Festival Concerts 2011

2011

Festival Concerts at the usher hall eif.co.uk/music

Photo: Claudine Quinn

Edinburgh international Festival at the usher hall 12 August – 4 September 2011

‘it gives us the exotic, the challenging, the eclectic, the mesmeric’ The Spectator The world’s finest classical music artists gather in Edinburgh this summer for a Festival rich in unmissable experiences. With orchestras the calibre of the Philadelphia and Montreal Symphonies, soloists such as Martha Argerich, Nelson Goerner and Murray Perahia, recitalists including Simon Keenlyside, Magdalena Kožená, Karita Mattila and Ravi Shankar, a world of musical wonders is revealed.

Read on to find out more about the performers appearing in this year’s concerts in the Usher Hall.

Photo: Chris Christodoulou

ThE OPENiNg CONCERT

Das Paradies und die Peri

by ROBERT SChumANN

Friday 12 August 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/opening Scottish Chamber Orchestra Sir Roger Norrington Conductor Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master Lyrical, tender and serene yet a superb and intense evocation of lamentation, devotion and ecstasy, Das Paradies und die Peri is one of Schumann’s most complex and enthralling works. For the Opening Concert of the Festival Sir Roger Norrington leads a wonderful cast, Scotland’s national Chamber Orchestra and the 140 strong Edinburgh Festival Chorus in a compelling evening of music.

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Photo: Simon Butterworth

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Saturday 13 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/bbcsso The sound world of british composer Jonathan Harvey had a profound effect on the Herald’s music critic when he experienced a live performance of Speakings. This concert is the first time all three pieces, composed especially for the bbC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, have been performed together – a truly unique occasion.

‘No experience in contemporary music has so bewitched and bewildered me… while the geniuses of iRCAm, the renowned French acoustic institute, worked their computerised magic on harvey’s mesmerising score, giving the orchestra the appearance of near-vocalising. The hall itself seemed to be a living organism, breathing and speaking with the orchestra. One of the great monuments of contemporary music’ The Herald ilan Volkov Conductor iRCAm Computer Music Design for Speakings Jonathan harvey body Mandala Speakings …towards a Pure Land

Photo: Adriano Heitmann

martha Argerich Nelson goerner Sunday 14 August, 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/argerich-goerner Virtuoso pianists Martha Argerich and Nelson Goerner offer a concert of works for both two pianos and piano duet. The concert finale is Ravel’s bittersweet La Valse, a waltz that contains within it a meditation on death and destruction but celebrates the song and dance rhythms Ravel heard from his mother when she sang basque and Spanish folksongs. mozart Sonata for piano, four hands, in D K381 Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances Schubert Rondo for piano, four hands, in A D951 Ravel Ma mère l’oye Ravel La Valse

Martha Argerich: ‘a brilliant musician whose playing combines prodigious technique with uncanny musicality’ The New york Times

Photo: Mark Harrison

The Sixteen

monday 15 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/sixteen Harry Christophers and The Sixteen return to the Festival to perform magnificent vocal repertoire by Handel. Internationally acclaimed Handelian and Festival favourite Rosemary Joshua joins as soloist for the cantata Silete venti. The concert concludes with perhaps Handel’s best-loved choral work, his uplifting Dixit Dominus. harry Christophers Conductor Rosemary Joshua Soprano handel Nisi Dominus Silete venti Dixit Dominus

‘a tiny soundbite of heaven’ The Times

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Orchestre symphonique de montréal Tuesday 16 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/montreal1 Celebrated for their interpretations of beethoven’s symphonies, tonight the Grammy award-winners perform his Sixth, a lush, upbeat celebration of the countryside. Debussy’s La Mer, a joyfully brisk evocation of the ocean, and Tan Dun’s Water Concerto complete an evening rich in the drama, power and sounds of the natural world.

Kent Nagano Conductor Wang Beibei Percussion Debussy La Mer Tan Dun Water Concerto Beethoven Symphony No 6 ‘Pastoral’

Wednesday 17 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/montreal2 Takemitsu’s shimmering soundscape A Flock Descends… takes the listener on a magical journey full of intrigue and mystery. Renowned German mezzo soprano Waltraud Meier brings her vocal brilliance to Mahler’s delicately rhythmical Rückert Lieder song cycle while Stravinsky’s thrilling masterpiece, The Firebird, brings the evening to an exhilarating climax.

Kent Nagano Conductor Waltraud meier Mezzo soprano Takemitsu A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden mahler Rückert Lieder Stravinsky The Firebird (1910)

both concerts supported by Edinburgh international Festival Friends and Patrons

Photo: Kasskara

‘an orchestral sound of supreme elegance’ El Mundo

Erin Wall / Photo: Alexander Vasilyev

Thaïs

by JulES mASSENET

Thursday 18 August 7.00pm Tickets from £10 eif.co.uk/thais Concert performance sung in French A turbulent tale of a 4th-century Egyptian monk’s relationship with the courtesan he sets out to save, Thaïs is an engrossing portrait that crackles with the tension between romantic love and religious faith and features some of Massenet’s most luminous and lyrical music.

Thaïs Erin Wall Athanaël Quinn Kelsey Nicias Eric Cutler Crobyle Sarah-Jane Brandon Myrtale Clara mouriz Albine Clare Shearer Palémon Stefano Palatchi La Charmeuse Stacey Tappan Royal Scottish National Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis Conductor Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master Supported by The Stevenston Charitable Trust

Photo: Uwe Arens

Simon Keenlyside malcolm martineau Friday 19 August 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/keenlyside Simon Keenlyside is one of britain’s pre-eminent opera and lieder performers. Following last year’s fantastically popular appearance, he returns with a programme of works by Mahler, Strauss and Schubert alongside more intimate songs by Duparc and Debussy which fully illustrate his highly expressive lyricism.

‘a sound so honeyed and so enticing that whilst listening to it you can’t imagine that there is a lovelier lyric baritone on the planet’ The Independent

Supported by Frank hitchman

Photo: Mathias bothor / DG

magdalena Kožená Yefim Bronfman Saturday 20 August 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/kozena-bronfman One of the world’s most sought-after mezzo sopranos, Magdalena Kožená wowed Festival audiences last year with her unique and charismatic style.

This year she is joined by internationally acclaimed pianist yefim bronfman in a programme of passionate and vivid songs, by five great composers from the early twentieth century, that is sure to delight. musorgsky The Nursery Shostakovich Satires Ravel Histoires naturelles Rachmaninov 6 Songs Op 38 Bartók Dorfszenen

‘ms. Kožená boasts a true lyric mezzosoprano voice’ The New york Times

Supported by Jim and isobel Stretton

Photo: Chris Christodoulou

Scottish Chamber Orchestra Sunday 21 August 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/sco Robin Ticciati Conductor magdalena Kožená Mezzo soprano Simon Keenlyside baritone National Youth Choir of Scotland Christopher Bell Chorus Master Tonight offers an evening of sublime orchestral and vocal music making.

The voices of Simon Keenlyside, Magdalena Kožená and the National youth Choir of Scotland combine thrillingly for a spine-tingling performance of Duruflé’s Requiem. Ravel’s beautiful Le tombeau de Couperin is a heartfelt and deceptively upbeat tribute to friends who died during the First World War. Toshio Hosokawa’s Blossoming II is a re-working for orchestra of his wonderfully evocative 2007 string quartet.

Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin Toshio hosokawa blossoming II (EIF commission, World Premiere) Duruflé Requiem

Supported by Donald and louise macDonald

Photo: Michael Collopy

Ravi Shankar

monday 22 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/evening-ragas Ravi Shankar Sitar Tanmoy Bose Tabla Ravichandra Kulur Flute Parimal Sadaphal Sitar Pirashanna Thevarajah Mridangam Evening Ragas Legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar makes his first appearance at the Festival for 22 years performing a series of meditative and serene evening ragas which envelope the listener in an atmosphere of calm tranquillity.

‘Shankar is one of the greatest musicians of modern times, in any genre.’ The Guardian Don’t miss Amjad Ali Khan performing Morning Ragas at The Queen’s Hall, Wednesday 24 August 11.00am. eif.co.uk/khan Supported by The Binks Trust

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Photo: Clive barda

Philharmonia Orchestra Tuesday 23 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/philharmonia Esa-Pekka Salonen Conductor Kelley O’Connor Mezzo soprano Following her fabulous performance at the 2010 Opening Concert, mezzo soprano Kelley O’Connor sings Ravel’s sultry, orient-inspired Shéhérazade while Stravinsky’s visceral The Rite of Spring brings an evening full of high energy and emotion to a dramatic conclusion.

Scriabin Poem of Ecstasy Ravel Shéhérazade Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

Salonen: ‘he brings a thrilling rhythmic alertness and textural clarity to everything he touches’ The Telegraph

Supported by Joscelyn Fox

Photo: Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Wednesday 24 August 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/seoul myung-Whun Chung Conductor Myung-Whun Chung leads the orchestra through Tchaikovsky’s lush and sweeping Symphony No 6, a tumultuous musical journey reflecting the composer’s life – from triumph to tragedy. Korean Unsuk Chin’s Šu deftly interweaves the sounds of the orchestra with the sheng, a 17-pipe mouth organ capable of an amazing and expressive range of sounds. messiaen Les offrandes oubliées unsuk Chin Šu – Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 ‘Pathétique’ Catch Unsuk Chin’s Fantaisie mécanique performed by soloists of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at The Queen’s Hall on Thursday 18 August 11.00am. eif.co.uk/sosm

Sine bundgaard / Photo: Cedric Roulliat

Orlando paladino

by FRANZ JOSEPh hAYDN

Thursday 25 August 7.00pm Tickets from £10 eif.co.uk/orlando Concert performance sung in Italian An exotic story of love, jealousy and magic, Haydn’s Orlando paladino is a beguiling mixture of heroism and comedy. Renowned conductor René Jacobs leads a brilliant cast accompanied by the Freiburg baroque Orchestra, whose joyously infectious performances have garnered it a reputation as a peerless interpreter of the operatic repertoire.

Orlando Stéphane Degout Angelica Sine Bundgaard Medoro magnus Staveland Rodomonte Pietro Spagnoli Eurilla Sunhae im Pasquale Victor Torres Alcina Alexandrina Pendatchanska Licone / Caronte Arttu Kataja Freiburg Baroque Orchestra René Jacobs Conductor

Supported by The italian Cultural institute, Edinburgh

Photo: Roman Gontcharov

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Friday 26 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/oae Vladimir Jurowski Conductor Alina ibragimova Violin Kim Begley Tenor Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master One of the world’s finest violinists, young Russian Alina Ibragimova joins the OAE for Mendelssohn’s passionate and energetic Violin Concerto, while Liszt’s Faust Symphony, from the grand first movement to the dramatic finale, vividly tells the famous tale through evocative musical characterisation.

Weber Der Freischütz: Overture mendelssohn Violin Concerto liszt Faust Symphony

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Photo: Wanatabe courtesy of Sony Classical

Academy of St martin in the Fields Saturday 27 August 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/perahia murray Perahia Director and Piano Kenneth Sillito Director (Ries) One of the great pianists of his generation, Murray Perahia brings his elegant and poetic style to beethoven’s masterful Piano Concerto No 2, and Schubert’s energetic and expressive ‘Grand Duo’.

Ries Overture: Liska, oder Die Hexe von Gyllensteen Beethoven Piano Concerto No 2 Schubert Sonata in C major ‘Grand Duo’ (arr Joachim)

‘the ensemble was breathtaking, a riveting like-mindedness laced with spectacular displays of inspired individuality.’

The Scotsman

Supported by Dunard Fund

Photo: Ken Friedman

mahler Symphony No 2 Sunday 28 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/mahler2 BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Donald Runnicles Conductor meagan miller Soprano Karen Cargill Mezzo soprano Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master American soprano Meagan Miller makes her Festival debut alongside Scottish mezzo soprano Karen Cargill and the bbC SSO led by maestro Donald Runnicles for Mahler’s powerful Symphony No 2, an eloquent statement of the composer’s fascination with spirituality and the eternal.

Don’t miss the bamberg Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No 4 (Stein arrangement). See 1 September concert for details. eif.co.uk/bamberg-late

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Photo: Felix broede / DG

Tonhalle Orchestra monday 29 August 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/tonhalle David Zinman Conductor maria João Pires Piano One of the finest Mozart concerto exponents in the world, Maria João Pires brings an extraordinary sense of spontaneity and imagination to his final ˇ concerto. Dvorák’s Symphony No 8 draws inspiration from bohemian folk music and is a work which marvellously illustrates the fresh and expressive approach the orchestra brings to every performance.

Anders hillborg Cold Heat mozart Piano Concerto No 27 in b flat K595 ˇ Symphony No 8 Dvorák

Maria João Pires: ‘She is one of the concert world’s supreme artists’ The Times

Supported by David mclellan

Photo: Pete Checchia

‘The playing was both mighty and elegant’ Washington Post

Philadelphia Orchestra Tuesday 30 August 8.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/philadelphia1 Charles Dutoit Conductor The ‘fabulous Philadelphians’ perform a programme of 20th-century masterworks including Stravinsky’s Le chant du rossignol, a delightful tale of a nightingale’s song, the captivating musical storytelling of Ravel’s charming Mother Goose suite and Ravel’s La Valse, which the composer himself described as an ‘impression of a fantastic, fatal whirling motion.’

Stravinsky Le chant du rossignol Ravel Ma mère l’oye (suite) Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances Ravel La Valse

Wednesday 31 August 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/philadelphia2 Charles Dutoit Conductor Janine Jansen Violin Sibelius’s Finlandia provides a rousing opening to this evening. Dutch virtuoso violinist Janine Jansen joins the orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, and berlioz’s monumental Symphonie fantastique – subtitled ‘Episodes in the Life of an Artist’ – inhabits a fantastical soundworld with music of ground-breaking originality.

Sibelius Finlandia Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

both concerts supported by Dunard Fund

Photo: Lauri Eriksson

Karita mattila malcolm martineau Thursday 1 September 7.00pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/mattila Grammy award-winning Finnish soprano Karita Mattila’s fabulously versatile voice fills the Usher Hall with drama and emotion in an evening packed full of well-known songs including works by Debussy, Sibelius and brahms as well as berg’s Seven Early Songs and Richard Strauss’s Allerseelen.

‘the Finnish soprano has it all’ Classical Voice

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Photo: Arsys bourgogne / Zuidberg-Weiler François

Bamberg late

Thursday 1 September 10.30pm Tickets £18 eif.co.uk/bamberg-late Ainars Rubikis Conductor Yeree Suh Soprano Mahler’s playful Symphony No 4 is here conducted by young Latvian Ainars Rubikis, winner of bamberg’s Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition 2010, who leads a colourful arrangement for 12 players from the bamberg Symphony Orchestra and joined by Korean soprano yeree Suh. mahler Symphony No 4 (arr Stein)

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Bamberg Symphony Orchestra Friday 2 September 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/bamberg1 Jonathan Nott Conductor Pierre-laurent Aimard Piano Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master bartók’s powerful and enthralling The Miraculous Mandarin takes the listener on a rollicking journey through a seedy world of prostitution, exploitation and robbery. When first premiered in 1926, audiences were shocked and scandalised and the piece has lost none of its impact leaving contemporary concert-goers breathless and thrilled in equal measure. messiaen Chronochromie Sept Haïkaï Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin (complete ballet)

Saturday 3 September 7.30pm Tickets from £12 eif.co.uk/bamberg2 Jonathan Nott Conductor Pierre-laurent Aimard Piano Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master A trio of Ravel compositions bring the Festival’s classical music series in the Usher Hall to an uplifting finale. Valses Nobles et Sentimentales displays Ravel’s vast imagination and the sumptuous score for the ballet Daphnis et Chloé offers the perfect showcase to the voices of our extraordinary Edinburgh Festival Chorus.

Ravel Valses Nobles et Sentimentales Piano Concerto for the left hand Daphnis et Chloé (complete ballet) Sponsored by

‘the orchestra’s sound and the conducting were impressive, the strings and the brass of fantastic precision.’

El Mercurio

Photo: Thomas Müller

‘perfect intonation and dynamic balance’ La Nacion

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