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ADVERTISEMENT Rhodes International Music Festival

PROMENADE CONCERTS

This year's Proms season has just been announced and it looks like being a vintage season with opera and choral works forming the backbone of this greatest of music festivals. HIghlights of the season must include Prom 30, a performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony conducted by Simon Rattle (National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain) and Prom 44 a pairing of Martha Argerich and Claudio Abbado with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester in Bartok, Ravel (the G major piano concerto) and Debussy. Also promising to be of outstanding interest are three concerts by the Kirov Opera under Gergiev, including a complete performance of Boris Godunov and the UK premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's St John Passion. They conclude their visit to the Proms with a performance of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto (Toradzo) and Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony. Bryn Terfel and Renee Fleming sing together in a Welsh National Orchestra Prom spanning Wagner, Strauss, Mozart and light music whilst there is a rare performance of Schoenberg's Romantic masterpiece Gurrelieder under the BBC SO and Donald Runnicles. Visiting orchestras come from Spain, France, Denmark and Holland with Riccardo Chailly conducting his Royal Concertgebouw in Mahler's Third Symphony. The Los Angeles Philharmonic under their chief conductor, Esa Pekka Salonen, play two concerts the first of Debussy, Ravel and Prokofiev and in their second concert take on this years Choral Symphony (coupled with Shostakovich's Second). James Levine makes a welcome return to the Proms with the wonderful Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in an enterprising programme of HIndemith, Mozart, Varese (Ameriques) and Ravel. The LSO have two Proms this year - one under Jansons the other under Haitink, whilst the Philharmonia bring with them their Music Director, Christoph von Dohnanyi in Strauss, Beethoven and Dvorak. The LPO play Elijah under their chief conductor Kurt Masur.

Full details of all Proms can be read on the BBC's website at: www.bbc.co.uk/proms. Seen & Heard will be covering much of the season.

Marc Bridle

Articles, Interviews and Editorials

SCHAFER and VOLANS STRING QUARTETS at Blackheath and on CD (PGW)

François le Roux in conversation with Melanie Eskenazi

IN PARENTHESIS; reflections on three ENO Nights at the Opera La Vestale, A Masked Ball and The Elixir of Love 11-13 April 2002 (PGW)

Britten, Elgar and Sibelius, Mahler and Bruckner at The Barbican April 2002, with some thoughts about Youth Orchestras in UK and Spain (PGW)

Christiane Oelze in Interview with Melanie Eskenazi

BACH St John Passion in theatre, concert and on CD, with thoughts about other Passions and the Bachakademie's multi-composer Requiem of Reconciliation (PGW)

Simon Keenlyside in interview with Melanie Eskenazi

Moscow Nights – where the Bolshoi is only the start… by Neil McGowan

John Mark Ainsley in interview with Melanie Eskenazi

ORPHEUS PRIZE 2002 - International Biennial Competition for Interpretation of Contemporary Chamber Music, De Singel, Antwerp 14-16 February 2002 (PGW)

Peter Grahame Woolf at 75

Matthias Goerne in conversation with Melanie Eskenazi

Interview with Calixto Bieito by Martin Hoyle

Günter Wand (1912-2002)

New Beginnings in Philadelphia by Robin Mitchell-Boyask

Vasks, Poulenc and 17th Century Italian Choral Music, with some shorter notes Vasks: Choral Music; Poulenc: Figure Humaine; Cappella Figuralis; Purcell: Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet; Gurdjieff/Hartmann; Bacewicz: Eva Kupiec. (PGW)

Cutting Edge European Music 1960-2001 (PGW)

Interview with Daniel Müller-Schott by Melanie Eskenazi

S & H Dance Special – live and on DVD (PGW & MB)
Coverage of the Rambert Dance Company begins a short overview of ‘the art of dance’.
Rambert Dance Company
75th Anniversary Autumn Programme 1, Sadler's Wells, London, November 2001 (PGW)

FESTIVALS and INTERNATIONAL CONCERTS

Hungarian Spring; Kurtag Festival Queen Elizabeth Hall and Foyer, 20 April 2002 (PGW)

MOZART Symphony No. 41 Jupiter KV551, STRAUSS Don Juan; Macbeth Philharmonisches Orchester des Landeshaupstadt Kiel, Georg Fritzsch, April 14th 2002 (RB) Konzertsaal im Kieler Schloß, 24103, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein

Peer Gynt as a ballet in Two Acts The music of Edvard GRIEG interspersed with the Peer Gynt ballet music by Alfred SCHNITTKE Ballet: Stela KORLJAN Saturday 13 April 2002, LandesTheater, Rendsburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany (RB)

Rocky Khorosho Neil McGowan reviews DRACULA – the latest in the wave of big-budget musicals to open in Moscow.

Rostropovich at 75: Prokofiev, Shostakovich & Britten, London Symphony Orchestra, 14th – 27th March 2002 (MB, CC & ME)

ARS MUSICA FESTIVAL 2002 March 7 - 24, Brussels

Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier, 2002 New Zealand Festival (MS)

Adés, Beethoven, Brahms, Orchestre de Paris, Salle Pleyel, February 27, 2002 (FC)

WOODSTOCK ON THE LOIRE, Nantes, France, 25-27 January 2002 (FC)

Huddersfield 2001 by John Warnaby

OPERA (UK and International),

Spontini, La Vestale, ENO, April 2002 (MB)

Strauss, Arabella, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, April 13, 2002 (FC)

Donizetti, ‘The Elixir of Love’ English National Opera, London Coliseum, April 17th 2002. (M.E.)

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, The Helikon Opera, Moscow, 2nd April 2002 (NM)

MOZART: IDOMENEO, PALAIS GARNIER, Paris, April 8th 2002 (FC)

Rossini, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Opéra de Paris-Bastille, April 2, 2002 (FC)

Verdi, Aida: The Helikon Opera, Moscow, 17th March 2002 (NM)
Mukeria triumphant in the Valley of the Kings

Bizet, Ivan IV, Orchestre National de France, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, 28 March, 2002 (FC)
Mula melts the heart of Bizet’s fearsome Czar

Monteverdi, 'Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria' Les Arts Florissants, Barbican Theatre, 17th March. (ME)

Bach, 'St. John Passion' English National Opera, March 15th (ME)

Welsh National Opera in London and Oxford (PGW)

Handel, 'Ariodante' English National Opera, March 9th 2002 (ME)

OPERA IN EUROPE - FEBRUARY 2002 (PGW)

MOZART Cosi fan tutte Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London

Richard Wagner: Die Walküre (performed in German with Russian surtitles) The Mariinsky Opera Company on tour at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscowconducted by Valery Gergiev, 4th March 2002 (NM)

Mozart, 'Don Giovanni' Royal Opera House, February 23rd. (ME)

Verdi, 'A Masked Ball' English National Opera, February 21st. (ME)

Jonathan Dove Flight Flemish Opera, Antwerp, 15 February 2002 (PGW)

Weber/Berlioz Le Freyschütz, Orchestre de Paris, Salle Pleyel, February 14 and 16, 2001 (FC)

Glyndebourne Visits Paris, January/February 2002 (FC)

VERDI Attila Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 11 a.m. Saturday 2 February 2002 (PGW)

Offenbach, La Vie Parisienne, Opéra-Comique, Paris, February 1, 2002 (FC)

TOSHIO HOSOKAWA Vision of Lear and Portrait Concert, Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 31 Jan & 1 February 2002 (PGW)

Britten: Turn of the Screw, ROH, Covent Garden, January 2002 (BK)

Massenet, Don Quichotte, January 21, 2001, Opéra-Bastille, Paris (FC)

Wagner, 'The Valkyrie' English National Opera, London Coliseum, 3 p.m. January 27th (PGW)

Wagner, 'The Valkyrie' English National Opera, London Coliseum, January 24th. (ME)

Spotlight on Lully: Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris (FC)

Wagner: Parsifal, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, cond. Sir Simon Rattle, December 2001 (BK)

Puccini: Madam Butterfly London City Opera, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 26th December. (M.E.)

Jazz, Dance and Alternative

Spanish Contemporary Music; ANAKI : Inaki Alberdi (accordion) & Ananda Sukarlan (piano) Royal Academy of Music, London, 17 April. Britten, Takemitsu & Japanese Cross-Over; ENSEMBLE TOZAI Blackheath Halls,18 April (PGW)

The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band Carnegie Hall Thursday Feb. 21 2002

URI CAINE ENSEMBLE Mahler Reimagined Purcell Room, London 9 February 2002 and on CD (PGW)

Marc Ribot & Terry Edwards, QEH, 3rd February 2002 (MB)

CONCERTS and RECITALS (UK)

April 2002

Haskell Small: Poulenc, Mompou, Takemitsu, Ginastera, Purcell Room, 29th April 2002 (MB)

 ARTHUR HINTON’S PIANO CONCERTO, Lambeth Orchestra, Christopher Fifield, March 2002 (LF)

Heinz HOLLIGER Beiseit (London première) Joe CUTLER la hora cero .. (world première) Rebecca SAUNDERS Quartet (1998)
Andrew Watts countertenor Gareth Davis clarinet David Farmer accordion
Corrado Canonici double bass Dominic Saunders piano Gregory Rose conductor
Wigmore Hall, 3 April 2002 (PGW)

Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov: Soloists; BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/Evgeny Svetlanov. Barbican Centre, April 19th, 2002 (CC)

ANDALORO'S PROGRESS London International Piano Competition, 6-16 April 2002. Recitals and Concerto Finale at South Bank Centre 8, 9, 12 & 16 April (PGW) also Competition RESULTS

Serenata Winds, Purcell Room, 12th April 2002 (CN)

Classic Rhythm – Flute, Piano and Percussion ensemble, Purcell Room, 15th April 2002 (CN).

Mahler, ‘Kindertotenlieder,’ Schubert, Symphony no. 9 in C major, D944 (‘Great’) Deutsches Symphonie – Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano, Thomas Quasthoff (ME)

Bach/Busoni, Schumann, Hamelin, Alkan: Marc-André Hamelin (piano). Queen Elizabeth Hall, Thursday, April 11th, 2002 (CC).

Mahler, ‘Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen;’ Bruckner, 3rd Symphony. Deutsches Symphonie – Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano, Thomas Quasthoff. Barbican Hall, 9th April 2002. ( M. E.)

London International Piano Competition, 6-16 April 2002 Royal Academy of Music and South Bank Centre; Purcell Room, 8 & 9 April (PGW)

Brian ELIAS The House that Jack Built Hugh WOOD Scenes from Comus (Susan Gritton & Daniel Norman) DEBUSSY La Mer MOZART Violin Concerto No 2 (James Ehnes) BBC Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Davis The Barbican 22 March 2002
Hugh WOOD Scenes from Comus and Symphony NMC D070 (PGW)

Dvořák Stabat Mater : Soloists; Ealing Choral Society; London Orpheus Choir and Orchestra/James Gaddarn. Queen Elizabeth Hall, Saturday April 6th, 2002 (CC)

Negativity - disappointments at South Bank Centre and Blackheath Halls (PGW)

March 2002

Schubert. ‘Winterreise’ Simon Keenlyside, Graham Johnson, Wigmore Hall, March 25th. (M. E.)

J S Bach, Lowell Liebermann, Anne Boyd & Theobald Boehm, RCM, 22nd March 2002 (CN)

Alma Mahler: The Songs Klara Csordas, mezzo soprano, Richard Black, piano Wigmore Hall, 23 March 2002 (MA)

William Walton: Suite, Henry V, Violin Concerto, Symphony No. 2 Philharmonia Orchestra, Richard Hickox, Joshua Bell, violin, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 22nd March 2002 (CT)

Pärt, Bruch, Sibelius: Akiko Suwanai, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra/Neeme Järvi. RFH, Friday, March 8th, 200

Bach, ‘St. John Passion, Bach – Collegium Stuttgart, Gachinger Kantorei, Helmuth Rilling, Barbican Hall, Saturday March 23rd. (ME)

Anderson, Berlioz, Ravel & Mussorgsky: City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 14th March (CT)

Wolfgang Holzmair baritone Imogen Cooper piano Lieder by Robert & Clara Schumann Wigmore Hall 21 March 2002 and on CD (PGW)

PIANO CIRCUS Erkki-Sven Tüür- Transmission Nikki Yeoh- Six as 1
Thomas Adès Darknesse Visible Conlon Nancarrow- Study No.5
Miguel del Aguila Conga Line in Hell Heiner Goebbels Scutigeras Queen Elizabeth Hall, 13 March 2002 and CDs Transmission and Surrogate Cities (PGW)

Walton, Howells: The Lindsays, John Mark Ainsley, Kathryn Stott, Craig Ogden, Queen Elizabeth Hall, March 14th. (ME)

JOANNA MACGREGOR (piano) Blackheath Halls Sunday 17 March with related CDs from SoundCircus & Unknown Public (PGW)

R. MURRAY-SCHAFER 3rd String Quartet; Kevin VOLANS 6th String Quartet; DVORAK Op. 96. Duke Quartet. 10 March 2002, Blackheath Halls (PGW)

Hungarian Spring in London March-May 2002

Holst: The Evening Watch and Works by Parry, Jonathan Harvey, Morten Lauridsen, Warlock, Delius and Britten 'Sacred and Profane': Holst Singers (conductor Stephen Layton), St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, Saturday 2 March, 2002 (SD)

Beethoven Cycle: Philharmonia Orchestra: Sir Charles Mackerras & Marek Janowski, RFH, 7th & 12th March 2002 (MB)

Ruggles, Gershwin, Ives, Bernstein Symfonieorkest van de Munt (Brussels)/Antonio Pappano/ Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano) De Singel, Antwerp 13 February 2002
      Copland, Prokofiev, Ravel
LSO/ Han-Na Chang, cello Antonio Pappano 7 March 2002
     Crumb, Holst (with Colin Matthews’ Pluto) BBC Symphony Orchestra/Kazuchi Ono 8 March 2002 (PGW)

Keuris, Shostakovich, Prokofiev Riccardo Chailly conductor, Vadim Repin violin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall, 3.30pm, 10 March 2002 (SHJ)

BACH, HANDEL & MOZART The Academy of Ancient Music at St John's Smith Square, 6 February & 14 March 2002, with observations about singing competitions and a note on the Queen Elizabeth International Music Competition of Belgium (PGW)

Handel, 'Brockes Passion' London Handel Festival at the Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, Tuesday 12th March. (ME)

Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky Mikhail Pletnev (piano), RFH, Tuesday March 5th, 2002 (CC)

HURLSTONE Trio, HOWELLS Minuet and A near Minuet, GLINKA Trio, WEBER Andante & Hungarian Rondo, MARTINU Clarinet Sonatina CHOPIN Berceuse English Romantics Trio Victoria Soames Samek (clarinet) Lawrence Perkins (bassoon) John Flinders (piano) Blackheath Halls 3 March 2002 (PGW)

University of Warwick Wind Orchestra and Brass Band Conductors Colin Touchin, Simon Hogg and Ben Wong Butterworth Hall, University of Warwick Arts Centre, 25th February 2002 (CT)

Schubert: Ian Bostridge, Julius Drake, Wigmore Hall, March 2nd, 2002 (ME).

February 2002

Davis conducts Bruckner: London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis, 19th & 22nd February 2002 (MB)

Beethoven, Adès, Schubert Wigmore Hall, Tuesday, February 26th, 2002. Endellion String Quartet (CC)

Mozart: Violin Concerto No.3, Jupiter Symphony, Itzhak Perlman violin/director, London Philharmonic Orchestra (reduced ensemble), Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm, 23 February 2002 (SHJ)

Olli Mustonen Bach & Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London 20th Feb 2002 (PGW)

Berg, Bartók, Mahler: Zoltán Kocsis (piano); Philharmonia Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi. RFH, February 21st, 2002 (CC)

Bach and Shostakovich at the Wigmore Hall, 20th February, 2002 (MA)

Zrinka Mikelić (piano), St Giles Church, Cripplegate, Barbican (MA)

Simon Trpčeski: Brahms, Liszt, Chopin, Wigmore Hall, 1pm 18th February 2002 (MB)

Chopin, Scarlatti, Bach, Mozart: András Schiff, Piano, Wigmore Hall, February 14th. (M.E.)

Mozart, Stravinsky: Soloists; London Voices; London Philharmonic Orchestra/Lothar Zagrosek. Royal Festival Hall, February 17th, 2002 (CC)

Related Rocks: The Music of Magnus Lindberg, QEH 7th Feb 2002 & RFH 10th Feb 2002 (PQ)

Brahms: Matthias Goerne, Leif Ove Andsnes, Wigmore Hall, February 13th. (ME)

Stravinsky, Mozart: Maria João Pires (piano), London Philharmonic Orchestra/Yan-Pascal Tortelier. Royal Festival Hall, February 13th, 2002 (CC).

Haydn, Komitas, Prokofiev: Grigory Sokolov (piano). Queen Elizabeth Hall, Sunday, February 10th, 2002 (CC).

BRAHMS Sonata op.99; PROKOFIEV Sonata Op 119 Alexander Ivashkin (cello) Daniel Adni (piano) Blackheath Halls, 3 February 2002 (PGW)

RZEWSKI & NOSFERATU The Warehouse, London, 7 February 2002 (PGW)

Brahms, Berg, Debussy, Poulenc, Messager, Simons. Susan Graham, Malcolm Martineau, Wigmore Hall, February 7th. (M. E.)

Elgar, Britten, Mozart, Agnew, Tchaikovsky Katherine Hunka violin, Sophia Rahman piano. Wigmore Hall, 7.30pm, 04 January 2002 (SHJ)

Morton Feldman: composer portrait Isabelle Faust (violin), Norbert Blume (viola), BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins (conductor), Barbican Hall, 1 February 2002 (PQ)

January 2002

Bartok, Schubert, Haydn, Endellion Quartet (Andrew Watkinson vn; Ralph de Souza vn; Garfield Jackson va; David Waterman vc). Wigmore Hall, 7.30pm, 30 January 2002 (SD)

Mozart, Bruckner: RCM Symphony Orchestra, Vassily Sinaisky, RCM, 31st January 2002 (MB)

Britten / Strauss, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, David Pyatt; Barbican, 30th January. (M. E.)

Holocaust Memorial Day Concert, Purcell Room, 29 January 2002 (MA)

C. Schumann, Brahms, R. Schumann Imogen Cooper (piano). Wigmore Hall, Tuesday, January 29th, 2002 (CC).

ENSEMBLE SAKURA Purcell Room, SBC, 28 Jan 2002 (PGW)

Great Orchestras: Dresden Staatskapelle of Saxony, Ion Marin (cond), Barbican, 26th January 2002 (MB).

Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann; Werner Güra, Christoph Berner, Wigmore Hall, January 26th. (ME)

Janacek String Quartet No 1, 'The Kreutzer Sonata'; Quartet No 2, 'Intimate Letters' Skampa Quartet (Pavel Fischer, violin; Jana Lukasova, violin; Radim Sedmidubsky, viola; Peter Jarusek, cello), Wigmore Hall, Saturday 12 January 2002, (SD)

TWO RUSSIAN NIGHTS (PGW)

Bach Arrangements Angela Hewitt piano Wigmore Hall 30 December 2001 (PGW)

Glinka, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov: Nikolai Demidenko (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra/Yevgeny Svetlanov. RFH, January 22nd, 2002 (CC)

Marx, Liszt, Strauss, Debussy, Rachmaninov: Renée Fleming, Jean - Yves Thibaudet, Barbican, Sunday January 20th. (M. E.)

Johns Earbox: John Adams at the Barbican, 18.- 20. Jan 2002 (JM)

Taneyev, Tchaikovsky: Steven Isserlis, Ivry Gitlis, Pekka Kuusisto, Arisa Fijita, Rachel Roberts, Daniel Müller-Schott, Nelson Goerner; Wigmore Hall, 16th January. (M. E.)

Carter, Knussen & Wigglesworth Claire Booth (soprano) Ryan Wigglesworth (piano) PLG, Purcell Room, SBC 9 January 2002 (PGW)

Schubert , Vaughan Williams, Quilter, Copland, Heggie, Davies: Bryn Terfel, Malcolm Martineau, Barbican, Sunday January 13th. (M.E.)

Bach, Prokofiev, Sarasate: Ilya Gringolts (vln) & Ashley Wass (piano), Wigmore Hall, 7th January 2002 (MB)

Bach, Mozart, Scarlatti,Chopin Andras Schiff (piano) Wigmore Hall,13 December 2001 &10 January 2002 (PGW)

CORNELIUS CARDEW DAY with former members of the Scratch Orchestra, Peoples' Liberation Movement, Promenade Theatre Orchestra, AMM, John Tilbury & Frederic Rzewski (piano) Conway Hall, London. 29 December 2001 (PGW)

Dohnányi, Beethoven, Weir, Mozart: Leopold String Trio / Paul Lewis. Wigmore Hall, January 5th 2002. (M.E.)

J S Bach, Schubert, Chopin: Freddy Kempf (pf), Wigmore Hall, 6th January 2001 (MB)

Handel, Arias from Operas and Oratorios: Celebration for James Bowman's 60th Birthday. The King's Consort, James Bowman, Carolyn Sampson. Wigmore Hall, December 31st 2001 (ME).

 

 

 

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Contributors: Marc Bridle, Martin Anderson, Frank Cadenhead , Colin Clarke, Paul Conway, Sarah Dunlop, Melanie Eskenazi, Abigail Frymann, Simon Hewtitt-Jones, Tim Hodgkinson, Martin Hoyle, Ben Killeen, Ian Lace, Jean Martin, Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Ian Pace, Peter Quantrill, Christopher Thomas, John Warnaby, Hans-Theodor Wolfhart, Peter Grahame Woolf.