tradition which has always had a core. This is to say that in our tradition, a symphony is a picture or a metaphor for human life and human experiences. It is a gigantic palette of styles with special connections to the folklore of many countries and regions within. A symphony is “diversity in unity” and it is exactly that which makes up our special social life in both small and large scale. We invite you all to celebrate with us this rich musical tradition.”  – states Music Director Kent Nagano.

The first tour in September 2018 will lead the OSM and Kent Nagano to Nunavik, the Far North of Quebec to visit six villages in three nations: Inuit, Innu and Cree. The opera Chaakapesh, The Trickster’s Quest by Tomson Highway and Matthew Ricketts was commissioned for the occasion. The idea of this tour is to share the OSM’s classical music with all the peoples of Quebec and is intended as a meeting point between the different cultures by way of rich and respectful interaction through music. Thus the project will consist of a musical journey from North to South, from Nunavik to the Côte-Nord, by way of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and northern Quebec.

A twelfth European tour is on the agenda for March 2019 (11 – 23 March 2019), when the Orchestra will be visiting some of the most highly esteemed concert halls of the great capitals of Europe: Dusseldorf (Tonhalle), Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), Essen (Philharmonie), Vienna (Konzerthaus), Paris (Philharmonie), Brusells (Palais des Beaux-Arts), Munich (Philharmonie Im Gasteig), Regensburg (University Audimax) and Berlin, at the prestigious Philharmonie. Soloists will be pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Rafał Blechacz as well as Alto Marie-Nicole Lemieux.

In Montréal, Kent Nagano will stand at the rostrum of the orchestra with Bach’s Mass in b minor (4, 5 Dec 2018) and a Brahms Symphony cycle (7 – 10 Feb 2019), among others. Guests of the new OSM season will be violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter and Julian Rachlin, pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Evgeny Kissin and Daniil Trifonov and the conductors Christoph Eschenbach and François-Xavier Roth, and many more.

Find here the OSM’s program for season 2018/19. And click here for the video trailer of the new season.

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