18. November 2021

Kent Nagano with the Wagner Readings and Concerto Köln at the Kölner Philharmonie (November 2021)

On Thursday, 18 November 2021, Kent Nagano, together with the musicians of Concerto Köln and singers, will present Wagner’s Das Rheingold in concert at the Kölner Philharmonie. This concert was created as part of the scientific-artistic project Wagner Readings, which has been working on Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in historically informed performance practice since fall 2017.

More information about the concert on 18 November can be found here.

Further information about the project Wagner Readings, the scientific work as well as the different topics can be listened to in six podcast episodes here: https://wagner-lesarten.de/podcast.html

16. November 2021

Hefti’s The Snow Queen nominated for ICMA in the Contemporary category (November 2021)

David Philip Hefti’s work The Snow Queen nominated for the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) in the Contemporary category. The recording was released in 2020 by NEOS 12028 and premiered in November 2018 at the Tonhalle Maag Zurich:

The Snow Queen – a story in music for soprano, 2 speakers and orchestra
Mojca Erdmann, Soprano
Delia Mayer, Narrator
Max Simonischek, Narrator
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
David Philip Hefti, Conductor

Please find more information about the ICMAs here.

11. November 2021

Omer Meir Wellber at the Wiener Staatsoper (November 2021)

Currently, Omer Meir Wellber is at the Wiener Staatsoper conducting Bizet’s Carmen in a production by Calixto Bieito. For more information on the cast and upcoming dates on 13, 16, 19 November, please click here.

Here you can find a conversation in German with Omer Meir Wellber about his current projects but also his musical career.

DIE KUNST DER GRENZENLOSIGKEIT

Über sein Arbeitspensum staunt man immer wieder: Omer Meir Wellber ist Chefdirigent des BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Musikdirektor des Teatro Massimo in Palermo, erster Gastdirigent an der Semperoper in Dresden, daneben absolviert er Dirigate an wichtigen Häusern wie der Metropolitan Opera in New York, dem Fenice in Venedig, der Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, in München, Berlin, Mailand. Ab der kommenden Spielzeit tritt er darüber hinaus als Musikdirektor der Volksoper Wien an. Zusätzlich schreibt er Bücher, engagiert sich in Vermittlungs- und Sozialprojekten und lernt Sprachen. Und findet Zeit für Interviews, wie mit Oliver Láng, der mit dem 1981 in der Wüstenstadt Be’er Sheva geborenen Dirigenten über sein arbeitsintensives Leben, seine Beziehung zu Carmen und über Grenzen im Leben sprach…

4. November 2021

Midori performs Glanert’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (November 2021)

On 5 and 6 November, Midori will perform the world premiere of Detlev Glanert’s Violin Concerto No. 2, “To the Immortal Beloved“ with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The 6 November concert from Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall will be livestreamed. Tickets and more information can be found here.

5 November, Edinburgh, Usher Hall
RSNO, Thomas Søndergård
Glanert: Violin Concerto No. 2 world premiere

6 November, Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
RSNO, Thomas Søndergård
Glanert: Violin Concerto No. 2

29. October 2021

Kent Nagano with Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at the Cologne Cathedral (October 2021)

On 29 October, Kent Nagano will conduct Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at the Cologne Cathedral. The concert will take place as part of the Beethovenfest and will also present Stockhausen’s “Gesang der Jünglinge” together with the musicians of Concerto Köln, the Vokalensemble Kölner Dom and renowned soloists.

The concert can be seen live on ARTE and WDR.

Program
Ludwig van Beethoven: Mass for four solo voices, choir, orchestra and organ in D major op. 123 (“Missa solemnis”) (1819-23)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: “Gesang der Jünglinge”. Electronic music (1955/56)

Artists
Valentina Farcas soprano
Rachel Frenkel alto
Werner Güra tenor
Andreas Wolf bass
Cologne Cathedral Vocal Ensemble
Eberhard Metternich rehearsal
Concerto Cologne
Kent Nagano Conductor
Juan Verdaguer Sound direction

29. October 2021

Teatro Massimo presents new season with Omer Meir Wellber (October 2021)

On 20 January 2022, the new season of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo will officially begin – Omer Meir Wellber will conduct Giuseppe Verdi’s Les Vêpres siciliennes in a production by Palermo-born director Emma Dante. More information about the production can be found here.

The 2022 season of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo is entirely dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the crimes of the Mafia in the city. The full opera, ballet and concert program for 2022 celebrates the reopening of the theater, now as then, with a program that alternates the great protagonists of the international classical music scene at Piazza Verdi and Teatro di Verdura. More information can be found here.

15. October 2021

Kent Nagano and Mari Kodama with the DSO in Berlin (October 2021)

Kent Nagano, pianist Mari Kodama and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin will premiere Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier’s piano concerto Terra Nostra at the Philharmonie Berlin on 17 October 2021.The program also includes works by Hector Berlioz as well as Richard Strauss.

17 October 2021, 8 p.m., Philharmonie Berlin
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano
Berlioz: Overture to the opera “Béatrice et Bénédict
Bruneau-Boulmier: Piano concerto “Terra Nostra” world premiere
Strauss: Suite from “Der Bürger als Edelmann”
Mari Kodama – piano

The concert will be broadcasted on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Please find more information here.

7. October 2021

New recording from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (October 2021)

With its record label Reference Recordings, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck announce a new recording: Brahms Symphony No. 4 and MacMillan Larghetto for Orchestra. This release coincides with the Orchestra’s 2021-2022 season and its joyful return to live concerts with full orchestra. These works were recorded live in the Heinz Hall, now celebrating its 50th anniversary season as the home of the Pittsburgh Symphony. The recording is available worldwide on 22 October.

“Johannes Brahms’ Fourth Symphony is a powerful work with deep emotional lines and full sound, a complex and challenging work with its hundreds of nuances. It is very satisfying to hear together the Brahms Symphony and James MacMillan’s Larghetto for Orchestra as they are both intensely personal works that also share enormous depth in color and beauty,” said Manfred Honeck, Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
The recording is accompanied by Manfred Honeck’s extensive music notes, which provide insight into his unique interpretation as well as the history and musical structure of Brahms’ final and beloved symphony.READ MORE

1. October 2021

New 3-CD box set with works by Olivier Messiaen and with Kent Nagano (October 2021)

A 3-CD box set of works by French composer Olivier Messiaen and featuring Kent Nagano and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir is released today on the BR Klassik label.

The recording is a live recording of the works Poèmes pour Mi, Chronochromie and La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ from concerts with Kent Nagano and the Symphonieorchester und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, which shows Nagano’s close familiarity with Messiaen’s musical language in a special way.

More information can be found here.

La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ, Live recording from Munich, Philharmonie im Gasteig, 19./23.06.2017
Poèmes pour Mi, Live recording from Munich, Herkulessaal der Residenz, 14./15.02.2019
Chronochromie, Live recording from Munich, Herkulessaal der Residenz, 02./06.07.2018

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
Jenny Daviet, soprano
Chor & Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Kent Nagano, conductor

30. September 2021

“10 Lessons of my Life” by Kent Nagano released today (September 2021)

The new book by conductor Kent Nagano was published today, September 30, by Berlin Verlag.

In “10 Lessons of my Life” Kent Nagano recalls ten very personal encounters of his life, from which he learned decisive lessons not only for his career. Among them are the Icelandic pop artist Björk, Frank Zappa, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and the Nobel Prize winner in physics Donald Glaser.