Concert #2 – Vocal Music, Thomas Adès, Katalin Kàrolyi, Ruisi Quartet, Graham Mitchell
© Marco Borggreve, Flor Garduño, Droits Réservés
- Date
- 12 November 2024 – 8:30pm
- Place
- Auditorium
- Hours
- 8.30 p.m.
The second portion of Thomas Adès’s residency is devoted to vocal music, juxtaposing Haydn, Bartók and brilliant creations from recent decades.
This concert will be broadcast live and in replay on FLV Play, and offline on Radio Classique.
Mr Adès, an incomparable musician, conducts, composes and performs on the piano works from the past and present, all with equal enthusiasm. After the Viennese classicism of the String Quartet by Joseph Haydn, the true founding father of the genre in the 1760s, the essence of the traditional vocality of Magyar folksongs is felt in Béla Bartók’s Eight Hungarian Folksongs.
Stretching this lineage to the extreme, György Kurtág showcases the poetic expression of the Hungarian language in the seven songs to poems by Dezso Tandori for soprano and violin, S.K. Remembrance Noise. Lastly, Növenyék, a French work by Mr Adès, brings all the musicians together with Hungarian mezzo-soprano Katalin Kàrolyi, a leading light in contemporary music for almost thirty years.
Programme:
- Joseph Haydn, String Quartet, Op. 20, No. 3
- Béla Bartók, Eight Hungarian Folksongs
- Oliver Leith, A Different Fantasie, for quartet
- György Kurtág, S.K. Remembrance Noise, for soprano and violin
- Thomas Adès, Növenyék, for quartet, piano, bass and mezzo-soprano, (French premiere)
Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès was born in London in 1971. His compositions include three operas: he conducted the premiere of the most recent, The Exterminating Angel, at the 2016 Salzburg Festival and subsequently at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Royal Opera House, London. He conducted the premiere and revival of The Tempest at the Royal Opera House, and a new production at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper and in November 2022 at La Scala, Milan. He led the world premiere of his full-evening ballet The Dante Project at Covent Garden, and conducted it in May 2023 at the Opéra Garnier, Paris. He will conduct a new production of The Exterminating Angel in 2024 at the Opéra Bastille, Paris.
He frequently leads performances of his orchestral works Asyla (1997), Tevot (2007), Polaris (2010), Violin Concerto Concentric Paths (2005), In Seven Days for piano and orchestra (2008); Totentanz for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra (2013); and the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2019). His compositions also include numerous celebrated chamber and solo works.
September 2023 saw Thomas Adès conduct the Gewandhausorchester as part of his two-season residency with the ensemble which sees him appear as a conductor, pianist and composer in various concert formats. This autumn Thomas also began a two-season residency with the Hallé orchestra, which sees him conduct two orchestral concerts and curate a chamber programme. For the first appearance on 28 October, Thomas conducted the UK premiere of Tower, as well as the first UK concert performance of his ballet Purgatorio, alongside his Märchentänze for violin and orchestra with Anthony Marwood, which received its UK premiere at last year’s BBC Proms.
Thomas Adès has been the Artistic Partner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 2016 and he conducts the orchestra every year in Boston and at Tanglewood. He also regularly coaches Piano and Chamber Music at the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove.
As conductor, Thomas appears regularly with the Los Angeles and London Philharmonic orchestras, the Boston, London, BBC, Finnish Radio and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouworkest, Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia, Rome. In opera, in addition to The Exterminating Angel, he has conducted The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Opera House and Zürich Opera, and the premieres of three operas by Gerald Barry, including the Los Angeles world premieres of The Importance of Being Earnest and Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, of which he also gave the European premiere at Covent Garden. Recent highlights include Thomas’s debut concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic and his conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. In Summer 2022 he conducted the world premiere of Air for violin and orchestra at the Lucerne Festival, a Roche commission for Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra.
His CD recording of The Tempest from the Royal Opera House (EMI) won the Contemporary category of the 2010 Gramophone Awards; his DVD of the production from the Metropolitan Opera was awarded the Diapason d'Or de l'année (2013), Best Opera recording (2014 Grammy Awards) and Music DVD Recording of the Year (2014 ECHO Klassik Awards).
His piano engagements have included solo recitals at Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium) in New York and the Wigmore Hall in London, and concerto appearances with the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Recent piano releases include an album of solo piano music by Janáček and a live album of Winterreise with Ian Bostridge. His solo disc of Janáček’s piano music won the 2018 Janáček medal.
Katalin Kàrolyi
Born in Hungary, Katalin Károlyi began her musical studies on the violin before studying singing with Noëlle Barker and as part of the Studio Versailles Opéra. She has sung from an early age with conductors and directors such as Yehudi Menuhin, William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, George Benjamin, Reinbert de Leeuw and David Robertson and performed on the stages of the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro alla Scala, the Teatro Colon, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore, Barbican and Royal Albert Halls, Cité de la Musique; as well as at festivals such as Ravinia in Chicago, Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg and Île-de-France. In 2000, György Ligeti composed for her voice and for the Amadinda Percussion Group the Sippal, Dobbal, Nádihegyedüvel cycle, which she recorded on the Teldec label shortly after its creation, for which she is the worldwide ambassador.
Her broad repertoire incorporates pieces such as “Aventures” and “Nouvelles Aventures” by Ligeti, “Les Noces” by Stravinsky, the “Folk Songs”, “Calmo”, “Circles” and “Sequenza III” by Berio, the world premieres of “The Sea and Its Shore” by John Woolrich and “Addiamento” by Jan van de Putte, and in her incarnations as Judit from Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Isoliero from Rossini’s Comte d’Ory, the title role of Bizet’s Carmen, Maria-Maddalena from Sciarrino’s Infinito Néro, Mélanto and Fortuna from Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulysse, Les Plaisirs de Versailles et Médée by M.Y. Charpentier and Hippolyte et Aricie by Rameau.
Deeply committed to composition and chamber music, Ms Károlyi regularly collaborates with György Kurtág, Peter Eötvös, Steve Reich and ensembles such as the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Asko-Schönberg Ensemble and BCMG London Sinfonietta.
Ruisi Quartet
Celebrated for their deeply engaging performances of early repertoire alongside championing progressive new music, the critically-acclaimed Ruisi Quartet has established a reputation as a charismatic and expressive young ensemble.
Dedicating equal commitment to both the established classical cannon and progressive new works, the group present insightful and unique programme curation alongside the fine, expressive playing the quartet have become synonymous with, emerging as a leading-light in a new generation of British string quartets.
Known for their commitment and conviction performing a broad range of music, the quartet have garnered high-praise for their historically-informed performances of Purcell and Haydn, as well as championing new commissions from leading composers. Based in London, the group regularly perform throughout Europe at leading concert halls, recently giving the world premiere of a new work by Thomas Adès at Wigmore Hall (‘Növények’, Nov 2022).
Founded in 2013 by British/Sicilian brothers Alessandro and Max, the quartet were winners of the Kirckman Concert Society Artists award as well as being recipients of a Career Development Award from the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2019. They have performed extensively throughout the UK, as well as multiple tours to give concerts in France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Spain. In 2020 they were selected to give performances in Moscow, representing the UK on behalf of the British Council.
They have attended the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses on a number of occasions, working with Ferenc Rados, Rita Wagner and Thomas Adès. In their formative years, the group completed the Artist Diploma in Chamber Music course at the Royal College of Music, as well as working with Krzysztof Chorzelski of the Belcea Quartet, as part of their prestigious scheme for young quartets.
Their debut album ‘Big House’ was released in February 2023 on the Pentatone record label to widespread critical acclaim. The record features two early Haydn quartets, viol music by Matthew Locke and two premiere recordings of works by British composer Oliver Leith, commissioned by the quartet. 2023 also saw the quartet feature on a new album of French song from British soprano Mary Bevan, released on Signum records.
Upcoming plans for 2024 include a new recording with Thomas Adès plus sold-out performances at Kings Place, London and a performance at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris.
Graham Mitchell
Graham Mitchell is the academy's head of strings, principal double bass of english National Opera and regular bassist with the Nash ensemble.
He was a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1998-2011 and works regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. As a guest principal, Graham has led most of the orchestras in the UK including the London Symphony Orchestra.
Graham has performed and recorded over the years with many soloists and chamber ensembles including Anthony Marwood, James Crabb, Pekka Kuusisto and Imogen Cooper; the Florestan, Gould, and Kungsbacka Piano trios; and the Belcea, Navarra, Elias, and Takács quartets.
In 2007 Graham was invited by Steven Isserlis to perform at the IMS Prussia Cove Chamber Festival followed by a national tour and concert at Wigmore Hall. This resulted in IMS Prussia Cove winning the chamber prize at the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. His recording of Schubert’s Trout Quintet with Paul Lewis and the Leopold String Trio was praised as 'one of the finest modern Trouts available' (The Sunday Times).
Graham plays on a 1750 double bass attributed to Testore. He is extremely thankful to the Stradivari Trust for their support.
