John Wilson at the BBC Proms – Tribute to Leonard Bernstein

John Wilson and his orchestra are an annual Proms highlight, bringing the glitz and glamour of old-time stage and screen to the Royal Albert Hall. The performance this year is all about Leonard Bernstein – America’s multitalented conductor, pianist and composer. He reinvented the musical with the anger, energy and feral beauty of West Side Story, his updated take on Romeo and Juliet. A starry cast of soloists including Proms favourite Julian Ovenden and the West End’s Louise Dearman join the John Wilson Orchestra and Maida Vale Singers for a tribute to the composer that includes Bernstein’s biggest hits as well as a selection of rarities. And with vivid colour, foot-tapping energy, and evident enjoyment on the part of conductor, orchestra and chorus America’s multitalented conductor, pianist and composer could not have been better remembered: “An evening of highlight after highlight – John Wilson together with his handpicked forces brought the house down. 5 out of 5 stars!” (Evening Standard)

BBC Proms 2016 – Gergiev, Abduraimov and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra

Valery Gergiev and his Munich Philharmonic Orchestra open with Ravel’s hypnotic Boléro and close with a suite from Richard Strauss’s waltz-filled opera Der Rosenkavalier. In between, Galina Ustvolskaya’s Symphony No. 3 pleads for redemption on raw brass and winds. Composed in 1983 it is based on the texts of the 11th-century German monk and musician Hermanus Contractus and includes solo recitatives performed by Alexei Petrenko. Young Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov is the soloist in Rachmaninov’s soaring Piano Concerto No. 3. “Abduraimov ist phenomenal!“ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). “He should be on any must-hear list.” (The New York Times).

John Wilson at the BBC Proms – George & Ira Gershwin Rediscovered

Once again John Wilson and his orchestra, “combining swing authenticity with the poise of a deluxe concert Orchestra” (The Times), return to the Royal Albert Hall with a performance counted among “the star attractions” (Financial Times) of this year’s Proms. Their concert, accompanied by three of the “greatest West-End musical theatre stars” Louise Dearman, Matthew Ford and Julian Ovenden (also known from Downtown Abbey), pays tribute to George and Ira Gershwin, one of America’s most celebrated song-writing duos. Divided between film score theme tunes, dance numbers, and songs from musicals such as the favourites “Embraceable You”, “Love Walked In”, “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” and the ballet music from the 1951 film An American in Paris, “this glorious concert” (The Times) just “dazzled on every level.”

BBC Proms 2016: WEDO and Barenboim perform Widmann, Liszt, Wagner

Proms don’t come more stellar than this!”, raved The Independent about the WEDO’s performance at the BBC Proms. The concert opens with a rendition of Jörg Widmann’s overture Con brio. Martha Argerich continues with an “unforgettable performance” of Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, dazzling with her “frighteningly precise” playing (The Guardian). As encore the two childhood friends join forces at the piano for a four handed rendition of Schubert’s Rondo in A “that for 12 minutes provides a glimpse of paradise” (The Standart) holding “6000 people spellbound” (The Times). Further repertoire includes Wagner’s Overtures to Tannhäuser and Meistersinger; Dawn, Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and Funeral March from Götterdämmerung et al.

BBC Proms 2016: Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla conducts Mozart & Tchaikovsky

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra presents its new Music Director Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla at the BBC Proms. Gražinyte-Tyla is not only the successor of Sir Simon Rattle and Andris Nelsons at the CBSO, but also the first female conductor to take over one of the world’s leading orchestras. Her talent and musicality shine bright in the concert’s centre piece, the “spellbinding and bewitching” (The Guardian) song cycle Let me tell you by Hans Abrahamsen, performed by no less than Barbara Hannigan, for whom the piece was written in the first place. In the second half of the concert, Gražinyte-Tyla and the CBSO explore Tchaikovsky’s dramatic Fourth Symphony – “technically impeccable and just that bit more vivid than usual” (The Guardian). PROGRAM: Mozart: Overture Die Zauberflöte; Abrahamsen: Let me tell you; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

BBC Proms 2016: Simon Rattle conducts Mahler 7

For the opening of his last season as chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle chose Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7. Following the performance at the Philharmonie in Berlin, Rattle took his orchestra to London, to present Mahler’s mighty work to his new concert audience from next year on. Indeed it was Mahler’s music that initially led Rattle to the idea of pursuing a career on the podium. And it was an interpretation of Mahler’s 7th that made a significant contribution to the Berliner Philharmoniker selecting the maestro as their chief conductor. “The Berliner Philharmoniker led off in ravishing brass colours that punched the air with exalted penetration before softening to an equally glorious restraint. Thereafter, with dynamics that turned on a sixpence the symphony held together as persuasively as I’ve heard it” (Bachtrack). PROGRAM: Boulez: Éclat, Mahler: Symphony No 7 in E minor

World Orchestra for Peace at the BBC Proms

The 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Mahler in 2010 gave rise to a number of celebratory performances of his works. For its program at the fabled London BBC Proms in August 2010, the World Orchestra for Peace under Valery Gergiev chose the master’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies. In the words of London’s The Independent, ‘the World Orchestra for Peace gave exemplary performances’ of the Mahler symphonies. The demanding soprano solo part in the Fourth is impressively sung by Camilla Tilling. At the opening of the Fifth, the Mariinsky Theater’s trumpeter Timur Martynov provides a lustrous, golden fanfare. ‘A rapt Valery Gergiev […] sculpted the closing Adagietto like a sacred object of veneration.’

L.v.Beethoven: The Complete Symphonies

As a musical highlight during the Summer Olympics 2012 in London, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the baton of Daniel Barenboim performed all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven during the famous BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Also available: DOCUMENTARY “Barenboim on Beethoven: Nine Symphonies that changed the World”. A film by Michael Waldman; Cat. No. A02007374 // SYMPHONIES Lengths: No. 1 = 29′ / No. 2 = 35′ / No. 3 = 53′ / No. 4 = 39′ / No. 5 = 35′ / No. 6 = 44′ / No. 7 = 39′ / No. 8 = 30′ / No. 9 = 78′

Capriccio

When the curtain fell at the Paris Opera premiere of Capriccio, the audiences rose to long and frenetic ovations. They unanimously applauded each singer in a cast of stars, but Renée Fleming was undoubtedly the leading light of this remarkable production. Every one of the performers in this production is outstanding and can be regarded as the best possible singer for the role – Opera fans from all over the world came to Paris to see this production.

This Capriccio also served as a role debut for American star soprano Renée Fleming who took on the role of the Gräfin. The critics celebrated her performance as “ideal” in all aspects: musically, dramatically and above all

vocally and she was cheered frenetically by the audience at the Palais Garnier of the Opéra National de Paris.

Dietrich Henschel had critics raving about his sensitively sung Graf, Anne Sofie von Otter won audiences over with her highly ironic interpretation of the singer Clairon. Rainer Trost presented himself both as a true actor and as a versatile tenor in the role of the composer Flamand, Gerald Finley gave a very convincing poet Olivier and Franz Hawlata was described by a critic as “a glowing” La Roche. Altogether a true ensemble of stars!