Diving into more contemporary concerts this week. From a concert given in Helsinki this past May and recoded by Finnish Radio, a concert featuring the Radio Symphony of Finland, conducted by Hannu Lintu and featuring the Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt in a program of music by Sebastian Fagerlund, Manuel de Fall, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
Beginning the concert is the Finnish premier of Water Atlas by Sebastian Fagerlund. Sebastian Fagerlund composed this work as composer-in-residence for the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Water Atlas can be heard during the NTR ZaterdagMatinee and was given its premier by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä.
Following that is a performance of Manuel de Falla’s Nights In The Gardens Of Spain with Angela Hewitt as piano soloist. After intermission, the orchestra dives into Jeux by Debussy and ends with Ravel’s Bolero – a pleasant evening of music making, you must admit.
One of the world’s leading pianists, Angela Hewitt appears in recital and as soloist with major orchestras throughout Europe, the Americas, Australia, and Asia. Her interpretations of the music of J.S. Bach have established her as one of the composer’s foremost interpreters of our time.
Born in 1958 into a musical family (the daughter of the Cathedral organist and choirmaster in Ottawa, Canada), Angela began her piano studies age three, performed in public at four and a year later won her first scholarship. In her formative years, she also studied classical ballet, violin, and recorder. From 1963-73 she studied at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music with Earle Moss and Myrtle Guerrero, after which she completed her Bachelor of Music in Performance at the University of Ottawa in the class of French pianist Jean-Paul Sévilla, graduating at the age of 18. She was a prizewinner in numerous piano competitions in Europe, Canada, and the USA, but it was her triumph in the 1985 Toronto International Bach Piano Competition, held in memory of Glenn Gould, that truly launched her international career.
Angela’s award-winning cycle for Hyperion Records of all the major keyboard works of Bach has been described as “one of the record glories of our age” (The Sunday Times). Begun in 1994, it culminated with her much-awaited recording of Bach’s Art of Fugue in 2014 which immediately hit the charts in the UK and USA. Her extensive discography also includes solo recordings of Scarlatti, Handel, Couperin, Rameau, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Fauré, Debussy, Chabrier, Ravel, Granados and Messiaen. She has won four Juno Awards, including one for her album of Mozart Concertos with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. Other concerto recordings include the complete Bach Concertos with the Australian Chamber Orchestra; the works for piano and orchestra of Schumann with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; and Messiaen’s mammoth Turangalila Symphony with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, Angela was inducted into Gramophone Magazine’s “Hall of Fame”, reflecting her popularity with music lovers around the world. Recent releases include her second recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, made 15 years after her first.
During the 2007-2008 season, Angela embarked on her Bach World Tour, performing the Well-Tempered Clavier in 21 countries on six continents. At the same time, she released a DVD entitled Bach Performance on the Piano, sharing her experience of learning and performing Bach with amateurs and professionals alike.
One of her current projects, The Bach Odyssey, sees her performing all the keyboard works of J.S. Bach in a series of twelve recitals between 2016 and 2020, presenting the complete cycle in London, New York, Ottawa, Tokyo, and Florence.
Hannu Petteri Lintu (born 13 October 1967, Rauma, Finland. Lintu studied piano and cello at the Turku Conservatory and at the Sibelius Academy. He also studied conducting with Atso Almila, and later with Jorma Panula and Eri Klas. He took part in conducting master classes with Ilya Musin. Lintu won the Nordic Conducting Competition in 1994 in Bergen. He graduated from the Sibelius Academy in 1996 with honors. Lintu took up a part-time appointment of professor of conducting at the Sibelius Academy in September 2014.
From 1998 to 2001, Lintu was chief conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2005, he served as the artistic director for the Summer Sounds Festival of the Finnish contemporary music ensemble Avanti!. Lintu was chief conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra from 2009 to 2013.[2] In December 2010, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Lintu as its eighth chief conductor, effective 1 August 2013, with an initial contract of 3 seasons. He held the title of principal guest conductor with the orchestra for the 2012-2013 season. In April 2016, the FRSO announced the extension of Lintu’s contract as chief conductor through 2021.
Outside of Finland, Lintu was chief conductor and artistic director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2005. Lintu first conducted Ireland’s RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in January 2009. On the basis of that appearance, he was named principal guest conductor of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, effective with the 2010-2011 season.
Lintu resides in Helsinki. He has conducted commercial recordings for such labels as Claves, Dacapo, Danacord, Hyperion, Naxos, and Ondine.
Now you know the particulars – have a seat and enjoy the show.
