Society News Publications Highlight
Season’s Activity for Philadelphia
This season the Philadelphia Chamber Music society welcomes Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano. He is widely acclaimed both as a key figure in the new music world and a uniquely significant musical voice in repertoire of the past, Pierre-Laurent Aimard enjoys an internationally celebrated career. Performing throughout the globe each season numerous orchestras and conductors, Aimard has appeared at Carnegie Hall, New York; Konzerthaus Vienna; Berlin Philharmonic; Palais Garnier / Opera de Paris; Lucerne Festival; Mozarteum Salzburg; the Cleveland Orchestra and Cité de la Musique, Paris to devise groundbreaking “carte blanche” and residential projects, performing himself within chamber music, lieder, solo piano and orchestral programs. In 2008 he was named artistic director of the Southbank Centre’s Messiaen centenary festival in London, and in 2009 he assumed the title of Artistic Director at the Aldeburgh festival. He also continues as Artistic Partner with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and holds professorships in Cologne and Paris. He has an extensive discography and has been honoured with recording prizes including two ECHO Classic Awards and a Grammy. American cellist Alisa Weilerstein has attracted widespread attention for playing that combines a natural virtuosic command and technical precision with impassioned musicianship. She is a veteran on the classical music scene having performed with the nation’s premiere orchestras, given recitals in music capitals throughout the U.S. and Europe, and having regularly appeared at prestigious festivals. She performs regularly as a chamber musician. She began playing the cello at four years old. She soon showed a natural affinity for the instrument and performed her first public concert after six months. Her Cleveland Orchestra debut was in October 1995, at age 13, playing the Tchaikovsky “Rococo” Variations. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Youth Symphony in March 1997. Ms. Weilerstein is a graduate of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Richard Weiss, and she was appointed artist-in-residence at the Institute in 2009. Pianist Inon Barnatan has established an international reputation as a pianist of uncommon depth and maturity. Born in Tel Aviv, he has earned acclaim in a variety of repertoire from Beethoven to Messiaen to Schubert. A winner of the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Barnatan recently performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Concertgebouw, and the 92nd Street Y. An enthusiastic chamber music player, Barnatan frequently performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has collaborated with such musicians as the Jerusalem String Quartet, Itzhak Perlman, Jonathan Biss, Cho-Liang Lin, Miriam Fried and Gary Hoffman. Barnatan was awarded the prestigious Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Prize in Rockport in 2008. The Opera Company of Philadelphia this season presents Otello in October, Romeo & Juliet in February, the Curtis Opera Theatre performing the Cunning Little Vixen. In april there is Tosca and in June the American Premiere of PHAEDRA by Hans Werner Henze, June 3, 5m, 8, 10 & 12m, 2011 at the Perelman Theater Performed in German with English translations. This arresting opera is based on the classic Greek myth of Phaedra, wife of Theseus, the Athenian King who vanquished the dreaded Minotaur. Phaedra’s forbidden and unrequited love for her stepson, Hippolyt, embroils her in a tragic battle between feuding goddesses Aphrodite and Artemis for his affections, and ultimately results in Hippolyt’s demise at his father’s hand and Phaedra’s death at her own. The New York Times praised its World Premiere “…a consistent rhythmic vitality and often an otherworldly beauty that is hard to resist.” A new production for the American Premiere is conceived by Artistic Director Robert B. Driver with designer Philippe Amand, creators of the June 2010 new production of Orphée et Eurydice for the Opera at the Perelman Series. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris conducts. The Network for New Music, 2010 season includes music from Asia as it explores composers of the East. Andrea Clearfield’s acclaimed Lung-ta, the Windhorse moved Network for New Music audiences in 2009 with its deep spirituality and evocation of the vanishing horse culture of Lo Monthang in a remote region of Nepal. In her continuing effort to preserve this endangered music, Clearfield recently returned to Nepal to gather more Tibetan folk songs. That music becomes an inspiration for another new chamber work, and for new music Hundreds of years ago, the trade winds blew sailing ships from Asia across the Pacific Ocean, carrying precious cargo and new ideas from East to West. Although those tall ships have given way to other vessels, the exchange of culture and music between East and West has never stopped, and the spirit of exploration continues to enrich both traditions. Network for New Music celebrates the trade winds that still bring treasures across the seas, with a season that presents new music influenced by the evocative sounds and instruments from the Asian Continent. The three programs include Trade Winds from Tibet, by Eric Moe, Michael Djupstrom, and Tony Solitro. Together with a reprise of the stunning Lung-ta and a performance of traditional Tibetan folk tunes, this concert is an expression of the musical and human connections between Eastern and Western cultures and philosophies. A host of other music presentations include the Pennsylvania Ballet, he Art Museum, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Curtis Institute Alumni Series.
Philadelphia and surrounding communities continue with its constituents in a variety of cultural events, many which compete for attention and many who generously deserve recognition for the sheer energy of each organizations input into our cultural life. Being near other major cities, especially, New York City, Baltimore and Washington, one might expect a waning of interest in our own contributions to the cultural society at large. This is not so, as we continue to find new avenues of cultural expression. There are several Universities and Conservatories, Art Centers and Dance Companies to add to the mix. The Curtis Institute of music has in addition to the Alumni Concert Series a free series of Student Recitals.