bristol international classical season sep 2014 – jun 2015 0844 887 1500 www.colstonhall.org join the conversation www.facebook.com/ColstonHall @Colston_Hall www.instagram.com/colstonhall “To be able to hear the fingers on the strings and see the orchestra being conducted is quite something.” Steve and Nicky “As Head of Programme at Colston Hall, it’s a real privilege to bring concerts of such outstanding quality to Bristol.” Todd Wills “We come regularly and we never go home disappointed. “I like the drums We’ve brought our grandchildren along to because the concert tonight.” they’re loud!” The Pedrick family Oscar www.facebook.com/ColstonHall @Colston_Hall www.instagram.com/colstonhall “The classical season is going from strength to strength, and there are some fantastic orchestras, ensembles and soloists to look forward to. The only problem is fitting them all in the diary!” Jonathan James “This is the first time I’ve been to a classical concert at Colston Hall, but it certainly won’t be the last.” Hannah and Ross “I come with my wife and we always attend the Viennese “I like film music Gala because it's and I like learning full of the Strauss to play things on music we like.” the piano. The Frederick concert tickets are a really nice gift.” James and Katie “The sound quality is always amazing in the Hall… it's a great experience for us all to get together with friends.” Steve and Robert supporters We would like to thank the following sponsors and funders for their support. principal sponsors media partner major sponsors sponsors corporate partners trusts The Monument Trust in kind support If you would like to find out more about supporting Colston Hall, please contact Development on 0117 204 7176 or email [email protected] 04 box office 0844 887 1500 www.colstonhall.org welcome to the bristol international classical season 2014-15 A warm welcome to the International Classical Season 2014/15, a programme which I am delighted to introduce as featuring some of the most exciting and prestigious concerts in the history of Colston Hall. In October we host the National Arts Orchestra of Canada and their distinguished Director Pinchas Zukerman as part of The World Changed. The final performance in our series of concerts with St George's Bristol to commemorate the First World War, the stirring programme demonstrates the power of music as a force for healing and remembrance. It is also a great pleasure to welcome the internationally renowned Czech Philharmonic Louise Mitchell Orchestra to the Hall for the first time in many years. Chief Executive, I am delighted to present another outstanding programme Bristol Music Trust of concerts by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, 'the orchestra at Colston Hall', and savour the prospect of some stunning solo performances. Enormous thanks must go to the businesses and corporate partners whose support helps us to deliver these concerts, it is greatly valued. I look forward to seeing you at the Hall for a season of marvellous world-class music. BBC Music Magazine is delighted and proud to be partnering with Colston Hall for their new season – and with a line-up as exciting as this, who wouldn’t be? The internationally renowned names appearing over the next year or so spring from the page at every turn: Pinchas Zuckerman, Sir Mark Elder, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kirill Karabits… and the musical riches that each and every one will be bringing to Bristol will shine in Colston Hall’s magnificent acoustic. BBC Music Magazine is proud to play a part in supporting this wonderful hall – and with our office just around the corner, you won’t be able to keep us away! Oliver Condy Editor, BBC Music Magazine box office 0844 887 1500 www.colstonhall.org 05 your season Pinchas Zuckerman’s Bruch and Nicola Benedetti’s (right) Mozart are just two of the star- studded strings to a season’s bow that welcomes visiting orchestras from Salzburg, Warsaw and Brussels – not forgetting the illustrious Czech Philharmonic and the National Arts Orchestra of Canada, which is making its Hall debut. Charismatic guitar legend Miloš Karadaglic warms himself in the Southern sun of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez; Beethoven’s 9th exuberantly proclaims its humanitarian vision of Utopia; Szymanowski, meanwhile, mourns. Closer to home, the Hallé flexes its unassailable Elgarian prowess under Sir Mark Elder, BBC National Orchestra of Wales burrows into Brahms, and Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Philharmonia takes care of the Sibelius anniversary in style. But there’s another major anniversary to be celebrated too; and from the A-Z of Also Sprach Zarathustra to the irresistibly elegiac Four Last Songs, under indefatigable Principal Conductor Kirill Karabits (left), our resident Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra ensures that the Straussian flame burns bright. 06 box office 0844 887 1500 www.colstonhall.org Booking opens contents Subscribers Tuesday 22 April General booking Wednesday 28 May See p36 international classical season 8-27 special events 28-31 other classical concerts 32-33 lunchtime concerts 34 food and drink 35 become a subscriber 36 seating plan 37 diary 39 talk Look out for the talk logo pre-concert talks chamber concerts the lantern, 6.25pm the lantern, 7.30pm free with a concert ticket Look out for the chamber Get a deeper insight into the concerts accompanying selected music about to be performed performances. Highly regarded BBC as Jonathan James introduces each music lecturer and BBC Radio 3 International Classical Season Concert host Stephen Johnson will give a talk and interviews a member of the in his inimitable style, followed by a orchestra. A conductor and trained performance by the English Piano Trio teacher, Jonathan brings a breadth of of works that complement and enhance expertise and a deep enthusiasm to the main concert programme. exploring the works being performed. box office 0844 887 1500 www.colstonhall.org 07 international classical season 2014-15 soaring strauss talk bournemouth symphony orchestra the orchestra at colston hall tue 30 sep 2014, 7.30pm Conductor Kirill Karabits In his 150th birthday year what better way to launch a season Piano Robert Levin than with soaring Strauss? The opening of his sumptuously scored tone poem indebted to Nietzsche was popularised in Prokofiev Classical Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and, drawn to Symphony the concluding Song of the Night Wanderer, it charts a musical Beethoven Piano Concerto odyssey rich in grandeur and poignant intimacy. Classical No. 1 in C Beethoven and neo-classical Prokofiev ring the changes, the R Strauss Also Sprach former spearheaded by the irrepressible Robert Levin, a pianist Zarathustra whose “muscular music making” supplies an “electric charge” (The Times). With recordings of the complete symphonies tickets book for 3 or from the BSO and Karabits in prospect, Prokofiev’s scintillating more concerts and save homage to Haydn offers a sneak preview. up to 30%, see p36 A £36, B £30, C £24, D £18, Strauss is philosophical; the wittiest of pianists squares up to students £8.50, under 18s £1 Beethoven with a youthful twinkle in his eye, and Prokofiev incl. bf time travels. Our season has lift-off with charisma to burn. 08 box office 0844 887 1500 www.colstonhall.org international classical season 2014-15 brahms in bristol talk bbc national orchestra of wales wed 8 oct 2014, 7.30pm Conductor Tadaaki Otaka An exuberant melee of academic festivities, an auspicious Violin Veronika Eberle symphonic debut, and a searing orchestral swansong featuring Cello Andreas Brantelid two decidedly ear-opening young soloists; Tadaaki Otaka and BBC NOW have Brahms in the bag! Brahms Academic Festival Overture Hot on the heels of Kirill Karabits’ symphony cycle last season, Brahms Double Concerto for BBC NOW (under its Conductor Laureate) crosses the Severn Violin and Cello for another bite at the Brahmsian cherry. Crowned by what the Brahms Symphony No. 1 in symphony conductor Hans von Bulow hailed as “Beethoven’s C minor 10th”, there’s a roistering overture that raises a glass to student drinking songs, and a rare chance to hear the Cinderella among tickets book for 3 or Brahms’ four concertos: the expansive ‘Double’ for violin and more concerts and save cello. Embracing its long-limbed fervour is a formidable young up to 30%, see p36 team. Former Radio 3 New Generation Artists Veronika Eberle A £36, B £30, C £24, D £18, is a “commanding stage presence”, exuding “virtuosic intensity” students £8.50, under 18s £1 declares the Los Angeles Times, while Scandinavian cellist incl. bf Andreas Brantelid combines “astonishing maturity, youthful freshness and vigour” (Sunday Times). This performance will be recorded as part of BBC Radio 3’s Brahms Experience in Bristol. box office 0844 887 1500 www.colstonhall.org 09 international classical season 2014-15 arabian nights talk bournemouth symphony orchestra the orchestra at colston hall thu 23 oct 2014, 7.30pm Conductor Alexander Symphonic Prokofiev opens and closes the BSO’s Colston Shelley Hall season, but they find room, too, for the most engaging Piano Boris Giltburg of his piano concertos, a work begun in 1913 but not completed until after the First World War, and brimming Ravel La Valse with lyricism and unbridled energy. Winner of last year’s Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. Queen Elisabeth Competition, Boris Giltburg has form 3 in C when it comes to the composer – his recording of the War Rimsky-Korsakov Sonatas being a Gramophone magazine Editor’s Choice. Scheherazade For The Independent Giltburg’s BBC Proms debut was simply “breathtaking”. To left and right, Ravel’s dizzying tickets book for 3 or ‘choreographic poem’ issues an invitation to the dance that more concerts and save spectacularly implodes; meanwhile Rimsky-Korsakov’s up to 30%, see p36 evergreen ‘once upon a time’ is full of Eastern promise.