April 19, 2017

Announcing Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival 2017, July 25-August 20

Mostly Mozart Festival

 

Press Contact

Amanda Angel

212.875.5863

[email protected]

 

 

51st Annual Festival Showcases Performances by Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk,

Steven Isserlis, Gil Shaham, So Percussion, Danish String Quartet,

Les Arts Florissants, the Budapest Festival Orchestra,

Edward Gardner, Andrew Manze, and more

 

Kirill Gerstein, Beatrice Rana, Kit Armstrong, the Young People’s Chorus of New York

 To Make Festival Debuts

 

Focus on Franz Schubert Marked with Production of

Netia Jones’s “The Dark Mirror: Zender’s Winterreise,” performances of

Symphonies No. 5 and No. 9, and a free Winterreise Remix evening.

 

Music Director Louis Langrée Extends Contract with Lincoln Center

Through the 2020 Season

 

QUICK LINKS

INTRODUCTION

AT-A-GLANCE

PROGRAM DETAILS

BIOS

 

INTRODUCTION

 

New York, NY (April 19, 2017) — Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, New York’s premiere summer classical music series, was announced today by Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss and Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée. Building on its overwhelmingly successful 50th anniversary in 2016, this year’s season features appearances from world renowned musicians, new exciting voices, memorable performances by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and free public events over four weeks.

 

“One of the great qualities of Mozart’s music is its boundless ability to inspire and connect us to art spanning all eras and locations. This season provides us with a chance rediscover favorite pieces, as well as unearth connections between his music and that of his predecessors, contemporaries, and those who followed,” said Moss.

 

Two staged productions, one of which is a U.S. premiere and the other a much-heralded revival, highlight this year’s Festival. Netia Jones, the visionary behind 2016’s opening production, “The Illuminated Heart,” returns to stage Hans Zender’s orchestration of Schubert’s Winterreise, ”The Dark Mirror: Zender’s Winterreise,” with Ian Bostridge and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), conducted by Baldur Brönnimann. Meanwhile, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and its music director Ivan Fischer, return with its acclaimed production of Don Giovanni, a highlight of the 2011 Festival.

 

The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra will present eight programs, four under the baton of Langrée. The opening night will nod to the Festival’s namesake composer, while embracing contemporaneous musical traditions of his time in a program that interweaves movements of Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony with choral works from the same era. The Young People’s Chorus of New York will perform traditional and folk melodies in its Festival debut, and the program culminates with Beethoven’s exuberant Choral Fantasy with the rising pianist Kit Armstrong.

 

Also joining the orchestra will be conductors Edward Gardner, Andrew Manze, and Gianandrea Noseada; and soloists Jeremy Denk, Kirill Gerstein (Mostly Mozart Debut), Beatrice Rana (New York Debut), Gil Shaham, So Percussion, and Thomas Zehetmair, as well as a joint performance of Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis.

 

The exquisite music of Schubert dots this year’s Festival. In addition to “The Dark Mirror: Zender’s Winterreise,” ICE will also present updates to Schubert’s song cycle at a free “Winterreise Remix” evening and during concert of contemporary works inspired by nature, one of Schubert’s great muses. The Festival orchestra will perform Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. Franz Peter Schubert: The Greatest Love and the Greatest Sorrow (1994), a musical documentary chronicling the final 20 months of the composer’s life and output, will be screened.

 

French early music favorites Les Arts Florissants will perform an all-Charpentier program under the baton of their associate conductor Paul Agnew. And the Danish String Quartet will present an all-Beethoven program at Alice Tully Hall.

 

This year’s lineup of Little Night Music concerts, late-night performances that foster an intimate cabaret setting in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, feature So Percussion, the Danish String Quartet, Trio Solisti and pianists Pedja Muzijevic, Vikingur Olafsson (New York debut), and Kirill Gerstein.

 

Louis Langrée Signs Three-Year Contract Extension

 

Entering his 15th year as the Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director of Mostly Mozart, Louis Langrée has extended his contract with the Festival through the 2020 season. Under Langrée’s musical leadership of the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Festival Orchestra’s stature and recognition has risen to great heights, acclaimed for mastering the classical repertoire as well as broadening scope of the Festival. The three-year extension strengthens the Festival’s ties with Langrée, and ensures that his performances at the Mostly Mozart Festival continue as an annual summertime destination for classical music lovers in New York and around the world.

 

Moss remarked: “Working with Louis on the Mostly Mozart Festival, a beloved New York institution, has been an exhilarating and endlessly stimulating experience for me and our audiences. I’m thrilled that we will forge the next 50 years of the festival bolstered by this fertile and rewarding partnership.”

 

“To return to Mozart and Lincoln Center each summer has been an intellectually inspiring and creatively fulfilling process, and one that I’m delighted to continue,” Langrée added. “This summer’s festival refreshes the way we hear Mozart through enlightening juxtapositions with music from the Baroque to a 21^st century work by David Lang, and I’m excited to think about where his music will lead us over the next three years.”

 

Louis Langrée was appointed music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival since December 2002 and was named Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director in August 2006. Langrée also extended his contract with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where he has served as music director since 2013, through the 2020 season.

 

Langrée’s orchestral guest engagements have included the Berlin Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Philadelphia, London Philharmonic, Budapest Festival and Orchestre de Paris. He also regularly conducts opera, including at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Opéra Comique, Royal Opera Covent Garden, and Wiener Staatsoper.

 

A conductor with wide-ranging interests and expertise, Langrée is comfortable leading period ensembles, including l’Orchestra des Champs-Elysée, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and the Orchestra of Age of Enlightenment, as well as world premieres of compositions by Magnus Lindberg, David Lang, Daniel Jjarnason, Nico Muhly, Thierry Escaich, Sebastian Currier, Caroline Shaw, and more.

 

 

TICKETS

 

Tickets for Friends of Mostly Mozart go on sale April 24 and to the general public beginning May 3. They can be purchased online at MostlyMozart.org, by phone via CenterCharge at 212.721.6500, or by visiting the David Geffen Hall or Alice Tully Hall Box Offices.

 

FESTIVAL AT A GLANCE

 

STAGED PRODUCTIONS

 

THE DARK MIRROR: ZENDER’S WINTERREISE

August 12, 7:30 pm; August 13, 5:00 pm

Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

Conceived and directed by Netia Jones

Baldur Brönnimann, conductor (Mostly Mozart debut)

Ian Bostridge, tenor

International Contemporary Ensemble

 

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA: DON GIOVANNI

August 17 and 19, 7:30 pm; August 20, 5:00 pm

Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

Ivàn Fischer, conductor

 

MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

 

SPECIAL OPENING-NIGHT PRESENTATION

July 25 and 26, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

Kit Armstrong, piano (Mostly Mozart debut)

Young People’s Chorus of New York City (Mostly Mozart debut)

Francisco J. Nuñez, founder and artistic director YPC

 

BEETHOVEN AND SCHUBERT
July 28 and 29, 7:30 pm

Edward Gardner, conductor

Jeremy Denk, piano

 

MOZART, LANG, AND LULLY
August 1 and 2, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

So Percussion

 

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

August 4 and 5, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

Beatrice Rana, piano (New York debut)

 

BRAHMS DOUBLE CONCERTO

August 8 and 9 at 7:30 pm

Andrew Manze, conductor

Joshua Bell, violin

Steven Isserlis, cello

 

BEETHOVEN AND MOZART

 August 11 and 12, 7:30 pm

Andrew Manze, conductor

Thomas Zehetmair, violin

 

BRAHMS AND SCHUMANN

August 15 and 16, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

Kirill Gerstein, piano (Mostly Mozart debut)

 

TCHAIKOVSKY, PROKOFIEV, AND MOZART
August 18 and 19, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

Gil Shaham, violin

 

 

CHAMBER MUSIC

 

LES ARTS FLORISSANTS: SACRED CHARPENTIER

July 27, 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater, Adrienne Arsht stage

Paul Agnew, conductor

 

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE: HOW FORESTS THINK

August 14, 7:30 pm

Merkin Concert Hall

Baldur Brönnimann, conductor

Wu Wei, sheng (Mostly Mozart debut)

 

DANISH STRING QUARTET: ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

August 10, 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater, Adrienne Arsht Stage

 

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Intimate late-night concerts held at the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse at 10:00 pm

 

So PERCUSSION

August 2

 

KSENIJA SIDOROVA, ACCORDION

August 5

 

STEVEN ISSERLIS, CELLO

August 9

 

DANISH STRING QUARTET

August 10

 

HAYDN DIALOGUES WITH PEDJA MUZIJEVIC, PIANO

August 11

 

VIKINGUR OLAFSSON (NEW YORK DEBUT), PIANO

August 12

 

TRIO SOLISTI: SCHUBERT PIANO TRIO

August 15

 

KIRILL GERSTEIN, PIANO

August 16

 

FREE EVENTS

 

MEET THE MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

July 19, 6:00 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

 

PANEL DISCUSSION: MOZART THE WUNDERKIND

July 30, 3:00 pm

Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse

Prestented in association with the Mozart Society of America

 

FILM SCREENING: FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT:

THE GREATEST LOVE AND THE GREATEST SORROW

August 6, Time 1:00 pm

Walter Reade Theater

Christopher Nupen, director

 

SCHUBERTIADE REMIX

August 7, Time 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

International Contemporary Ensemble

Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy, and Dave Malloy, hosts

 

 

 

 

PROGRAM DETAILS

 

STAGED PRODUCTIONS

 

THE DARK MIRROR: ZENDER’S WINTERREISE

August 12, 7:30 pm; August 13, 5:00 pm

Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

Conceived and directed by Netia Jones

Baldur Brönnimann, conductor (Mostly Mozart debut)

Ian Bostridge, tenor

 

Netia Jones, whose “An Illuminated Heart” production opened last year’s Mostly Mozart Festival, returns to stage Hans Zender’s fantastic orchestration of Schubert’s haunting song cycle. Evoking a Weimar-era scene, the production sets out a novel course down Schubert’s wintry path, illustrated by Jones’s films, projections, and stage design. Tenor Ian Bostridge, one of the foremost interpreters of Winterreise, and author of Schubert’s Winter Journey about the song cycle, sings its 24 songs based on the poetry of Wilhelm Müller. The trailblazing artists-in-residence of the Mostly Mozart Festival, the International Contemporary Ensemble performs the imaginative arrangement. The production comes to Lincoln Center after a successful premiere at London’s Barbican in May 2016.

 

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA: DON GIOVANNI

August 17 and 19, 7:30 pm; August 20, 5:00 pm

Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

Ivàn Fischer, conductor

Christopher Maltman, Don Giovanni

Laura Alkin, Donna Anna

Jeremy Ovenden, Don Ottavio

Lucy Crowe, Donna Elvira

José Fardilha, Leporello

Sylvia Schwartz, Zerlina

Kristin Sigmundsson, Commendatore

Matteo Peirone, Masetto

 

The innovative Budapest Festival Orchestra and music director Ivan Fischer return to Mostly Mozart with their acclaimed production of Don Giovanni, a standout of the 2011 Festival selling out all of its performance. The minimal sets belie an immensely powerful performance, directed and conducted by Fischer. Baritone Christopher Maltman takes on the roll of the lothario Don Giovanni, while soprano Laura Alkin reprises the part of Donna Anna, one of his conquests. Tenor Jeremy Ovenden, soprano Lucy Crowe, baritone José Fardilha, and bass Kristin Sigmundsson round out the stellar cast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

 

The cornerstone of the Mostly Mozart Festival is its eponymous orchestra. Each summer, the interior of David Geffen Hall is transformed -- its stage is extended into the hall and audience seating is added surrounding the musicians. The orchestra will present eight programs as well as a free concert, featuring renowned soloists and conductors from around the world. All performances are in David Geffen Hall.

 

SPECIAL OPENING-NIGHT PRESENTATION

July 25 and 26, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

Kit Armstrong, piano (Mostly Mozart debut)

Young People’s Chorus of New York City (Mostly Mozart debut)

Francisco J. Nuñez, founder and artistic director YPC

 

MOZART: Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner)

BEETHOVEN: Choral Fantasy

 

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City makes its festival debut in a poignant program that will alternate between movements of Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”) and contemporaneous choral works from around the world. The pieces, including a Bulgarian hymn, tktktkt, couched within Mozart’s exuberant symphony create a portrait of humanity that resonates more than 200 years later. The evening will be capped off with Beethoven’s glorious Choral Fantasy, featuring the phenomenal pianist, Kit Armstrong in his first appearance at the Festival.

 

BEETHOVEN AND SCHUBERT

July 28 and 29, 7:30 pm

Edward Gardner, conductor

Jeremy Denk, piano

 

MOZART: Masonic Funeral Music in C minor

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major

SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major

 

Conductor Edward Gardner kicks off the festival’s celebration of the work of Franz Schubert, leading the composer’s Fifth Symphony. Earlier in the program he is joined by the “irrepressibly charismatic” pianist Jeremy Denk for Beethoven’s searching Piano Concerto No. 4.

 

MOZART, LANG, AND LULLY

August 1 and 2, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

So Percussion

 

            MOZART: Overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail

            LANG: man made

            LULLY: Selection from Le Bourgeois gentilhomme

            MOZART: Symphony No. 31 in D major (“Paris”)

 

New York–based quartet So Percussion joins the Festival Orchestra for this percussive program. In addition to performing David Lang’s concerto for percussion calling for found objects, the ensemble will participate in Mozart’s Turkish-themed overture, chiming in on triangle, cymbals, and drums. Lully’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme and Mozart’s Paris Symphony echo the Ottoman-inspired sounds, combining them with Parisian elegance.

 

 

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

August 4 and 5, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

Beatrice Rana, piano (New York debut)

 

Egmont Overture

Piano Concerto No.1

Symphony No. 7

 

Award-winning Italian pianist Beatrice Rana makes her highly anticipated New York debut with Louis Langrée and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. Hailed as “exhilarating, extroverted, and effortlessly virtuosic” by BBC Music Magazine, Rana will perform Beethoven’s energetic First Piano Concerto as part of an all-Beethoven evening including his Egmont Overture and the Seventh Symphony.

 

BRAHMS DOUBLE CONCERTO

August 8 and 9 at 7:30 pm

Andrew Manze, conductor

Joshua Bell, violin

Steven Isserlis, cello

 

            BRAHMS: Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor

            BACH (arr. MANZE): Contrapunctus XIV, from Art of Fugue

            MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 5 in D major

 

Esteemed soloists and frequent collaborators Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis team up for a blockbuster rendition of Brahms’s rarely performed Double Concerto. Led by Andrew Manze, Principal Conductor of the NDR Radio Elbphilharmonie and a composer in his own right, the Mostly Mozart Orchestra will also perform the Maestro’s orchestral arrangement of Bach’s Cpmtrapunctus XIV, followed by the “Reformation Symphony” by Mendelssohn, who tirelessly helped popularize Bach’s music.

 

BEETHOVEN AND MOZART

August 11 and 12, 7:30 pm

Andrew Manze, conductor

Thomas Zehetmair, violin

 

            BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto

            MOZART: Symphony No. 40 in G minor

 

Two beloved masterpieces by towering composers fill out this concert, led by the boundlessly energetic Andrew Manze. Soloist Thomas Zehetmair, a conductor and esteemed violinist, performs Beethoven’s trailblazing Violin Concerto, notable for demanding both endurance and virtuosity from its soloist. Mozart’s searching G minor Symphony, the second of his exquisite final three symphonies, closes the program.

 

BRAHMS AND SCHUMANN

August 15 and 16, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

Kirill Gerstein, piano (Mostly Mozart debut)

 

            BRAHMS: Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann

            SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor

            BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1

 

The love affair between Clara and Robert Schumann, and their relationship with Johannes Brahms infuses this romantic program. Brahms’s poignant tribute to his mentor sets the stage for the concert, followed by the ravishing piano concerto Robert Schumann wrote for his wife, played here by the expressive pianist Kirill Gerstein in his Festival debut. Brahms’s First Symphony, featuring a theme that the composer sent to Clara Schumann, concludes the program.

 

TCHAIKOVSKY, PROKOFIEV, AND MOZART

August 18 and 19, 7:30 pm

Louis Langrée, conductor

Gil Shaham, violin

 

            PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Classical”)

            MOZART: Symphony No. 25 in G minor

            TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D major

 

Mozart’s little G-minor symphony is bookended by two masterpieces of Russian music. Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony looks to Mozart’s friend and mentor, Haydn, whose work is also referenced in Mozart’s Symphony No. 25. Virtuoso Gil Shaham, known for his flawless technique, closes the program and the Festival with Tchaikovsky’s notoriously difficult yet magnificent Violin Concerto.

 

CHAMBER MUSIC

 

LES ARTS FLORISSANTS: SACRED CHARPENTIER

July 27, 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater, Adrienne Arsht stage

Paul Agnew, conductor

 

            All works by Charpentier

            Nuptial sacrae

            Second répons après la seconde leçon du Pr nocturne du Mecredi Saint

“Tristis est anima mea”

            Prose pour le jour de Pà`ques: Victimae paschali laudes

            Le Reniement de St Pierre

            Memorare (Prière à la Vierge du Père Bernard)

            Stabat Mater pour les religieuses

            Prelude

            O crux spes unica

            Dialogues inter Magdalenam et Jesum

            Salve Regina a 4

            Chants joyeux du temps du Pâques

 

The sacred works of 17th-century French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier fill this profoundly spiritual program, performed by extraordinary period ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Paul Agnew, the associate conductor of the ensemble, leads the performance, setting rarely played gems alongside some of Charpentier’s best known works.

 

DANISH STRING QUARTET: ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

August 10, 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater, Adrienne Arsht Stage

            Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2

            Quartet in F major, OP. 59, No. 1 (“Razumovsky”)

 

The exciting and versatile Danish String Quartet presents an exhilarating and playful side of Beethoven. His Op.18 No. 2 is rich with humor -- parodying Papa Haydn and the Viennese customs of the time -- while the first “Razumovsky” quartet, written during one of the composer’s most prolific periods, balances humor with profundity.

 

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE: HOW FORESTS THINK

August 14, 7:30 pm

Merkin Concert Hall

Baldur Brönnimann, conductor

 

THORVALDSDOTTIR: Aequilibrio (U.S. premiere)

OLIVEROS: Earth Ears

LIZA LIM: How Forests think (U.S. premiere)

 

Schubert and his fellow Romantic-era composers were endlessly fascinated with the natural world. Taking their obsession as a starting point, ICE performs a trio of works that similarly find inspiration in nature. The Icelandic sky provided a stimulus for Thorvaldsdottir to create her ethereal Aequilibria. Pauline Oliveros’s Earth Ears, which she called a sonic ritual, cycles through prescribed patterns, transitions, and changes that echo the environment. The program ends with Liza Lim’s How Forests think, based on the studies of anthropologist Eduardo Kohn, who has discovered the interconnected networks of forest ecologies.

 

 

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

 

The inaugural season of the Festival featured special “Mozart at Midnight” events. The concept was re-imagined in 2005 as “A Little Night Music.” These popular late-night recitals present intimate concerts with candlelit tables, complimentary wine, and a sparkling skyline at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse atop Lincoln Center’s Rose Building at 10:00 pm.

 

So PERCUSSION

August 2

The percussion ensemble transforms household objects into vehicles of virtuosity in works by composers John Cage, Viet Cuong, and Caroline Shaw.

 

KSENIJA SIDOROVA

August 5

A trailblazer of the solo accordion recital, Latvian virtuoso Ksenija Sidorova shows off the amazing range of the instrument playing works by Rachmaninov, Mozart, and Piazzolla.

 

STEVEN ISSERLIS

August 9

Britain’s foremost cellist, Steven Isserlis, TKTKTKTK

 

DANISH STRING QUARTET

August 10

Following its fiery all-Beethoven prime-time performance, the quartet summons its native roots with an intimidate presentation of Scandinavian Folk Music from Nordic countries.

 

HAYDN DIALOGUES WITH PEDJA MUZIJEVIC

August 11

Pianist Pedja Muzijevic juxtaposes Haydn sonatas with modern and contemporary works for the keyboard by Jonathan Berger, George Crumb, and Morton Feldman. The recital will foster a dialogue crossing eras, not unlike how I.M. Pei’s pyramid interacts with the Louvre, the pianist explains.

 

VIKINGUR OLAFSSON (NEW YORK DEBUT)

August 12

The Icelandic star keyboardist, Vikingur Olafsson makes his New York concert debut performing Bach’s Partita No. 6 followed by Etudes by Philip Glass with whom Olafsson has collaborated closely. The program is pegged to the celebration of Glass’s 80th birthday this year.

 

TRIO SOLISTI

August 15

The U.S.­–based piano trio of violinist Maria Bachmann, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and pianist Fabio Bidini continues the Schubert thread with a performance of his towering Piano Trio in B-flat major. Written at the same time as Winterreise, this piece was never performed during Schubert’s lifetime. However, Robert Schumann said of it: “One glance at Schubert’s Trio and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.”

 

KIRILL GERSTEIN

August 16

An intimate counterpoint to Gerstein’s performance of Schumann’s First Piano Concerto, this presentation continues to explore the relationship between Clara and Robert Schumann and their protegé Johannes Brahms through their works, including Brahms’s Piano Sonata No. 2, dedicated to Clara.

 

FREE EVENTS

 

MEET THE MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

July 10, 6 pm

David Geffen Hall

Louis Langré and members of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra preview the 2017  

Space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis

 

PANEL DISCUSSION: MOZART THE WUNDERKIND

July 30, 3:00 pm

Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse

Musicians and scholars [TKTKTKTKTK] illuminate the childhood of one of history’s most famous prodigies in a 90-minute discussion, organized by the Mozart Society of America.

 

FILM SCREENING: FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT: THE GREATEST LOVE AND

THE GREATEST SORROW

August 6, Time TBA

Walter Reade Theater

Christopher Nupen, director

This award-winning musical documentary by Christopher Nupen paints a vivid portrait of the final 20 months of Schubert’s life, a particularly prolific and astonishingly creative period for the composer, along with excerpts from his diaries and letters. Performances by pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, baritone Andreas Schmidt, and others illuminate the genius of a composer whose late works answer the question he posed of himself: “Who, after Beethoven, would dare to do anything?”

 

SCHUBERTIADE REMIX

August 7, 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

FREE

Presented in association with the New York Library for the Performing Arts

Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy, and David Malloy, creators of the Obie Award-winning theater piece “Three Pianos” which is loosely based on Winterreise, host this evening in collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble to celebrate Schubert and his love of wild musical soirées. Artists across genres — jazz, classical, pop, and experimental — will join to explore Schubert’s influence and participate in interactive games with the audience.

 

ARTIST BIOS

 

THE DARK MIRROR: ZENDER’S WINTERREISE

 

IAN BOSTRIDGE, TENOR

http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/singers/tenor/ian-bostridge

Ian Bostridge's international recital career takes him to the foremost concert halls of Europe, Japan and North America, with regular appearances at the Salzburg, Edinburgh, Munich, Vienna, Schwarzenberg and Aldeburgh festivals. He has had residencies at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall New York, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie Luxembourg London's Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall. His many recordings have won all the major international record prizes and been nominated for fifteen Grammys. He was awarded a CBE in the 2004 New Year's Honours. In 2016 he was awarded the The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize for non-fiction writing for his latest book, Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession.

 

BALDUR BRÖNNIMANN, CONDUCTOR

http://www.baldur.info/

Baldur Brönnimann is a conductor of great flexibility with a broad-minded approach to music-making and a particular affinity for the most complex contemporary scores. He shares his time between the concert hall and the opera house, and whenever possible seeks out opportunities for educational and outreach work. In January 2015 he became the Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, following a long-standing relationship with the orchestra, and in September 2016 took up the position of Principal Conductor with the Basel Sinfonietta.

 

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE

https://iceorg.org/about
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is an artist collective committed to transforming the way music is created and experienced. As performer, curator, and educator, ICE explores how new music intersects with communities across the world. The ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored ICE’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present. A recipient of the American Music Center’s Trailblazer Award and the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, ICE was also named the 2014 Musical America Ensemble of the Year. The group currently serves as artists-in-residence at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Mostly Mozart Festival, and previously led a five-year residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. ICE has been featured at the Ojai Music Festival since 2015, and has appeared at festivals abroad such as Acht Brücken Cologne and Musica nova Helsinki. Other recent performance stages include the Park Avenue Armory, The Stone, ice floes at Greenland’s Diskotek Sessions, and boats on the Amazon River.

 

NETIA JONES, DIRECTOR

http://www.netiajones.com/

Netia Jones is a British director/designer and video artist working in opera, staged concerts, performance and installation, using video, film and projected media in all of her work. A "leading video pioneer" (Times) "bringing intelligence and integrity to the task of bringing video into classical music” (Guardian) she is director of LIGHTMAP, a mixed media partnership with whom she has created video, film, installation and interactive media projects in the UK, US and Europe, from large scale external projection mapping to multiprojector integrated film in opera performances.

 

DON GIOVANNI

 

IVÁN FISCHER, CONDUCTOR AND DIRECTOR

http://www.bfz.hu/en/about-us/ivan-fischer/
Iván Fischer is the founder and Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, as well as the Music Director of the Konzerthaus and Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In recent years he has also gained a reputation as a composer, with his works being performed in the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Germany and Austria. What is more, he has directed a number of successful opera productions. The BFO’s frequent worldwide tours and a series of critically acclaimed and fast selling records, released first by Philips Classics and later by Channel Classics, have contributed to Fischer’s reputation as one of the world’s most high-profile music directors.

 

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

http://www.bfz.hu/en/about-us/the-orchestra/

The Budapest Festival Orchestra is one of the major success stories of the international music scene, being rated among the world’s top ten orchestras. Both audience and critics alike acknowledge the quality in the ensemble’s captivating chamber music performances, as well as the all-pervasive dynamism with which it shares the joy of music-making with the audience. The orchestra is a regular guest at the world’s most important music venues and concert halls, including Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York, Vienna’s Musikverein, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and London’s Royal Albert Hall. They have repeatedly been invited to perform at international music events such as the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Salzburger Festspiele or the Edinburgh International Festival. The Association of Music Critics of Argentina awarded BFO as the best foreign symphonic orchestra in 2016.

 

CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN, DON GIOVANNI

http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/singers/baritone-bass-baritone/christopher-maltman
Winner of the Lieder Prize at the 1997 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, Christopher Maltman studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music. A renowned Don Giovanni, he has sung the role at the Salzburg Festival, in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he has also sung Papageno, Guglielmo, Lescaut, Forester, Marcello, Ramiro. At the Vienna State Opera, his roles include Siskov (Aus einem Totenhaus), Onegin, Figaro and Prospero (The Tempest). Increasingly in demand for Verdi roles, he has sung Simon Boccanegra in Frankfurt, Post (Don Carlos) in Amsterdam and Frankfurt, and this season sings Conte di Luna (Il trovatore) at Covent Garden. Other operatic appearances include Il Conte in Paris, Alfonso in Munich, Friedrich (Das Liebesverbot) in Madrid and Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Papageno and Silvio at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. 

 

LAURA AIKIN, DONNA ANNA

http://www.lauraaikin.com/about.cfm

World renowned American soprano Laura Aikin is a familiar presence in the world’s great opera houses and concert halls performing with many of the greatest conductors of our time including Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Sylvain Cambreling, William Christie, Christoph von Dohnányi, Daniele Gatti, Michael Gielen, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Jacobs, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Markus Stenz and Franz Welser-Möst,. Possessing a range of over three octaves and an arresting stage presence, her repertoire embraces works from the Baroque to the contemporary

 

LUCY CROWE, DONNA ELVIRA

http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/singers/soprano/lucy-crowe

Described as having a voice of bell-like clarity with an impeccable vocal technique and powerful stage presence, Lucy Crowe has established herself as one of the leading lyric sopranos of her generation. With repertoire ranging from Purcell, Handel and Mozart to Donizetti’s Adina and Verdi’s Gilda she has sung with opera companies throughout the UK and Europe, including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bavarian State Opera. She made her US operatic debut as Iole (Handel’s Hercules) for Chicago Lyric Opera, reprising the role for the Canadian Opera Company, and she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera, New York as Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), returning last season for Adele (Die Fledermaus).

 

JOSÉ FARDILHA, LEPORELLO

http://www.roh.org.uk/people/jose-fardilha

Born in Lisbon, Portuguese baritone José Fardilha made his Royal Opera debut in the 2016/17 Season as Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia). After winning the Toti dal Monte Competition he went on to make his professional debut as Leporello (Don Giovanni) in Treviso, Strasbourgh and Trieste. He has since performed for leading international opera houses and festivals including La Scala, Milan, Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Barbican Centre, Paris Opéra, Berlin State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Zürich Opera House, Teatro Regio, Turin, Rome Opera, La Fenice, Venice, Maggio Musicale, Florence, Sferisterio di Macerata, Festival della Valle d’Itria, Martina Franca, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon, and the Israeli Opera.

 

JEREMY OVENDEN, DON OTTAVIO

http://www.jeremyovenden.com/

The English tenor Jeremy Ovenden has established himself among the best Mozart tenors of his generation, notably in the role of Don Ottavio. After studying at the Royal College of Music in London, where he won an Ian Fleming Trust Award and was a finalist for the Kathleen Ferrier Prize, he went on to study with Nicolai Gedda. He is a familiar figure on the stages of the world's opera houses and concert halls and at major festivals. Ovenden has collaborated on stage and in the recording studio with Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Myung-Whun Chung, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ton Koopman, Marc Minkowski, Fabio Biondi, René Jacobs and many other leading interpreters.

 

MATTEO PEIRONE, MASETTO

http://www.matteopeirone.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=6
Born in Savona, Italy, Matteo Peirone initially studied Greek ancient literature before training as a singer with Franca Mattiucci, Paolo Montarsolo and  Renata Scotto. He has won many Lyric Competitions, among these "ASILICO" in Milano and "Verdi" in Parma.He has already sung in the most important Opera Houses in Italy and abroad, standing out as interpreter of the principal roles of "Basso Buffo" or "Brillante" and in other character roles. He is regularly invited to perform at Teatro alla Scala of Milan, and has sung under the direction of Riccardo Muti both at Scala Milano and at Ravenna Festival with Wiener Philarmoniker.Peirone is also the founder and artistic director of the Noli Musica Festival.

 

SYLVIA SCHWARTZ, ZERLINA

http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/singers/soprano/sylvia-schwartz
Spanish soprano Sylvia Schwartz is one of the most exciting lyric singers of her generation. She has appeared at many of the world’s finest opera houses and festivals including La Scala Milan, Berlin Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, The Bolshoi Theatre, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Edinburgh, Baden Baden, Salzburg and Verbier festivals. Sylvia is also much in demand in concert and is a celebrated recitalist and has worked with pianists such as Wolfram Rieger, Charles Spencer and Malcolm Martineau; and with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Philippe Jordan, Rene Jacobs, Fabio Luisi, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel Patrick Fournillier, Marc Minkowski, Ivor Bolton, Yves Abel, Jean Christophe Spinosi, Helmut Rilling and Christopher Hogwood.

 

KRISTINN SIGMUNDSSON, COMMENDATORE

http://www.guybarzilayartists.com/Kristinn-Sigmundsson

Lauded for his portrayal of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier that he “dealt in revelations,” the Financial Times further praises Icelandic bass Kristinn Sigmundsson, “His tone dark and his dynamic range broad, he exuded raw power, crusty lust and comic bravado, all reinforced by a trace of gravitas.” In the 2016-17 season, Sigmundsson joins Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie for La Roche in Capriccio, returns to Staatsoper Hamburg to reprise Melchthal in Guillaume Tell, Teatro Regio Torino for Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Rocco in Fidelio. He also sings Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

 

MOSTLY MOZART OPENING NIGHT

KIT ARMSTRONG, PIANO

http://www.kitarmstrong.com/#8

Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Kit Armstrong is a classical pianist and composer. He started composing at the age of five and shortly after that began piano studies. Armstrong studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the age of seven, he started studying natural sciences at various universities including the University of Pennsylvania and Imperial College London. He earned his master’s degree in pure mathematics at the University of Paris VI. At the age of 13, Kit Armstrong came to know Alfred Brendel, who since then has guided him as his teacher and mentor and ascribes to him “an understanding of the great piano works that combines freshness and subtlety, emotion and intellect”.

 

JAMES BAGWELL, CONDUCTOR

http://www.jamesbagwell.com/about.php

James Bagwell maintains an active international schedule as a conductor of choral, operatic, and orchestral music. He was most recently named associate conductor of The Orchestra Now (TON) and in 2009 was appointed principal guest conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra, leading them in concerts at both Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. From 2009-2015 he served as music director of The Collegiate Chorale. Some of the highlights of his tenure with them include conducting a number of rarely-performed operas-in-concert at Carnegie Hall, including Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda, Rossini’s Möise et Pharaon, and most recently, Boito’s Mefistofele. James Bagwell has also trained choruses for a number of major American and international orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony (Japan), St. Petersburg Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.

 

CONCERT CHORALE OF NEW YORK

http://www.concertchoraleofnewyork.com/

The Concert Chorale of New York is a group of professional singers which performs with various conductors and presenters in New York. The group has appeared at the Caramoor Festival in concert versions of Handel’s L’Allegro and Theodora, Brittten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Other credits include the Brooklyn Academy of Music productions of Philip Glass’s Civil Wars, John Adams’s Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, as well as Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and L’Allegro with the Mark Morris Dance Company.

 

FRANCISCO J. NÚÑEZ

http://www.franciscojnunez.com/biography/

Francisco J. Núñez, a MacArthur “genius” fellow, is a conductor, composer, leading figure in music education, and the founder of the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award-winning Young People’s Chorus of New York City, renowned worldwide for its diversity and artistic excellence. Through YPC he has changed the perception of the capabilities of a children’s chorus, dramatically heightening an awareness of the unlimited potential of children to rise to unforeseen levels of artistry.  Mr. Núñez also leads University Glee Club of New York City and is sought after as a guest conductor by professional orchestras, chamber ensembles, and choirs in North America and Europe.  As a composer, Mr. Núñez receives countless commissions from choirs, orchestras, and soloists for music and arrangements in all musical formats and styles, all of which are published by Boosey & Hawkes. 

 

YOUNG PEOPLE’S CHORUS OF NEW YORK CITY

https://ypc.org/about/our-story/

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC) is recognized worldwide for its award-winning performances and spectacular artistry. But the chorus grew out of humble beginnings. It all started with Francisco J. Núñez, a young piano prodigy in Washington Heights whose life was profoundly changed by music. Through his musical talent, he met and socialized with children with the same musical interests, but from different cultural and economic backgrounds. Perhaps one of the most pivotal moments in YPC’s history occurred in the summer of 2015, when the chorus celebrated the opening of its first permanent home, a state-of-the-art facility located across from Lincoln Center. Fulfilling a long-held dream of housing all of its artistic, educational and administrative activities together under one roof, YPC’s home provides cutting-edge rehearsal and study spaces, and serves as an after-school safe haven for young choristers. With computer labs, classrooms and a student lounge, choristers can explore their creative and academic interests alongside a diverse group of peers.

 

FEATURED MUSICIANS AND ENSEMBLES

 

PAUL AGNEW, CONDUCTOR

http://www.agnewpaul.com/en/paul-agnew-biography/

An artist of international renown and an accomplished teacher, Paul Agnew was born in Glasgow and began his musical education with the Birmingham Cathedral choir. He continued his musical studies at Magdalen College, Oxford, and afterwards joined the Consort of Musicke with which he performed music from the Italian and English Renaissance. Agnew is also co-director of Le Jardin des Voix, Les Arts Florissants’ academy for young singers. This interest in the training of new generations of musicians has also led him to conduct the Orchestre Français des Jeunes Baroque on many occasions, as well as the European Union Baroque Orchestra. In 2017, Paul Agnew will direct the European baroque academy in Ambronay. Dedicated to musical education for all, and especially the youngest, he devises educational concerts too, such as Monsieur de Monteverdi and La Lyre d’Orphée.

 

JOSHUA BELL, VIOLIN

http://joshuabell.com/

With a career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and conductor, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 CDs garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone and Echo Klassik awards and is recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize. Named the Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in 2011, he is the only person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. In September 2016, Sony Classical released Bell’s newest album, For the Love of Brahms, with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk. Bell is also involved in Turnaround Arts, a program providing arts education to low-performing elementary and middle schools.  

 

DANISH STRING QUARTET

http://danishquartet.com/ 

Embodying the quintessential elements of a fine chamber music ensemble, the Danish String Quartet has established a reputation for their integrated sound, impeccable intonation and judicious balance.  With their technical and interpretive talents matched by an infectious joy for music-making and “rampaging energy” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker), the quartet is in demand worldwide by concert and festival presenters alike. Since making their debut in 2002 at the Copenhagen Festival, the musical friends have demonstrated a passion for Scandinavian composers, who they frequently incorporate into adventurous contemporary programs, while also giving skilled and profound interpretations of the classical masters. The Danish String Quartet received the 2016 Borletti Buitoni Trust provided to support outstanding young artists in their international endeavors, joining a small, illustrious roster of past recipients since the Trust’s founding in 2003.

 

JEREMY DENK, PIANO

https://jeremydenk.net/bio.php

Jeremy Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists – an artist The New York Times hails as someone ‘you want to hear no matter what he performs’. Winner of a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year award, Denk was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016. Denk returns frequently to Carnegie Hall and has recently appeared at the BBC Proms with Michael Tilson Thomas, and in the US with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Cleveland Orchestra, as well as on tour with Academy St. Martin in the Fields. Following the release of his disc of the Goldberg Variations--which reached number one on Billboard’s Classical Chart--Denk performed the piece throughout Europe, including at the Wigmore Hall, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Denk has toured frequently with violinist Joshua Bell, and their recently released Sony Classical album, French Impressions, won the 2012 Echo Klassik award. He also collaborates regularly with cellist Steven Isserlis, and has appeared at numerous festivals, including the Italian and American Spoleto Festivals, and the Verbier, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Aspen Music, and Mostly Mozart Festivals.

 

EDWARD GARDNER, CONDUCTOR

http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/conductors/edward-gardner

Edward Gardner is Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he assumed in October 2015 leading their 250th anniversary gala concert. The coming season will see Edward touring the orchestra to cities including Berlin, Munich, London and Amsterdam and continuing his hugely successful relationship with Chandos Records. During recent seasons Edward has worked with some of the world’s major orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Swedish Radio, Filarmonica della Scala, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Boston, Toronto, Montreal, and Houston Symphony Orchestras.

 

KIRILL GERSTEIN, PIANO 

http://www.kirillgerstein.com/

The multifaceted pianist Kirill Gerstein has rapidly ascended into classical music’s highest ranks.  With a masterful technique, discerning intelligence, and a musical curiosity that has led him to explore repertoire spanning centuries and styles, he has proven to be one of today’s most intriguing and versatile musicians. His early training and experience in jazz has contributed an important element to his interpretive style, inspiring an energetic and expressive musical personality that distinguishes his playing. Mr. Gerstein is the sixth recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, presented every four years to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, possesses broad and profound musicianship and charisma and who desires and can sustain a career as a major international concert artist.

 

STEVEN ISSERLIS, CELLO

http://stevenisserlis.com/biography/

Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster. As a concerto soloist he appears regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, recent engagements including performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Budapest Festival, Philharmonia, Cleveland, Minnesota, Zurich Tonhalle and NHK Symphony Orchestras. He gives recitals every season in major musical centers, working with pianists such as Jeremy Denk, Kirill Gerstein, Stephen Hough, Alexander Melnikov, Olli Mustonen, Mikhail Pletnev, Sir Andras Schiff, Connie Shih, Ferenc Rados and Dénes Várjon; and plays with many of the world’s leading chamber orchestras, including period-instrument ensembles. Unusually, he also directs chamber orchestras from the cello, in classical programs.

 

LES ARTS FLORISSANTS

http://www.arts-florissants.com/main/en_GB/les-arts-florissants.html

An ensemble of singers and instrumentalists specialized in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments, Les Arts Florissants are renowned the world over. Founded in 1979 by the Franco-American harpsichordist and conductor William Christie, the Ensemble, named for a short opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, has played a pioneering role in the revival of a Baroque repertoire that had long been neglected (including the rediscovery of countless treasures in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France). Today that repertoire is widely performed and admired: not only French music from the reign of Louis XIV, but also more generally European music of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Ensemble is directed by William Christie who, since 2007, has regularly passed the conductor’s baton over to British tenor Paul Agnew.

 

ANDREW MANZE, CONDUCTOR

http://andrewmanze.com/biography/

Andrew Manze has rapidly emerged as one of the most stimulating and inspirational conductors of his generation. His extensive and scholarly knowledge of the repertoire, together with his rare skill as a communicator and his boundless energy, mark him out. After reading Classics at Cambridge University, Manze studied the violin and rapidly became a leading specialist in the world of historical performance practice. He became Associate Director of the Academy of Ancient Music in 1996 and then Artistic Director of the English Concert from 2003 to 2007. As a violinist, Manze has released an astonishing variety of CDs, many of them award-winning. Manze is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and a Visiting Professor at the Oslo Academy and has contributed to new editions of sonatas and concertos by Mozart and Bach published by Bärenreiter and Breitkopf and Härtel. He also teaches, edits and writes about music, as well as broadcasting regularly on radio and television. In September 2014 Manze became the Principal Conductor of the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Hannover.

 

PEDJA MUZIJEVIC, PIANO

http://www.pedjamuzijevic.com/web/splash.aspx

Hailed by critics as a ‘thinking’ musician with engaging stage presence and a gratifying combination of virtuosity and eloquence, pianist Pedja Muzijevic has defined his career with creative programming, unusual combinations of new and old music, and lasting collaborations with other artists and ensembles. The London Financial Times eloquently sums him up as “a virtuoso with formidable fingers and a musician with fiercely original ideas about the music he plays.” Mr. Muzijevic symphonic engagements include performances with the Atlanta Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica in Montevideo, Residentie Orkest in The Hague, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Shinsei Nihon Orchestra in Tokyo, and the Zagreb Philharmonic. His discography also includes, besides his Carnegie Hall concerto debut, two CDs on fortepianos – a Schumann Salon and Mozart and Beethoven Quintets for piano and woodwinds.

 

VÍKINGUR ÓLAFSSON, PIANO

https://vikingurolafsson.com/about/

Possessing a rare combination of passionate musicality, explosive virtuosity and intellectual curiosity, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has won all the major prizes in his native country, including four Musician of the Year prizes at the Icelandic Music Awards as well as The Icelandic Optimism Prize. Víkingur has premiered five piano concertos to date and worked with composers including Philip Glass, Mark Simpson and Daníel Bjarnason. He has collaborated with leading artists from diverse fields, such as Roman Signer, Lillevan and Yann Malka, and appeared at festivals such as Busoni and Transart (Bolzano), MITO SettembreMusica (Milano) and Nordic Cool (Washington DC). Away from the concert stage, Víkingur is the driving force behind numerous innovative musical projects. Most recently the classical music television series, Útúrdúr (Out-of-tune), produced for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service in 2013-14, was broadcast to unanimous critical and public acclaim.

 

BEATRICE RANA, PIANO

http://www.beatriceranapiano.com/

At only 23 years old, Beatrice Rana?is making waves on the international classical music scene, arousing admiration and interest from conductors, critics and audiences around the world. Born in Italy into a family of musicians, Rana began her piano studies at the age of four and made her orchestral debut at the age of nine. She currently lives in Rome where she continues her studies with her lifetime mentor, Benedetto Lupo, and studied previously with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover. Rana came to public attention in 2011 after winning First Prize and all special jury prizes at the Montreal International Competition. Her very promising career was brought to an even higher level in 2013 when she won the Silver Medal and the Audience Award at the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In September 2015, she was named a BBC New Generation Artist, and in April 2016 she was awarded a fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust. She collaborates regularly with conductors of the highest level and performs at the world’s most esteemed concert halls and festivals.

 

GIL SHAHAM, VIOLIN

http://gilshaham.com/about/

Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time; his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy Award-winner, also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year,” is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals. Gil Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In 2012, he was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America, which cited the “special kind of humanism” with which his performances are imbued. He plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius.  

 

KSENIJA SIDOROVA, ACCORDION 

http://www.ksenijasidorova.com/about/
Praised as “superbly subtle and virtuosic” (The Arts Desk) and “an amazingly accomplished artist” (Classical Source), Ksenija Sidorova is the leading ambassador for the accordion. Encouraged to take up the instrument by a grandmother steeped in the folk tradition of accordion playing, Ksenija started to play the instrument aged eight under the guidance of Marija Gasele in her hometown of Riga. Her quest for more exposure to both classical and contemporary repertoire took her to London where she became a prize-winning undergraduate at the Royal Academy of Music studying under Owen Murray.  She subsequently received her Masters Degree with Distinction. A recipient of both the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Martin Musical Scholarship and Friends of the Philharmonia Award, as well as the Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal, Ksenija has just been appointed a Junge Wilde Artist by the Konzerthaus Dortmund.

 

SO PERCUSSION

https://sopercussion.com/about/

So Percussion is a percussion-based music organization that creates and presents new collaborative works to adventurous and curious audiences and educational initiatives to engaged students, while providing meaningful service to its communities, in order to exemplify the power of music to unite people and forge deep social bonds. With innovative multi-genre original productions, sensational interpretations of modern classics, and an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam,” (The New Yorker), So Percussion has redefined the scope and role of the modern percussion ensemble. So Percussion is the Edward T. Cone Ensemble-in-Residence at Princeton University, where they offer educational work and present an annual series of concerts. They are also Co-Directors of the percussion department at the Bard College-Conservatory of Music, and run the annual So Percussion Summer Institute (SoSI), providing college-age composers and percussionists an immersive exposure to collaboration and project development.

 

TRIO SOLISTI

http://www.triosolisti.com/trio-solisti

Trio Solisti has forged a reputation as “the most exciting piano trio in America” (The New Yorker), with a passionate performance style that combines exceptional virtuosity and musical insight.  Possessing a repertoire that encompasses the standard repertoire and works by contemporary composers, rave reviews follow the trio throughout its concert tours. Founded in 2001, Trio Solisti – violinist Maria Bachmann, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and pianist Fabio Bidini – has performed on major concert series such as the Great Performers at Lincoln Center, People’s Symphony Concerts at Town Hall NY, Washington Performing Arts Society at Kennedy Center, Seattle’s Meany Hall and La Jolla’s Revelle Series.

 

THOMAS ZEHETMAIR, VIOLIN

http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/conductors/thomas-zehetmair

Thomas Zehetmair’s ability to skillfully blend his musical interests is unparalleled. He enjoys widespread international acclaim not only as a violinist, but also a conductor and chamber musician making him one of the most prominent artist personalities of present day. His international career as a conductor is defined primarily by his position as Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, USA as well as Principal Conductor of the Musikkollegium Winterthur commencing with the season 2016/2017. Zehetmair is both a sought-after soloist and conductor among leading international orchestras. He is also the founding member of the Zehetmair Quartet, with which he was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the City of Hanau in November 2014 in recognition of outstanding musical achievement.

Documents

• [PDF] 2017 Mostly Mozart Festival Calendar
• 2017 Mostly Mozart Festival Announcement, Updated [PDF]

Web Links

• [VIDEO] Mozart Minutes video series

High Resolution Images