Rté National Symphony Orchestra Announces 2017/2018 Season

Celebrating Nathalie Stutzmann’s Inaugural Season As Principal Guest Conductor

Attached is PDF of Season Brochure which includes full concert schedule and ticket prices
Also attached is a photo of conductor Nathalie Stutzmann

 Highlights:

  • Nathalie Stutzmann begins her inaugural season as RTÉ NSO’s Principal Guest Conductor
  • We celebrate Leonard Bernstein’s centenary with his epic choral work Chichester Psalms
  • Danish-Israeli artist, Nikolaj Znaider, plays and conducts Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
  • Alexander Bernstein and Fiachra Garvey join forces for Poulenc’s Concerto for 2 Pianos
  • A special birthday concert to mark the 70th anniversary of the RTÉ NSO
  • RTÉ NSO performs Symphonie Fantastique – Berlioz’s great programme symphony
  • Thomas Trotter performs the Irish premiere of Gerald Barry’s new Concerto for Organ 
  • Carlos Kalmar conducts the unstoppable Storm Large in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins
  • John Storgårds conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A minor
  • We celebrate Culture Night with two free public concerts

26 May 2017:

The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (RTÉ NSO) announces its 2017/2018 Season today
Quote from Anthony Long, General Manager, RTÉ NSO about the season:

“It is a source of great pride that the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 70th anniversary this season. The orchestra has emerged over the decades to hold its own amongst the world’s great orchestras, and to attract major international conductors and soloists to perform with it. I’d like to thank our talented players for their continued unflinching commitment to the RTÉ NSO.

We’re delighted to have Nathalie Stutzmann join us as our Principal Guest Conductor this September. Nathalie has a special rapport with the orchestra and we look forward to having her re-create that chemistry with the players in her five concerts this season.

There’s a great line-up of really talented Irish and international artists featuring throughout our season.  It’s a great pleasure to be celebrating the work of iconic American composer Leonard Bernstein in a special centenary concert.  We also present Bernstein as part of our American Gala with greats such as Ellington, Gershwin and Joplin.

We invite you to join us for free concerts to celebrate Culture Night, and I hope we can encourage you to come and be entertained by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra on many occasions this season.”


Nathalie Stutzmann takes up the baton as Principal Guest Conductor

French conductor Nathalie Stutzmann’s inaugural season with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra begins on Friday, 29 September. She conducts five concerts during her first season. Her opening concert includes a favourite work of hers, Brahms Violin Concerto with star soloist, Veronika Eberle. This concert also features Beethoven’s first symphony and Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony.

Nathalie works with an Irish chorus for the first time in Mozart’s Requiem with the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir in December. This concert also features Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration. Fate is knocking on the door with her return in February 2018 to conduct Beethoven’s fifth symphony.  Her April concert is a romantic programme featuring Brahms first symphony combined with Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto.

Nathalie Stutzmann closes the RTÉ NSO’s 2017/2018 Season on Friday, 25 May with the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir in Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, and Brahms Nänie, a composition for chorus and orchestra.


RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra celebrates 70th Anniversary

The Raidió Éireann Symphony Orchestra’s first ever concert, under the baton of Jean Martinon, and led by Florentine violinist, Renzo Marchionni, took place at the Phoenix Hall in Dublin’s Dame Court on February 14th 1948.
We celebrate our national symphony orchestra’s 70th birthday in a special Friday night concert on 16 February 2018. Under the baton of Tomáš Netopil, this programme features Belfast born Deirdre Gribbin’s piano concerto The Binding of the Years, with popular pianist Finghin Collins. Other works featured are Wagner’s Prelude & Liebestod, and excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet.


Well known Irish composers in this season

We open our new season on Friday, 8 September with Elver Gleams, a celebration of the music of Irish musician and composer, Micheál Ó Súilleabháin. This concert presents Micheál’s newly composed and newly scored works, together with a sean-nós arrangement that fuses traditional and orchestral styles.

Hugely talented musician and composer, Thomas Adès returns to conduct the Irish premiere of Gerald Barry’s Organ Concerto with soloist Thomas Trotter on Friday, 4 May.  Gerald is currently RTE’s composer-in-residence.

Stravinsky’s large ensemble work, Symphony in Three Movements, and Polish composer Lutosławski’s third symphony, which premiered in 1983, also feature in this programme.

Culture Night with the RTÉ NSO
We are delighted this season to welcome audiences to our two free RTÉ NSO concerts on Culture Night. The programme includes Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, and Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, performed by soloist Paul Lewis and conducted by Robert Trevino.

Bringing a dash of daring to the performance

As well as experiencing great music this season, we want audiences to enjoy some wonderful artists who bring a dash of daring and panache to their performance.

  • Conducting has become an integral part of virtuoso trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger’s music-making. Håkan is known for his amazing performances and innovative style. He conducts our concert on Friday, 6 October with fellow Swedish pianist and composer, Roland Pöntinen. This programme comprises works by Copland, Barber, Stravinsky, L.E Larson and Janáček.
  • Nikolaj Znaider, the leading Danish-Israeli classical violinist and conductor, both plays and directs the RTÉ NSO in Beethoven’s D major violin concerto. This concert on Friday, 24 November, also features Shostakovich’s fifth symphony.
  • Talented young British composer Duncan Ward conducts San Francisco born pianist Alexander Bernstein and Irish pianist Fiachra Garvey in Poulenc’s Concerto for 2 Pianos on Friday, 9 February which will be a real musical treat.
  • Another interesting musical pairing is Uruguayan Carlos Kalmar who conducts singer/song-writer and cabaret artist Storm Large as soprano in Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins on Friday, 27 April.

 

Bernstein at 100 / American Gala

Joana Carneiro, the brilliant young Portuguese conductor, joins us for our celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s centenary this season. Joana conducts Bernstein’s epic choral work Chichester Psalms, with the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, on Friday, 20 October.

In our American Gala concert on Friday, 5 January 2018, featuring works by great American composers Ellington, Gershwin and Joplin, we also pay tribute to Bernstein with performances of his Overture to West Side Story and his Prelude, Fugue and Riffs.

 

Great artists creating great music together this season

We all love the hypnotic effect we experience in the presence of brilliant music-makers. This season we have chosen several interesting musical partnerships to capture this for you.

  • Joshua Weilerstein conducts soloist Khatia Buniatishvili in Prokofiev’s second piano concerto
  • Richard Harwood performs Saint-Saëns’ first cello concerto with conductor Case Scaglione
  • Eldbjørg Hemsing plays Dvorák’s A minor violin concerto, under the baton of Miguel

Harth-Bedoya

  • Stanislav Kochanovsky directs Valeriy Sokolov in Violin Concerto No. 2 by Bartók
  • Brett Dean performs his own Viola Concerto conducted by Olari Elts
  • Alexander Toradze performs Shostakovich’s second piano concerto, with conductor Daniele Rustioni

We present works by De Falla, Ravel and Nielsen in a concert with Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto and fellow Mexican, pianist Jorge Federico Osorio.

Ireland’s star soprano Anna Devin is conducted by Harry Bicket in a programme of early music by Rameau and Mozart. Conductor Jaime Martin conducts Javier Perianes in Ravel’s G major piano concerto. Under the baton of Clemens Schuldt, Russian-born German Alina Pogostkina performs Khachaturian’s D minor violin concerto. Cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan plays Shostakovich’s first cello concerto, directed by Christian Vasquez.

We welcome Carolin Widmann to Dublin to perform Korngold’s great D major violin concerto, in a programme that includes Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin and Beethoven’s seventh symphony, under the baton of Ben Gernon.

We’re delighted to have the renowned John Storgårds to conduct Mahler’s sixth symphony. This concert presents Nathalia Milstein in Mozart’s A major piano concerto. Nathalia, a French native, is the winner of the 2016 Dublin International Piano Competition.

 

Seasonal favourites for Christmas, New Year and Easter

Our annual Christmas Gala on Thursday, 14 December presents soprano Fatima Said and tenor William Davenport who are Veronica Dunne 2016 competition winners. The programme, conducted by Robert Houlihan, features opera and musical highlights and seasonal orchestral and vocal music. These include Lehár’s Giuditta, music from Bernstein’s On the Town and West Side Story, and a Christmas classic O Holy Night.

Talented soprano Claudia Boyle joins the RTÉ NSO for a special Viennese concert to celebrate New Year 2018. Conductor Neil Thomson conducts the orchestra in a programme of traditional Strauss family waltzes, polkas and overtures.

Our oratorio this season is Bach St. John Passion on Good Friday, 30 March with conductor Nicholas Kraemer and the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir. It will be preceded by an early afternoon performance by the RTÉ Contempo Quartet.

 

Come and enjoy the RTÉ NSO this season

The success of any RTÉ NSO season is made possible by our patrons who we hope will enjoy this season’s programme and continue to support their national symphony orchestra.  In return, we promise world class music from the very best Irish and international artists.

 

Further press information:

Mary Folan
Publicist

Mobile: +353 87 410 0516
Email: mary.folan@rte.ie

 

NOTE TO EDITOR

The RTÉ NSO has introduced a new start time of 7.30pm (previously 8pm) for its concerts to align with many similar cultural institutions, and to give patrons the benefit of finishing before 10pm.


Booking through the National Concert Hall (NCH):

Priority booking from 26 May
Smaller package booking from 2 June
Full price booking from 9 June

 

Telephone: 01 417 0000

(Please note: tickets purchased by phone can be posted directly to you with a charge of €1 for postage and packing)

 

Online booking: www.nch.ie (Please note: packages can also be booked online

In person: at the National Concert Hall Box Office

(Please use the order form available from the NCH Box Office or online at www.rte.ie/nso)