Clarion Seven Muses

SUMMER NEWS 2008

MATTHEW ROWE features in this summer’s latest television talent contest, BBC 2’s “Maestro” where he mentors glamorous newsreader Katie Derham in her quest to conduct at the Last Night of the Proms. The weekly show will start in August with the jury led by Sir Roger Norrington.

From the intimacy of LSO St Luke's to the wide open spaces of the Royal Albert Hall, Emma Johnson's next London appearances show off her versatility as "Britain's favourite clarinettist". Emma is the star guest on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night broadcast live from LSO St Luke's on 29th August. On 25th September Emma headlines a star-studded Classic FM concert from the Royal Albert Hall playing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko.

In an exciting season MATTHEW HALLS has not only been appointed Artistic Director of The King’s Consort but has also made his debut conducting such prestigious orchestras as the HR-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Matthew joined Les Violons du Roy in Québec City for their performances of the complete concertos for Harpsichord by J S Bach and gave a solo recital at the International Handelfestspiele in Göttingen. He directed The King’s Consort and the Choir of The King’s Consort in a world premiere recording for Hyperion Records.

Congratulations to Michala Petri who celebrated her fiftieth birthday in July by perfoming to a sold-out Tivoli Garden Concert Hall in Copenhagen where her career started 39 years ago. The programme reflected her musical interests and included the Albinoni Recorder Concerto, Vassiliev's Recorder Concerto Valere Lubere, which was written for Michala and Chinese composer Chen Yi's The Ancient Chinese Beauty, a recorder concerto also written for Michala. The concert concluded with Vivaldi's Recorder Concerto in C major (RV 443). As encores Kremerata Baltica performed some fantastic variations on Happy Birthday.

LEON McCAWLEY has just had a very successful return to the Philadelphia Orchestra, after his debut last summer, in Mozart K 482 under Rossen Milanov. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that his playing was 'unfailingly expressive, forming phrases that ask questions and making strikingly original statements.' Leon plays the same concerto again next month in the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Barbican with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Carlo Rizzi.

ANDREA QUINN will make her second recording with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris in July. Following the release of Thierry Pécou's L'oiseau innumérable for Harmonia Mundi with pianist Alexandre Tharaud, she will record piano concertos by Saint-Saëns with Brigitte Engerer for Mirage following concerts in Reims.

THE ROYAL STRING QUARTET, fresh from their triumphant debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebow, make their Irish debut as featured quartet at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival.

GAUTIER CAPUÇON is currently recording the Dvorak Cello Concerto and the Victor Herbert Cello Concerto with the HR Sinfonieorchester in Frankfurt conducted by Paavo Järvi.

We are delighted to welcome the rising young conductor Timothy Henty to our list. Timothy left the Royal College of Music with the coveted Tagore Gold Medal: the RCM's highest award for its most outstanding student. Since then his work has ranged from conducting opera, contemporary music at the Almeida and Tate Modern and ballet at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden. This autumn sees him conducting Matthew Bourne's highly successful Edward Scissorhands in Paris and London and a Gilbert & Sullivan Gala for the RTE Concert Orchestra, using his own performing editions.

RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT AND CLAIRE MARTIN end their successful Spring festivals tour on 16 June at St Columba’s, Pont Street as part of the Chelsea Festival.

PASCAL ROGE'S concerts this spring take him around the world – twice! From Wellington to Winnipeg and from Honolulu to Hong Kong. Following the success of Pascal Roge's first recording collaboration with the RSO Wien, Oehms Classics have released a new cd again coupling Ravel and Gershwin, featuring the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris.

JOHN WILSON, shortlisted for this year’s Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor Award, premieres a John Lennon programme with the RLPO as a highlight of Liverpool’s year as City of Culture. He conducts 3 concerts this summer with the Northern Sinfonia, with whom he is quickly establishing a close connection, and makes his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

KURT NIKKANEN recently returned to his roots in Finland to play the world premiere of Mikko Heinio’s Violin Concerto "Alla Madre" with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr Nikkanen subsequently recorded the concerto for future release on Sony Finland.

He will return to Finland in September to give performances of Schönberg's Violin Concerto with the amalgamated forces of the Joensuu and Jyvaksyla Symphony Orchestras under the direction of Esa Heikkilä.

THE GOULD PIANO TRIO will have their Wigmore Hall recital on 17 July of Mozart, MacMillan and Schubert recorded for the Hall’s own Wigmore Live record label.Their first disc on Chandos featuring Messiaen’s Quatuor pour La Fin du Temps is released this
summer.

We are delighted to announce that NICOLAE MOLDOVEANU is appointed Principal Conductor of the Transylvanian State Philharmonic Orchestra from September 2008.

The album "Mozart in Paris" (Oehms Classics OC 705) with REINHARD GOEBEL conducting the Bayerischen Kammerphilharmonie and the violinist Yura Lee was awarded a "Diapason d´Or" in the February edition of Diapason.

Reinhard has recently had several very successful concerts with L'Orchestre National d'Ile de France and Brigitte Engerer and Hélène Mercier as his soloists including one in Paris at the Salle Gaveau.

This summer will see Reinhard conducting at the festivals in Brühl, Herrenchiemsee, Turku and Vantaa as well as the Bach-Fest in Leipzig with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Next season he will conduct a series of four matinee concerts with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn with the theme "Johann Sebastian Bach and Sons".