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25. January 2015

Midori receives APAP 2015 Award (January 2015)

Midori is this year’s winner of the prestigious APAP Award of Merit for Achievement in Performing Arts, which is given each year by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The prize is awarded “to an individual whose genius, energy and excellence have defined or redefined an art form for today’s audiences”, and it includes composer Philip Glass, singer Jessye Norman, and the Kronos Quartet among its most recent recipients.

Midori received the prize on 12 January at the 58th Annual APAP Awards Ceremony in New York, as part of APAP NYC 2015, which gathers presenters from North America and more than 30 countries worldwide.

20. January 2015

Omer Meir Wellber conducts Academy Concerts in Munich (January 2015)

Omer Meir Wellber makes his symphonic debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich conducting the “Academy Concerts” on 2 and 3 February 2015.

The program features De Falla’s Suite No. 1 and the Symphony No. 6 by Shostakovich; percussionist Peter Sadlo plays „Focs d’artifici“ (fireworks) by the Catalan composer Ferran Cruixent.

Omer Meir Wellber comments: “After conducting ‘Carmen’ in December 2014, I am very happy to return to the rostrum of the Bavarian State Orchestra so soon and to continue the very inspiring work with this long-standing orchestra – this time with a symphonic program. The rhythm is in the focus of the programming as the vital element for composition and style which we will explore in the pieces by De Falla, Ferran Cruixent and Shostakovich.”

Please click here for more information.

17. January 2015

Rarities on CD: French trumpet concertos (January 2015)

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Paul Merkelo – Principal Trumpet with the orchestra for over 20 years – have recorded rarely played French trumpet concertos that are renowned for being some of the most demanding pieces for this instrument.

The French repertoire draws attention to a period in Europe that saw the liberation of its people at the end of World War II, and a rejuvenation of its soul through their artists, writers, and poets. This freedom of expression is clearly heard in the works of Henri Tomasi (1901-1970), Alfred Desenclos (1912-1971), and André Jolivet (1905-1974). Their interest in the sound of the trumpet and its ability to fit into a jazz idiom, as well as being a highly virtuosic instrument, gave birth to three of the most beautiful trumpet concertos.

Paul Merkelo recorded this repertoire accompanied by his colleagues under the baton of Music Director Kent Nagano at Maison symphonique de Montréal. The CD has just been released by Analekta.

21. December 2014

Grammy Award Nomination for PSO (December 2014)

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra led by Music Director Manfred Honeck has been nominated for a 2015 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for its Dvořák/Janáček release.

The album, including Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 and the Symphonic Suite from Jenůfa by Leoš Janáček, has been released in July 2014 from Reference Recordings’ label.

The Grammy Awards Ceremony will be held February 8th, 2015.

21. December 2014

Manfred Honeck conducts Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica (December 2014)

Manfred Honeck, Music Director of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, will conduct this year’s Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Honeck will lead an orchestra composed of musicians from Rome and throughout the world in Et Incarnatus Est from Mozart’s Mass in C minor. Israeli singer Chen Reiss will sing one of the solo parts.

The Christmas Mass will be celebrated by Pope Francis and broadcast live beginning at 3:30 p.m. EST on EWTN TV and radio, Vatican Radio and the Vatican Youtube channel, among others.

25. November 2014

Midori – Charity concert in Cologne (November 2014)

On 30 November Midori will play to the benefit of Lufthansa’s Help Alliance und “Wir helfen”, together with the Gürzenich Orchester Köln. The program includes Tchaikovsky’s violon concerto, directed by Michael Sanderling.

http://www.guerzenich-orchester.de/konzert/benefizkonzert/130/

21. November 2014

Strauss CD of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra nominated for ICMA (November 2014)

The Strauss recording by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Manfred Honeck is nominated in the Symphonic Music category of the International Classic Music Awards. The CD with three of Strauss’ “Tondichtungen” – “Don Juan”, “Death and Transfiguration” and “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” was published in November 2013 by Reference Recordings.

The final result with the ICMA winners will be published January 20, 2015.

21. November 2014

Jan Vogler on tour with La Folia Barockorchester (November 2014)

Jan Vogler and La Folia Barockorchester will present selected pieces of their CD during a joint tour in November:

21 November, Kufstein, Stadtsaal
23 November, Basel, Casino
24 November, Villach, Congress Center
27 November, Dresden, Hochschule für Musik
28 November, Bad Lauchstädt, Goethetheater
29 November, Berlin, Radialsystem
30 November, Rapperswil
Caldara: Concerto da Camera for cello and orchestra D minor
Vivaldi: Concerto for cello and orchestra B minor
Vivaldi: Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra
Porpora: Concerto for cello and orchestra G Major

Jan Vogler has recorded the CD with works by Vivaldi, Caldara, Porpora, Vandini and Marcello together with La Folia Barockorchester. Giuliano Carmignola is his partner in Vivaldi’s Double Concerto for violin and cello.

Jan Vogler was keen “to find a new and at the same time ‘old’ sound for the cello using a Baroque bow and gut strings, a sound inspired less by our present-day ideas of the ethereal tone of a Baroque cello than by the colours and light of a Venetian painting.”

You can find a video of the CD recording here: youtu.be/y0DVcij1QSk.

20. November 2014

Omer Meir Wellber: Israeli Opera & Bayerische Staatsoper (November 2014)

In November, Omer Meir Wellber returns to the Israeli Opera to conduct Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, directed by Katharina Thalbach. The production combines commedia del’arte style with the fast life style of the 21st century. Please click here for further information.

22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 November, 7 December
Tel Aviv, Israeli Opera
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
The Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion
Mario Cassi/Christian Senn – Figaro, Annalisa Stroppa/Na’ama Goldman – Rosina, Omar Montanari/Marco Camastra – Bartolo, Edgardo Rocha/Juan Jose de Leon – Almaviva, Vladimir Braun/ Denis Sedov – Don Basilio, Shiri Hershkovitz – Berta
The Israeli Opera Chorus, Ethan Schmeisser
Katharina Thalbach – stage design

At the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich Omer Meir Wellber conducts Bizet’s masterwork “Carmen” on 19, 22 and 26 December. The opera is staged by Lina Wertmüller and the cast features Tareq Nazmi – Zuniga, Andrea Borghini – Moralès, Yonghoon Lee – Don José, Gábor Bretz – Escamillo, Alexander Kaimbacher – Dancaïro, Dean Power – Remendado, Eri Nakamura – Frasquita, Angela Brower – Mercédès, Clémentine Margaine – Carmen and Golda Schultz – Micaëla.

Please click here for more information.

Omer Meir Wellber will return to the Munich opera in February to condcut the 4th Academy Concert.

20. November 2014

Herrenchiemsee Festival 14 to 27 July 2015 | Programme presentation (November 2014)

In 2015, the Herrenchiemsee Festival will use Schumann’s title “Of Foreign Lands and People” as their motto to present music from all over the world:

The opening concert on 14 July, with four Bach cantatas, will highlight the journey of the Three Wise Kings from Saba to Bethlehem. On 15 July, an extraordinary programme will combine Venetian and Turkish music about the Battle of Lepanto. The festival will feature Smetana‘s ode to his Czech “Vaterland” (homeland), as well as Purcell’s British “King Arthur” and Puccini’s emigration opera “Manon Lescaut”. This world tour of music would not be complete without the “Scottish Symphony” by Felix Mendelssohn, as well as music by the Russian masters Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky. And finally, the highly acclaimed 2012 performance of Robert Schumann’s secular-exotic oratorio “Paradise and the Peri” will once again be included in the programme.

As for the architectural dreams of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, it seemed more like travelling back in time to the romantically transfigured Middle Ages or Versailles designed by King Louis XIV. Nevertheless, it did not take the monarch long to conceive construction projects for illusionist representations of faraway worlds. For instance, he planned to build a byzantine and, at a later stage, even a Chinese palace in the middle of the Bavarian Graswang valley. And when his architectural fantasies began to fail in the face of financial reality, he seriously considered transferring his main residence to Tenerife or to one of the other Canary Islands. His bold utopias have once again pre-empted modern tourist dreams.

Please click here for the full programme.

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