2.12. Alter Oper Frankfurt: Tchaikovsky- Piano concerto nr. 1 / Tchaikovsky - Symphony nr. 5

«An ihrer (Khatia Buniatishvilis) Seite agierte auf Augenhöhe Dirigent Gianandrea Noseda, langjähriger erster Gast-Dirigent, des LSO’s. Herrlich gleich zu Beginn die aufstrahlenden Hörner und der satte Ton in der Streichergruppe. Noseda verstand es ausgezeichnet, das Orchester in den Mittelpunkt seiner Spielkunst zu führen. Ausgezeichnet die dynamische Abstufung und die kraftvollen Akzente. Fabelhaft das perfekte Zusammenspiel im kantablen zweiten Satz mit einem hinreißenden Solo der Flöte. Aufrauschend und mit rhythmischer Verve dann der tänzerische finale Satz. (…) Und doch war es der zweite Teil des Programms, der dem Abend seiner Außerordenlichkeit beschied. Im Jahr 1888 entstand Tschaikowsky’s fünfte Symphonie, die er als persönliches Bekenntnis seiner Seele verstand. (…) Mit untrüglichem Instinkt und tiefer Verbundenheit zur Musik traf Noseda traumwandlerisch sicher den rechten Puls, um diesem Meisterwerk alles zu geben. Großartig seine ausgewogene Dynamik, das Hineinhören in die Strukturen und das Ausmusizieren der weitläufigen Melodiebögen.
Eine Insel der Glückseeligkeit durften die zahlreichen Zuhörer mit dem hingebungsvoll ausmusiziertem Andante Cantabile erleben. Mit schlankem Ton phrasierte das Solo-Horn im Dialog mit den meisterhaften Kollegen an Klarinette und Oboe.
Leichtfüssig und doch mit Eintrübungen des Schicksalmotivs führte Noseda dann durch den Walzer, bevor er dann im beschließenden Andante Maestoso alle Schleusen öffnete und das hingebungsvolle LSO entfesselt aufspielen ließ.
Mit welchem Furor und größter Präzision dieser Elite-Klangkörper gerade diesen Satz interpretierte, gehört zu den Sternstunden der diesjährigen Konzertsaison! Die Spannung, die Noseda und das LSO fortwährend aufbauten, kuliminierte in einer überragend dargebotenen Coda, die einem lichtvollen Klangdom gleichkam. So spannend, so gehaltvoll, ja, so tief bewegend kann die Musik des russischen Meisterkomponisten klingen, wenn ein hingebungsvoll wissend agierender Dirigent seine Passion auf ein Orchester überträgt, welches mit ihm diesen gemeinsamen Weg beschritt! An diesem Abend zeigte das LSO eindrucksvoll, warum es zu den besten Orchestern der Welt gehört. Eine wunderbare Erfahrung!»
Online Merker, Dirk Schauss

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3.12. Gasteig München: Tchaikovsky- Piano concerto nr. 1 / Shostakovich - Symphony nr. 7

«Schostakowitschs siebte Symphonie ist ein großes Gegengewicht zu Buniatishvilis grandiosem Auftritt. Aber was bedeuten bei dieser Symphonie schon Größe und zeitliche Ausdehnung. Sie ist überwältigend. Überwältigend in ihrer Dramaturgie, in ihrer schieren Länge, in ihrer Ruhe, in der mächtig gesteigerten Wucht der aus der kaum hörbar geschlagenen kleinen Trommel erwachsenden "Invasionsepisode". Noseda und die Londoner interpretieren das sehr gut, mit höchster Präzision im Streicherapparat und mit einer wirklich beglückenden Qualität in den Bläserstimmen.»
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Andreas Pernpeintner

«Depuis que nous l’avons entendu diriger Les Noces de Figaro le 14 Juillet 2007 au festival de Beaune, cela ne s’est jamais démenti: Jérémie Rhorer, c’est une forme d’évidence mozartienne. (…) Rhorer a le sens non seulement du tempo juste, mais de la logique des tempi, et de leur enchainement, ce qui fait de lui la cheville ouvrière, le maître d’œuvre de la représentation. Son énergie tourbillonnante ne tourne pas à vide, car elle se nourrit du texte et de l’action et fait crépiter un orchestre réactif et mousseux, trouvant une voie personnelle entre l’héritage de Riccardo Muti et la leçon des instruments d’époque.»
LE FIGARO, Christian Merlin

«(…) Jérémie Rhorer, qui connaît si bien Mozart, dirige d'un geste vif, cursif et souple, donne une impulsion régulière et soutenue à chaque mesure, mise en lumière par Le Cercle de l'Harmonie et ses instruments d'époque. S'il serait fastidieux de nommer chacun des onze chanteurs, il faut saluer l'homogénéité et la musicalité souveraine du plateau.»
Les Echos, Philippe Venturini

«(…) Jérémie Rhorer dirige d’une gestique sèche son Cercle de l’Harmonie (qui porte bien son nom en ce soir de première) à un tempo volontiers allant, dessinant des reliefs dans la partition de Mozart par ses nuances, ses accents et la fluidité des fines lignes des violons.»
Olyrics, Damien Dutilleul

«La tâche incombe donc à Jérémie Rhorer de modéliser les volumes et reliefs à travers la musique. Mission accomplie! Il obtient de son Cercle de l’Harmonie une effervescence généralisée, un shot d’adrénaline de tous les instants, qui ose ce dont la mise en scène est dépourvue. Il maintient l’action dans le cliffhanger tout en sondant les âmes en pléthore d’articulations et de nuances. Les accents, le legato, les gracieux contrechants, les motifs décoratifs bien présents, les tenues qui se meuvent en pizz vaporeux, tout y est.»
Opera online, Thibault Vicq

«Dans la fosse, le chef Jérémie Rhorer, à la tête de son Cercle de l’Harmonie, défend une vision baroque des Noces, avec diapason abaissé (la 430) et instruments d’époque. Un son qui peut surprendre, plus mat que les orchestres modernes dont les interprétations de Mozart font souvent référence. Mais un son qui possède une identité intéressante couplée au dynamisme du chef. L’interprétation de l’opéra, bien que reliée au passé, débouche sur un résultat original. C’est ce qui se joue ici. L’authenticité représente la ligne d’équilibre du spectacle.»
Libération, Guillaume Tion

Ettore Volontieri, Head of the Artists Management Department of AMC, started his career as artist manager on October 15, 1989. Here he is looking back on his last thirty years in business:

Thirty years later

1989: Herbert von Karajan had died that summer, while Leonard Bernstein was still active despite his age, Mstislav Rostropovich had reached the peak of his international career, the Berlin wall was about to collapse. The era of the mobile communication was just at its beginning, the fax machine an innovative tool to replace the noisy and heavy telex, internet still to appear.

October 15, 1989: at the age of 25, just after having completed my studies at the Università Cattolica of Milan and discussed my dissertation on the methods of singing in the first half of the XIX century, I took a train from Milan Central Station to reach Montecarlo for the first day of work as assistant of one of the most controversial characters in the classical music industry, Valentin Proczynski. For two and a half years, I have been running around the world to assist artists such as «Slava» Rostropovich, Lorin Maazel, Georges Prêtre, but mainly coordinating the tours of the Mariinsky Theatre conducted by the young and talented Valery Gergiev. After having moved to work for Mario Dradi, the man who produced the famous concert of the Three Tenors at Caracalla and became the best seller in classical music ever, I assisted him for about three years producing three fascinating «Christmas in Vienna» events featuring artists as Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Charles Aznavour.

But soon I felt I wanted to become independent to realize my own ideas. I moved to Milan to collaborate with Antonio Gnecchi Ruscone, still one of my closest friends, with a small bunch of artists, among them the Mariinsky Theatre with Valery Gergiev and the great Armenian tenor Gegam Grigorian, who was the first artist I signed for General Management. Then, in March 1995, I met the artist who changed my professional life, the conductor Gianandrea Noseda and his great wife Lucia, two people who soon became family for me. In February 1997, I founded my own company Artists Management & Production in Milan, realizing some of the most successful projects of my professional life: Three «From Rome to St. Petersburg» festivals in partnership with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, «Parsifal in Ravello», the «White Nights in Milan», the monumental «War and Peace» by Prokofiev at Teatro alla Scala, the opening events for the 100th anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi in January 2001. However, by the end of the year I had to dissolve the company: lack of experience, too risky projects, unreliable partners… I still had a lot to learn. I decided to focus on the artists management and – thanks to the support and the worldwide success of Gianandrea Noseda – I was able to restart building my activities from ground zero… I am deeply thankful to all the artists who trusted in my work and my vision, starting from Gianandrea Noseda but also Yutaka Sado, Alexander Toradze, Karen Durgaryan until Daniele Rustioni, who joined my agency at the age of 24 in 2007. In 2009, I moved to Switzerland and in 2014 merged with Artists Management Company Ltd. in Zurich with my roster of artists, creating the Artists Management Department of AMC. I believe I have now reached the ideal structure to allow my ideas and my way of working to develop in the best possible way. French conductor Jérémie Rhorer joined us in April 2017, almost at the same time as the Italian senior conductor Donato Renzetti, the teacher of Gianandrea Noseda, thus allowing me to represent three generations of Italian conductors, all connected in the great Italian school of conducting. This makes me very proud. The most recent development of my career is the worldwide representation of Alevtina Ioffe, the first woman conductor in my artist roster.

October 15, 2019: the world has been changing fast in the last years; internet has become the most important tool of our industry, until the recent developments of the social media, who are apparently taking a pivotal role in building the career of an artist. I still believe that – beside all possible marketing activities – the quality of the artist and the respect of his talent is the determinant factor of a career and shall remain at the core of our work: even in a more and more marketing oriented industry, I keep the quality of the «product» as a central factor of success. Moreover, the human qualities of an artist are the reason why I still wish – after 30 years – to spend most of my life serving them and building their success. I own many apologies to my four children Federico, Jacopo, Anastasia and Caterina for the time I was unable to spend with them instead, wishing all of them to find a job that could feed their lives as much as my job has filled mine.

«Bella la parte musicale grazie al direttore Jérémie Rhorer, che del mondo mozartiano sembra aver capito molto, cogliendo l’anima dei tempi e l’arduo sentimento del pezzo.»
La Repubblica, Leonetta Bentivoglio

«Jérémie Rhorer’s performances of Mozart operas with his period-instrument band, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, have met with much favor, and here he led the Rome Opera’s modern orchestra in a smartly paced performance alert to period values. Attacks were crisp and textures transparent, and he interacted nicely with the singers. With fewer intrusions from Vick, this Don Giovanni could have offered greater rewards.»
The New Criterion, George Loomis

«The espresso-intense buzz of Gianandrea Noseda’s tenure was palpable in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall Saturday night, as the Italian conductor opened his third season as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra. (…) From the critic’s perspective, one of the best features of the Noseda era is that the programming of these inaugural galas so far has not been merely tolerable but consistently alluring. (…) By the end, it was clear that Noseda had accomplished a mini-marvel, a jazz-inspired program easy on the ears but also of considerable musicological value.»
Washington Classical Review, Charles T. Downey

«For all of the evening’s actual performances, Noseda displayed lightness on his feet, literally, swaying with his hips to Bernstein’s dance tunes in his “Divertimento for Orchestra,” or leaning insouciantly against the railing of his podium during Shostakovich’s utterly beguiling “Suite for Jazz Orchestra.” The NSO is in the best place it’s been in for years, and you can’t always tell on paper just how far the orchestra has come. When you put Bernstein and Gershwin (“An American in Paris”) on an opening-night program, you might expect you were getting business as usual. But in practice, this program managed to be at once unfamiliar and invigorating and as purely entertaining and light as you could wish for on an evening that’s supposed to be more festive than earnest. (…) Most importantly, perhaps, the evening felt more genuine than the norm, without the striving to be something or take a stand that has been evident at some past opening-night galas. It felt like the start of a good year. Let’s hope it is one.»
The Washington Post, Anne Midgette

«Applausi e standing ovation per l'insolito ma apprezzato programma di natura jazz con cui il maestro Gianandrea Noseda ha inaugurato la sua terza stagione come direttore musicale della National Symphony Orchestra (NSO). (…) Il nuovo presidente del board della NSO, Ronald Abramson, che ha elogiato l'ascesa dell' orchestra sotto la direzione di Noseda - compresa l'assunzione di sedici nuovi musicisti - e ricordato le tournee del prossimo anno in Cina e in Giappone.»
ANSA, Claudio Salvalaggio

«Selling out weeks in advance, this was Daniele Rustioni’s highly anticipated debut in his new role as Chief Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra. There was an electric buzz of anticipation from the Belfast audience. (…) the programme made each work feel like an operatic scene, musically satisfying in themselves, part of a bigger musical account, peaking at the end of the evening. Smiling continuously, Rustioni’s joy for the music was infectious and communicative. His modest, clear conducting brought a breath of new life, the players interpreted and executed each gesture with definition and understanding. If this is indicative of Rustioni’s style, the Ulster Orchestra is in for a surprising and thrilling season.»
Bachtrack, Leighton Jones

«Mit Kleinigkeiten gibt sich der spanische Klangforscher Jordi Savall erst gar nicht ab. Rechtzeitig zum 250. Geburtstag von Beethoven im nächsten Jahr richtet der Dirigent und Spezialist für Alte Musik sein Augenmerk auf sämtliche Sinfonien des Klassikers. Mit der Eroica und der populären Fünften spielte er jetzt dem Saisonauftakt der Alten Oper zu, der «Musik als Bekenntnis» zum gewichtigen Thema hat. Und gewann mit seinem «Le Concert des Nations» den viel zitierten Sinfonien tatsächlich etwas Neues ab. Beethoven reloaded: Savall hat in alten Orchesterstimmen Anmerkungen des Urhebers gefunden und setzt diese nun mit seinen beiden Konzertmeistern Jakob Lehmann und Manfredo Kraemer um, Spezialisten für historische Instrumente wie auch das vom Dirigenten Savall gegründete Orchester, dessen Mitglieder überwiegend aus romanischen oder lateinamerikanischen Ländern stammen. Entsprechend sind sie unbeeinflusst von gängiger, aber vergangener Beethoven-Interpretation der von Karajan oder Leonard Bernstein. Beethoven liebte starke Tempi. Der unauffällig, aber sachdienlich dirigierende Savall folgt seinen Metronom-Angaben. Und das hochmotivierte mit energischer Körpersprache aufwartende Orchester scheint in seinem Element. Bei den auf historischen Nachbauten mit Darmsaiten aufspielenden Streichern wirken die schnellen, perfekt intonierten Figurationen im Allegro con brio wie das Zittern von Espenlaub. Schier wundersam eingebettet sind hier die Holzbläser mit ihrem butterweichen Legato-Gesang. (…) Ausgesprochen erlebnisreich sind Jordi Savalls Beethoven-Sinfonien. Und erstaunlich authentisch.»
Hanau Post, Klaus Ackermann

«Wie viel an Raffinesse, an blendenden Verstrebungen diverser idiomatischer Versatzstücke in den Sinfonien steckt, das kam durch Jordi Savall und seine Musiker, die nun seit dreißig Jahren als Le Concert des Nations zusammen spielen fast immer bestens zur Geltung. Für ein historisch orientiertes Ensemble groß besetzt (gut 50 Spieler) hielt man sich an die «kleinen» Zahlenwerte der Metronomangaben des Komponisten, was zügigste Tempi bedeutete. In der «Eroica» erzeugte das noch an einigen wenigen Stellen leichte Unschärfe, die dann bei der c-Moll-Sinfonie gänzlich verschwunden war. Die harte Tektonik mit ihrem «Tatatatamm»-Reduktionismus hätte kaum scharfkantiger ausfallen können.»
Frankfurter Rundschau, Bernhard Uske

«In addition to his duties as music director of the Opéra de Lyon – which is performing Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and Puccini’s Tosca this season – and his final year at the helm of the Orchestra della Toscana, the 36-year-old Milanese takes up his appointment as the Ulster Orchestra’s MD with four programmes in Belfast. The opener features Saint-Saëns’s popular „Organ“ Symphony, preceded by Verdi’s overture to The Sicilian Vespers – in homage to two Sicilian players in the orchestra – and Elgar’s Cello Concerto, with the fine German Johannes Moser as soloist. Another concert offers Mahler’s spectacular Symphony No 2, „Resurrection“, which should set ears in Ulster Hall ringing. In between, Belfast will sample Rustioni’s Beethoven (Eroica) and Bruckner (Symphony No 6). His international guest engagements include a new La Cenerentola (Rossini) in Amsterdam, Verdi’s Otello in Zurich and Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann in Stuttgart. Rustioni is certainly an operatic name to watch. He will conduct two big Verdi operas at Covent Garden in the 2021/22 season.»
The Sunday Times, Hugh Canning

Artists Management Company Ltd. is proud to welcome the Russian conductor ALEVTINA IOFFE to its illustrious roster of conductors managed by Ettore F. Volontieri. AMC will represent Ms. Ioffe exclusively worldwide. She will be the first female conductor in the agency’s fifty-year history and joins one of the foremost conducting rosters which includes Karen Durgaryan, Gianandrea Noseda, Jérémie Rhorer, Donato Renzetti, Daniele Rustioni and Yutaka Sado.

«I am very honoured and excited to partner with AMC, which during its long successful years in business has proven its highest credibility by working with leading music institutions worldwide and by finding a personalised approach to each of their artists” has commented Ms. Ioffe. “Knowing that we share equally high ideals when it comes to the quality of musical performance, I am certain that this collaboration will provide tremendous opportunities for my further professional growth and expression of my creative ideas.»

Alevtina Ioffe is presently Music Director of The Moscow State Opera and Ballet Theatre for Young Audience “Natalia Sats” and has recently made her debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper with a successful production of Yolanta by Tchaikovsky, presented in a double bill with Stravinsky’s Mavra, directed by Axel Rainisch. The production was recorded in July 2019 and will soon be available on DVD.

Born in Moscow, Alevtina Ioffe studied choral conducting, classical vocal and piano at the State Musical Pedagogical Institute “Ippolitov-Ivanov” and she graduated from the Faculty of Opera and Symphony Conducting of the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory under the leadership of Vladimir Ponkin.

«Since the first meeting with Alevtina during the rehearsals for the production in Munich I felt a very special energy and a really individual way of leading the great musicians of the Bayerische Staatsoper. I am convinced that Alevtina has a lot to say in the classical music industry, particularly as she is extremely well prepared and has acquired a solid experience in the past years. She is definitely ready to be a global player», says Ettore F. Volontieri.

Since its founding in 1969, Artists Management Company Ltd. has gained an excellent reputation amongst artists, ensembles and promoters for its tailor made services in the field of classical music and arts. AMC is specialised in the management of artists, in particular conductors, as well as in producing worldwide tours for symphony and chamber orchestras, period instrument ensembles, choirs, opera and ballet companies.

«Le Cercle de l’Harmonie spielte Schumanns raffinierte Partitur mit Delikatesse. Die zuckersüsse, quasi direkt aus dem Himmerl herabsteigende Streicherkantilene zu Beginn war eine Offenbarung. Rhorer sorget dafür, dass alles gut ausgehört und feinnervig gespielt wurde, von der grossen Kantilene bis hin zu kleineren Details. Die orchestrale Seite der Aufführung war ein Hochgenuss.»
General Anzeiger, Guido Krawinkel

«Jérémie Rhorer sorgte am Sonntag dafür, dass man Robert Schumann als Überwinder oder Weiterentwickler des Oratoriums erleben konnte, der wie eine Personalunion aus Drehbuchautor und Regisseur Wirkungen bedenkt, musikalisch Szenen aufbaut und Handlungsabläufe dramaturgisch geschickt miteinander verbindet.»
Bonner Rundschau, Jürgen Bieler

«Es ist Rhorers ganzes Trachten, durch sein empathisches Dirigat die Stimmigkeit des Werks zur Geltung zu bringen. Das, um es gleich zu verraten, gelingt vorzüglich. (…) Die drei Finali trimmt Rhorer auf effektvollen Sound, wobei das dritte beseligt ausklingt: Du hast gerungen und nicht geruht/Nun ist‘s errungen, das köstliche Gut.»
O-Ton.Online, Ralf Siepmann

«Mit einem aus verschiedenen Werken zusammengestellten musikalischen Porträt der allzu früh verstorbenen Muse Monteverdis begeisterte das Basler Vokalensemble Voces Suaves die Zuhörer in der Kirche Unser Lieben Frauen.

Wunderbar einfühlsam erklang der eingangs vorgetragene Sterbewunsch „Lasciatemi morire“. Doch dann ging es in luftig leichten Scherzi und Madrigalen erst einmal um die sprühende Lebenslust, die ein holder Frühlingstag vermittelt; vor allem aber um die Freuden jugendlicher Zweisamkeit in ihren vielfältigen Facetten, die von den fein artikulierten, sehr geschmeidig intonierten Solostimmen mit dezenter Begleitung von Gambe, Harfe und Theorbe vorgetragen wurden. Wie zarte Schleier schienen die Rezitativgesänge und aquarellös gestalteten Polyphonien durch den abgedunkelten Kirchenraum zu schweben, ineinanderzufließen, sich im Nachhall aufzulösen, um sich in schlichter, aber dennoch bestechender Klarheit immer wieder neu zu strukturieren. (…)

Zum Höhepunkt geriet indes das ausgedehnte Lamentoso aus Monteverdis Madrigalbuch VI. Mit zu Herzen gehender Emotionalität ausgeführt, thematisierte es in poetischen (italienischen) Worten den Tod der Geliebten in ergreifender Innigkeit: mal in aufbegehrend kraftvoller Tongebung, aber weit mehr noch in hauchfeinem Pianissimo als Ausdruck der Schicksalsergebenheit.»
Bremer Nachrichten, Gerd Klingeberg

«(…) the formidable Gianandrea Noseda was at the podium at David Geffen Hall, leading distinguished performances of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto and Schubert’s “Great” Symphony. Mr. Noseda, fresh off his triumphant second season as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra (…). The “Great” nickname has stuck to Schubert’s Ninth (and last) Symphony. But Mr. Noseda led such a lean, clear-textured and impetuously spirited account that the symphony seemed more like Schubert’s most adventurous piece. Even the slow movement, which unfolded with elegance and grace, had a touch of mystery, as Mr. Noseda drew out inner voices and emphasized the sudden shifts of mood.»
The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini

«There were so many cars at Wolf Trap on Friday night that I briefly wondered whether I had come to the wrong concert. But it was indeed the National Symphony Orchestra, offering its one straight classical program in a Wolf Trap season that runs mainly to pops concerts and live film accompaniment — and it was playing with its own music director, Gianandrea Noseda, to boot. As an onlooker, it’s hard to tell what draws audiences to a particular event — Noseda’s presence; Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; or the fact that there are so few NSO classical concerts at Wolf Trap this summer — but something, at least, got people out in force. (…) Noseda loves to perform in different venues, and he has a knack for communication. He picked up the microphone and said a few words about how excited he was to be there for the first time, and what a gift it was for all the musicians to perform such great music. And then he turned around, picked up the baton and sounded as if he really meant it. (…) Noseda has a particular way with Beethoven: fresh and helium-light and so fleet that the strings almost floated offstage in the headlong blink-and-you’ll-miss-it passagework of the trio section of the third-movement scherzo. Because he and the orchestra will be performing and recording the complete symphonies at the end of the upcoming season, their contribution to 2020’s 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, it was nice to hear this performance sounding so assured, with enough visceral energy to counterbalance the speed and keep the whole thing grounded on Earth after all.»
The Washington Post, Anne Midgette

«The event marked music director Gianandrea Noseda’s belated Wolf Trap debut. (…) Next season Noseda will lead a Beethoven festival with the NSO, performing all nine of the composer’s symphonies in the space of three weeks. He gave a taste of what to expect with this rendition of the Fifth Symphony, already heard at the Kennedy Center in April. His tempo for the first movement was so brisk and brash that the famous unison opening went by in a flash. (…)Beginning with the hushed tension of the transition from the third movement, the Finale was packed with energy, and the trumpets rang out heroically in the triumphant climaxes. The orchestral enthusiasm could not be dampened, even by that unexpected return of the sneaky Scherzo music.»
Washington Classical Review, Charles T. Downey

«Noseda made it especially malleable, softening to lissome pianissimi before whipping up the orchestra into energetic frenzies. A woman in front of me was dancing along in her seat. Who cares where the music is from when Noseda knows how it goes — and keeps us coming back for more?»
The Washington Post, Anne Midgette

«Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony (“From the New World”) capped off the program aptly, an evocation of the country the composer visited, complete with allusions to the folk and popular music he heard here. Noseda’s interpretation of this familiar piece, last heard from the NSO under Krzysztof Urbański in 2016, was exceptional. In the opening Adagio section of the first movement, he carefully pondered each gloomy phrase and color, making the explosion of the Allegro section more electric.»
Washington Classical Review, Charles T. Downey

«Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Thursday’s NSO concert was the quality of the playing, which was here at least as good as it had been all season: generally quite robust, unified, and agile. The familiarity of repertoire (the majority of it, at least) could not have hurt. One sensed that Noseda was trying to emphasize the Continental sophistication and refinement that lies alongside the more rustic American folk elements of the score, and the results were compelling.»
ConcertoNet.com, Samuel Wigutow

Karen Durgaryan’s engagement for the musical development of his country continues as Music Director of the “Alexander Arutiunian International Wind Festival”, which takes place every year in June in Yerevan and provides a unique opportunity for local wind players to perform with the most renewed specialist worldwide. This year musicians from Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Slovenia, Poland, Portugal, Belgium, Serbia, Japan and Puerto Rico will take part in the Festival.

«The program was French; the accent was Italian. Gianandrea Noseda is continuing to show Washington, and the National Symphony Orchestra, what he and they can do together. Thursday night — two days after the orchestra surprised him with a serenade for his 55th birthday — saw Noseda in avuncular mode, offering a chatty introduction to a program of three pieces that showed a narrow slice of French chronology and a broad spectrum of orchestral color. Then he turned around and let loose at and with the orchestra (…) Noseda is the soul of urbanity, and yet there was a rawness to his approach. This program was French, but it was never refined or precious or merely sweet according to the tendencies of French musical stereotype. The Saint-Saëns was colored by the rough punch of cymbals, the cry of trombones, the jabbing of violin bows as the instruments seemed to pant together for breath. He was waking up the music, and the audience, who responded with enthusiastic applause.»
The Washington Post, Anne Midgette

«The South Korean pianist has worked with NSO music director Gianandrea Noseda in a number of concerts abroad as well as on a recording of music by Chopin. Their collaboration Thursday night reflected both familiarity and confidence in each other. There are long stretches in this concerto where the piano functions as part of the orchestral texture, adding a gently percussive edge to even quiet passages. Cho never tried to play over the orchestra, trusting Noseda to find the right orchestral weight. (…) On the heels of Franck’s Gothic darkness and Ravel’s jazz-like cool, Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (“Organ”), which ended the evening, seemed a throw-back to the comforts of Romantic music without a message. Noseda paced things carefully, allowing ripples of tension to accumulate but never sounding premeditated, building an air of suspense that suffused the whole performance. The occasional majestic interjection of hymn-like organ chords served to calm things down when the music got a little over-excited.»
Washington Classical Review, Joan Reinthaler

«Without waiting for the applause to stop, Noseda grasped the baton and plunged into the first movement, so fleet and intense that its fury left the room breathless. Noseda’s musicians were with him every step of the way throughout this no-holds-barred music-making, maintaining poise, precision and refinement. Beethoven spoke urgently of ideals toward which humanity must continue to aspire, and to Thursday’s politically weary audience, this performance was a reminder why this is one of the most enduring pieces ever written.»
The Washington Post, Patrick Rucker

«When was the last time you were truly blown away by a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra unleashed an urgent, explosive yet meticulously detailed performance at the Kennedy Center on Thursday night that did just that. The Beethoven closed a program that began with music of Schoenberg and Brahms. With a little bit of stage drama, Noseda came on stage after intermission, took a perfunctory bow, whipped around, punching the down-beat as he turned, and they were off. What followed was serious, exhilarating and sometimes surprising. (…) Between the Schoenberg and the Beethoven, not so much a bridge as a cushion, was a lush and colorful reading of Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn. Noseda focused on contrasts of mood here, the mistiness of the first variation, the careful balance of interweaving melodies in the fourth and the blaze of sunlight as the music shifts from minor to major in the majestic final passacaglia.»
Washington Classical Review, Joan Reinthaler

«Betitelt mit dem gregorianischen Hymnus „Dies irae“, aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln von berühmten Meistern behandelt, begann der Abend mit Gustav Mahlers Sinfonischer Dichtung für großes Orchester c-Moll „Todtenfeier“ 1888, eine Frühfassung des 1. Satzes seiner „Zweiten“, der „Auferstehungssinfonie“. Der dramatische Gestus der Komposition lebt in den aufbrausenden Celli, den vehementen Pauken- und Beckenschlägen, und das bestdisponierte Bruckner Orchester hatte dabei seinen Mahler-Klang im Ohr und auch im Herzen. Mit solchem Gefühl dirigierte auch der Franzose Jérémie Rohrer, ebenfalls eine Neuerscheinung am Pult unseres Klangkörpers und erwies sich auch im übrigen Programm als ein primär werkdienender Stabführer. So überzeugte auch Franz Liszts „Totentanz“ in seiner scharfen Zeichnung der Choralmelodie, eine Paraphrase über „Dies irae“ für Pianoforte und Orchester, und entbrannte unter den Fingern des Stargastes Armstrong. (…) Ein spontaner Bravoschrei aus dem Publikum mündete in einem Applausorkan.»
Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt, Georgina Szeless

Yutaka Sado will remain Music Director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra until 2025. At the annual Tonkünstler Orchestra press conference in Vienna on Wednesday 20 March, Yutaka Sado signed his new contract. The term lasts until the end of the 24-25 concert season. «I’m delighted and I’d like to thank all the members and staff of the orchestra for the trust they’ve placed in me – but especially the musicians who steadfastly believe in our collaboration and want to continue our musical journey together» said Yutaka Sado. After the major success of the «Cosmos Bernstein» concert season to mark the centenary of his former teacher and mentor Leonard Bernstein, Yutaka Sado said he would finish the complete recording of Bernstein’s symphonies and work even more intensively with the orchestra on the music of Benjamin Britten and the symphonic works of Gustav Mahler.

Yutaka Sado joined the Tonkünstler Orchestra as Music Director in summer 2015 and since then has conducted the orchestra in almost 150 concerts in the Musikverein Wien, Festspielhaus St. Pölten and Grafenegg, as well as on five tours to Japan, Britain and Germany and guest appearances in Baden and Wiener Neustadt. In the coming season, Yutaka Sado will conduct works including the Eighth Symphony by Anton Bruckner and the Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi. The Tonkünstler will present Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet suite «Romeo and Juliet» in a compilation by Sado himself. Sado will also conduct the world premiere of Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Cello Concerto. To mark the 250th Beethoven anniversary year, Yutaka Sado will conduct the fourth edition of the participation-based choir project Seid umschlungen, Millionen (You millions, I embrace you) with 500 singers in the Wiener Musikverein.

“It’s nice when a concert feels like an event: the crowded hall, the sense of anticipation. It’s also nice when it lives up to its promise. (…) Beethoven is something of a calling card for Noseda, who gained his first burst of sustained international attention with a BBC Philharmonic recording of the symphony cycle that set records for downloads at the time. On Thursday, he showed the restraint and fluidity of his best work, an instinct for lightness and crispness that the orchestra more or less followed, more or less dutifully. What woke it up, it turned out, was not Trifonov, but Dmitri Shostakovich. Although many years have passed since Mstislav Rostropovich recorded Shostakovich symphonies with the NSO, some of his passion for this repertoire remains in the group’s genetic code, and Noseda, whose first major post was a long-term training session as principal guest conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre under Valery Gergiev, is equally on home turf.” (The Washington Post, Anne Midgette)

“Gianandrea Noseda achieved a high point with this week’s concerts from the National Symphony Orchestra. The program seems unprepossessing on the surface, combining Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 and Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony. What brought it together so beautifully was a fiery Russian edge, in the soloist, Daniil Trifonov, and the conducting, which recalled Noseda’s journeyman days at the Mariinsky Theater. (…)Noseda and the NSO lit into Shostakovich’s pithy, varied Sixth Symphony with inexhaustible energy. The three movements offer surprise after surprise–Noseda wanted a seething approach in the opening Largo, part bitter lamentation and part transcendent paean. He got it, with a molten introduction in the violas and cellos matched by searing violins. The many exposed, eclectic solos for piccolo, English horn, silvery low flutes, and bass clarinet were all outstanding. One passage sparkled with particular magic, as tense string tremolos were joined by a whisper of celesta, over which the horns were suspended. (Washington Classical Review, Charles T. Downey)

The Ulster Orchestra is delighted to announce that Daniele Rustioni will be its new Chief Conductor to succeed Rafael Payare in September 2019.

Rafael has collaborated with the Orchestra musicians for these past five seasons to build an exciting level of achievement in Northern Ireland, culminating in this season’s exploration of the large-scale Shostakovich symphonies. Of Daniele’s appointment Rafael said: “I am sure that Daniele is going to have a great time with the wonderful artists of the Ulster Orchestra, as well as with their enthusiastic and receptive audience. I have spent the last five years with this ensemble and it will always have a special place in my heart. We have shared unforgettable experiences together, and the musicians as well as the greater community in Northern Ireland have always made my family and me feel at home. I am confident that they will treat Daniele exactly the same way and I wish him all the luck in the world with this new chapter for the Ulster Orchestra.”

Richard Wigley, the Ulster Orchestra’s Managing Director, commented: “Daniele is sought after by orchestras all over the world and in all the major international opera houses. He has all the musicianship and talent necessary to lead the Ulster Orchestra to build on and continue the outstanding trajectory begun with Rafael. His new partnership with the Ulster Orchestra’s musicians couldn’t come at a better time for our burgeoning audiences. I am personally delighted to welcome Daniele into the Ulster Orchestra family, and we have already formulated some great artistic plans together.”

Daniele Rustioni stated: “I perceived a special connection with the Ulster Orchestra ever since I first set foot on the podium at Ulster Hall as a guest conductor a couple of years ago. Emotion and brilliance from the musicians combined with the Hall’s magical atmosphere allows the sound to soar from every instrument and envelope you completely. And what can I say about the touching and exhilarating reception from the wonderful Belfast audience? My heartfelt thanks go to Rafael for his great work and for his warm support in “passing the baton”. I am delighted and profoundly grateful to take the position of Chief Conductor with this fabulous orchestra and I can hardly wait to get started, sharing inspiring music, and collaborating with all the exciting projects that are already taking shape. It will be a thrilling adventure for all of us.”

«That these performances made “Adriana” seem more musically substantial than usual was also thanks to the insightful conducting of Gianandrea Noseda. Cilea emerged during a period in Italian opera, dominated by Puccini, when the public could not get enough of hot-blooded, verismo (essentially true to life) music dramas. When it comes to harmonic daring and subtle manipulations of melodic motifs, Cilea was no Puccini. But without pumping up or milking the music in any way, Mr. Noseda led a vigorous, exacting and pulsing performance, drawing out inner details and lending lightness, with a mordant touch, to the many scenes of backstage bustle and frivolity at the company where Adriana is a star.»
The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini

«The new David McVicar production that opened at the Metropolitan Opera on New Year’s Eve took that legacy seriously and then some: It boasted a stellar quartet of principal singers, a sensitive conductor, and a staging that tried valiantly to infuse the creaky plot with some depth. (…) In the pit, Gianandrea Noseda led a flowing, expressive performance, with the solo violin and harp that accompany the lovers rising ethereally from the orchestration’s alluring, multi-hued texture.»
The Wall Street Journal, Heidi Waleson

«Francesco Cilea’s melodious score, which evokes the 18th century in its own personal way, benefits from a first-rate presence on the podium, Gianandrea Noseda, who conducts as if he truly believes in the work. Sometimes described as sub-Puccini, the opera has understandably seen its reputation rise in recent years. Witnessing a performance of it as good as this is something quite special.»
Financial Times, George Loomis

«Underpinning the evening’s musical strength was Gianandrea Noseda, the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, who continues to burnish his stature as a darling of the international music world. “Adriana” is a walk in the park for Noseda, who is a veteran opera conductor, a native Italian and an old friend and colleague of Netrebko, since they both got their professional starts at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, where he was for 10 years principal guest conductor. Still, he had his hands full keeping her and the rest of the robust ensemble in line with a score that is often intensely busy while remaining centered around a couple of strong themes — the “I am a servant to my art” theme, the “we are SO in love” theme — that keep announcing themselves with soap-opera-like dependability at the emotional high points.»
The Washington Post, Anne Midgette

«The other major artistic benefactor here was conductor Gianandrea Noseda, who shaped the score in ways that even made the opera’s problematically quiet Act IV ending feel extremely effective.»
Classical Voice North America, David Patrick Stearns

«Gianandrea Noseda conducted with characteristic intelligence.»
The Newyorker, Alex Ross