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19. December 2024

Kent Nagano announced Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, starting September 2026 (December 2024)

December 19, 2024

As announced yesterday evening by the Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y la Música (INAEM) of the Ministry of Culture in Madrid, Kent Nagano will be the next Chief conductor and Artistic Director (Director Titular y Artístico) of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (OCNE) in Madrid starting in September 2026, for an initial period of 5 years.

Kent Nagano comments: “The richness of Spain, reflected in its language, culture, history and the profound influence of its arts over time, represents a far-reaching cultural resonance that continues to inspire audiences around the world. I am honored to have received the OCNE’s invitation to collaborate with them in building the next chapter of this important musical tradition, connecting today’s generation to Spain’s vibrant cultural relevance, nurtured by its renowned literature, poetry, visual arts and dance. Together with the OCNE as a cultural ambassador we will look to the future with the purpose of bringing this great tradition into the 21st century.”

Previously Kent Nagano has guest conducted the Orquesta Nacional de España and the Coro Nacional de España on three occasions: in June 2018, with Hans Werner Henze’s Die Bassariden; in June 2021, with works by Gabriel Fauré and Olivier Messiaen; and in April 2024, when he conducted Haydn’s The Creation.

ocne.mcu.es

kentnagano.com

12. December 2024

The Wagner Cycles on the New York Times best-of list (December 2024)

The Dresden Music Festival’s project “The Wagner Cycles” has been included on the New York Times Best Of list: the concert performance of Richard Wagner’s “Die Walküre” with the Dresden Festival Orchestra and Concerto Köln under the direction of Kent Nagano was included on the list of the world’s best performances in 2024. On March 16, 2024 at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the opera was performed in concert and on original instruments.

“We live in a moment with no shortage of opportunities to hear Wagner’s “Ring”; new productions are being rolled out in London, Munich, Milan, Brussels and Paris, with New York to follow in a few years. The freshest take on this four-opera epic, however, is the conductor Kent Nagano’s enormous project to research, rehearse, perform and record a version based on a historically informed approach. I caught thesecond installment, “Die Walküre,” at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the sound was often wonderfully shocking: There is less vibrato, singers declaim their lines, historical timbres shade the score anew, and, above all, the music has the clarity of spoken drama.”, the New York Times article reads.

You can find more information on the large-scale, multi-year project to perform Wagner’s Ring in its entirety historically informed and in concertante performances by 2026 on the Dresden Music Festival website: musikfestspiele.com

6. December 2024

Recorder player Max Volbers in the Essen Philharmonie (December 2024)

Under the title “Dance and Firework”, recorder player Max Volbers and harpsichordist Alexander von Heißen will present works by Arcangelo Corelli, Georg Friedrich Händel, Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli and others at the Philharmonie Essen on December 8.

This program has already been released on CD by Berlin Classics under the title “Foreign Masters” and can now be heard in a pre-Christmas setting under the title “Dance and Firework”. Here in the YouTube video you will find a small preview of the program.

Max Volbers, who was awarded the Opus Klassik as Young Artist of the Year in 2023, was a guest on the ZDF Morgenmagazin with Alexander von Heißen in September 2024, where they presented “Foreign Masters”. You can watch the performance on the morning show here.

Sunday, December 8, 11 a.m., Philharmonie Essen
George Frideric Handel: Overture from “Fireworks Music”, HWV 351
Giuseppe Sammartini: Sonata in G minor for flute and harpsichord, op. 13 no. 5
“Traditional”: ‘The Lass of Patie’s Mill’ (Scottish folk song) from ”A Collection af Old Scots Tunes”
“Traditional”: ‘Cease your funning’ (Scottish folk song) from ”Collection of the most favorite Old Songs Tunes in the Beggars opera”
George Frideric Handel: Prelude to “Vo’ far guerra”, Aria Armida from “Rinaldo”, HWV 7 (Act 2, Scene 10)
Giuseppe Matteo Alberti: Sonata in A minor for violin and harpsichord, op. 3 no. 4
Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli: “Aria con Variazioni” from Sonata da Camera No. 6 in A major for violin and basso continuo
George Frideric Handel: “Pifa” from the oratorio “The Messiah”, HWV 56
Arcangelo Corelli: Sonata in D minor for violin and basso continuo, op. 5 no. 12 “La Follia”

Max Volbers, recorder
Alexander von Heißen, harpsichord

Further information can be found at theater-essen.de/programm

1. December 2024

CD “Bruckner / Bates” by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck wins MWI Award of the Year (December 2024))

The CD of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck with the recordings of Bruckner’s 7th Symphony and Mason Bates’ Resurexit was voted CD of the Year 2024 by Music Web International!

Even without checking the archive of the previous 21 years, it is fairly safe to say that it is a first for these awards that a single recording has been nominated by six reviewers. Therefore, the choice of this year’s MWI Recording of the Year was made rather simple. Quoting our three reviewers (all of whom made it a Recommended recording), Honeck’s Bruckner (and Bates) was described as “truly unmissable”, “as successful on the technical side as it is on the musical side”, “persuasively interpreted and marvellously played” and the “prime recommendation”, says the team of music critics, consisting of 28 members and 70 different labels.

Further information and the reviews can be found at:

musicwebinternational.com

20. November 2024

Omer Meir Wellber conducts Le Grand Macabre in Palermo (November 2024)

Omer Meir Wellber conducts the premiere of “Le Grand Macabre” at the season opening of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo on November 24, 2024. The opera by György Ligeti is directed by Barbora Horáková.

“Ever since my arrival in Palermo as music director of the Teatro Massimo,” says Maestro Omer Meir Wellber, ”I have had the goal of staging György Ligeti’s “Le Grand Macabre” a work that deals with the theme of the relationship between dictatorship and freedom, between ruler and ruled, and it does so from so many aspects, ranging from the macro level to the minimal level of the affairs of individuals, from the politics of states to the life of couples. It is a thought-provoking work, but it is also very, very funny. Musically, too, it seems to me to be very suitable for the Teatro Massimo: I find that the more history-rich, classical, imposing a theater is, the more successful modern titles seem to be, they seem better suited to be performed here. Already upon entering this theater one grasps all the tradition behind it, and that is also the case with this music, which is very modern and has a peculiar language, but comes from all the great Western musical tradition. All the work done together with the orchestra over these five years has been to prepare this opera, which is the most complex challenge we have faced. After Parsifal, after Tristan und Isolde, after so many projects in which they also approached the music as improvisation, they are now faced with a score that is difficult not only to play but also to manage: I am thinking especially of the percussion, which not only has complicated writing but has so many instruments among which to juggle. We have arrived together at the peak of a mountain, and it is quite a challenge.”

November 24 Palermo, Teatro Massimo Premiere
György Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre
Barbora Haráková, director
Further performances on 26, 28, 29.11 & 01.12

teatromassimo.it

17. November 2024

Max Volbers conducts concert with Il Pomo d’Oro (November 2024)

Recorder player Max Volbers will give a concert with Il Pomo d’Oro and soprano Julie Fuchs in La Chaux-de-Fonds on November 27. The program includes works by Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel. At this concert, Volbers will play the recorder, lead the ensemble and play the harpsichord.

This concert will be recorded by RTS Espace 2 and can be listened to here:

www.rts.ch/audio-podcast/

16. November 2024

The Wagner Cycles: Making-Of Die Walküre (December 2024)

A Project of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele
under the artistic directorship of Jan Vogler and Kent Nagano

In “The Wagner Cycles”, the individual works of Richard Wagner’s tetralogy will be performed in concert in a special collaboration between the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln. Der Ring des Nibelungen will be re-examined, rehearsed and performed – in the artistic context of the time when it was first produced, on the basis of the most recent research on Wagner and historical performance practice, flanked by a comprehensive framework programme.

Last year, the project included the celebrated tour of Die Walküre with musicians from the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln as well as renowned soloists at the Prague State Opera, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, the Dresden Kulturpalast, Cologne Philharmonie and the Lucerne Festival.

The making-of video of Die Walküre on YouTube gives a deeper insight into the project:

15. November 2024

Kent Nagano, Mari Kodama, Jan Vogler and Veronika Eberle together at the Würth Forum (November 2024)

Next Sunday, under the direction of Kent Nagano, a special program featuring Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and his Symphony No. 7 will be presented in the Rheinhold Würth Saal of the Carmen Würth Forum. Three renowned soloists will also be on stage for the Triple Concerto – pianist Mari Kodama, cellist Jan Vogler and violinist Veronika Eberle.

Further information under Kultur bei Würth.

Sun, 17.11.2024 17:00 CARMEN WÜRTH FORUM
Reinhold Würth Hall
Würth Philharmonic Orchestra
Veronika Eberle Violin
Jan Vogler violoncello
Mari Kodama Piano
Kent Nagano Conductor

Beethoven:
Concerto for piano, violin, cello and orchestra in C major, op. 56 “Triple Concerto”
Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92

13. November 2024

Midori and Mao Fujita perform a concert for the victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Japan (November 2024)

Violinist Midori and pianist Mao Fujita will perform in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan on November 13th and 14th to support the Noto Peninsula Earthquake Disaster Relief Project.

On January 1, 2024, the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa was struck by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake, causing widespread devastation throughout the region. In memory of all those affected and those working tirelessly to support the relief efforts there, the performance series entitled “HOPE” is intended for people in the affected region to share a moment of healing through music.

The program includes both solo and duo works by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and Franck.

4. November 2024

David Philip Hefti’s debut at the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin (November 2024)

On December 6, 2024, the string quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin will present the sixth string quartet “Five Scenes for Gustav” by David Philip Hefti at the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin. The “Five Scenes for Gustav” were composed as preludes to Gustav Mahler’s five “Rückert Lieder”, in Hefti’s arrangement for high voice and string quartet. In this concert, Hefti’s sixth quartet and his Mahler arrangement will be performed alternately, as originally planned. The soloist will be soprano Mojca Erdmann.

Since his collaboration with the Scharoun Ensemble, Hefti has cultivated a young but intensive artistic friendship with Wolfram Brandl, leader of the Staatskapelle Berlin string quartet, which is based on the successful premiere of his octet “Des Zaubers Spuren” at the Zermatt Music Festival and was performed for the first time in Germany on the occasion of the Scharoun Ensemble’s 40th anniversary concert at the Berlin Philharmonie in September 2023.

You can find all information here: https://www.boulezsaal.de/de/event/streichquartett-der-staatskapelle-berlin-mojca-erdmann-400086

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