July 2010

In addition to VWM bringing WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln to the Proms (reported above), as part of a multiple concert residency, VWM tours the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen. They will be presenting Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Luzern Festival, the Royal Festival Hall, London, and at the Dortmund Konzerthaus. The multi-media production, conceived by Peter Sellars with art installations by Bill Viola, features a stellar cast including Violetta Urmana and Anne-Sofie von Otter.

An Italian summer comes to China with a visit of the Filarmonica della Scala and Semyon Bychkov, giving concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, the latter as part of World Expo.

photo: Sheila Rock

Semyon Bychkov makes two appearances at this year’s Proms. The first is on 20th July, when VWM tours him together with WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln for his final appearance as their Chief Conductor. In a concert to celebrate his thirteen year tenure, the programme comprises Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, the UK premiere of Schuller’s Where the World Ends and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with Viviane Hagner.

photo: Herbie Yamaguchi

Kazushi Ono conducts rarely performed operas by Stravinsky at this year’s Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol and Renard are paired together, both of which Kazushi will perform again in seven performances with Opéra de Lyon in October.

photo: Felix Broede / DG

Daniel Hope and Yuri Bashmet join forces with Mischa Maisky, Christian Zacharias and Leigh Mesh in Schubert’s Quintet The Trout in a chamber concert with other international musicians. Both Daniel and Yuri perform individual recitals accompanied by Nicholas Angelich and Kirill Gerstein respectively. Yuri also plays Bartok’s Violin Concerto with the Verbier Festival Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit. Semyon Bychkov will conduct the Verbier Festival Orchestra in a programme that includes Schumann’s Violin Concerto with Gidon Kremer and Brahms’ Symphony No 2.

photo: Benjamin Ealovega

At the Bad Kissingen Festival in Germany Javier Perianes joins the Gaede Trio to perform Mozart Piano Quartet No 1 and Brahms Piano Quartet No 3. Juho Pohjonen accompanied cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker in a recital of cello sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms and Prokoviev at the festival last month.

photo: Frank Hülsbröhmer

Across the pond at the Aspen Festival, Hugh Wolff spends three weeks teaching master classes culminating in a concert with the Aspen Chamber Orchestra conducting Marc-André Hamelin in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4, Schumann’s Symphony No 1 Spring and Steven Stucky’s Chamber Concerto.

photo: Mathias Bothor

Gustavo Dudamel is back in his home town of Caracas in July where he conducts the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela in two semi-staged concert performances of Verdi’s La Traviata.

photo: Delahaye Photographie

Laurent Pelly (in collaboration with Dramaturg Agathe Mélinand) directs an eagerly-awaited new production of Massenet’s Manon at the Royal Opera House. In The Telegraph, one of several reviews to give it 5 stars, Rupert Christiansen says ‘I’ve always held that Massenet’s Manon is an outright masterpiece, but never until now seen a performance that justified my belief. Laurent Pelly’s production has the great virtue of taking the characters’ emotional turmoil seriously, and telling the story with crystalline clarity. Nothing is souped up, nothing sugared: this becomes a credible human tragedy, in which greedy impulsive youth is outsmarted by venal hypocritical middle age’. Antonio Pappano conducts and the cast includes Anna Netrebko and Vittorio Grigolo in the lead roles. In addition, Laurent’s Hänsel and Gretel, with set designs by Barbara de Limburg, is being revived by Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Conducted by Robin Ticciati, Alice Coote and Lydia Teuscher sing the title roles.

photo: Marco Borggreve

Rory Macdonald returns to conduct the Halle orchestra in two concerts at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. A “Midsummer Masterpieces” concert includes Bruch Violin Concerto No 1 with Sophia Jaffé and Beethoven Symphony No 5. There follow a gala concert with soprano Rebecca Evans and tenor Ji-Mi Park singing extracts from well known operas.