Edward Gardner News

This summer, Apollo's Fire embarks on its fourth international tour, performing with world-renowned violinist, Alina Ibragimova, at the BBC Proms in London (Aug. 15), The Aldeburgh Music/Snape Proms in the UK (Aug. 16), and performing a separate chamber program at the Tuscany Musical Landscapes Festival in Italy (Aug. 21). Apollo's Fire's debut at the BBC Proms will be followed by a VIP reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires. Additionally, Apollo's Fire presents “Greatest Hits of the 1720s” at the prestigious Tanglewood Festival in Lenox, MA on July 2. 

Jane Moss, Lincoln Center's Ehrenkranz Artistic Director, today announced details of the 49th season of Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, New York's annual summer celebration of the genius of Mozart and his enduring impact, with vibrant performances running from July 25-August 22, 2015.

Lyric Opera of Chicago will begin a new chapter in its history with its 61st season - the first to be fully planned by general director Anthony Freud and music director Sir Andrew Davis. Lyric's two artistic leaders announced the repertoire and casting for the 2015-16 season today.

On Wednesday 14 January 2015, at HUSH in Mayfair, the finalists of the International Opera Awards 2015 were announced. These were selected by the jury chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine and classical music critic with The Daily Telegraph.

Few vocal performers of our day are as closely identified with American classical music as this renowned artist.

Gifted pianist Jeremy Denk - the recipient of a 2013 MacArthur 'Genius' Grant and this year's Avery Fisher Prize - will perform Beethoven's elegant and soulful First Piano Concerto with the Music Academy of the West's Academy Festival Orchestra under the baton of guest conductor Edward Gardner at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara tonight, July 12. Also featuring Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra and Suite No. 2 of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, the concert will begin at 8 pm. Tickets start at $15.

Gifted pianist Jeremy Denk - the recipient of a 2013 MacArthur "Genius" Grant and this year's Avery Fisher Prize - will perform Beethoven's elegant and soulful First Piano Concerto with the Music Academy of the West's Academy Festival Orchestra under the baton of guest conductor Edward Gardner at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara on Saturday, July 12. Also featuring Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra and Suite No. 2 of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, the concert will begin at 8 pm. Tickets start at $15.

Celebrated conductor Larry Rachleff will lead the Academy Festival Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's iconic Fifth Symphony as well as Richard Strauss' rousing Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare and Prokofiev's high-energy Symphony No. 5 at Santa Barbara's historic Granada Theatre beginning at 8 pm today, June 28. Tickets start at $15.

Virtuoso violinist Daniel Hope - described as 'adventurous and brilliant' by The New York Times and 'a force to be reckoned with' by Gramophone - will lead a chamber orchestra of Academy faculty and Fellows in a program of works by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Alfred Schnittke, Erwin Schulhoff, and Max Richter beginning at 8 pm on Saturday, July 5, in Hahn Hall. Mr. Hope will lead from the violin in performances of Biber's Passacaglia, Schnittke's A Paganini, Schulhoff's Solo Sonata, and Mr. Richter's enthralling Recomposed: Vivaldi's Four Seasons - a reimagining of the well-known Baroque masterpiece. Tickets cost $50.

Celebrated conductor Larry Rachleff will lead the Academy Festival Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's iconic Fifth Symphony as well as Richard Strauss' rousing Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare and Prokofiev's high-energy Symphony No. 5 at Santa Barbara's historic Granada Theatre beginning at 8 pm on Saturday, June 28. Tickets start at $15.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Principal Trombonist Jay Friedman will conduct his unique brass arrangement of Richard Strauss' landmark tone poem An Alpine Symphony to open the Music Academy of the West's first orchestra concert of the 2014 Summer School and Festival in Santa Barbara's newly renovated Lobero Theatre at 8 pm on Saturday, June 21. The program also will include Prokofiev's 'Classical' Symphony and Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 under the baton of acclaimed conductor Larry Rachleff, who has led the Academy Festival Orchestra in triumphant season-opening performances each of the past six years. Tickets cost $45.

One of the most hotly-anticipated arts events of 2014, Terry Gilliam's production of Benvenuto Cellini for English National Opera opened at the London Coliseum last night.

The Music Academy of the West will inaugurate an unprecedented partnership with the world-renowned New York Philharmonic and present a new production of Georges Bizet's popular opera Carmen in honor of Marilyn Horne's 80th birthday as part of the Academy's 67th annual Summer Festival. The Music Academy will present some 200 events over the course of its coming season, which begins June 16 and concludes August 9.

Carnegie Hall presents lyric soprano Lucy Crowe in her New York recital debut tonight, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall. Joined by pianist Anna Tilbrook, Ms. Crowe performs a wide variety of repertoire, with song cycles to include Alban Berg's Sieben fruhe Lieder and William Walton's A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table-six pieces celebrating the sights and sounds of London. Additional program highlights include a performance of Sibelius's vocally demanding tone poem, Luonnotar, Op. 70, inspired by the Kalevala, a 19th-century Finnish epic poem, and well-known lieder by Schubert. The British-born singer will also perform traditional selections from Folk Songs from the British Isles, including 'Sally Gardens,' and 'The Ash Grove,' arranged by Benjamin Britten, as well as songs by English composers Michael Head, Ivor Gurney, Thomas Dunhill, and Frank Bridge.

Carnegie Hall presents lyric soprano Lucy Crowe in her New York recital debut on Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall. Joined by pianist Anna Tilbrook, Ms. Crowe performs a wide variety of repertoire, with song cycles to include Alban Berg's Sieben fruhe Lieder and William Walton's A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table-six pieces celebrating the sights and sounds of London. Additional program highlights include a performance of Sibelius's vocally demanding tone poem, Luonnotar, Op. 70, inspired by the Kalevala, a 19th-century Finnish epic poem, and well-known lieder by Schubert. The British-born singer will also perform traditional selections from Folk Songs from the British Isles, including 'Sally Gardens,' and 'The Ash Grove,' arranged by Benjamin Britten, as well as songs by English composers Michael Head, Ivor Gurney, Thomas Dunhill, and Frank Bridge.

Daniela Sindram will sing the role of Octavian and Rúni Brattaberg will sing the role of Baron Ochs in this evening's performance of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Géraldine Chauvet and Peter Rose, originally scheduled to sing the roles, have withdrawn due to illness.

English National Opera has announced that come this spring, it will be launching 'ENO Screen,' built around a new partnership with AltiveMedia, and bring their productions to cinemas worldwde, and in HD. The first to be screened will be Britten's Peter Grimes and Terry Gilliam's Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, which will broadcast live to cinemas in the UK and Ireland, and others, on Sunday 23 Feb.

On Broadway, when a revival loses two out of three of its stars, the production might very well be put off until another season or, at worst, the producers might pack it in. In the opera world, companies don't have that luxury, particularly at a showplace like the Metropolitan Opera. Thus, we received Richard Strauss's DER ROSENKAVALIER, which made its season debut at the Met on Friday night, offering replacements in the two key roles of Sophie and Octavian, with variable results.

In the New York Philharmonic's concerts this week celebrating the centennial of English composer, conductor, and pianist Benjamin Britten, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, tenors Dominic Armstrong, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Michael Slattery will replace Paul Appleby, who has withdrawn due to illness. On November 21-22, 2013, Michael Slattery will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and tenor Dominic Armstrong will make his Philharmonic debut in Britten's Spring Symphony. The concert on November 23 will feature tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in both works, and he will sing the Serenade on November 26 on a program that also includes Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 39 and 41, Jupiter.

To commemorate the centennial of the opera's 1913 U.S. premiere at the Met, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier returns for a series of performances conducted by Edward Gardner and featuring a cast of international singers making company debuts and role debuts. Viennese soprano Martina Serafin sings her first Met performances of one of her signature roles, the Marschallin. Alice Coote, who currently stars as Detective Anne Strawson in the North American premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys, sings the trouser role of the Marschallin's young lover, Octavian, while Mojca Erdmann makes her company role debut as Sophie, the innocent young woman who comes between the two. Peter Rose reprises his acclaimed interpretation of the Marschallin's oafish cousin, Baron Ochs; Hans-Joachim Ketelsen sings Sophie's protective father, Faninal; and Eric Cutler returns to the role of the Italian Singer. On December 3, German mezzo-soprano Daniela Sindram will make her Met debut as Octavian, a role she will also sing on December 7 and 10. On December 13, French mezzo-soprano Géraldine Chauvet will sing her first company performance of Octavian. At the December 3 performance, two graduates of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program will sing principal roles: Erin Morley as Sophie and Mario Chang as the Italian Singer.