Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Riccardo Chailly to Conduct Grand Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Tours of 7 Cities in North America with Pianist Nelson Freire and Violinist Nikolaj Znaider

’ÄúAMERICAN FRIENDS OF LEIPZIG GEWANDHAUS ORCHESTA, INC’Äù TO BE ANNOUNCED IN NEW YORK FOR THE FIRST TIME ON FEBRUARY 27.   DETAILS WILL FOLLOW LATER.

The  much lauded conductor Riccardo Chailly will be conducting the glorious Leipzig Gewandhaus  Orchestra as part of an 7 City US tour. We would be very grateful if you would consider combining a story about this great conductor, soloists Nelson Freire and Nicoaj Znaider,  and foremost, The Leipzig Gewandhaus one the greatest of orchestras in the world as well as a new concept and the first of the American Friends of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, 

 

DETAILS FOR WEEKLY AND MONTHLY CONCERT CALENDARS FOLLOW AT END OF RELEASE

Los Angeles(17.02.2010)
Palm Desert(18.02.2010)
Costa Mesa(19.02.2010)
San Francisco(21.02.2010)
San Francisco(22.02.2010)
Boston(25.02.2010)
Newark(26.02.2010)
New York(27.02.2010)
New York(28.02.2010)

please use the following link for downloading press material: (Artist's Biographies, Photos, Reviews)

http://www.gewandhaus.de/gwh.site,postext,promotion-kit-en.html?PHPSESSID=92241063caf8ffb966be4e4b89063c25 

User name: Helen
Password: Kamioner 

 The official Cami web site for the Gewandhaus Orchestra is:  

http://www.cami.com/?webid=181

The Gewandhaus Orchestra is Leipzig's most important musical ambassador Of Leipzig, touring throughout the world on a regular basis:

The Sunday Times selected Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performance of Beethoven 8 and 9, Barbican. January1  2009, as the greatest classical music performance of the decade. The newspaper lauded  the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra as having given one of the best classical concerts of the decade  among 15 Events in the entire the world.

The Guardian chose  the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra¬¥s performance of St. Matthews Passion as one of the top 10 performances in classical concerts in 2009 in England.

Chailly, Bach and the Gewandhaus Kapellmeisters

New CD releases in 2010 (Decca):

 January 2010                  Easter 2010                End of December 2010

January 2010:
Brandenburg Concertos

Mid-2010:
St. Matthew Passion

Late 2010:

Christmas Oratorio                                

In 2010 three CDs will be released by Decca with major works of Johann Sebastian Bach, recorded by the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly. With his dedication to Bach, Chailly continues the Leipzig Gewandhaus Kapellmeisters' tradition, dating back to Mendelssohn, of preserving Bach's heritage, while breaking with his predecessors' practice of not conducting the Christmas Oratorio.

The Gewandhaus Orchestra was founded during Bach's lifetime. For centuries, it was the mainstay of the Bach tradition in Leipzig, together with the St. Thomas's Boys Choir and its music director.

 A look at history, however, reveals that, from Mendelssohn's day onwards, it was the Gewandhaus Kapellmeisters whose commitment enabled Bach's music to experience a major renaissance by making it accessible to a wide audience during the mid-19th century. The idea of establishing Bach's music in public concert life again largely emanated from Leipzig.

 With three new CD releases and numerous concert programmes, Riccardo Chailly is continuing the tradition of his predecessors, while breaking with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Kapellmeisters' long-standing practice of not conducting the Christmas Oratorio.

Felix Mendelssohn conducted the first revival of the St. Matthew Passion after Bach's death (1750) at St. Thomas's Church in 1841. Mendelssohn's successor, Julius Rietz, established the tradition of presenting the St. Matthew Passion every year on Good Friday (regularly from 1856 at St. Thomas's Church). It should be noted that the Gewandhaus Kapellmeister ’Äì not the St. Thomas's music director ’Äì conducted these performances until 1907 (with Arthur Nikisch). Beginning in 1908 Karl Straube assumed the conducting duties, but he did not become the St. Thomas music director until 1918. Since then, the Passion performances by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra have been associated primarily with this position ’Äì a tradition that is obviously not as old as people often think.

In 1857, the Berlin Sing-Akademie revived the Christmas Oratorio, the first performance since Bach's death more than 100 years earlier. Soon afterwards, sections of the work were presented at the Gewandhaus under Carl Reinecke. After Reinecke, however, no other Gewandhaus Kapellmeister conducted the Oratorio in the Gewandhaus. The first performance in the new Gewandhaus (1982) was conducted by Georg Christoph Biller, then Gewandhaus chorus director. Thus, the performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio on 7 and 8 January 2010, with Gewandhaus Music Director Riccardo Chailly conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra, are a rarity. The work will be recorded live and released on CD by Decca in late 2010.

Mendelssohn also introduced Bach's instrumental concertos into the concert hall. Since then, they have been a permanent part of the Gewandhaus Orchestra's repertoire and have been conducted frequently by all Gewandhaus Kapellmeisters, including Riccardo Chailly. But Chailly would not be Chailly if he did not use this tradition as an opportunity to continue these musical achievements into the future. During the concerts on 10, 11 and 12 June 2010 he will conduct the premiere of the Goldberg Variations in an arrangement for orchestra by Jochen Neurath. On 16, 18 and 19 June he will conduct the premiere of another Gewandhaus commission ’Äì the chorale variations on the Christmas song "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm¬¥ ich her" for chorus and orchestra by Laurent Mettraux.

 This year's tour is the orchestra's 14th tour to the North American continent

 The Gewandhaus Orchestra has toured the USA and Canada for 33 years; to date the orchestra has played 229 concerts in the USA alone. The first US tour took place in 1974. In 1987 the orchestra embarked on the most spectacular tour in its history ’Äì 15 concerts in Japan, followed immediately by another 13 concerts in the USA.

During its previous US tours the Gewandhaus Orchestra has performed more often on the East Coast than the West Coast, with only four appearances in Los Angeles. Kurt Masur conducted two concerts there in both 1992 and 1991. Palm Desert was on the itinerary for the first time during the West Coast tour in 1991 and again, with Herbert Blomstedt, in 2001. The orchestra has been an infrequent guest in San Francisco thus far. Kurt Masur conducted only three concerts in the Bay City (1987, 1991) and Herbert Blomstedt, one, in 2001.

The East Coast of the USA is a different story. Boston has been a favorite tour destination ’Äì particularly because of the concert hall, whose architects drew inspiration from the second Gewandhaus for structural measures to optimize the hall's acoustics. The orchestra made its debut in Boston during its first USA tour in 1974, followed by seven further appearances under Kurt Masur until 1993. Boston then disappeared from the orchestra's itinerary for 14 years, until Riccardo Chailly conducted a concert in the Massachusetts capital in 2007. The Gewandhaus Orchestra performed for the first time in Newark, which is situated near New York City, under Herbert Blomstedt in 2004, with a second appearance under Riccardo Chailly in 2007. The orchestra makes its debut in Costa Mesa in 2010

Itinerary 2010

Riccardo Chailly, Gewandhaus Kapellmeister

Soloists: Nelson Freiere. Piano;  Nikolaj Znajder. Violin

LEIPZIG GEWANDHAUS ORCHESTRA   

Los Angeles (17.02.2010)
Walt Disney Concert Hall

135 North. Grand Avenue

213-972-7211

Ludwig van Beethoven
5. Konzert fˆºr Klavier und Orchester
Es-Dur op. 73
Ludwig van Beethoven
7. Sinfonie A-Dur op. 92

Nelson Freire, Piano

Palm Desert (18.02.2010)
Mc Callum Theatre

73000 Fred Waring Drive

760-340-2787

Ludwig van Beethoven
3. Ouvertˆºre zu der Oper "Leonore"
op. 72a
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Konzert fˆºr Violine und Orchester
e-Moll op. 64
Johannes Brahms
2. Sinfonie D-Dur op. 73

Nikolaj Zanider, Violon

Costa Mesa (19.02.2010)
Orange County Performing Art Centre

600 Town  Center Drive

714- 549-3876

Ludwig van Beethoven
3. Ouvertˆºre zu der Oper "Leonore"
op. 72a
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Konzert fˆºr Violine und Orchester
e-Moll op. 64
Antonˆ‚n Dvorˆ°k
9. Sinfonie e-Moll op. 95 ("Aus der Neuen Welt")

Nikolaj Znaider; Violin

San Francisco (21.02.2010)
Davies SF Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness Avenue

415-552-8000

Fryderyk Chopin -  1. Konzert fˆºr Klavier und Orchester
Antonˆ‚n Dvorˆ°k - 9. Sinfonie ("New World")

Nelson Freire, Piano

San Francisco (22.02.2010)

SF Symphony Hall

201 Van Ness Avenue

415-552-8000

Ludwig van Beethoven - 5. Konzert fˆºr Klavier und Orchester

Ludwig van Beethoven - 7. Sinfonie
Nelson Freire, Piano

Boston (25.02.2010)
Symphony Hall
251 Huntington Avenue

 617-247-8130

Ludwig van Beethoven  - 5. Konzert fˆºr Klavier und Orchester
Ludwig van Beethoven - 7. Sinfonie 

Nelson Freire, Piano

Newark (26.02.2010)
New Jersey Performing Arts Centre

 973-642-2002

Ludwig van Beethoven
5. Konzert fˆºr Klavier und Orchester
Es-Dur op. 73
Ludwig van Beethoven
7. Sinfonie A-Dur op. 92

Nelson Freire, Piano

New York (27.02.2010)
Carnegie Hall

Ludwig van Beethoven
3. Ouvertˆºre zu der Oper "Leonore"
op. 72a
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Konzert fˆºr Violine und Orchester
e-Moll op. 64
Antonˆ‚n Dvorˆ°k
9. Sinfonie e-Moll op. 95 ("Aus der Neuen Welt")

Nikolaj Znaider; Violin

 

 

New York (28.02.2010)
Carnegie Hall

Fryderyk Chopin
1. Konzert fˆºr Klavier und Orchester
e-Moll op. 11
Johannes Brahms
2. Sinfonie D-Dur op. 73

Nelson Freire, Piano