 | The Barbican Announces its Classical Music Season 2012-2013 and Two New Associate Ensembles PRESS RELEASE
18 January 2012
The Barbican Announces its Classical Music Season 2012-2013
Two new Associate Ensembles announced
The Barbican today announces its 2012-13 Classical Music season. A major new feature to the music programme is two new Associate Ensembles that join the Barbican’s existing family of orchestras: the Academy of Ancient Music, renowned for its dedication to fresh, historically-informed performances of baroque and classical music; and Britten Sinfonia which has built its reputation on imaginative programming developed through strong artist relationships across the musical spectrum. These ensembles begin regular performances at the Barbican in the new season and thus join the London Symphony Orchestra, the Barbican’s Resident Orchestra since the Centre opened in 1982, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Barbican‘s Associate Orchestra.
In the upcoming season, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel give their first International Associate residency at the Barbican. The Philharmonic is one of the Barbican’s five International Associates whose regular residencies at the Centre involve symphonic and chamber music concerts, family events, new commissions, and educational and outreach work. The Barbican’s four other International Associates are Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam.
Angela Dixon, the Barbican’s Head of Music, said: 2012 is undoubtedly a year of celebration and excitement for us, not least because of the Barbican’s 30th birthday in March – which also marks 30 years since the Barbican had the privilege of welcoming the LSO as the Centre’s Resident Orchestra. In 2000 the BBC Symphony Orchestra was introduced as our Associate Orchestra and I’m really pleased that we now welcome two new Associate Ensembles to the Barbican family: both the Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia have built their reputations on excellence and innovation and I’m looking forward to the possibilities that these partnerships will bring. The artistic quality with which the Barbican is synonymous, continues throughout our 2012-13 season, including a line-up of world-class artists such as Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Dawn Upshaw, Alina Ibragimova, Leonidas Kavakos, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Maria João Pires, Gustavo Dudamel and Bernard Haitink.
The season begins in September 2012 and includes 11 world premieres, 2 European premieres, 12 UK premieres, and 5 London premieres. Tickets go on sale online to Barbican members from 23 January, and to the general public on 30 January. The detailed listings can be seen here: www.barbican.org.uk/classical1213
HIGHLIGHTS:
- London Symphony Orchestra – Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev brings together some of the most inspiring music ever written for symphony orchestra and chorus, and provides an authoritative guide to two contrasting European figures: Brahms and Szymanowski. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos is the UBS Soundscapes: LSO Artist portrait, and Mark-Anthony Turnage the LSO Composer Focus; short residencies with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist and conductor Nikolaj Znaider and composer John Adams. LSO Discovery’s flagship education and community projects include LSO On Track, a partnership in East London for 8-18-year-olds, and Centre for Orchestra, a ground-breaking initiative in orchestral training bringing opportunities to access the LSO’s family of artists, part of a wider educational collaboration between the LSO, Barbican and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
- BBC Symphony Orchestra – a focus on British music, including six world premieres of new British works and a complete Tippett symphony cycle; Total Immersion days branch out to cover whole countries with focuses on Japan and new music from Finland and Denmark, as well as a day dedicated to Oliver Knussen in his 60th year; Grieg’s Peer Gynt, complete with actors and starring Miah Persson and Ann Hallenberg, conducted by Marc Minkowski; a complete performance of Prokofiev’s score to Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 masterpiece Alexander Nevsky accompanying a screening of the film.
- Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) – a performance of Handel’s Royal Music, originally written for national and royal celebrations conducted by AAM Music Director Richard Egarr; Bach’s St John Passion with a stellar all-British cast including James Gilchrist and Sarah Connolly; Christopher Hogwood continues his Handel opera cycle with the rarely-performed Imeneo with soloists Lucy Crowe, David Daniels, Matthew Rose and Stephan Loges.
- Britten Sinfonia – a celebration of the orchestra’s 20th birthday on 27 October 2012 with concerts and free stage events that journey through 400 years of music from Byrd and Bach to Moondog and Muhly; premieres include a special birthday tribute by James MacMillan and a commission by Alissa Firsova; Beethoven Piano Concertos directed from the keyboard by Angela Hewitt; the world premiere of a new work by Eriks Esenvalds as part of a Baltic Nights programme with Alina Ibragimova; Schubert and Britten with Ian Bostridge.
- Los Angeles Philharmonic residency with Gustavo Dudamel – the orchestra’s long-awaited first International Associate Residency in March 2013 includes two European premieres, both Barbican co-commissions: John Adams’ new oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary, directed by Peter Sellars, and a new work by Unsuk Chin as part of Green Umbrella, the Philharmonic’s innovative new music series. Across the residency, the Barbican and Guildhall School of Music & Drama celebrate music education and learning with public masterclasses, debates and talks. The residency begins with an international conference (14 March) that discusses the role of the musician in the 21st century.
- Singers including Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Elīna Garanča, Juan Diego Flórez, Joyce DiDonato, Magdalena Kožená, Dawn Upshaw, Dorothea Röschmann, Ian Bostridge, Alice Coote, Mark Padmore, Miah Persson, Ann Hallenberg, Iestyn Davies, Allan Clayton, James Gilchrist, Sarah Connolly, Sally Matthews
- Instrumentalists including Evgeny Kissin, Leonidas Kavakos, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Yo-Yo Ma, Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Maria João Pires, Stephen Hough, Lawrence Power, Simon Trpceski, Angela Hewitt, Maxim Vengerov, Alina Ibragimova, Pekka Kuusisto, Christian Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt, Leila Josefowicz, Denis Matsuev, Nikolaj Znaider, Benjamin Grosvenor, Piotr Anderszewski, Alexander Toradze, Steven Osborne
- Conductors including Neeme Järvi, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, John Adams, Bernard Haitink, Ingo Metzmacher, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Robin Ticciati, William Christie, Mark Minkowski, Alan Curtis, Martyn Brabbins, Daniel Harding, Christophe Rousset, Sir Antonio Pappano
OPERAS IN CONCERT
The Barbican presents a wealth of operas in concert this season, exploring lesser-known gems and breathing new life into well-loved repertoire. Throughout the season the BBC Symphony Orchestra presents three complete operas, beginning on 12 October with the first of Maurice Ravel’s two operas, L’Heure Espagnol. This one-act comédie musicale is led by a young cast including Jacques Imbralio who garnered critical acclaim for his title role in Glyndebourne’s 2010 production of Billy Budd. Completing Ravel’s pair of operas on 26 April is L’enfant et les Sortilèges, presented as a specially-devised concert version using live film created by Jean-Baptiste Barrière and performed by singers from the Royal Academy of Music in which they are transported into virtual images on screens above the stage. One further rare performance makes up the orchestra’s operatic offering: Donizetti’s Belisario conducted by Sir Mark Elder on 28 October.
More visual enticement comes in the form of Oliver Knussen’s widely-acclaimed operas Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! presented as a double bill in a multimedia staged concert. This major new production, directed by Netia Jones, is performed twice on 3 November by Britten Sinfonia, with soloists including Claire Booth and Susan Bickley, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth (co-production with Aldeburgh Festival and Los Angeles Philharmonic Association).
Reverting back to the Baroque in early 2013, The English Concert and Harry Bicket perform Handel’s Radamisto on 10 February. Joining them in this passionate tale of love and lust are soloists including David Daniels, Patricia Bardon, Luca Pisaroni and Elizabeth Watts. On 8 March, Lully’s tragédie en musique Phaëton is performed by the French Baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques with conductor and musical archaeologist Christophe Rousset.
Sir Colin Davis conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in two concert performances of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw on 16 and 18 April. Soloists include Andrew Kennedy, Sally Matthews and Catherine Wyn-Rogers. Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex is performed in concert on 25 April by the LSO, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, with the gentlemen of the Monteverdi Choir (as part of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s 70th birthday celebrations).
Academy of Ancient Music Emeritus Director and founder Christopher Hogwood returns to conduct the ensemble on 26 May in a performance of Handel’s little-known opera Imeneo with soloists Lucy Crowe, David Daniels, Matthew Rose and Stephan Loges. This performance is a continuation of Hogwood’s acclaimed cycle of Handel operas with the AAM at the Barbican.
ANNIVERSARIES
Season 2012-13 marks several anniversary celebrations at the Barbican. In his 85th birthday year Sir Colin Davis, President of the LSO, focuses on composers with whom he is particularly associated. Mozart and Schubert bookend the series, and in between there is a particular focus on English composers—Elgar, Walton and Britten—as well as his beloved Sibelius and Beethoven. He is joined by musical luminaries such as Ian Bostridge, Dorothea Röschmann, Elisabeth Leonskaya, Maxim Vengerov and Nikolaj Znaider throughout the season, and by Mitsuko Uchida and Radu Lupu for a special birthday concert on 27 September. Valery Gergiev is 60 in 2013 and celebrates with the LSO at a special gala performance on 22 May, featuring Leonidas Kavakos and Alexander Toradze. During the season Gergiev brings together the work of two contrasting composers—Brahms and Szymanowski. He explores the four symphonies of both composers, as well as the great German Requiem by Brahms and Szymanowski’s exquisite Violin Concertos and influential Polish take on the Stabat Mater. Another birthday is celebrated on 25 April 2013 when Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the LSO and Gentlemen of the Monteverdi Choir in a concert celebrating his 70th birthday with a programme to include Stravinsky’s Apollon musagète and Oedipus Rex. Oliver Knussen’s 60th birthday is celebrated with a weekend of his music: a double bill of his two fantasy operas on 3 November and a BBC SO Total Immersion day dedicated to his music and work on 4 November.
Philip Glass turns 75 in 2012 and the Barbican marks his birthday with a celebration on 14 and 15 December. On the first day, Glass’ powerful music for the 1982 Godfrey Reggio film Koyaanisqatsi: A Life Out Of Balance is performed live by the Philip Glass Ensemble and Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Glass’ long-term collaborator Michael Riesman. The documentary film, the first of a trilogy of films that deals with the relationships between humans, nature and technology, is projected above the stage in the Barbican Hall. Through a collage of images, from clouds chasing clouds across a Mexican desert to crowds of people swarming through Grand Central Station, Koyaanisqatsi allows the audience to experience the acceleration and density of contemporary society, and invites the consideration of the effects of technology and progress in a modern world. The celebration also includes a performance by the Philip Glass Ensemble in the intimate setting of the Union Chapel, pop-up performances of Glass’ music by the Guildhall School of Music & Drama musicians across the Barbican’s foyers, as well as masterclasses and debates.
ARTIST FOCUSES
In April 2013, Juan Diego Flórez comes to the Barbican for a residency that includes a concert with the LSO, a recital and masterclasses which are open to the public. The Peruvian tenor’s first concert on 21 April with the LSO features friends and close colleagues such as Joyce DiDonato. This will be the second appearance of mezzo-soprano DiDonato at the Barbican during spring 2013: two months earlier on 6 February she performs arias from the great queen roles of Baroque Opera, together with Il Complesso Barocco and Alan Curtis.
The UBS Soundcapes: LSO Artist Portrait in 2012-13 is violinist Leonidas Kavakos. He performs the UK premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Violin Concerto (co-commissioned by the Barbican and the LSO) on 25 November, and the Violin Concertos of Sibelius and Szymanowski during December. He can also be heard in recital with pianist Nikolaj Lugansky on 30 November. The LSO’s season also features a short residency with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in June, performing the two Cello Concertos of Shostakovich as well as Britten’s Cello Concerto, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, Principal Guest Conductor of the LSO. Nikolaj Znaider performs as both conductor and soloist of the LSO in the 2012-13 season, performing the violin concertos of Brahms and Dvorák under Sir Colin Davis, and conducting a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No 5 and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 5 with soloist Piotr Anderszewski.
Widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive pianists of his generation, Stephen Hough will be the centre of an artist focus at the Barbican which includes three concerts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a major recital with works by Chopin, Brahms, Schumann and Hough himself (19 January). Opening his collaboration with the BBC SO is Hummel’s Piano Concerto in A minor on 12 October, followed by both of Brahms’ piano concertos. Sir Andrew Davis conducts Stephen Hough in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No 1 on 12 April and American conductor James Gaffigan leads Piano Concerto No 2 on 17 May.
COMPOSER FOCUSES
Throughout the 2012-13 season the BBC Symphony Orchestra will be celebrating the orchestral music of Michael Tippett. Opening with his Triple Concerto for violin, viola and cello on Friday 19 October, the BBC SO will be joined by the internationally acclaimed Leopold Trio. A complete cycle of Tippett’s symphonies will be performed under four different conductors: David Robertson (Symphony No 3, 1 March), Sir Andrew Davis (Symphony No 4, 12 April), Martyn Brabbins (Symphony No 2, 19 April) and James Gaffigan (Symphony No 1, 17 May). Also, Stephen Osborne appears with the BBC SO and Alexander Vedernikov for a performance of Tippett’s Piano Concerto on 22 March.
Mark-Anthony Turnage is the LSO Composer Focus this season, which includes the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the LSO on 7 February, conducted by Daniel Harding. On 5 February, Harding conducts the LSO and soloist Håkan Hardenberger in Turnage’s Trumpet Concerto From the Wreckage and on 19 February the UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica series presents a cabaret-inspired evening curated by Turnage at LSO St Luke’s. The Orchestra performs three additional LSO commissions by British composers in the 2012/13 season — Sir Peter Maxwell Davis’s Fanfare (5 December), and new works by Jason Yarde and Colin Matthews (13 April). These latter two premieres are the climax of LSO Futures Week for emerging composers (9–13 April), which includes a UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica concert with Tansy Davis, Panufnik Composers Workshop and a free post-concert Aftershock club following the concerts on the 13 April.
BARBICAN WEEKENDER & TOTAL IMMERSION
The Barbican Weekender on 3-4 November includes a programme of installations, participation, music, film, theatre and visual art for all in the Barbican’s public spaces. On Saturday, there will be a double bill of Oliver Knussen’s widely-acclaimed fantasy operas Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop!. Based on the beloved eponymous children’s books by Maurice Sendak, and with a libretto by the author, this major new production is presented as a multimedia staged concert, directed by Netia Jones who integrates live and filmed moving images into opera performance using a variety of emerging technologies. The concert is performed twice during the day (2pm & 7pm) by Britten Sinfonia, with soloists including Claire Booth and Susan Bickley, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth (in a co-production with Aldeburgh Festival and Los Angeles Philharmonic Association).
On Sunday, 4 November, the first BBC SO’s Total Immersion of the 2012/13 season celebrates the 60th birthday of the BBC SO's Artist in Association Oliver Knussen. Highlights include his Whitman Settings with soprano Claire Booth and the Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz, both conducted by the composer. Later in the season, the BBC Symphony Orchestra expands its highly successful Total Immersion series beyond a single composer for the first time to focus on whole countries in Total Immersion: Sounds from Japan (2 February), together with its partners at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and Total Immersion: New from the North—music from Denmark and Finland (9 March). Total Immersion days feature talks, films and discussion as well as a range of performances—from small-scale chamber works to full-blown orchestral concerts—designed to give an insight into the new musical writing from the countries and composers explored. On 2 February Japanese music will be explored by acclaimed Japanese conductor Kazushi Ono, focusing on the work of Takemitsu and Dai Fujikura and taking in works by Nishimura, Mochizuki, Hosokawa and Miyoshi. Finnish conductor John Storgårds will present contemporary music from the north on 9 March with the UK premiere of Nørgård’s Symphony No. 8. The event also features the world premiere of Nørgård’s String Quartet No. 11 as well as works by Rasmussen, Fagerlund and Lindberg.
Box Office: 0845 120 7550
www.barbican.org.uk
Press Information
For any further information, images or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Barbican:
Annikaisa Vainio, Media Relations Manager
t - +44 (0)20 7382 7090
e - avainio@barbican.org.uk
London Symphony Orchestra:
Dvora Lewis PR
t - +44 (0)20 7435 9257
e - dlpr@dvoralewis.com
BBC Symphony Orchestra:
Madeleine Castell, Assistant Publicist
t - +44 (0)20 7765 5575 e - madeleine.castell@bbc.co.uk
Academy of Ancient Music:
Rebecca Driver Media Relations
t - +44 (0)20 7448 5336
e - rebecca@rdmr.co.uk
Britten Sinfonia:
Sophie Cohen
t - +44 (0)20 7428 9850
e - sophiecohen@blueyonder.co.uk
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The architecturally renowned Barbican Centre is one of the world's leading arts centres, founded and run by the City of London Corporation. It encompasses dance, film, music, theatre, visual arts and creative learning who work together in creating the model of tomorrow's international arts and learning centre. Committed to providing a world-class programme, which inspires, challenges and amazes its audiences, the Barbican is also home to Resident Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Associate Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, two Associate Ensembles, the Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia, Associate Producer Serious and a range of Artistic Associates. www.barbican.org.uk
In addition to its season at the Barbican, its London home, the London Symphony Orchestra has annual residencies at New York’s Lincoln Center, Paris’ Salle Pleyel and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. The LSO also tours extensively throughout Europe and Japan, and has recently visited India, China and the Middle East. Outside the concert hall, the LSO is set apart from other international orchestras by its depth of commitment to music education, reaching over 60,000 people each year. The award-winning programme, LSO Discovery, works locally, nationally and internationally, with thriving community projects both in London and the UK, and on tour. LSO Live is the Orchestra’s record label and has released 80 recordings with many of the world’s leading conductors including Valery Gergiev, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons and the late Mstislav Rostropovich. The LSO was the first symphony orchestra ever to record a film soundtrack, with Sir Arthur Bliss’s score for Things to Come in 1935. It has since built up a reputation as the world’s pre-eminent film orchestra and has recorded landmark soundtracks such as Henry V (William Walton, 1944), and Star Wars (John Williams, 1977) Recent film scores include The King’s Speech, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts 1 and 2, and The Ides of March. www.lso.co.uk
At the heart of British music for over 80 years, the BBC Symphony Orchestra performs an exciting, distinctive and wide-ranging season of concerts at the Barbican in its role as Associate Orchestra, offering everything from works at the heart of classical music to world premieres from today's finest composers. The BBC SO is strongly committed to 20th-century and contemporary music, having given the premieres of over 1,000 works by composers including Bartók, Britten, Stravinsky and Shostakovich. More recently, it has given world or UK premieres by composers including Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Unsuk Chin, Peter Eötvös, Kaija Saariaho and Judith Weir. The BBC SO provides the backbone of the BBC Proms, with around a dozen concerts each year, including the First and Last Nights. The vast majority of concerts are broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and streamed online, giving the BBC SO the highest broadcast profile of any UK orchestra. The BBC SO performs throughout the world, recently giving concerts in Germany, Belgium and Spain. The Orchestra is committed to innovative education work, with family events, schools workshops and other creative and collaborative projects. Ongoing projects include the Family Music Intro scheme, introducing families to live classical music, and the highly successful BBC SO Family Orchestra.
www.bbc.co.uk/symphonyorchestra
Founded in 1973 by Christopher Hogwood, the Academy of Ancient Music has since performed live on every continent except Antarctica and released over 300 CDs. Though international in its outlook, the AAM is rooted ‘at home’ in London and Cambridge, where it has a regular season and promotes some of its most ambitious and innovative music making. Renowned for the quality of its musicianship and its dedication to fresh, historically-informed and engaged performances of baroque and classical music, the orchestra has won Grammy, Brit, Edison, MIDEM and Gramophone Awards. In 2006 Richard Egarr succeeded the ensemble’s founder Christopher Hogwood as Music Director. Since then the Choir of the AAM has been founded, winning the Choir of the Year Award at the 2008 Beijing Classical Elites, and the orchestra has recorded an acclaimed complete cycle of Handel’s instrumental music Opp.1-7. Touring highlights have included the first-ever performances in China of JS Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. www.aam.co.uk
Britten Sinfonia is one of the world’s most celebrated and pioneering ensembles, renowned for the quality of its performances and an intelligent approach to concert programming that is centred on the development of its players. Unusually it does not have a principal conductor or director but chooses to collaborate with a range of the finest international guest artists from across the musical spectrum as suited to each particular project. Founded in 1992, the orchestra is inspired by the ethos of Benjamin Britten through world-class performances of the highest quality, illuminating and distinctive programmes where the old meets the new, and projects in the local community as well as in the world’s finest halls. Britten Sinfonia is Associate Ensemble at London’s Barbican Centre, has residencies in Cambridge (where it is the University’s Orchestra-in Residence), Norwich and Brighton, and makes regular guest appearances at UK festivals including the BBC Proms. Its blossoming international profile has recently included acclaimed tours to Mexico and South America, and to Europe. In February 2012, Britten Sinfonia makes its New York debut at the Lincoln Center. Britten Sinfonia is a BBC Radio 3 broadcast partner, and records regularly for Harmonia Mundi and Hyperion. www.brittensinfonia.com
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| | Press Enquiries:For any further information, images or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Barbican:
Annikaisa Vainio, Media Relations Manager
t - +44 (0)20 7382 7090
e - avainio@barbican.org.uk
London Symphony Orchestra:
Dvora Lewis PR
t - +44 (0)20 7435 9257
e - dlpr@dvoralewis.com
BBC Symphony Orchestra:
Madeleine Castell, Assistant Publicist
t - +44 (0)20 7765 5575
e - madeleine.castell
@bbc.co.uk
Academy of Ancient Music:
Rebecca Driver Media Relations
t - +44 (0)20 7448 5336
e - rebecca@rdmr.co.uk
Britten Sinfonia:
Sophie Cohen
t - +44 (0)20 7428 9850
e - sophiecohen
@blueyonder.co.uk |
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Barbican Classical Music Season Launch 2012-13.pdf