This summer, Intermusica looks forward to bringing the Netherlands Opera to the BBC Proms for a special centenary semi-staged production of Messiaen's St Francoise of Assisi.

Performed in French by a strong international cast, Ingo Metzmacher conducts the Hague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of the Netherlands Opera in Pierre Audi's new colossal and dramatic production. Consisting of an all-male cast with exception for the solo female (Heidi Grant Murphy) who plays the role of the Angel, Rodney Gilfry takes the lead as St Francis and tenor Henk Neven plays Brother Leo.

Already in production in the Netherlands, the Opera has been receiving some excellent reviews:

"Happily, Netherlands Opera's reliably high quality visuals were matched by a truly wonderful cast. [...] It is hard to over-praise Ingo Metzmacher and his superb Resident Orchestra for their thrilling reading of this gigantic score."
James Sohre, Opera Today, 9 June 2008

"Pierre Audi's staging strives for an atmosphere of holy awe, with Jean Kalman's sets providing mountains of crosses and a mood of ascetic austerity."
Shirley Apthorp, Financial Times, 4 June 2008

A pre-concert talk with Messiaen scholars Peter Hill, Nigel Simeone and Pierre Audi will be recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio 3 during the first interval of the performance.

"A display of utter magic"
The Scotsman

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Music Director Riccardo Chailly stunned audiences at the Barbican last month, with a programme of Tchaikovsky, Pärt and Brahms Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos. The concert formed part of a wider European tour which included performances in La Scala, Vienna, Glasgow and Paris, where they continue their three-year relationship at the Salle Pleyel.

"At one extreme, Kavakos held the audience with his hushed intensity; at the other, he dug into the last movement’s Hungarian gypsy rhythms and made them burn with urgency."
Financial Times

"In the fury and nostalgia of Tchaikovsky's symphony the Gewandhaus-Chailly combination was irresistible."
The Times

Intermusica is delighted to be in partnership with Chailly and the Gewandhaus for a three-concert residency at the Barbican in the 2008/09 season, commencing in the Autumn. Programme highlights include Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9.

Intermusica were delighted to bring the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Ivàn Fischer back to London to perform at the Royal Festival Hall recently. Presenting an exciting programme which included Stravinsky's Firebird suite, the orchestra were joined by cellist Pieter Wispelwey playing Dvorak. A live 2006 recording of the concerto (with Wispelwey) was recently released on the Channel Classics label (with whom the BFO have a long and successful relationship) winning great critical acclaim.

Intermusica's next UK project with the BFO will be a main-season return in October 2008 for the start of the Orchestra's 25th Anniversary season, giving concerts in the Royal Festival Hall, Bridgewater Hall and Birmingham’s Symphony Hall.

“Dvorák was represented by three of his most exquisite miniatures and by an epic performance of the Cello Concerto...With Fischer at his most incisive, the orchestral sound was turbulent and beguiling - in short, a terrific interpretation that changed the way we think about the piece itself.”
The Guardian

"Stravinsky’s aurally voluptuous Firebird could almost have been written for the BFO, and its realisation of the score’s languorous exoticism in shimmering string textures and golden brass colour made this an unforgettable experience."
Evening Standard

The London Symphony Orchestra travelled to Salle Pleyel last month for the last of their residency concerts there this season. Receiving rapturous applause for their performance of Mozart and Strauss, this was the Orchestra's second visit of the residency with Bernard Haitink, who conducted their very first concerts during the hall's opening week. The LSO's ongoing success in Paris continues into the 2008/09 season with the start of Gergiev's Prokofiev cycle in the Autumn, featuring Leonidas Kavakos and Vladimir Feltsmann.

Click on the links below to listen to live excerpts of the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner performing Beethoven’s Prometheus Overture, and Valery Gergiev performing Mahler’s Symphony No.7. Both recordings were taken live at the Salle Pleyel this season as part of the Orchestra’s ongoing residency.

"Conductor-less and standing up throughout, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, with never more than 16 players on the platform at any one time, played with practised refinement...The concerto for violin and oboe, featuring the orchestra's leader Katharina Schreiber and its outstanding oboist Katharina Arfken, was the orchestral highlight of the concert..." The Guardian

Following their major success in London in the Spring, Intermusica is delighted to be touring the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra to the USA and Canada this month, for three exciting festival performances at the renowned Tanglewood Festival, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival as well as Le Festival International de Lanaudière in Joliette, Canada. Soloists include the baritone Christian Gerhaher and critically acclaimed pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, clarinetist Lorenzo Coppola and horn player Teunis van der Zwart. Gerhaher and Bezuidenhout make their debut performances at the Lincoln Center in this eclectic all-Mozart programme which shall include the Fortepiano Concerto No.20 in D minor K466 and Non Più andrais from Le Nozze di Figaro.

Click on the link below to hear an extract from Haydn’s Symphony No. 92 in G Major recorded on the Harmonia Mundi label (HMC901849):

The Choir of Kings College, Cambridge have continued their touring momentum with UK engagements at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. The choir were delighted to be asked to open the festival in Norwich Cathedral in a performance which included the exuberant Haydn Nelson Mass. In Manchester, the choir were joined by the Academy of Ancient Music in a programme including Zadok the Priest and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Later this summer, they travel to both Stresa and Aldeburgh festivals to perform a varied programme of works by Purcell, Britten, Gibbons and Weelkes.

In a recent interview with Manchester’s Evening News, Stephen Cleobury commented on his continuing enthusiasm and energy for his role as choirmaster:

“I'm still enjoying it hugely. I still want to go on learning about how to do the job and how to make it better." 

Click on the following link to hear an extract from Alleluia, I Heard a Voice, taken from their most recent release I Heard a Voice: The Music of the Golden Age on EMI Classics: