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Press Releases
91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra: 2007-8 season overview
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 Jirà Belohlávek opens the 2007-8 season with Bruckner's sublime seventh
Symphony
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Eleven premieres, including two 91Èȱ¬ commissions
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John Foulds' A World Requiem for "the war dead of all nations", not
performed since 1926, in the Royal Albert Hall on Armistice Day
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Star soloists including Nelson Freire, Monica Groop, Stephen Hough, Leila
Josefowicz, Solveig Kringelborn, Karita Mattila, Sergei Nakariakov and
Philip Quast
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Packed full of new music, opera premieres, great symphonies and powerful
choral works, the
91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra's 2007-8 season opens at the Barbican on 5
October.
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In his second season as Chief Conductor, Jirà Belohlávek guides the
orchestra through no less than six concerts, including four premieres by
composers ranging from Penderecki to Saariaho.
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The Czech conductor
returns to his Slavic routes for works by Dvorák and Smetana, and brings
the rarely-performed Violin Concerto by Czech avant-garde composer, Josef
Bohuslav Foerster.
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Belohlávek also continues his cycle of "visionary"
interpretations of Mahler in the composer's innocent Fourth Symphony.
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Other foremost conductors to take to the podium include Yan Pascal
Tortelier, Edward Gardner, Andrew Litton and the prodigiously talented
21-year-old, Lionel Bringuier.
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Renowned for its interpretations of contemporary music, the 91Èȱ¬ SO's new
season offers an enviable range of new works.
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The season opens with the
UK premiere of Jorg Widmann's ad absurdum, a virtuosic showpiece
featuring trumpet phenomenon Sergei Nakariakov.
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The 91Èȱ¬ SO and the 91Èȱ¬
Symphony Chorus give the UK premiere of Penderecki's Symphony No. 8,
Lieder der Vergänglichkeit, and Saariaho's new opera, Adriana Mater, is
brought to the concert stage for the first UK performance.
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Adriana Mater
takes as its theme the brutality of war and is the second of Saariaho's
operas to be premiered by the 91Èȱ¬ SO in the UK.
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The spotlight falls on Judith Weir for the 91Èȱ¬ SO's 21st January Composer
Weekend, as the Barbican resounds with opera, orchestral, chamber, and
choral music by the composer alongside folk music from the British Isles.
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The 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra continues to attract many of the world's
leading soloists.
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There are violin concertos by Britten, Foerster and
Berg from Daniel Hope, Ivan Zenatý and Leila Josefowicz, while pianists
Nelson Freire and Stephen Hough perform Rachmaninov's First and Fourth
Piano Concertos respectively.
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Piotr Anderszewski brings the season to a
close with Szymanowski's Symphonie concertante.
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Karita Mattila, star
soprano and dedicatee of Saariaho's Mirage, leads a glittering array of
singers for the 2007-8 season, which includes Camillia Tilling, Heidi
Grant Murphy, Monica Groop and Roderick Williams.
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Olivier Award-winning
actor and singer, Philip Quast, makes his 91Èȱ¬ SO debut in Dominic
Muldowney's Tsunami.
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Principal Guest Conductor David Robertson presents two innovative audio-visual concerts which explore the connection between painting and music
in two unique programmes pairing Debussy with Monet, and Bartók with Van
Gogh.
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Other highlights include the first performance since 1926 of John
Foulds' A World Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall on Armistice Day.
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Revived under American conductor Leon Botstein, the spectacular
performance presents international soloists, massed choirs, large
orchestra, off-stage fanfares and the great organ of the Royal Albert
Hall.
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Shakespeare's magical play, The Tempest, is brought to life with
actors and Sibelius's incidental music in April.
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The 91Èȱ¬ SO's Artist-in-Association, John Adams, celebrates his 60th
birthday in style as he conducts the orchestra and 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Chorus in
his seven "oracular" choruses from his The Death Of Klinghoffer, as well
as other music close to his heart.
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One of the busiest orchestras in the UK, the 91Èȱ¬ SO also presents a
series of concerts and recordings for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 at the orchestra's home
in Maida Vale and tours extensively. In 2007-8 it visits Germany and the
Czech Republic.
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There is also an ambitious learning programme which
engages young people and the local community in the orchestra's work.
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Highlights in 2007-8 include a week-long celebration of the music and
culture of South America at Maida Vale Studios, various performances by
the popular 91Èȱ¬ SO Family Orchestra, and two large-scale projects centred
on Judith Weir for the January Composer Weekend.
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The 91Èȱ¬ SO Learning team
returns to Istanbul in February 2008 to continue its international
collaboration programme with young Turkish musicians.
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The 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra is the Barbican's Associate Orchestra.
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The 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra is part of 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3, the country's leading
cultural broadcaster, and every concert the orchestra performs is either
broadcast live or recorded for broadcast at a later date.
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All concerts
can be heard on Radio 3 and online at bbc.co.uk/radio3.
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VB
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