Pianist Klara Min has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe. On Tuesday, 23th April, 7:30pm, she will make her London debut at Wigmore Hall. The programme consists of pieces by Schumann, Sean Hickey (UK premiere) and Chopin. You can already listen to Klara’s interpretation of the Chopin Mazurkas – a few pieces she will also play at Wigmore Hall – on her recently released CD on the Delos label. In his review American Record Guide’s Stephen Estep raved:

“Min plays with the most ravishing piano tone I’ve heard in the last 50 discs I’ve listened to, at least! Her dynamic control is out of this world … anybody’s music would be served well by Min’s touch.”

Klara will be also appearing on BBC Radio 3 In Tune on Monday afternoon, 22th April.

(Written on April 19, 2013 )

Excitement certainly abounds in our office when the BBC Proms programme is announced. This year was no different, from Joyce DiDinato closing the season, Marin Alsop becoming the first female conductor to lead the Last Night of the Proms, to a number of our clients performing in this year’s lineup.

Another great asset to this year’s Proms was the inclusion of new commissions, along with more national and world premieres in the programme. Whilst it is still less than 20% of the Proms that include new commissions, it is still a fantastic effort by the BBC to bring new works to a new, and very wide, audience. We hope that this number continues to grow in future!

This year’s BBC Commissions include works by Julian Anderson, Frederic Rzewski, John McCabe and Charlotte Seither. A definite highlight of the Proms will be the BBC co-commission of Mark-Anthony Turnage, with the Royal Philharmonic Society and New York Philharmonic: Frieze in Prom 38.

One of the 8 UK premieres this year is Colin Matthews’ Turning Point in Prom 21, performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the baton of Thomas Søndergård, in his Proms debut. Also appearing in this Prom is violinist Daniel Hope, who is playing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

Daniel Harding conducts works by Mozart, Schumann and Sibelius at Prom 23 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, while pianist Anika Vavic makes her Proms debut at Prom 64 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, also performing Prokofiev.

Prom 19 is a performance of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde including tenor Andrew Staples with the BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

We salute all of these great performers with a ‘Toi toi toi!’ and look forward to the summer and another great year of BBC Proms programming.

(Written on April 18, 2013 )

The Guardian

How composers from Mozart to Bach made their music add up

Works from The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute to Schumann’s Lyric Suite betray their creators’ fascination with numbers.

The Telegraph

Sex, jealousy and strings

A star-studded new film explores the intense inner world of the string quartet. Yet the truth, says Ivan Hewett, is even more startling.

Classic FM

John Eliot Gardiner on birthdays, Bach and bath towels

Classic FM’s David Mellor and John Eliot Gardiner discuss the various exciting projects Gardiner has in store for his 70th year, as well as what the future may hold.

Gramophone

La Nuova Musica record Vivaldi and Handel Dixit Dominus settings

Harmonia Mundi album is due for release on April 8.

Gramophone

English National Opera names new chairman

Businessman Martyn Rose takes up post on May 1.

Planet Hugill

Maclean’s Magazine

Montreal without Nagano?

From La Presse‘s Claude Gingras comes the news, that Kent Nagano, the music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, will leave town when his second contract expires in 2016.

The Guardian

(Written on April 5, 2013 )

Tomorrow evening at 7.30pm, renowned independent school, Millfield School, will perform its much-anticipated concert at Cadogan Hall, London.

The performance, celebrating Millfield’s impressive 2012-13 concert season, will include the school’s award-winning chamber choir, the Millfield Camerata, performing a world premiere of Jumping the Rhynes for choir and percussion ensemble. The piece was especially written for the school by ‘The Police’ drummer and Millfield School alumnus, Stewart Copeland, having been inspired by his time at the school in the 1960s. The concert will also feature Millfield’s String Consultant, leading violinist So-Ock Kim, whose career has seen her perform at some of London’s most renowned venues including Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican.

‘Millfield at Cadogan’ has been greatly anticipated, being featured in many popular publications including Classic FM, Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine What’s On. Tickets for the event start at £15 and the programme for the concert is as follows:

Stewart Copeland World Premiere of ‘Jumping the Rhynes’ (chorus and percussion ensemble)

Vivaldi Four Seasons

Mozart Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor

Schumann Piano Quintet

For more information about the concert or to purchase tickets, please click here.

Millfield Camerata

(Written on March 22, 2013 )

Following an active and engaging programme in January, the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel has many more exciting upcoming events in the next couple of months.

The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel holds a very close relationship with the Bozar, Belgium’s finest music hall. Young musicians of the Music Chapel will perform in the venue’s series Bozar Sundays on 17th February at 11am. Cellist Wojciech Fudala, pianists Ashot Khachatourian and Philippe Riga, tenor Giovanni Tristacci, accompanied by Dana Protopopescu. The following month, pianists Polina Bogdanova, Christia Hudziy and Adriaan Jacobs will perform with violinist Liya Petrova and bassist Charles Dekeyser. The morning concert will include works by Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven and Kreutzer. On 16th March, violinist Yossif Ivanov and pianist Itamar Golan will perform in an evening concert at 8pm.

On 19th February, pianist Mertol Demirelli and cellist Pau Codina Masferrer will perform at the Danieli Museum as part of the Maison de la Musique concert series. The young artists both study and train at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, and will be joined on stage by piano coach, Dana Protopopescu. They will perform Sonatas by Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms, alongside works by Chopin and Bach. The following concert in this series will be on the 28th February, highlighting the talents of pianist Christia Hudziy, cellist Deborah Pae, violinist Floris Willem, accompanied by Dana Protopopescu. The young musicians of the Music Chapel will perform music from Paganini, Schumann, Saint-Saëns and a Concerto for Violin by Mozart. The Maison de la Musique series will continue through March and April.

One of the highlights of the upcoming events, showcasing the talent of the young musicians, is the Mozart Prelude on 7th March at the Flagey venue in Brussels. Celebrated conductor Augustin Dumay will lead the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, pianist Ashot Khachatourian, cellist Wojciech Fudala with renowned French violist Gérard Caussé and violinist Liya Petrova. The highly anticipated evening will include works by Mozart along with Haydn’s Concerto No. 2 in D Major for cello and orchestra. Before the concert, Gérard Caussé will be giving a master-class to the young string players of the Music Chapel.

Keep up-to-date with news at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel through their website, Facebook, Twitter and regular posts from WildKat PR.

Photos of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and the Flagey venue.

(Written on February 6, 2013 )

Following the launch of Ignatz Waghalter’s violin repertoire on CD, Irmina Trynkos and Giorgi Latsabidze will be performing Waghalter’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor op.82, alongside works by Wieniawski, and sonatas by Elgar and Schumann tomorrow at a concert at Philharmonie Berlin at 7:30 pm.

Ignatz Waghalter was a Jewish German-Polish composer, born in Warsaw in 1881. He and his family later moved to Berlin, where he worked under several esteemed composers, such as Joseph Joachim who encouraged and supported Waghalter to be admitted into the Berlin Akademie der Künste, where he studied composition and conducting. Alongside his composition, Waghalter was appointed conductor at Komische Oper, followed by the Deutsche Operhaus, Berlin, and was recognized as a huge musical figure, well-loved and respected by both musicians and his audiences. However, Ignatz Waghalter, like many composers of the time, was forced to flee his home in 1934, due to the invasion by the Nazis, and his works became lost and forgotten.

Whilst in Germany, Waghalter produced a huge reportoire for violin, some of which has been performed and recorded by virtuoso violinist Irmina Trynkos, pianist Giorgi Latsabidze, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Walker. The CD features première recordings of the Violin Concerto in A major, Op.15 and Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra, Op.9 as well as the Violin Sonata Op.5 and two pieces for violin and piano: Idyll, Op.19b and Geständnis.

Tomorrow evening’s concert will see the return of Waghalter’s music to be performed in Berlin once again.

To book tickets, and for more information, visit the event website here.

(Written on October 4, 2012 )

Today marks the CD launch of Ignatz Waghalter’s violin repertoire by Naxos, performed and recorded by virtuoso violinist Irmina Trynkos, pianist Giorgi Latsabidze, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Walker. The CD will feature première recordings of the Violin Concerto in A major, Op.15 and Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra, Op.9 as well as the Violin Sonata Op.5 and two pieces for violin and piano: Idyll, Op.19b and Geständnis.

To celebrate the launch of the album, Irmina and Giorgi Latsabidze will be performing Waghalter’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor op.82, alongside works by Wieniawski, and sonatas by Elgar and Schumann tonight at a concert at St John’s Smith Square at 7:30 pm. For more information visit their website here.

Ignatz Waghalter was a Polish-German composer born in 1881 in Warsaw, later moving to Berlin. Born to a musical Jewish family, Waghalter was a prodigy pianist from a young age and winner of the Mendlessohn Award at the age of 21. Whilst in Germany, he was well-loved and respected by both musicians and his audiences, premiering three operas during his lifetime and producing a huge collection of works for violin with piano or orchestra. However, with the invasion of the Nazis, like many other composers of the time, Waghalter and his family fled their lives in Berlin and his works became lost and forgotten.

Irmina Trynkos and Giorgi Latsabidze will also be performing at the Philharmonie Berlin on Friday 5^th October. For tickets and more information about the concert, visit here.

(Written on October 1, 2012 )

(Written on September 13, 2012 )

The Guardian

Kathleen Ferrier – remembering one true voice

Just a single phrase of Kathleen Ferrier’s singing reveals a voice of extraordinary power and expression. She’s still an inspiration, nearly 60 years after her tragically early death.

The Observer

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, St John Passion, Polyphony; Rigoletto – review

Fiona Maddocks reviews various musical events including the LA Phil, the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchesta and Gustavo Dudamel.

The Independent

Lesley Garrett: ‘I lost my voice in the middle of an opera; I thought my career was over’

Opera is the greatest artistic collaboration known to mankind, as it combines visual art, orchestral overtures, a powerful dance element, a vocal element and, most importantly, powerful drama.

International Conductors’ Academy of the Allianz Cultural Foundation, Royal Festival Hal

A showcase for three young conductors, a malfunction at the printers, and for the first time in my experience no programmes for the audience and the prospect of blind-tasting their talents.

The Telegraph

Colin Lee: Missing a tenor? Blame the accountant…

A modest tenor may sound like a contradiction in terms, but that’s how I’d describe Colin Lee. Even more exceptionally, he combines his international operatic career with work as a chartered accountant.

Can non-Christians appreciate Bach’s St Matthew Passion?

Bach’s St matthew Passion is  musical masterpiece. But can you understand it without sharing its creator’s beliefs?

The New York Times

Reconfigured Requiem with Words to the Force

For the Hungarian conductor Ivan Fischer the unexpected is the norm.

The Times

Why opera is booming in South Africa

This is an unlikely home for opera. Yet what was once condemned by the post-apartheid government as the white man’s colonial culture has been taken up with gusto by South Africa’s townships.

The Titanic Requiem at Westminster Central Hall, SW 1

Works inspired by the great ship run the full range, from Beryl Bainbridge’s first-class novel, Every Man for Himself, all the way down to Julian Fellowes in steerage.

Gramophone

The Halle perform Bernstein’s Wonderful Town in Salford

UK audiences would enjoy an opportunity to hear Wonderful Town played by a full-sized symphony orchestra; Sir Mark Elder, describes it as ‘essentially a big string section with a big band – a Wagner orchestra that swings’.

Jessica Duchan

Anderszewski wins Recording of the Year at BBC Music Magazine Awards

Here’s that exciting piano news we were waiting for: Piotr Anderszewski has won Recording of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards for his CD of Schumann’s Humoresque, Gesange der Fruhe and Studies for Pedal Organ.

Financial Times

Sound tracks

The London Olympics will be celebrated in new work by 20 composers. But what connects their music with sport?

Juliet Stevenson reading Melanie Reid’s text for ‘Spinal Chords’

(Written on April 16, 2012 )

The past year has seen a number of exciting highlights including 9 world-class releases and awards such as the prestigious Diapason d’Or and Choc de Classica. Now, 2012 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for ACCENTUS Music:

A new production featuring Daniel Barenboim sees the pianist perform both of Liszt’s Piano Concertos in a single concert under the baton of Pierre Boulez with the outstanding Staatskapelle Berlin. For both musicians Liszt was one of the most important pioneers of modern music, who influenced revolutionary contemporaries including Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner. Two examples of Wagner’s magnificent orchestral work round off the concert programme which celebrates Liszt’s 200^th birthday.

Next year also sees a release with Claudio Abbado conducting his ‘super-league’ Lucerne Festival Orchestra in a recording of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony. With this work, which combines a sense of intimate composure with strikingly monumental form, the conductor and orchestra toured around Europe in 2011 giving concerts that were described as “exceptional” by the Financial Times and “glorious” by the Observer.

The premiere of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto took place in Weimar in 1855 with Liszt himself at the piano and Hector Berlioz conducting. The impressive partnership of Barenboim and Boulez on this ACCENTUS Music recording reflects the significance of the work’s first performers.

In addition, 2012 will see the theatrical release of a documentary about the St. Thomas Boys Choir in Germany. This film, directed by Paul Smaczny and Günter Atteln, documents the world-famous 800 year-old boys’ choir as it is today. It follows three members of the choir as well as cantor Georg Christoph Biller, accompanying them as they tour South America, coping with the pressures of professional performance whilst also balancing schoolwork and adolescent life.

Next year also sees the continuation of the partnership between ACCENTUS Music and Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, with productions of Mahler Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6, following the successful releases of Mahler 2 and 8 in 2011. Both DVDs were praised with the Choc de Classica, while Symphony No. 2 was awarded the prestigious Diapason d’Or.

For more information please visit the ACCENTUS website here.

(Written on December 19, 2011 )