PRESS ROOM press.seattlesymphony.org

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DECEMBER 20, 2018

Shiva Shafii Public Relations Manager 206.215.4758 | [email protected]

Rosalie Contreras Vice President of Communications 206.215.4782 | [email protected]

SEATTLE SYMPHONY MEDIA RELEASES ALL-FRENCH RECORDING CONDUCTED BY LUDOVIC MORLOT FEATURING TENOR ON JANUARY 25

RELEASE ON SEATTLE SYMPHONY’S OWN LABEL INCLUDES LIVE RECORDING OF BERLIOZ’S LES NUITS D'ÉTÉ AS WELL AS RAVEL’S SHÉHÉRAZADE AND DEBUSSY’S “LE LIVRE DE BAUDELAIRE,” ORCHESTRATED BY JOHN ADAMS

Tenor Ian Bostridge performing Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été with Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony in Benaroya Hall on November 2, 2017. Photo by Brandon Patoc. AVAILABLE FOR PRE-SALE JANUARY 11, 2019 ON APPLE MUSIC AND AMAZON

SEATTLE, WA – On January 25 Ludovic Morlot, the Seattle Symphony and tenor Ian Bostridge release an album exploring the music of iconic French composers renowned for their inventive spirit: Berlioz, Ravel and Debussy. Bostridge was praised by The Seattle Times for his “warm tone quality and beautiful expression” during the performance of Berlioz’s Les nuits d'été. The live recording is paired with studio recordings of Ravel’s imaginative Shéhérazade and Debussy’s colorfully rich Le livre de Baudelaire, orchestrated by John Adams.

Digital downloads and CDs are available through all major online music retailers and streaming services and will be available for presale on January 11, 2019. This recording is also available at Acoustic Sounds in an immaculate 5.1 digital surround version engineered by 2017 Grammy Award winner for Best Surround Sound, Dmitriy Lipay.

Members of the media may now access review copies of recordings, photos and liner notes for this recording and other Seattle Symphony Media recordings by visiting the Seattle Symphony Press Room. First time users will be prompted to enter a password for all press kits. Please contact [email protected] for access.

RECORDING DETAILS HECTOR BERLIOZ Les nuits d’été

MAURICE RAVEL Shéhérazade

CLAUDE DEBUSSY orch. by JOHN ADAMS Le livre de Baudelaire

Ludovic Morlot, conductor Ian Bostridge, tenor Seattle Symphony

IAN BOSTRIDGE: BERLIOZ, RAVEL & DEBUSSY Total Timing: 63:56 // Catalog Number: SSM1021 // Producer: Dmitriy Lipay // Label: Seattle Symphony Media

The Seattle Symphony is grateful to Joan Watjen for her generous support of SEATTLE SYMPHONY MEDIA CDs in memory of her husband Craig.

Recorded in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington.

Les nuits d’été was recorded live in concert on November 2, 4 and 5, 2017. Shéhérazade and Le livre de Boudelaire were recorded October 31, 2017 and November 3 and 7, 2017.

The performances of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été were presented as part of the Delta Air Lines Masterworks Season.

Digital downloads and CDs are available through iTunes, Amazon, Acoustic Sounds and HD Tracks. Recordings can be streamed through Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Primephonic.

IAN BOSTRIDGE TENOR

Ian Bostridge, born in London, was a fellow in history at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1992–95) and was elected honorary fellow of the college in 2001. In 2003 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Music by the University of St. Andrews and in 2010 was made an honorary fellow of St. John's College Oxford. In 2014 he was Humanitas Professor of Classical Music at the University of Oxford. He was made a CBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours.

His international recital career takes him to the foremost concert halls of Europe, Asia and North America. He has had residencies at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall New York, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Hamburg Laeiszhalle, Luxembourg Philharmonie, London’s Barbican Centre Wigmore Hall and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. In opera, he has appeared at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opera de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper and Teatro all Scala, Milan.

His many recordings have won all the major international record prizes and been nominated for 15 Grammys. In 2016 he was awarded the The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize for non-fiction writing for his latest book, Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession.

LUDOVIC MORLOT CONDUCTOR French conductor Ludovic Morlot has been Music Director of the Seattle Symphony since 2011. During the 2018–2019 season they will continue in their incredible musical journey, focusing particularly on the music of Debussy, and works by composers he influenced or that influenced him. Among others, newly commissioned works this season are Caroline Shaw’s Piano Concerto and the U.S. premiere of Pascal Dusapin’s At Swim-Two- Birds. The orchestra has many successful recordings on their label which have won three Grammy Awards.

Morlot was Chief Conductor of La Monnaie for three years (2012–14). During this time he conducted several new productions including La Clemenza di Tito, Jenůfa and Pelléas et Mélisande as well as concert performances in both Brussels and at the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival.

Trained as a violinist, Morlot studied conducting at the School (U.S.) with Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo. He continued his education in London at the and then at the Royal College of Music as recipient of the Conducting Fellowship. Morlot was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of his significant contribution to music. He is Chair of Orchestral Conducting Studies at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle.

SEATTLE SYMPHONY MEDIA Launched in 2014, Seattle Symphony Media is the Seattle Symphony’s independent Grammy Award- winning in-house record label. The Symphony has an extensive catalogue of nearly 150 recordings, which have brought forth three Grammy Awards, 26 Grammy Award nominations and two Emmy Awards throughout its history. The Seattle Symphony was named Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year. Under the direction of Music Director Ludovic Morlot, the Symphony's in-house record label features both “core repertoire” and some of the eclectic and contemporary programming for which the Seattle Symphony has become recognized. The label includes both studio recordings and performances captured live in concert, allowing the organization an unprecedented breadth of repertoire choices.

All recordings are made in the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall and engineered by the Grammy Award-winning recording engineer Dmitriy Lipay. Using the Symphony’s own state-of-the-art in-house recording studio, recordings have been engineered to audiophile standards and aim to capture as realistically as possible the sound of the orchestra performing on stage with naturalistic imaging, depth of field and dynamic range. Distributed by Naxos of America, the recordings are available in both physical and digital formats from a variety of retailers. Digital content is available in stereo, “Mastered for iTunes,” 96k 24-bit high resolution and 5.1 surround sound.

SEATTLE SYMPHONY The Grammy Award-winning Seattle Symphony is one of America's leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard from September through July by more than 500,000 people through live performances and radio broadcasts. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community engagement programs reach over 65,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season. The orchestra has made nearly 150 recordings and has received three Grammy Awards, 26 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and was named Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media. ###