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On Tuesday, 18 July, the Herrenchiemsee Festival 2017 will start. Until Sunday, 30 July, the concerts will be presented on the Fraueninsel as well as in the Hall of Mirrors in the castle Herrenchiemsee on the Herreninsel.
At the opening concert festival director Enoch zu Guttenberg will present Bach’s St. John Passion together with the Orchestra of KlangVerwaltung and the Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern.
Find here the concert dates and programms at a glance.
90 year-old Herbert Blomstedt will go on tour with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra from 19 – 22 July on the occasion of his anniversary year. On the program will be Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 in the domes of Bamberg, Würzburg and Passau as well as in the Basilica of St. Florian in Austria.
Find here the concert dates at a glance:
19 July Bamberg, Dome
20 July Würzburg, Dome
21 July Passau, Dome
22 July Basilica St. Florian
Find here more information on the four concerts.
On Saturday, 15 July, Manfred Honeck will conduct the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of “Klassik am Odeonsplatz” with works by Dun, Corigliano, Hartl, Ziehrer, Dvorak and Shostakovich. Soloist will be percussionist Martin Grubinger.
Find more information on this concert here.
The PSO and Music Director Manfred Honeck will go on a festival tour through Europe – from August 28 to September 8, 2017 where they will perform concerts together with violinists Anne Sophie Mutter, Rainer Honeck, and baritone Matthias Goerne. The orchestra will perform at Rheingau Musik Festival, Salzburg Festival, Grafenegg Festival, BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival and Enescu Festival.
It will be the 7th European tour for the PSO and Manfred Honeck, and the very first concert at the Salzburg Festival under the direction of Manfred Honeck. The last time the PSO was in Salzburg, was in 2003 together with former Music Director Mariss Jansons.
Find the tour dates here.
In preperation of the trip the PSO has uploaded an illustrative tour video. Klick here.
On 7, 8 and 10 July cellist Jan Vogler will perform concerts together with pianist Hélène Grimaud in Germany. Both will play Duo concerts at Schloss Neuhardenberg, at the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival as well as in Essen, at Klavier-Festival Ruhr.
Works by Schumann, Shostakovich, Debussy and Brahms will be on the program.
Kent Nagano will be passing the torch in 2020 – The music director will continue to lead the Orchestra for the next three seasons
MONTREAL, June 29, 2017—The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and Kent Nagano are announcing today that, after a long deliberation, he has decided not to accept the invitation by the OSM to extend his contract as music director beyond 2020.
“We intend to continue the relationship with Maestro Nagano at the end of his term in three years so that the public and all of us can maintain a relationship with the conductor who, ultimately, will have spent 16 memorable years in Montreal,” commented Lucien Bouchard, chair of the OSM’s board of directors. Mr. Bouchard further wishes to highlight the outstanding accomplishments of the maestro, saying Kent Nagano will “leave an indelible mark on the institution,” and to praise Maestro Nagano’s leadership, creativity and discipline.
“The OSM, its administration, board of directors, as well as the community of Montreal and Quebec can be deeply proud of what we have achieved in our years of working so intensely together – over the past years we have accomplished nothing short of a miracle in shaping such a vital, financially stable, boldly innovative orchestra that continues to illuminate the relevance of the symphony orchestra for the 21st century,” declared Kent Nagano.
The maestro added that “following a decade and a half as music director, it seems like a natural transition point at which to change the nature of our relationship and we are presently enjoying creative discussions about the directions in which that could lead. The 21st century continues to be a prosperous, wonderfully creative and innovative time for the whole organization and the city of Montreal and there remain many exciting goals and projects to fulfill.”
“We’re now looking to the future, because we still have three magnificent seasons with Maestro Nagano, which will undoubtedly meet our audiences’ expectations. We’re confident that the OSM will continue to add new milestones to its glorious history,” added CEO Madeleine Careau.
Given that major international orchestras plan their seasons years in advance, the OSM’s management will quickly establish a process to select Mr. Nagano’s successor in order to ensure a smooth transition.
“These years with Maestro Nagano as the OSM’s music director have been incredible and will not be forgotten neither by the Orchestra nor its audiences,” concluded Mr. Bouchard.
About the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Since its founding in 1934, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) has made a name for itself as a leading orchestra in Quebec and Canada. The OSM is a cultural ambassador of the highest order, having earned an enviable international reputation for its many quality recordings and tours. The OSM proudly upholds this tradition under the leadership of its current music director, Kent Nagano, by featuring innovative programming that aims to rejuvenate the orchestra’s repertoire and strengthen its connection with the community. Over the years, the OSM has gone on tour approximately 40 times and roughly 30 excursions in Canada and abroad. The Orchestra has more than 100 recordings to its name on the Decca, EMI, Philips, CBC Records, Analekta, ECM and Sony labels, as well as on its own label. These recording have earned some 50 national and international awards.
The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is presented by Hydro-Québec.
Internationally renowned soloist joins a storied violin lineage and robust community engagement program at Curtis
Philadelphia – June 27, 2017 – The Curtis Institute of Music welcomes celebrated violinist Midori to the faculty beginning in the 2018–19 school year.
“We are thrilled to welcome Midori to Curtis,” said Curtis President Roberto Díaz. “A soloist renowned worldwide who pairs her international performing schedule with a commitment to community collaboration and outreach, she embodies the artist-citizen ideal that we want to instill in our students. Curtis enjoys a long tradition of distinguished and active performers serving on the faculty, and Midori’s work to bring music to underserved communities fits so well with our thriving community engagement program at Curtis. I’m sure that all our students – not just violinists – will have an opportunity to benefit from her presence here.”READ MORE
On Friday, 30 June the label Accentus will release the CD-Box with all nine Beethoven symphonies recorded by Herbert Blomstedt and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig.
The CD box will therefore be released only a few weeks before Herbert Blomstedt’s 90. birthday on 11 July 2017.
In their most recent collaboration, Concerto Köln and the internationally-renowned conductor, Kent Nagano, pursue a leading-edge project: in cooperation with scientists at the university and Musikhochschule in Cologne, they are taking on Richard Wagner’s tetralogy, “The Ring of the Nibelung”. Their undertaking will provide the international opera scene with new impetus in historically-informed approaches to musical-theatrical works of the 19th century.
Jochen Schäfsmeier (Managing Director, Concerto Köln): “Concerto Köln is as honoured as it is inspirited to approach Wagner’s “Ring” together with Kent Nagano and to be able to make an important contribution to the historical performance practice of 19th century music.”
For the first time, the entire “Ring” is to be viewed from an early music movement perspective: the instrumental and vocal styles as well as the staging at the time of Wagner will be examined over a period of several years and compiled to form a historically-informed performance concept.
Kent Nagano (Artistic Director): “It is due to historical performance practice that nowadays there is a much different understanding of many composers and their works than was standard 30 or 40 years ago. Moreover, thanks to historicized approaches, we have gained knowledge about instruments and playing techniques which opens up to us new, pioneering pathways into the interpretation and performance of our music.
Richard Wagner’s “The Ring of the Nibelung” is probably one of the most researched compositions yet nonetheless, a systematic approach to the tetralogy from a historically-informed perspective has not been attempted thus far. It is therefore all the more important that such an undertaking is tackled and that, in romantic repertoire now as well, normality in terms of sound which seemed irrefutable so far is called into question.
I have collaborated together with Concerto Köln for several projects in the past and am convinced that I have found two most competent partners in the Cologne ensemble and the Kunststiftung NRW who are able to provide the scientific basis for a historically-informed reading of Richard Wagner’s “Ring”. Together we will pursue this endeavor and bring the music to the stage!”
The simultaneously scientific as well as artistic undertaking on such a mammoth scale requires tremendous effort with the additional aim of becoming a guide to performance practice of 19th century music and opera. The outcome, interpreted by Concerto Köln and Kent Nagano, will be performed from the 2020/21 onward. All research findings will be published in Open Access.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Wagner (Kunststiftung NRW): “For the Kunststiftung NRW, the support of the project, “WAGNER-READINGS”, is of significance in a number of ways. For several years, supporting artistic research has played a major role within the Kunststiftung’s funding programs – albeit with a primary focus on theater, dance and literature; examples of this being the Christoph-Schlingensief guest professorship for scenic research at the Ruhr University in Bochum, the Pina Bausch fellowship and the Thomas Kling lectureship at the University of Bonn. With “WAGNER-READINGS”, the base of support is expanded to the area of music, bringing art and research together in a so to speak ideal-typical way by conducting research into the complex correlations involved in the musical-theatrical production of Wagner and translating the results into artistic practice.”
Initial work already began in May of 2017. The official go-ahead for the project is a symposium in September, 2017. Financial support is provided by the Kunststiftung NRW and the Freunde von Concerto Köln e.V. Additional support is provided by the Strecker-Stiftung and MBL Akustikgeräte GmbH & Co. KG.
Further information can be found at www.wagner-lesarten.de
Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends Present New Worlds Recording To Be Released September 2017 on Decca Gold
Through a chance meeting on a flight from Berlin to New York, actor Bill Murray and cellist Jan Vogler became fast friends, curious about each others’ artistic worlds and interests. The result of their collaboration is New Worlds, an unexpected and enchanting exploration of the intersection of music and literature. Both the recording and live events feature songs paired with literary readings brought to life with classical music.
The ensemble performing New Worlds consists of Bill Murray (vocals and narration), Jan Vogler (cello), Mira Wang (violin) and Vanessa Perez (piano) – four musicians whose origins span four different continents. Bill Murray comments, “I am bathing in this experience, really. I can’t get enough of it.”
New Worlds had its world premiere on June 4 at the Dresden Music Festival, Germany, with its U.S. premiere to follow on July 20 at the Festival Napa Valley, California. The US fall tour will culminate with a performance at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall on October 16, 2017 (Tickets: www.carnegiehall.org) A world tour is confirmed for the fall and into 2018 (itinerary below).
The recording will be released this September on Decca Gold (the new U.S. classical imprint of Universal Music Group), marking Mr. Murray’s first official complete recorded album on a classical music label.
In a recent New York Times story following the final recording session, the project was put into focus: “Mr. Murray described the idea as ‘the collision of America and Europe,’ in part reflected in the backgrounds of each of the four members of his new group. ‘We are from four different continents,’ he said. ‘And when the continents come together, the music moves right across the peninsulas from one to the other. It’s just a short journey from one continent to the other.”
New Worlds showcases American values in literature and music, and the bridges artists have built between America and Europe. Twain, Hemingway, Whitman, Cooper, Bernstein, Bach, Piazzolla, Mancini, Gershwin and Foster are some of the writers and composers represented on New Worlds–masters whose distinct voices have influenced generations in America and beyond. Jan Vogler says, “I grew up with Mark Twain, and we had the complete Hemingway at home, of course in German translation.”
This endeavor between great music and great literature brings together an unexpected collective of creative forces, each at the top of their fields. Jan Vogler’s distinguished career has pushed the boundaries of classical music. He is known for his strong curatorial approach to his music making, combining history, classical tradition and a contemporary style of performance. Bill Murray, in his own right, has forged the most independent career in Hollywood, weaving comedy and depth into some of the most memorable roles in cinema.