572237 bk Markopoulos 8/6/09 11:07 Page 12 Also available GREEK CLASSICS Yannis MARKOPOULOS Shapes in Motion Pyrrichios Dance No. 13: ‘Nemesis’ • Concerto-Rhapsody • Triptych Grauwels • Spyridakis • Papatheodorou • Brussels Virtuosi Brussels Philharmonic • Flanders Opera Symphony Orchestra Tilkin • Abrath • Leonidakis 8.572235 8.572237 12 572237 bk Markopoulos 8/6/09 11:07 Page 2 Yannis Fellini film) by Flemish composer Luc Van Hove. Music directors of the Flanders Opera Symphony Orchestra have been R. Werthen, S. Soltesz, M. Minkowski, M. Zanetti and I. Törzs. Silvio Varviso (1924-2006) was permanent MARKOPOULOS guest conductor at the Flanders Opera from 1993 until 2006. The Flanders Opera Symphony Orchestra frequently performs under distinguished guest conductors. Works for Flute, Piano and Lyre Michel Tilkin 1 24 Pyrrichioi Dances: Pyrrichios Dance No. 13, ‘Nemesis’ (2000-2001) 7:20 After a successful career as a soloist and orchestra musician with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Michel Tilkin decided to start a career as a conductor. Since then Shapes in Motion (Piano Concerto) (1999) 21:10 he has conducted the world premières of Achilleus and The Great Temptation of Saint 2 I. Allegro 7:36 Anthony at Flanders Opera, as well as a series of performances of Die lustige Witwe, also at 3 II. Moderato 5:58 Flanders Opera. He is a regular guest with orchestras in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Highlights include a tour with the international youth orchestra Jeunesses 4 III. Allegro presto 7:36 Musicales and concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He has recorded the Dvor˘ák and Schumann piano concertos with Paolo Giacometti and the Triptych for Flute, Strings and Harp (1969, 2001-06) 15:25 Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra (Channel Classics) and Franz Schubert’s Unfinished 5 I. Mitir (Mother): Andante moderato 6:02 Symphony with the Brussels Philharmonic (Klara). He has also recorded the contemporary 6 II. Esperio Fos (Evening Light): Adagio 4:24 opera Erotokritos & Areti by Yannis Markopoulos. 7 III. Agapi (Love): Andantino scherzoso 4:58 Concerto-Rhapsody (for cretan lyre and orchestra) (1986) 16:06 8 I. Andantino 2:56 Edwig Abrath 9 II. Allegro moderato 7:26 0 III. Pyrrichios: Presto 5:43 Edwig Abrath studied at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp (Belgium) and at the Conservatory in Maastricht (Holland). He took master- ! Little Fantasy (for flute and piano) (2005) 4:28 classes in France, Germany and Austria (Vienna). Conductor and composer, he has worked, among others, with the Royal Flanders Philharmonic, Il @ Classical Sketches: No. 2. Lamento (1958) 3:38 Novecento, the Emanon Ensemble and toured widely in Europe, Canada, the United States, South America and Australia. Edwig Abrath has also # Evilia Topia (Sunlit Landscapes) (for solo flute) (2007) 5:15 participated in the recording of several CDs. Apart from regular concerts, he also works in the area of popular music. He teaches at the Royal Flemish Recorded at the Auditorium of the VRO Orchestra, Zaal Eden, Leuven, Belgium, Conservatory of Antwerp and at the Art Grammar School. in June 2003 (track 1); at Studio Steurbaut, Ghent, Belgium, from 19th to 21st September, 2007 (tracks 2-4, 8-10 and 13); and at Jardin du Mayeur, Mons, Belgium, on 19 October 2007 (tracks 5-7 and 12) Brussels Virtuosi prepared by its principal violinist and resident conductor, Jean-François Chamberlan 8.572237 2 11 8.572237 572237 bk Markopoulos 8/6/09 11:07 Page 10 the way it combines the most diverse styles for a wide audience. In each programme the orchestra works with Yannis Markopoulos (b. 1939) soloists and guest conductors who enrich the orchestra with their own vision and experience. Works for Piano, Flute and Lyre The programme of the Brussels Philharmonic – the Orchestra of Flanders is centred on a number of series offered in Brussels, both at Flagey, where the ensemble also rehearses, and at the Centre for Fine Arts. In addition, the The composer Yannis Markopoulos was born in 1939 in its rapid dances of repeated small motifs, played by orchestra is also at home in Flanders, appearing both at major venues and in important cultural centres. The orchestra Heraklion, Crete. From one of the old families of the local instruments at the town’s weekly festivities, but at has also attained international renown, as a result of which it enjoys a base in Paris (Cité de la musique and Salle island – his father was a lawyer and later Prefect – he the same time the sound of the sea waves and the Pleyel) and gives regular concerts in the Netherlands (the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, De Doelen in Rotterdam). spent his childhood in the seaside town of Ierapetra. The detonation of land-mines in the aftermath of World War The Brussels Philharmonic – the Orchestra of Flanders is a permanent partner of the Festival of Flanders, Ars Byzantine liturgy heard regularly from the church II, all these formed part of the acoustic universe of the Musica and the Flanders International Film Festival, Ghent, and works regularly with the Royal Ballet of Flanders. opposite his family home, Cretan traditional music, with composer as a child. He took his first lessons in music The ties with public broadcasting remain strong: the orchestra works closely with radio and television for both theory and the violin at the local conservatory and recordings and events. The Brussels Philharmonic – the Orchestra of Flanders is an institution of the Flemish played the clarinet in the municipal band. Meanwhile Community and receives funds from the National Lottery. Its media partners are Klara, De Morgen and Roularta. other musical experiences of decisive importance were classical music as well as the music of the wider Eastern Flanders Opera Symphony Orchestra Mediterranean and, most important of all, that of nearby Egypt, which he heard either over the radio or from musicians and travellers passing through his hometown. Thanks to his father’s extensive private library he had the opportunity to deepen his knowledge, beyond school education, in literature, philosophy, history and the arts. He began composing music during his adolescence and two melodies of this time would later become songs popular throughout Greece. In 1956 Markopoulos moved to Athens to further his music studies at the Athens Conservatory under the composer Yiorgos Sklavos and the violin teacher Joseph Bustidui, while studying philosophy and sociology at the Panteion University. While a student he composed music for the theatre, for the cinema and for dance performances. When he was 24 he was awarded the Music Prize of the Thessaloniki Film Festival for Nikos Koundouros’ film Young Aphrodites and subsequently his works Theseus (dance-drama), Hiroshima (ballet suite) and Three Dances Sketches were performed by avant-garde dance groups. In 1967 a military dictatorship was imposed in Greece. Markopoulos left for London, where he enriched his knowledge with the The Flanders Opera Symphony Orchestra was formed in early 1989 after a series of auditions for an international English composer Elizabeth Lutyens, while his jury. The orchestra made its début in 1989 in a concert featuring the mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa in the Ghent City acquaintance with the composers Janis Christou and Hall. Since then the orchestra has performed numerous successful opera productions such as a complete Puccini Iannis Xenakis played an important rôle in the cycle, a Janáček cycle (both directed by Robert Carsen) and Wagner’s Ring directed by Ivo Van Hove. The deepening of his contact with the most pioneering orchestra has also performed several twentieth-century operas and several world premières, including Les Liaisons musical figures. In London he composed the secular dangereuses by Piet Swerts, Achilleus by Wim Henderickx, Richard III by Giorgio Battistelli and La Strada (on the cantata Ilios o Protos (Sun the First) on the poetry of 8.572237 10 3 8.572237 572237 bk Markopoulos 8/6/09 11:07 Page 4 Odysseus Elytis (Nobel Prize 1979) and completed the selection of the indestructible sources of our living Brussels Virtuosi musical ceremony Idou o Nymphios, a work the traditions in combination with selected contemporary art composer still wishes to keep unreleased with the forms and elements”: the outcome was an exceptionally The Brussels Virtuosi international ensemble was founded in 1981 exception of one part of the work, the song Zavara- original sound emerging from the unique tone colours on the initiative of flautist Marc Grauwels. Its first concert took Katra-Nemia, a vocal composition of Dionysian stemming from the unaccustomed blends of instruments place on the occasion of the opening of the International Music character, that was released in 1966 and became one of and voices. In 1976 he composed the popular liturgy Festival of the city of Brussels in 1981, to general acclaim. Flexible his best known pieces. Also in London he composed The Free Besieged, based on the poem by Greece’s in its formation, it was conceived as an ensemble to perform rarer Chroismoi (Oracles) for symphony orchestra and the national poet Dionysius Solomos, which he conducted repertoire, appearing as a trio, as a quartet with flute, or as a formal Pyrrichioi Dances A, B, C (the first three of the 24 in the crowded Panathenean Stadium, and which was Chamber Orchestra. The Brussels Virtuosi have participated in Dances he completed in 2001) that were performed in presented in London in 1979. In 1977 he composed the countless international Festivals, including the Festivals of 1968 by the London Concertante Orchestra at the Queen music for the BBC television series Who Pays the Wallonia, Flanders, Hong Kong, Ravello, Seoul, and Tokyo. The Elizabeth Hall. During the same year he was Ferryman? The theme tune topped the British charts for orchestra regularly tours in Spain, Germany, France, Austria, commissioned to write the music for Shakespeare’s The months and gained the composer international renown.