Listen to Manfred Honeck from 23 until 27 November each morning from 9-10 am (GMT) at “Essential Classics” with Rob Cowan and Ian Renkin at BBC Radio 3.
Honeck talks about various recordings (Reference Recordings) he did with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, whose Music Director he is.
Kent Nagano, Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor of Göteborgs Symfoniker, is touring with the orchestra from 7 until 10 November 2015 in Germany. Soloists of the concerts in Stuttgart, Freiburg, Munich and Cologne will be pianist Kit Armstrong and violinist Arabella Steinbacher.
The programs are the following:
7 November
Stuttgart, Liederhalle
Göteborgs Symfoniker
Sibelius: Finlandia
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Kit Armstrong – Piano
8 November
Freiburg, Konzerthaus
s. 7 November
9. November
Munich, Philharmonie am Gasteig
Göteborgs Symfoniker
Sibelius: Finlandia
Mendelssohn: Violin Concert e minor
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Arabella Steinbacher – Violin
10 November
Cologne, Philharmonie
Göteborgs Symfonikers
s. 9 November
On Monday, 16 November at 5 pm (Montréal time) the Book „Expect the Unexpected!“ by Kent Nagano (and Co-author Inge Kloepfer) will be presented in its French translation on the Canadian book marked by Éditions du Boréal. The book is titled „Sonnez, Merveilles!“.
The book presentation will take place in Maison Symphonique, the Concert Hall of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
It will be his debut with the orchestra, conducting Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Schumann’s Concerto for Violin, Wagner’s Lohengrin Prelude (Act 1) and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.
Read more here.
On the occasion of the concerts Omer Meir Wellber was guest at BBC Radio 3 In Tune on 3 November. Listen to the show here.
Only some days later, on 12 and 13 November, Omer Meir Wellber will be guest at Concert Hall in Vienna, conducting Camerata Salzburg, performing together with Violinist Hilary Hahn. This concert will also be his debut with this orchestra. Find more information here.
On 24 October – almost to the day 10 years after he reopened the rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche in 2005, together with the New York Philharmonic and Lorin Maazel – cellist Jan Vogler performed in the famous heritage building with a New York Orchestra again:
24 October, 20 h, Dresden, Frauenkirche
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Mendelssohn: A Midsummernight’s Dream – overture op. 21
Wolfgang Rihm: Duo Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra European premiere
Saint-Saëns: La Muse et le Poète for violin, cello and orchestra
Schumann: Symphony No. 2
Mira Wang – violin, Jan Vogler – cello
The concert was broadcast live via medici.tv and can be watched on www.medici.tv until late November.
Together, they will present the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s double concerto on 15 October at Carnegie Hall New York, and the Asian premiere follows on 14 November together with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in Singapore.
Jan Vogler about the double concerto: „It is an especially beautiful task and challenge to present Wolfgang Rihm‘s ‘Duo Concerto’ on three continents within one month. The piece had been commissioned by the ‘Friends of Dresden Music’ in the US in 2013 in order to ‘support the transatlantic and worldwide understanding among people through music’ (score dedication note) – a high claim, emphasized by the concert venues: We will premiere the work on 15 October in New York’s Carnegie Hall where all the famous artists from Europe performed in the twenties of the 20th century, thus establishing today’s American musical life. The next performance will take place in on 24 October in Dresden’s Frauenkirche, destroyed in the last days of war in 1945, and rebuilt after the German reunification with the help of donations from all over the world. On 14 November Rihm’s ‘Duo Concerto’ will be presented in the glamorous Esplanade in Singapore. This ten year old concert hall is a synonym of Asia’s upturn and interest in European music.
‘Duo Concerto’ is a crystal clear dialogue, violin and cello solo parts reacting to the orchestra’s harmonious inspirations in joint cascades of sound. The mostly tonal work unites virtuosity, sense for sound and reflective depth.”
The invitation list for the Dresden gala concert includes high-ranking politicians, the American ambassador in Berlin, John B. Emerson, and the German Ambassador in Washington DC, Peter Wittig.
Jan Vogler’s new Sony CD will be out in early 2016 featuring Tchaikovsky’s Rokoko variations, recorded together with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
On Saturday, 24 October, the Bavarian State Opera will celebrate the premiere of its first new production of season 2015/16, Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele. Omer Meir Wellber will conduct the performance, staged by Roland Schwab. The role of Mefistofele will be sung by René Pape. Find here more information about the production and cast.
Further performances will be on 29 October, 1, 6, 10 and 15 November.
Channel BR Klassik will broadcast the premiere live at 7 pm. Find here the link.
The performance on 15 November will be streamed live via Staatsopern.TV.
Midori‘s long-awaited new CD will be available on the Onyx Classics label on 30 October 2015, for which she recorded Bach‘s sonatas and partitas for violin solo BWV 1001-1006 in the WDR studios Cologne.
The music is already available on iTunes and Spotify.
It was on the occasion of her 30th stage anniversary that she decided to record these works after having been engaging herself with this outstanding music for a long time in her life.
Midori about her heart project: „Bach presents us with scores that call for the performer to extend his artistic capacities and technical refinement to the utmost. While it takes more than a lifetime to master and ‘understand’ these works, after 30 years on stage the time felt right for me to fully embrace these most daunting and invaluable compositions.“ She performed the Bach solo program in Munich, Vienna, at the Lucerne Festival and in Japan; more concerts are to follow in 2016.
Among many other engagements in the 2015-16 season she will perform twice in Berlin (Philharmonie and Konzerthaus), in London’s Wigmore Hall and in Vienna, and in January 2016, she will go on tour to Germany and the Netherlands with the Filarmonica Teatro La Fenice from Venice and Omer Meir Wellber.
Together with the charity organization A new Dawn in the Negev and the Music Conservatory Be’er Sheva, Omer Meir Wellber will launch the education program Sarab – Strings of Change as initiator and founding member.
On 9 September 2015 at 4 pm at Al Salem Primary School in Rahat, the doors will be open for the public. The mayor of Rahat Talal Alkirnawi, the organizers, the education officers as well as the students will welcome the guests and the municipality and will celebrate with music and speeches.
Sarab – Strings of Change strives to introduce a life transforming music program where it is needed most: among the Bedouins of the Negev, one of the poorest and most discriminated groups within Israeli society.
Already in the beginning of 2015 a very modern music lab with two soundproof practice rooms was created at Al Salem Primary School. In April 2015 two professional part time teachers began with the first violin lessons. The teachers are present in the school 4 days a week and reach over a 100 students. The instruments are provided by the school.
Next school year a first student concert is planned.
The ARC Ensemble presents works by the Polish composer Jerzy Fitelberg (1903-1951) on its newest release and unveils five pieces as premiere recordings.
During the National Socialist era, Jerzy Fitelberg was forced to leave Poland due to his Jewish roots and to flee to America in 1933. The five works, presented on the album, were composed between 1921 and 1943 and thus before and during his exile in America. They present the whole range of Fitelberg’s chamber music compositions.
The Canadian ARC Ensemble consisting of members of the Royal Conservatory in Toronto plays a leading role in the rediscovery of repertoire previously repressed due to political upheaval. The ensemble’s work has received the highest praise from the international press and its concerts and recordings are thoroughly researched.
After publishing chamber music recordings by Paul Ben-Haim in 2013 this new recording is the second cooperation between the ARC Ensemble and Chandos in the series “Music in Exile”.
The Herrenchiemsee Festival will take place from 12 until 24 July 2016. The motto for next year’s festival will be „Music of the night“.
The dates and program will soon be published here.