Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra announces Oxford Piano Festival 2020
The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director Marios Papadopoulos announce the 22nd Oxford Piano Festival taking place from 1– 9 August. The Festival welcomes some of the world’s most distinguished pianists and teachers for a week-long series of varied concerts and masterclasses, including Nelson Freire, Richard Goode, Alain Lefèvre, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Paul Lewis, George Li, Nikolai Lugansky, and Menahem Pressler, Life President of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra.
Read moreMarking Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary, Insula orchestra and La Fura dels Baus stage Pastoral for the Planet for UN World Environment Day with European tour
Marking UN World Environment Day on 5 June 2020, Laurence Equilbey and her Insula orchestra join Carlus Padrissa of the Catalan theatre group La Fura dels Baus to create a daring new multimedia production, Pastoral for the Planet, with 360° video projections. 55 musicians, actors and dancers will participate in the project, pairing Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony no. 6 with the music of his contemporaries: Anton Reicha, Julius Rietz, Fanny Hensel-Mendessohn, and Carl Maria von Weber creating a tale of the relationship between mankind and the natural world.
Read morePioneering conductor Odaline de la Martinez co-curates trailblazing Juilliard Focus Festival acknowledging early 20th-century women composers
Highlighting the pioneering writing of 20th-century women composers, composer- conductor Odaline de la Martinez co-curates Trailblazers — Pioneering Women Composers of the 20th Century – a Festival she leads alongside Festival Founder Joel Sachs. The Juilliard Focus 2020 Festival celebrates the centenary of women’s suffrage in the USA, with the Nineteenth Amendment first giving women the vote in 1920.
Read moreOxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Marios Papadopoulos lead the UK’s most comprehensive Beethoven celebration
Presenting the most comprehensive 250th anniversary celebration of the great composer’s life and work in the UK, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Marios Papadopoulos announce the Oxford Beethoven Festival 2020. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in Bonn, twinned with Oxford, making the historic English city the ideal UK home of the year-long Festival of musical, academic, and cultural events.
Read moreJohn Nelson’s new recording of Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust released on Warners Erato
Following acclaimed performances in Strasbourg in April 2019, Warners Erato releases a new recording of Berlioz’s monumental La Damnation de Faust with renowned American conductor and Berlioz expert John Nelson. Nelson follows the success of his multi award-winning Les Troyens with this new recording, released on Friday 22 November, reuniting Joyce DiDonato and Michael Spyres as Marguerite and Faust.
Read moreLes Talens Lyriques release new recording of Lully’s Isis: the opera behind a royal scandal
Revisiting the opera which caused a royal scandal at the Court of Louis XIV, Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques release Lully’s Isis on disc with Aparté on 15 November. Isis is the eighth Lully opera released by Les Talens Lyriques, continuing their highly-renowned survey of the composer’s operas. The disc was recorded in Beaune in July 2019. A distinguished cast includes Ève-Maud Hubeaux and Bénédicte Tauran as Io and Juno, and Edwin Crossley-Mercer as Jupiter. The CD release precedes performances in Paris (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, 6 December), Versailles (Opéra Royal, 10 December) and Vienna (Theater an der Wien, 22 February).
Read moreCellist Raphael Wallfisch champions neglected composers on disc: Bloch and Weinberg
Internationally-renowned cellist Raphael Wallfisch releases two new albums in his Voices in the Wilderness series, unearthing works by the underestimated 20th-century composers Ernest Bloch and Mieczysław Weinberg. On 1 November, Wallfisch commits to disc the first recording of Ernest Bloch’s unusual Symphony for Trombone or Violincello, followed on 6 December by the first recording of Mieczysław Weinberg’s Cello Concertino, both released on the CPO label. The Voices in the Wilderness series has previously championed concertos by Gál, Reizenstein, Bloch, and Goldschmidt.
Read moreOdaline de la Martinez conducts debut recording of Ethel Smyth’s Fête Galante with Retrospect Opera
Marking the 75th anniversary of the remarkable suffragette composer’s death in 2019, Retrospect Opera releases the first complete recording of Ethel Smyth’s Fête Galante, conducted by Odaline de la Martinez and her Lontano Ensemble. Martinez, who in 1984 became the first woman to conduct at the BBC Proms, is a renowned Smyth interpreter, and has long championed the composer’s work, first reintroducing the Smyth to the public eye with a performance of Smyth’s The Wreckers at the 1994 BBC Proms that was later released on disc.
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