Acclaimed Pianist Angela Hewitt Joins the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra for Beethoven's Heroic 'Emperor Concerto'

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE USE Acclaimed pianist Angela Hewitt joins the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra for Beethoven’s heroic ‘Emperor Concerto’ Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra with Angela Hewitt Sunday 28 Oct 2018, 7.30pm Usher Hall, Lothian Road, Edinburgh Bernstein: Three Dance Episodes from On the Town Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 Images available to download here Sibelius’s visionary Fifth Symphony, plus the musical heroism of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto Following the opening concert from the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, the second concert in the Sunday Classics 2018-19 season sees the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra bring an evening of wonderfully varied music to the Usher Hall. Japanese conductor Yutaka Sado and his Orchestra open with musical heroes not often referenced in the Usher Hall: the three wide-eyed sailors on shore leave in Bernstein’s foot-tapping musical On the Town. His feel-good Three Dance Episodes blend jazz, big band and classical to electrifying effect – and feature Bernstein’s hit tune ‘New York, New York’. The remarkable Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt joins Orchestra and conductor for one of the most heroic piano concertos of them all. Beethoven’s noble Emperor Concerto was the composer’s last for the piano, and is cast on a grand scale, but its brilliant, breathtaking virtuosity melds effortlessly with tenderness and exquisite beauty. The piece is an ideal match for Hewitt’s fresh, elegant, powerful playing. Born into a musical family, Hewitt started her piano education at the age of three and has gone on to win awards and fans across the world. In 2018 she was awarded Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award – the highest honour for an artist in Canada, an achievement that sits comfortably next to her 2006 OBE from Queen Elizabeth II. ‘Today I saw 16 swans. Lord God, what beauty!’ That’s how Sibelius himself described the inspiration for his visionary Fifth Symphony, a majestic hymn of praise to the natural wonders of his Finnish homeland. Teeming with life, surging with optimism, it propels the listener along to the unmatched orchestral grandeur of its ecstatic finale. Sibelius’s Fifth forms the towering climax to a heroic programme from the superb Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, one of Austria’s most pioneering ensembles, who are making an eagerly awaited return under Chief Conductor Yutaka Sado following adored recent concerts at the Usher Hall. /ENDS Media inquiries: Will Moss / The Corner Shop PR / 0131 202 6220 /07443334085 Listings information: Sunday 28 Oct 2018, 7.30pm Usher Hall, Lothian Road, Edinburgh Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra Yutaka Sado Conductor Angela Hewitt Piano Bernstein: Three Dance Episodes from On the Town Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 Tickets available at www.usherhall.co.uk Prices £35 | £29 | £24 | £18 | £13.50 Full time students are entitled to tickets for £10 which can be booked in advance Under 16s are entitled to free tickets when booked with a paying adult Concessions available **Please note a £1.50 transaction fee applies on the overall booking when purchasing online or over the phone (non-refundable)** Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra With its residencies at the Musikverein Wien, Festspielhaus St. Pölten and in Grafenegg, the Tonkunstler Orchestra is one of Austria’s biggest and most important musical ambassadors. The focus of the orchestra’s artistic work is the traditional orchestral repertoire, ranging from the Classical to the Romantic periods through to the 20th century. Yutaka Sado, one of the most important Japanese conductors of our time, has been the orchestra’s Music Director since the 2015-16 season. The Tonkunstler’s unique approach to programming is appreciated by musicians, audiences and press alike. The inclusion of genres such as jazz and world music as part of the Plugged- In series, which has entered its eleventh year, keeps the orchestra in touch with the pulse of modern life. Performances of works by contemporary composers make the Tonkunstler a key player on the current music scene. Each year, a composer in residence collaborates with the orchestra for the Grafenegg Festival. So far, these have included Brett Dean, HK Gruber, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jörg Widmann, Matthias Pintscher, Christian Jost and Brad Lubman. Composers including Arvo Pärt, Kurt Schwertsik, Friedrich Cerha and Bernd Richard Deutsch have written commissioned works for the orchestra. The Tonkunstler are the only Austrian symphony orchestra to boast three residencies. Their traditional Sunday Afternoon concerts at the Wiener Musikverein go back nearly 70 years andre main their most successful concert cycle to date. The Festspielhaus St. Pölten was officially opened by the Tonkunstler Orchestra on 1 March 1997. Since then, as resident orchestra, its opera, dance and educational projects, as well as an extensive range of concerts, have formed an integral part of the overall cultural repertoire in the Lower Austrian state capital. In Grafenegg, the Tonkunstler have two acoustically outstanding venues at their disposal in their capacity as festival orchestra: the Auditorium and the Wolkenturm. The latter was officially opened by the orchestra. Each year, the Midsummer Night’s Gala – broadcast on radio and TV in Austria as well as in several other European countries – opens the summer season in Grafenegg. The political and social events and upheavals of the 20th century have left their mark on the orchestra’s history. The first concert by the Wiener Tonkünstler-Orchester took place in the Wiener Musikverein in October 1907, with 83 musicians performing. The impressive trio of conductors that night were Oskar Nedbal, a student of Dvor ák, Bernhard Stavenhagen, a student of Franz Liszt, and Hans Pfitzner. The Tonkunstler gave the first performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder under the direction of Franz Schreker in 1913. Wilhelm Furtwängler was Principal Conductor from 1919 to 1923. In the years that followed, the orchestra worked with such renowned conductors as Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Felix Weingartner, Hans Knappertsbusch and Hermann Abendroth. Angela Hewitt One of the world’s leading pianists, Angela Hewitt appears in recital and with major orchestras throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia. Her interpretations of Bach have established her as one of the composer’s foremost interpreters of our time. 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). Her second recording of the Goldberg Variations appeared in 2016 and was immediately a best seller, as was her 2014 recording of The Art of Fugue. Her discography also includes albums of Couperin, Rameau, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Fauré, Debussy, Chabrier, Ravel and Granados. Her second disc of Scarlatti Sonatas and her seventh volume of Beethoven Sonatas (including “The Tempest”) were released in October 2017 and June 2018 respectively, both hitting the Billboard charts in the USA. In 2015 Angela was inducted into Gramophone Magazine’s “Hall of Fame” thanks to her popularity with music lovers around the world. In September 2016, Angela began her ‘Bach Odyssey’, performing the complete keyboard works of Bach in a series of twelve recitals, finishing in June 2020. In 2018 she performs the complete Well-Tempered Clavier in London, Tokyo, Ottawa, New York, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Vancouver/Victoria, and Stratford (Ontario). Other recitals will take her to Lisbon, Prague, Rotterdam, London’s Royal Festival Hall, Girona, Minneapolis, Ferrara, Bari, Perugia, Portland (Oregon), Cleveland, Bern and Newcastle. Other highlights include her recent BBC Proms appearance with Messiaen’s Turangalîla (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo), a UK tour with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich (Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto), her debut in Vienna’s Musikverein conducting Bach Concertos with the same Orchestra, the Cartagena Festival in Colombia, a residency at Harvard University, and performances in Chicago (‘Music of the Baroque’ with Jane Glover) and with the Xi’an Symphony in China. Born into a musical family, Angela began her piano studies aged three, performing in public at four and a year later winning her first scholarship. She studied with Jean-Paul Sévilla at the University of Ottawa and won the 1985 Toronto International Bach Piano Competition which launched her career. In 2018 Angela received the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award – the highest honour for an artist in Canada. In 2015 she was promoted to a Companion of the Order of Canada, and in 2006 was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, has seven honorary doctorates, and is a Visiting Fellow of Peterhouse College in Cambridge. She lives in London but also has homes in Ottawa and Umbria, Italy where she is Artistic Director of the Trasimeno Music Festival. Yutaka Sado Born in Kyoto, Music Director of the Tonkunstler Orchestra since the start of the 2015-16 season, Yutaka Sado is considered one of the most important Japanese conductors of our time. To mark the opening of the 10th Grafenegg Festival in August 2016, his contract with the Tonkunstler was extended until summer 2022. After many years assisting Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa, Yutaka Sado started winning important conducting prizes such as the Grand Prix of the 39th Concours international des jeunes chefs d’orchestre in 1989 in Besançon, France, and the Grand Prix of the Leonard Bernstein Jerusalem International Music Competition in 1995. His close ties with his mentor led to his appointment as Conductor in Residence at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, which was founded by Bernstein. In December 1990, at the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, Yutaka Sado conducted alongside other Bernstein protégés. Since 2005, Yutaka Sado has been Artistic Director of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center (PAC) and of the PAC Orchestra.

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