Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Vivaldi’Äôs Four Seasons with the VSO and the Canadian debut of violinist/conductor Duncan Riddell

Vancouver BC ’Äì Vivaldi’Äôs Four Seasons is a timeless classic and a fundamental staple for the Holiday season. This year, Duncan Riddell will lead the orchestra from the violin in his interpretation of the piece, as well as chamber works by Mozart and Mendelssohn. The concerts take place on December 19^th and 20^th at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts and, NEW this year, the VSO returns to Massey Theatre in New Westminster on December 21^st for one performance at 7:30pm.

Currently the Concertmaster of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Duncan Riddell has appeared as guest concertmaster with several prestigious orchestras around the United Kingdom including the London Symphony and London Philharmonic. Mr. Riddell is a chamber music specialist and will lead and perform in his element. The VSO welcomes Mr. Riddell in his Canadian debut.

Vivaldi’Äôs Four Seasons is of course one of the most popular works ever written. Vivaldi played a significant role in many important music developments, most notably the rise of the concerto. He wrote over five hundred concerti(!) for various instruments, the most popular of those being for the violin. Vivaldi was paid the tremendous compliment of having no less a musical titan as Johannes Sebastian Bach transcribe many of his concerti, such a fan of Vivaldi’Äôs music he was. The Four Seasons are of course Vivaldi’Äôs most enduringly popular works, probably due both to their exceptional quality and the programmatic, or descriptive, nature of the music. Vivaldi made pioneering efforts in the area of descriptive composition, and was explicit to a greater degree than any of his other compositions in terms of his elaborate description of what the music portrays. The Four Seasons has become an iconic work, standing alongside the likes of Beethoven’Äôs 9^th as the most recognized and loved music ever written. It is now a beloved Lower Mainland music tradition, in its eight consecutive season at the Chan Centre in late December with the VSO.

CONCERT INFO

Bach & Beyond & Specials:

Vivaldi’Äôs Four Seasons

Friday & Saturday, December 19 & 20, 8pm, Chan Centre

Sunday, December 21, 7:30pm, Massey Theatre

Duncan Riddell, leader/violin

Mozart Divertimento, K.136

Mendelssohn Sinfonia No.9 in C Major

Vivaldi Four Seasons

Tickets for December 19 & 20 at the Chan Centre:

Tickets $35 to $59 (Student, Senior and Subscriber discounts available)

Tickets available ONLY through Ticketmaster outlets, Charge-by-Phone at 604.280.3311 or online at www.ticketmaster.ca

Tickets for December 21 at the Massey Theatre:

Tickets $37 (Student, Senior and Subscriber discounts available)

Tickets available by phone at 604.876.3434 or online at www.vancouversymphony.ca as well as the Massey Ticket Centre 604.521.5050

The VSO’Äôs Bach & Beyond Series Endowed By:

The Chan Foundation of Canada

The presentation of this series is made possible in part through the generous assistance of the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts of the University of British Columbia.

Radio Sponsor:

CHQM-FM

BIOGRAPHIES

Duncan Riddell, leader/violin

British born violinist Duncan Riddell studied with Professor Nicholas Roth from the age of eleven and subsequently as a student at Trinity College of Music in London. During this time he became Concertmaster of both the European Community Youth Orchestra under the baton of Claudio Abbado and the International Festival Youth Orchestra with C M Giulini, as well as winning internal college prizes and the silver medal at the first Shell/London Symphony Orchestra scholarship for string players in1978. On leaving Trinity College, he founded the Roth String Quartet with whom he won international prizes, performed extensively around Britain and in Europe and made many recordings for BBC Radio as well as on disc. In 1989, the quartet disbanded and Duncan accepted a principal position in the North German Radio Philharmonic in Hannover which led to recordings and performances as a soloist and with chamber groups in Germany. At the beginning of 1994, he was appointed co-concertmaster of the London Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he also made recordings and concert appearances as a soloist and director.

’ÄúDuncan Riddell assumes the mantle of [Wolfgang] Schneiderhan with no mean success.’Äù

(Gramophone Magazine, Maria Trypticon-Frank Martin)

Duncan Riddell is currently Concertmaster of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with which he has appeared many times as soloist including a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast of Beethoven’Äôs Triple Concerto with Andrew Litton. His increasingly frequent appearances as director of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in both chamber and string orchestra form have elicited considerable critical acclaim.

He also continues to appear as guest concertmaster with many of the orchestras around the UK including the London Symphony and London Philharmonic orchestras and was invited to lead a joint orchestra of the members of the London Philharmonic and Orchestre National de France for Maestro Kurt Masur’Äôs 80th birthday concert at the BBC Promenade Concerts in the summer of 2007.