This month, Intermusica is delighted to be bringing the Netherlands Opera to the BBC Proms for a special centenary semi-staged production of Messiaen's Saint-François d'Assise.

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

In August, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra made their debut at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam under the baton of Principal Conductor Vassily Sinaisky, giving a pair of concerts with soloists Isabelle von Keulen and Lilya Zilberstein. The audiences enjoyed two contrasting programmes, which included works by Mendelssohn and Rachmaninov as well as the Swedish composer, Hugo Alfven.

The partnership of orchestra and conductor returns to the UK in March 2009, performing in Manchester and Newcastle with soloists Anne Sofie von Otter and Intermusica artist Inger Dam-Jensen. The programme will include works by Sibelius, Greig and a new commission by Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson.

Following their success at London’s Southbank in June, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Ivàn Fischer will return to the UK next month for concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall and Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Joined by soloists Christianne Stotijn, Robert Gambill and Birgit Remmert, the tour marks the opening of the Orchestra’s 25th Anniversary season in 2008/09. The Orchestra will perform two programmes on this visit, including Mahler’s Symphony No.3 for which they will be joined by the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus.

The Orchestra received exemplary reviews for their last UK performance in the Spring:

“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

Next month, Intermusica looks forward to the London Symphony Orchestra’s opening concerts of their 3rd season of residency at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Valery Gergiev returns with the Orchestra to start his 2008/09 Prokofiev cycle with a pair of concerts, featuring pianist Vladimir Feltsman and Intermusica violinist Leonidas Kavakos. The cycle, which will travel from London, will see the Orchestra perform all of Prokofiev’s symphonies with their chief conductor throughout the 2008/09 season including both the original and revised versions of the 4th Symphony and a selection of his violin and piano concerti.

Future LSO engagements in Paris this season include the final two concerts of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Beethoven cycle in February and a second pair of concerts with soloists Lang Lang and Vadim Repin to complete Gergiev’s Prokofiev project in May.

Intermusica is delighted to announce the extension of the LSO’s Paris residency to the 2010/11 season.

“The composer who set the seal on the relationship between Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra was Prokofiev. That was in 2004, when they performed all seven symphonies in the space of a few days at the orchestra’s Barbican home…On the evidence of their latest Prokofiev cycle in Edinburgh at the weekend, the romance is still hot: Gergiev has the music in his bones; the LSO thrives on the freedoms he creates. These are the conditions under which live performance generates that momentary frisson – of communication, of understanding – that every musician strives for and only intermittently achieves.”
Andrew Clark, Financial Times

Click on the link below to hear an extract from Mahler Symphony No.7, recorded live by the LSO and Gergiev in Paris by Radio France on 9 March 2008:

In October, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko travel to the Netherlands with Intermusica’s own Emerging Artist Eugene Ugorski, to perform in Enschede and Eindhoven. The programme includes Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major and will be the debut performances of this conductor-soloist pairing.

Following their highly successful performance at this year’s BBC Proms, where amongst other works they performed the premiere of Kenneth Hesketh’s Graven Image and Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, the Orchestra and their young principal conductor received excellent reviews:

“Perhaps it was because the Philharmonic's dynamic Vasily Petrenko was in charge that both pieces took on such a morbid sheen. These Dances weren't just rhythmically acute, but insidiously expressive - and the orchestra fielded every twist and turn with assurance.”
Neil Fisher, The Times

“Then Petrenko returned to his roots…He wasn't going to let us forget that Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances are, well, dances. The RLPO were, in every sense, on their toes. And the mysticism…was potent here. As the alto-sax melody of the first dance spread its melancholia to the strings, the emergence of bass clarinet from the pianissimo brought the first glimpse of the composer's demons. And Petrenko even had them dancing to the "Dies irae" in this exciting finale.”
Edward Seckerson, The Independent

“The orchestra…got to let fly in Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, which its young Russian chief Vasily Petrenko conducted with fluid, flamboyant gestures and an ear for dynamic extremes.”
Erica Jeal, The Guardian

Following a busy period of UK engagements in 2007/08, the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge travelled to both Stresa and Aldeburgh festivals at the end of last month to perform a varied programme of works by Purcell, Britten, Gibbons and Weelkes. The choir are also looking forward to traveling to Ghent this month for their second visit to the Flanders Festival, where they will perform repertoire ranging from Taverner to Howells. Looking ahead to the Autumn and Winter, the choir will be traveling to Porto in November and to both Italy and the Netherlands in December.

“The Choir of King’s College... confirmed what many listeners think they know about the British choral tradition, but then gave listeners other things to think about too... scrupulously prepared, well tuned and musically alert.”
Bernard Holland, NY Times

“With a lineage going back more than 550 years to the reign of Henry VI, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, enjoys a sterling reputation for tonal beauty and technical polish. The current roster of boys and young men, led with impeccable taste by Stephen Cleobury, lived up to that reputation before a capacity crowd of 1,600...”
Tim Smith, Baltimore Sun  

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:

To read more about the touring highlights and successes of 2007/08, please click here.