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“Absolute artist”, and “a true musician” are words frequently used to describe the conductor, composer and orchestrator Mathieu Herzog.
His musical soul was shaped through working under the guidance of great masters such as Semyon Bychkov, Daniel Harding, György Kurtäg, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Menahem Pressler, Alfred Brendel, and Mitsuko Uchida.
Mathieu has recorded numerous discs for labels such as Warner Classics, EMI, SONY, and Deutsche Grammophon. These recordings received worldwide critical acclaim and were awarded the “Diapason d’Or”, the “Choc du Monde de la Musique”, and Gramophone’s “Recording of the Year”, to name just a few.
In 2015, Mathieu founded Appassionato, an orchestra which radiates chamber playing in every one of its performances. Mathieu has formed a passionate and ever-evolving relationship with this ensemble, and together, they recorded the last three W.A. Mozart symphonies for the label Naïve. In 2021-2022, he founded Appassionato le Label in partnership with Naïve and recorded two further discs, exploring the music of C. Saint-Saëns and the post-Romantic recording Métamorphoses nocturnes, awarded an Editor’s Choice by the prestigious magazine Grammophon.
Mathieu Herzog is also an associate artist of la Seine Musicale (France), for which he has launched “Vous trouvez ça classique?” (lit. “Do you think this is classical?”), which is aimed at helping new audiences listen to and experience classical music in a new way.
Alongside his work as a performer, Mathieu is also an accomplished orchestrator and prolific arranger, whether it be for Appassionato, for classical musicians such as Roberto Alagna, Nadine Sierra, Philippe Jaroussky and Natalie Dessay, and for vocalists across other genres, for example Stacey Kent and Luz Casals to name a few.
In 2019 Mathieu was appointed Musical Director of the Blaricum Music Festival (Holland), a position he held since. He has also been involved in music training and masterclasses for the Blaricum Music Festival Orchestra since then.
Highlights of the 2021-2022 season include guest appearances conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra (Japan) to name just a few. And conducting his Appassionato.
Passionate about literature and history, Mathieu is also currently working on a libretto based on the life of Georges Bizet.
Neeme Järvi first studied music with his brother Vallo before entering the Tallinn School of Music, where he studied percussion and choral conducting. Having made his public conducting debut in Tallinn in 1954, he continued his studies between 1955 and 1960 at the Leningrad Conservatory, where his teachers in symphonic and operatic conducting included Nicolai Rabinovich and Yevgeny Mravinsky. Both made a great impression upon him, as he recalled: ‘Rabinovich was all beautiful hands and upbeats and everything that conductors need.’ Jarvi has also noted that these mentors were in turn highly influenced by the Jewish conductors who were seeking refuge from Nazi Germany during the 1930s: ‘Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer conducted in Leningrad every year, and these young Rabinovichs and Mravinskys looked (at them) every day, as I looked at Mravinsky and Rabinovich thirty years later.’
Following graduation from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1960, Järvi played as a percussionist in the Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra, being subsequently appointed chief conductor of this orchestra in 1963, as well as chief conductor and artistic director of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (renamed the Estonian National Opera Theatre after independence was restored to Estonia). In the same year he co-founded the Estonian Chamber Orchestra in Tallinn and became its artistic director. During the 1960s Järvi began to gain an international reputation through his regular appearances with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra and the major Moscow orchestras, as well as with guest appearances elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Having made his operatic conducting debut with Bizet’s Carmen at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad, he later conducted the Soviet Union’s first-ever performances of Der Rosenkavalier, Porgy and Bess and Il Turco in Italia.
In 1971 Järvi took first prize at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Conducting Competition in Rome. This opened the door to invitations to conduct in Western Europe (Great Britain, Sweden, Holland, Germany) and further afield (Argentina, Canada and Japan), and in 1973 and 1977 he made his first appearances in the USA, on tour with the Leningrad Philharmonic and the Leningrad Symphony Orchestras. His debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York came in 1979, when he conducted Eugene Onegin to considerable critical acclaim. Järvi had relinquished his position at the head of the Estonian State Opera in 1976, when he was appointed the chief conductor of the newly-formed Estonian State Symphony Orchestra, but following a performance he gave in Estonia of Arvo Pärt’s Credo, which contained words from the Bible, members of the Estonian State Symphony Orchestra were sacked from their posts by the authorities. As a result, in 1980 Järvi decided to emigrate with his family to America.
Two major agencies, International Concert Management and Columbia Artists, offered to represent him and he decided to work with the latter. Soon he was conducting the major American orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras, developing in particular a close association with the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit. In addition appointments with European orchestras quickly followed. Järvi worked alongside Simon Rattle as principal guest conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra between 1981 and 1984, and following an appearance at the Royal Opera House in Sweden conducting Richard Strauss’s Salome he became chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 1982, holding this appointment until 2004 when he became the orchestra’s conductor emeritus. Similarly, he was chief conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra between 1984 and 1988, then becoming that orchestra’s conductor emeritus in 1990. Having become an American citizen in 1987, Järvi was appointed chief conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1990: as with the Gothenburg Orchestra, he developed a long relationship with this ensemble, stepping down only in 2005, when he became conductor emeritus of this orchestra too, as well as the chief conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and of The Hague Residentie Orchestra. Throughout the period of his Detroit appointment, Järvi also accepted numerous guest engagements, appearing in Europe and the USA regularly as both a symphonic and operatic conductor, as well as being the principal guest conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.
Järvi has a superlative conducting technique through which he strives for close communication with orchestral players: ‘…you have to talk with your hands with the musicians. You have to explain with every gesture, like you’re breathing. If you’re not breathing you’re not alive. This kind of a relationship – always showing what you want – works so beautifully, and American orchestras are the best to work with as a conductor, because they are so professional. Just show them and it’s done. If you are not showing, nothing comes. You are just beating, no music.’ In addition he is a conductor who is frequently highly spontaneous in performance, giving his interpretations notable freshness and immediacy. This aspect of conducting is often in the forefront of his teaching. At the annual conducting course in which he participates at Pärnu, a resort town on Estonia’s southern coast, Järvi has been known to both censure and encourage students with comments such as: ‘Boring music-making! Do something with it! If you are in the middle of a piece and want to do something, do it.’ Those who have played with Järvi praise highly his collaborative style of music-making. A member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, violinist Beatriz Budinszky, has commented in interview, ‘Neeme is proof that a conductor can be a gentleman… he has that charisma, that contagious enthusiasm.’
Järvi is also unusual in that he is constantly searching out and performing neglected works by both popular and lesser-known composers. This philosophy developed early in his career: when he was active in Estonia he presented many new works by fellow countrymen Eduard Tubin and Arvo Pärt, long before they had achieved the international distinction which they now enjoy. These three characteristics – a highly communicative conducting technique, consistent spontaneity and the constant search for new repertoire – have made Järvi an ideal recording conductor. During the course of his career he has recorded well over three hundred and fifty discs for the Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos, BIS, Orfeo, EMI and BMG labels, as well as for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s own label. He has recorded complete symphonic cycles of Swedish composers Wilhelm Stenhammar and Hugo Alfvén; Danish composers Niels Gade and Carl Nielsen; Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (his complete orchestral music); Johannes Brahms and Franz Schmidt; Czech composers Bohuslav Martinů and Antonín Dvořák; Estonian composers Arvo Pärt and Eduard Tubin; Russian composers Glazunov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich; and many others. With the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, he has recorded thirty-six discs for the Chandos label, including an important American series with works by Samuel Barber, Amy Beach, Charles Ives, George Chadwick, Duke Ellington and William Grant Still. In addition, notably with the Gothenburg Orchestra, Järvi has revived several important works by Russian composers which have vanished undeservedly from the concert repertoire, such as Maximilian Steinberg’s Symphony No. 1 and Myaskovsky’s Symphony No. 6.
The considerable influence exerted by recordings is acknowledged by Järvi, who has commented, ‘I think that the orchestras that I lead should become known in the world. It’s not possible to travel around the world with them that much, and thus I can introduce them via the records. Gothenburg is a small Swedish town and the Gothenburg orchestra would have remained unknown had we not recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s almost one hundred records have given it considerable recognition.’ Neeme and Liilia Järvi’s three children are all musicians: his two sons Paavo and Kristjan are both distinguished conductors, while his daughter Maarika is a flautist of note.
Estonian Grammy Award-winning conductor Paavo Järvi is widely recognised as the musicians’ musician, enjoying close partnerships with the finest orchestras around the world. He serves as Chief Conductor of the Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich and the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, and Artistic Director of Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Estonian Festival Orchestra, of which he is also Founder. He is Conductor Laureate of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Music Director Laureate of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Advisor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to his permanent positions, Järvi is much in demand as a guest conductor, regularly appearing with the Berliner Philharmoniker, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Münchner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Orchestre de Paris, where he served as Music Director from 2010 to 2016.
Each season concludes with a week of performances and conducting master-classes at the Pärnu Music Festival in Estonia, which Paavo Järvi founded in 2011 together with his father, Neeme Järvi. The success of both the festival and its resident ensemble – the Estonian Festival Orchestra – has led to a string of high profile invitations including recent performances at the BBC Proms, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and a tour of Japan.
With an extensive discography, Paavo Järvi’s recent releases include an album of little known orchestral music by Messiaen with the Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich; the third and final volume in the Brahms Symphony cycle with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; and the world première recording of Erkki-Sven Tüür’s 9th Symphony Mythos with the Estonian Festival Orchestra.
In 2019 Paavo Järvi was named Conductor of the Year by Germany’s Opus Klassik and received the 2019 Rheingau Music Prize for his artistic achievements with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmoie Bremen in the German orchestral and cultural landscape. Other prizes and honours include a Grammy Award for his recording of Sibelius’ Cantatas with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Artist of the Year by both Gramophone (UK) and Diapason (France) in 2015, and Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture for his contribution to music in France. As a dedicated supporter of Estonian culture, he was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013 and in 2015 he was presented with the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his work in bringing the Finnish composer’s music to a wider public.
Born in Tallinn, Estonia, Paavo Järvi studied Percussion and Conducting at the Tallinn School of Music. In 1980, he moved to the USA where he continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute with Leonard Bernstein.
Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained their Music Director ever since, taking them regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.
In addition to working with renowned period ensembles, such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque, Suzuki is invited to conduct repertoire as diverse as Brahms, Britten, Fauré, Mahler, Mendelssohn and Stravinsky, with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio, Danish National Radio, Gothenburg Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, San Francisco Symphony, Sydney Symphony and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestras. This season he visits the NDR Elbphilharmonie, NHK Symphony, Seattle Symphony and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, amongst others.
Suzuki’s impressive discography on the BIS label, featuring all Bach’s major choral works as well as complete works for harpsichord, has brought him many critical plaudits – the Times has written: “it would take an iron bar not to be moved by his crispness, sobriety and spiritual vigour”. 2018 marked the triumphant conclusion of Bach Collegium Japan’s epic recording of the complete sacred and secular cantatas initiated in 1995 and comprising sixty-five volumes. The ensemble has now embarked upon extending their repertoire with recent recordings of works by Mozart (Requiem and Mass in C minor) and Beethoven (Missa Solemnis and Symphony No. 9).
Last season Bach Collegium Japan were invited to participate, as one of three ensembles, in the cantata cycle at Bachfest Leipzig, where they also gave a critically acclaimed performance of Mendelssohn’s Elias; their busy touring schedule also took them to the USA performing at venues including the Alice Tully Hall, New York and San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall. This season in Europe they embark upon their 30th anniversary tour including concerts in Brussels, Dublin, Hamburg, Köln, London, Madrid and Paris, amongst others.
Suzuki combines his conducting career with his work as an organist and harpsichordist; he is currently in the process of recording Bach’s solo works for these instruments. Born in Kobe, he graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music with a degree in composition and organ performance and went on to study at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam under Ton Koopman and Piet Kee. Founder and Professor Emeritus of the early music department at the Tokyo University of the Arts, he was on the choral conducting faculty at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music from 2009 until 2013, where he remains affiliated as the principal guest conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum.
In 2012 Suzuki was awarded with the Leipzig Bach Medal and in 2013 the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize. In April 2001, he was decorated with ‘Das Verdienstkreuz am Bande des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik’ from Germany.
Over the past decade, Jaap van Zweden has been an international presence on three continents. Currently, he is Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, a post he began in 2018, and Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic since 2012.
Van Zweden has appeared as guest conductor with many other leading orchestras around the globe, among them the Orchestre de Paris, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Jaap van Zweden has made numerous acclaimed recordings, the most recent of which are a 2020 release with the New York Philharmonic of the World Premiere of David Lang’s prisoner of the state, and the 2019 release of the World Premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Fire in my mouth, continuing the Philharmonic’s partnership with Decca Gold. In 2018 with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, he completed a four-year project conducting the first-ever performances in Hong Kong of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, which have been recorded and released on Naxos Records as individual recordings as well as a complete set. His highly praised performances of Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger and Parsifal, the latter of which earned Jaap van Zweden the prestigious Edison Award for Best Opera Recording in 2012, are available on CD/DVD.
Born in Amsterdam, Jaap van Zweden was appointed at age nineteen as the youngest-ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He began his conducting career nearly twenty years later in 1996. He remains Honorary Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic where he served as Chief Conductor from 2005-2013, served as Chief Conductor of the Royal Flanders Orchestra from 2008-11, and was Music Director from 2008-2018 of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra where he currently holds the title Conductor Laureate. Van Zweden was named Musical America’s 2012 Conductor of the Year and was the subject of an October 2018 CBS 60 Minutes profile. Recently, he was awarded the prestigious 2020 Concertgebouw Prize, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden’s leadership was named Gramophone’s 2019 Orchestra of the Year.
In 1997, Jaap van Zweden and his wife Aaltje established the Papageno Foundation, the objective being to support families of children with autism. Now, over 20 years later, the Foundation has grown into a multi-faceted organization which, through various initiatives and activities, focuses on the development of children and young adults with autism. The Foundation provides in-home music therapy to children through a national network of qualified music therapists in the Netherlands; opened the Papageno House in August 2015 (with Her Majesty Queen Maxima in attendance) for young adults with autism to live, work and participate in the community; created a research center at the Papageno House for early diagnosis and treatment of autism and for analyzing the effects of music therapy on autism; develops funding opportunities to support autism programs; and launched the app, TEAMPapageno, which allows children with autism to communicate with each other through music composition.
“Christian Zacharias conducted without a baton, but his gestures – painting with arms, hands and fingers – was so inspiring, structuring the wonderful music that was created.”
Christian Zacharias is a narrator among the conductors and pianists of his generation. In each of his elaborate, detailed and clearly articulated interpretations, it’s clear what he means: Zacharias is interested in what lies behind the notes.
With a unique combination of integrity and individuality, brilliant linguistic expressiveness, deep musical understanding and a sure artistic instinct, paired with his charismatic and engaging artistic personality, Christian Zacharias has established himself not only as a world-class pianist and conductor, but also as a musical thinker. Numerous acclaimed concerts with the world’s best orchestras and outstanding conductors as well as multiple honors and recordings characterize his international career.
Since the 2017/18 season, Christian Zacharias holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, and from 2020 will hold the same position with the Orquestra Sinfonica Do Porto Casa da Musica, and was named Honorary Conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest.
In general, the Classical-Romantic repertoire builds an important musical focus, as shown in return engagements with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, the Orchester Philharmonique Monte Carlo, or the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiano in Lugano. Zacharias gladly presents more modern works in his programs, such as works from Schoenberg and Bruckner.
On the occasion of his 70th birthday, Christian Zacharias will give a few last piano recitals in the musical centers of Europe, for example in Paris, London and Rome.
Zacharias‘ longtime musical partners include the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthausorchester and the Bamberger Symphoniker. He’s also developed a special love of opera and has directed productions of Mozart’s La Clemenza the Tito and The Marriage of Figaro, as well as Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène. The production of Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, which he conducted at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, was awarded the Prix de l’Europe Francophone 2014 by the Association Professionnelle de la Critique Théâtre, Musique et Danse in Paris.
Since 1990, various films have also been produced featuring Christian Zacharias: Domenico Scarlatti in Seville, Robert Schumann – the Poet Speaks (both for INA, Paris), Zwischen Bühne und Künstlerzimmer (for WDR-arte), De B comme Beethoven à Z comme Zacharias (for RTS, Switzerland) as well as the complete Beethoven piano concertos (for SSR-arte).
His piano lectures on topics such as Why does Schubert sound like Schubert? or Haydn: A Creation from Nothing? offer his audiences impressive insights.
The musical work of Christian Zacharias has been honored many times, for example with the Midem Classical Award Artist of the Year 2007, the honorable award Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French state and a tribute from Romania for his services to culture. In addition, Christian Zacharias was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2016, and in 2017 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Gothenburg.
Numerous internationally acclaimed recordings were made during his time as Principal Conductor of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Particularly noteworthy are the recordings of the complete Mozart piano concertos – awarded the Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique and ECHO Klassik – as well as the complete Schumann symphonies.
Since 2015, Christian Zacharias is chairman of the jury of the Clara Haskil Competition, and in 2018 president of the jury of the Geza Anda Competition where he also conducted the final concert.
Paul McCreesh has guest conducted many of the major orchestras and choirs across the globe, including most recently the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Bergen Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Verbier Festival orchestras, and Berlin Konzerthausorchester. McCreesh also enjoys regular and ongoing collaborations with Saint Paul and Basel Chamber Orchestras.
In 2019/20, he conducted Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 and excerpts from Schubert’s Rosamunde with the New Japan Philharmonic, Haydn’s Creation with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Handel’s Messiah with the Casa da Música Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Haydn’s London Symphony & Beethoven’s C Major Mass with Filharmonia Poznanska, with whom he conducts again this season.
In the previous season, he conducted works by Elgar, Haydn and Brahms with the Kammerakademie Potsdam, a programme of Elgar, Britten and Mendelssohn with the Bamberger Symphoniker, he returned to the Filharmonia Poznanska for some Rossini and Britten, and conducted performances with the MDR Sinfonieorchester at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Basel Chamber Orchestra.
From 2013-2016 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lisbon) with whom he conducted a wide range of music from the classical period through to the nineteenth and twentieth century, focusing in particular on symphonic repertoire, oratorio and opera in concert, working closely with the world-renowned Gulbenkian Choir.
McCreesh has established a strong reputation in the opera house and has conducted productions at the Teatro Real Madrid, Royal Danish Opera, Opera Comique, Vlaamse Opera and at the Verbier Festival, and most recently he conducted Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Bergen Opera, and returned to Vlaamse Opera for a production of Idomeneo.
In 2011, McCreesh launched his own record label, Winged Lion, in collaboration with the Gabrieli Consort & Players, Signum Classics and the Wratislavia Cantans Festival, where he was Artistic Director between 2006 and 2012. To date they have made seven recordings, most recently Haydn The Seasons, released in spring 2017 and lauded by critics: “the communal sense of joy is infectious” (Financial Times) and “Glorious” (Guardian).
Daniele Gatti graduated as a composer and orchestra conductor at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. He is Music Director of the Orchestra Mozart, Artistic Advisor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. From 2024 he will be Chief Conductor of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.
He was Music Director of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and he previously held prestigious roles at important musical institutions like the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Royal Opera House of London, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Zurich’s Opernhaus and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.
The Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala are just a few of the renowned symphonic institutions he works with.
Some of the numerous and important new productions he has conducted include Falstaff staged by Robert Carsen (in London, Milan, and Amsterdam); Parsifal staged by Stefan Herheim opening the 2008 Bayreuther Festspiele (one of the very few Italian conductors to have been invited to the Wagnerian festival); Parsifal staged by François Girard at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; four operas at the Salzburger Festspiele (Elektra, La bohème, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Il Trovatore).
To celebrate Verdi’s anniversary, in 2013 he conducted La Traviata at the season opening of the Teatro alla Scala, where he also opened the 2008 season with Don Carlo, and performed other titles including Lohengrin, Lulu, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Falstaff, and Wozzeck.
More recent engagements include Pelléas et Mélisande at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tristan und Isolde at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and the 2016/2017 opening of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma where he conducted the same Wagnerian opera.
Since 2016 he has taught conducting at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and in the same year a three-year concert cycle named “RCO meets Europe” started. It involved 28 member states of the European Union and it included the project “Side by Side”, a project allowing musicians from local youth orchestras to perform the first musical number of the program next to the members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Maestro Gatti, thus fostering an incredibly fruitful human and musical exchange. In June 2017 he conducted the RCO in an opera production: Salome at the Nationale Opera of Amsterdam.
The 2017/2018 Season saw him conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Philharmonie Berlin, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan interpreting Mahler’s Second Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Europe, South Korea, Japan, and at the Carnegie Hall in New York, all being side events to Amsterdam’s traditional season.
He opened several seasons of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma: La Damnation de Faust (2017-2018), Rigoletto (2018-2019), Les Vêpres Siciliennes (2019-2020), Il barbiere di Siviglia (2020-2021) and the world premiere of Battistelli’s Julius Caesar (2021-2022). He has recently conducted new productions of I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Zaide, La traviata (broadcasted on Rai3) and Giovanna d’Arco at the Teatro Costanzi; Rigoletto and Il trovatore at the Circo Massimo. He interpreted Verdi’s Requiem at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia. He also conducted concerts leading the Orchestra dell’Opera di Roma at the Quirinale Gardens (broadcasted on Rai1), at the MAXXI Museum and at the Galleria Borghese.
In 2022, as part of the 84th Festival of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he conducted Orphée et Eurydice – the inaugural title of the Festival – and Ariadne auf Naxos.
In 2022-2023 he conducts Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the first title of the opera season 2022/23 of the Teatro del Maggio, and interprets the Quattro pezzi sacri at the Verdi Festival and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino where he also conducts Don Carlo and The Rake’s Progress on the occasion respectively of the Autumn and Carnival Festivals. In summer 2025 he will return to the Bayreuth Festival for the new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
He regularly leads the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestra Mozart, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the Dresdner Festspielorchester, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Daniele Gatti was awarded the Premio “Franco Abbiati” from Italian music critics as best conductor in 2015, in 2016 he was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur from the French Republic for his work as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France and he was also awarded the Grand Officer of Merit of the Italian Republic.
Under Sony Classical he has recorded works by Debussy and Stravinsky with the Orchestre National de France, and a DVD of Wagner’s Parsifal staged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Under the label RCO Live he has recorded Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Mahler’s First, Second and Fourth Symphonies, a DVD of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps together with Debussy’s Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune and La Mer, a DVD of Strauss’s Salome performed at the Dutch National Opera, a CD of Bruckner’s Symphony n. 9 together with the Prelude and the Karfreitagszauber (Good Friday Music) from Wagner’s Parsifal. In November 2019 a DVD of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, staged at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, was released by C Major.
Salvatore Accardo made his debut in recital at the age of 13 playing Paganini’s Capricci.Two years later he won the Geneva Competition and in 1958 the Paganini Competition in Genoa.
His repertoire ranges from pre-Bach to post-Berg; composers like Sciarrino, Donatoni, Piston, Piazzolla, Colasanti and Xenakis wrote for him.
In addition to playing with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, Accardo performs in recital and particularly loves chamber music.
In 1992 he founded the Accardo Quartet and in 1986 the Walter Stauffer Academy together with Giuranna, Filippini and Petracchi in Cremona, where they regularly give master classes. In 1971 he founded the Settimane Musicali Internazionali in Naples, where rehearsals were open to the audience, and the Cremona String Festival.
Accardo has also dedicated part of his activities to conducting important European and American Orchestras. He recorded as conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. Since 1987 he conducts also opera (Rossini Festival with Ponnelle, Rome Opera House, Monte Carlo Opera, Lille and Naples Opera House).
In 1992 for the 200th anniversary of Rossini’s birth, he conducted in Pesaro Festival and in Rome the first modern edition of the Messa di Gloria (recorded live by Warner Fonit), that did again in 1995 in Vienna with the Wiener Symphoniker.
He recorded for DGG Paganini Capricci and Concertos for violin with Charles Dutoit , for Philips several recordings (Bach Sonatas and Partitas, Max Bruch works for violin and orchestra with Kurt Masur, Čajkovskij, Dvořák and Sibelius Concerts with Colin Davis, Mendelssohn Concert with Charles Dutoit, Brahms and Beethoven Concerts with Kurt Masur). He also recorded for ASV, Dynamic, EMI, Sony Classical, Collins Classic and Foné. Among these recordings are: Beethoven Concerto in D major and 2 Romances with Accademia della Scala Orchestra conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini for Sony Classical; Brahms Sonatas for violin and piano, Schubert Quartets, Paganini Capricci and Homage to Heifetz and Homage to Kreisler for FONÉ playing the legendary violins from the Cremona collection; for Dynamic Accardo played Paganini’s violin. Recently Foné re-masterised the Mozart Complete works for violin in 13 CDs in high quality technology.
Accardo has been awarded in Italy with Abbiati Prize by the Italian Musical Critics in recognition of the exceptional standard of his playing and interpretation and with the Italian highest honour “Cavaliere di Gran Croce”. In 1996 the Beijing Conservatoire named him “most honourable Professor”, in 1999 he was named”Commandeur dans l’ordre du mérit culturel” in Monaco and in 2002 he received “A Life for the Music” Award, and this year he was awarded by the Kennedy Center of New York with the Gold Medal in the Arts.
In 1996 Accardo recreated the Orchestra da Camera Italiana (OCI), whose members are the best pupils of Cremona “Walter Stauffer Academy” and recorded two CDs with them: The virtuoso violin in Italy and Masterpieces for violin and strings for Warner Fonit Cetra. In 1999 Accardo and OCI recorded the complete Paganini Concerti for violin and orchestra for EMI Classics, the “Concerto per la Costituzione” and in 2003 the complete Astor Piazzolla works for violin in 3 SACDs for Foné.
Accardo and OCI do every year many concerts together especially in Italy, where they play every season for the most important concert Societies and Theaters.
Starting in 2007 he realized until now for Foné the second recording of J. S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, the third recording of Paganini’s 24 Capricci (Urtext) and the third recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with OCI (Urtext).
Salvatore Accardo plays a violin Guarneri del Gesù “Reade”- 1734.
Violinist, violist and conductor Julian Rachlin is one of the most exciting and respected musicians of our time. In the first thirty years of his career, he has performed as soloist with the world’s leading conductors and orchestras. Mr. Rachlin is Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. He also leads the “Julian Rachlin & Friends Festival” in Palma de Mallorca.
Highlights of Mr. Rachlin’s 2018/19 season include performances with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons, Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Juanjo Mena, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck, as well as the KBS Symphony Orchestra and Myung-Whun Chung. Alongside soloist Sarah McElravy and the Royal Northern Sinfonia, he will perform the UK premiere of Penderecki’s Double Concerto for Violin and Viola, which is dedicated to him. Additionally, Mr. Rachlin will conduct among others the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Essen Philharmonic, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Slovenian Philharmonic, Zagreb Philharmonic and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.
Julian Rachlin’s recent highlights include a residency at the Prague Spring Festival and his own cycle at the Vienna Musikverein. He also performed with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov, Filarmonica della Scala and Riccardo Chailly, Munich Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Philharmonia Orchestra and Jakub Hrůša, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale and Vladimir Ashkenazy, as well as the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Lahav Shani. As conductor, he toured Europe with the English Chamber Orchestra, and led the Royal Northern Sinfonia across South America and Japan. Additionally, he conducted the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, and made his USA conducting debut at the Grand Teton Music Festival.
In recital and chamber music, Mr. Rachlin performs regularly with Itamar Golan, Denis Kozhukhin, Denis Matsuev, Mischa Maisky, Sarah McElravy, Vilde Frang and Janine Jansen.
Born in Lithuania, Mr. Rachlin immigrated to Vienna in 1978. He studied violin with Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatory and with Pinchas Zukerman. After winning the “Young Musician of the Year” Award at the Eurovision Competition in 1988, he became the youngest soloist ever to play with the Vienna Philharmonic, debuting under Riccardo Muti. At the recommendation of Mariss Jansons, Mr. Rachlin studied conducting with Sophie Rachlin. Since September 1999, he is on the violin faculty at the Music and Arts University of Vienna. His recordings for Sony Classical, Warner Classics and Deutsche Grammophon have been met with great acclaim. Mr. Rachlin, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, is committed to educational outreach and charity work.
Julian Rachlin plays the 1704 “ex Liebig” Stradivari and a 1785 Lorenzo Storioni viola, on loan to him courtesy of the Dkfm. Angelika Prokopp Privatstiftung. His strings are kindly sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld.