PRESS RELEASE - OCTOBER 2010
13 September 2010
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate use
Virtuoso start to the Scottish Ensemble 2010 – 2011 Season
This autumn, the Scottish Ensemble consolidates its reputation for pushing musical boundaries and innovation, performing repertoire that stretches from the baroque to the contemporary, as well as creating new works through ambitious commissioning and collaborations with leading composers.
On 6 October, Anti Atlas’ Ned Bigham and Alex Menzies (better known as Alex Smoke) collaborate with the Scottish Ensemble in Points of Departure at CCA – an evening of live music, electronics and film. Inspired by the lyrics of Carolina Oliphant, one of Scotland’s greatest poets and creator of many songs, including Charlie is my Darling, Will Yo No’ Come Back Again and Caller Herring, Bigham’s Nairne Ballads receives its world première, alongside Menzies’ Akesis, originally commissioned for the Ensemble by Dundee’s Designs for Life.
Between 9 &16 October, acclaimed cellist Pieter Wispelwey makes his debut with the Ensemble in
“This autumn we are delighted to welcome a wealth of talent” says Artistic Director, Jonathan Morton. “Pieter Wispelwey has established himself as one of today’s leading cellists and his virtuosity will be displayed in two contrasting, but equally exciting works – a baroque concerto by Vivaldi, and a new concerto for cello and strings by the Finnish composer, Aulis Sallinen, dedicated to the memory of Paavo Haavikko, one of the Finland’s leading poets and a close collaborator of the composer.
We are also delighted to be working again with Alex Menzies and forging a new collaboration with composer/producer, Ned Bigham at our
Pieter Wispelwey will be in conversation with Artistic Director, Jonathan Morton following the performances in
The Scottish Ensemble’s performance with Pieter Wispelwey in City Halls, Glasgow on 12 October is a Fonic Card event.
For further information, images, interviews please contact:
T. 0141 332 4747 M. 07970 185935 E.caroline.thompson@scottishensemble.co.uk
Concert Listings
Points of Departure – new music from
Bigham Nairne Ballads (world première)
Menzies Akesis
6 October CCA5, CCA, Glasgow 8.00pm
Tickets: £5
CCA, 350
Scottish Ensemble with Pieter Wispelwey, cello
Vivaldi Concerto for strings in G minor RV 156
Sibelius Impromptu
Aulis Sallinen Chamber Music VIII ’The Trees, All Their Green’ op 94 for cello and strings (
Vivaldi Concerto in B minor RV 424
Enescu Octet in C op 7 (arr for string orchestra)
9 October Marryat Hall,
10 October
Post concert conversation with Pieter Wispelwey
11 October The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh 7.45pm
12 October City Halls,
13 October Music Hall,
Post concert conversation with Pieter Wispelwey
14 October St Ninian’s Cathedral,
16 October Wigmore Hall,
Venues & Box Office Information
The Music Hall,
Box Office: 01224 641 122 / online: www.boxofficeaberdeen.com
Marryat Hall,
Box Office: 01382 434 940 / online: www.cairdhall.co.uk
The Queen’s Hall,
Box Office: 0131 668 2019 / online: www.thequeenshall.net
City Halls, Candleriggs,
Box Office. 0141 353 8000 online: www.glasgowconcerthalls.com
Box Office: 01463 234 234 or online: www.eden-court.co.uk
St Ninian’s Cathedral,
Box Office: 01738 621 031 / online: www.horsecross.co.uk
Scottish Season Ticket prices: £14.50/£12, Conc £11/£9, under 26 £5, under 16s free;
Season subscriptions from £35 also available
Wigmore Hall,
Box Office: 020 7935 2141 o online: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk
Notes for editors
Scottish Ensemble will receive £242,369 from Creative Scotland towards the cost of foundation funding for 2010/11 to support the Ensemble, which has gained an international reputation for producing high standards of performance, innovative and engaging education related work and flexibility across music genres.
Scottish Ensemble will receive £4,000 from Creative Scotland towards the cost of commissioning Ned Bigham for music inspired by Scottish ballads, growing from the classical tradition but informed by contemporary music and electronica.
The Fonic Card is a collaboration between BBCSSO, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, GRCH and Scottish Ensemble allowing students from
Chamber Music VIII was commissioned by the Ensemble together with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Wurtemburg Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Pieter Wispelwey
Pieter Wispelwey is among the first of a generation of performers who are equally at ease on the modern or the period cello. His acute stylistic awareness, combined with a truly original interpretation and a phenomenal technical mastery, has won the hearts of critics and public alike in repertoire ranging from JS Bach to Schnittke, Elliott Carter and works composed for him.
Born in
Highlights among future concerto performances include the Kontzerhaus Orchester Berlin, Hamburger Symphoniker, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Wurttembergisches Kammerorchester, Muenchener kammerorchester, National Symphony of Ireland, Liège Philharmonic, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), Sydney Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Sao Paulo, as well as extensive touring the Amsterdam Sinfonietta in Europe and China.
Forthcoming recital appearances include Tanglewood, Wigmore Hall Master Series, Music at Oxford, Glasgow’s City Halls, the Würzburg Festival, Amsterdam’s Prinsengracht Festival, the Folles Journées in Tokyo, the Trasimeno Festival in Italy, the Stavanger Festival as well as tours in Germany, Korea, Japan and the United States. He will also be touring in a trio with Viktoria Mullova and Kristian Bezuidenhout, with performances in Konzerhaus Vienna, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Concertgebouw Brügge, and Wigmore Hall.
Pieter Wispelwey is the artistic director of the Beauvais Cello Festival in
Wispelwey’s career spans five continents and he has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, St Paul’s Chamber Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon, Tokyo Philharmonic, Sapporo Symphony, Sydney Symphony, London Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Danish National Radio Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg, collaborating with conductors including Ivan Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jeffrey Tate, Kent Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Philippe Herreweghe, Vassily Sinaisky, Vladimir Jurowski, Paavo Berglund, Louis Langrée, Marc Minkowski, Ton Koopman, Libor Pesek and Sir Roger Norrington.
With regular recital appearances in London (Wigmore Hall), Paris (Châtelet, Louvre), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw), Brussels (Bozar), Berlin (Konzerthaus), Milan (Societta del Quartetto), Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Sydney (Utson Hall), Los Angeles (Walt Disney Hall) and New York (Lincoln Center), Wispelwey has established a reputation as one of the most charismatic recitalists on the circuit.
Pieter Wispelwey’s discography, available on Onyx and Channel Classics, displays an impressive line up of over twenty recordings, six of which attracted major international awards. His most recent releases include Walton’s Cello Concerto (Sydney Symphony/Jeffrey Tate) and Prokofiev’s Symphonie Concertante (Rotterdam Philharmonic/Vassily Sinaisky), both recorded live. A unique set of works by Schubert for cello and piano (Fantasy D934, Grand Duo D574, Arpeggione Sonata), recorded on period instruments, will form his next release (Onyx) in Autumn this year.
Pieter Wispelwey plays on a 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello and a 1710 Rombouts baroque cello.
