BACKIford Arts secures new home for 2019 season
The Iford Arts 2019 season is set to take place at Belcombe Court, a Grade 1 listed historic house set 6 miles outside of Bath and home to one of Britain’s leading creatives, Paul Weiland OBE, and his wife Caroline.
Director Paul Weiland OBE, whose work includes Mr Bean, Blackadder, City Slickers II, Made of Honor and Sixty Six, said: ‘we are honoured to host Iford Arts at Belcombe, as it has been a long time ambition of ours to have an opera in the garden.’
Iford Arts is a small, charitable institution with an international reputation, renowned for its stylish new opera productions staged in the round picnic proms and its work with emerging artists. It will open its 2019 season in the banqueting room of Bath’s Guildhall on 18 and 19 May with a Gala night performance of Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, starring comic baritone Simon Butteriss, before setting up home in the grounds of Belcombe Court, Bradford-on-Avon.
First ever Riga Jurmala Music Festival announces line-up
A new summer festival in Latvia, the Riga Jurmala Music Festival, has announced a dazzling line-up of classical music stars for its first ever year in 2019.
The new-concept festival takes place in the historic cities of Riga and Jurmala and presents four powerful weekends – July 19 – 21, August 16 – 18, August 23 – 25 and August 30 – September 1. Each weekend is anchored by a leading international orchestra and conductor with a range of symphonic concerts and recitals, featuring the foremost stars of classical music.
The festival is designed to contribute to the rich panorama of cultural offerings in Latvia and provides a major platform for young talent from the Baltic region and beyond.
Highlights to include performances from:
- Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Mariss Jansons; Russian National Orchestra and Mikhail Pletnev; Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Zubin Mehta; London Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda
- Tenor Joseph Calleja and baritone Benjamin Appl
- Pianists Murray Perehia, Yuja Wang, Rudolf Buchbinder, Jan Lisiecki, Seong-Jin Cho and Lucas Debargue
- Violinists Vadim Repin and Julian Rachlin
- Cellist Mischa Maisky and guitarist MILOŠ
- Young talent including pianists Lukas Geniušas, Martin James Bartlett and Denis Kozhukhin; violinist Alexandra Conunova; cellist Edgar Moreau and soprano Ying Fang
Axel Kober erhält einen Sondervertrag
Im jüngsten Philharmonischen Konzert rückte Intendant Alfred Wendel vorsichtshalber noch immer nicht so ganz mit der Sprache heraus: Er begrüßte „unseren hochgeschätzten Chefdirigenten Axel Kober“. Natürlich hätte Wendel bei dieser Gelegenheit auch verkünden können, dass Axel Kober ab der kommenden Spielzeit nicht nur Chefdirigent der Duisburger Philharmoniker sein wird, sondern als Nachfolger von Giordano Bellincampi sogar Generalmusikdirektor. Bereits am 4. Oktober ist eine Findungskommission nach ausführlicher Beratung zu der einstimmigen (!) Entscheidung gekommen, dass Kober der neue GMD der Duisburger Philharmoniker sein soll.
In der Musikwelt wird diese Entscheidung einhellig begrüßt, hat man mit Axel Kober doch einen Dirigenten für das GMD-Amt gewinnen können, der national und international renommiert ist. Kober dirigiert in Wien, Kopenhagen, Zürich, Hamburg und – als Krönung – in Bayreuth. Sein Repertoire ist ungewöhnlich weit: Von der Barockoper über Wagner bishin zur Operette und wichtigen Opern des 20. Jahrhunderts und der Gegenwart.
As of next season, Axel Kober will not only be the chief conductor of the Duisburg Philharmonic, but also the general music director as successor to Giordano Bellincampi.
In the music world, this decision is unanimously welcomed, since Axel Kober is renowned as a conductor both nationally and internationally. Kober conducts in Vienna, Copenhagen, Zurich, Hamburg and – as a coronation – in Bayreuth. His repertoire is unusually wide: from baroque opera to Wagner to operetta and important operas of the 20th century and the present.