Die Drei Pintos, Mahler’s completion of a work by Carl Maria von Weber, is coming up for a rare performance at University College Opera in London (details below). Its significance in Mahler’s life lies in him falling in love while working on the score with the wife of Weber’s grandson – a passion that prompted him to start writing the first symphony.

I have heard Pintos on record and in concert performance, never staged. Should be interesting.
Here’s the (sketchy) website.
Amazon.uk, by the way, have a short-term special offer on Why Mahler?

Days after losing some of its biggest singers, floundering IMG Artists announces a major coup.

It has signed an exclusive representation deal with a ‘vocal sensation’. Phew, hold breaths. Has Netrebko jumped ship? Bocelli changed flaks? Bartoli gone bonkers?
None of the above. IMG has gone for the kiddie market with a 10 year-old from America’s Got Talent. Her name is Jackie Evancho and the agency thinks she’s the next Charlotte Church. Her first album will be produced by David Foster, maker of Josh Groban.
I wish IMG every joy with its stunning new artist. It sends a useful advisory to grown-up IMG singers that this could be a very good time to jump ship.

And here she is, singing on YouTube to a wound-up telly audience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKhmFSV-XB0

Days after losing some of its biggest singers, floundering IMG Artists announces a major coup.

It has signed an exclusive representation deal with a ‘vocal sensation’. Phew, hold breaths. Has Netrebko jumped ship? Bocelli changed flaks? Bartoli gone bonkers?
None of the above. IMG has gone for the kiddie market with a 10 year-old from America’s Got Talent. Her name is Jackie Evancho and the agency thinks she’s the next Charlotte Church. Her first album will be produced by David Foster, maker of Josh Groban.
I wish IMG every joy with its stunning new artist. It sends a useful advisory to grown-up IMG singers that this could be a very good time to jump ship.

And here she is, singing on YouTube to a wound-up telly audience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKhmFSV-XB0

Buoyed by his cheerleaders at the New York Times, the chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic has enjoyed a pretty easy run in his first season and a half. No-one local has questioned his international standing (low), his temperament (fractious) or his parentage (both were players in the Philharmonic, trailing a whiff of nepotism).

When he took over as head of Juilliard’s conducting program last week, the Times hack hailed the appointment in terms usually reserved for the Second Coming. No-one, the Times reported, had ever held both posts before. Gilbert was evidently a better maestro than Mahler, Toscanini, Mitropoulous, Bernstein, Boulez or any other predecessor.
Mercifully, New York is a diverse town and if its manifold opinions do not get aired in print media they can always find other outlets. Will Robin, in his Seated Ovation blog, brings an insider view from Juilliard, describing Gilbert as ‘a bratty child’ who had to ‘micromanage’ instruments in the orchestra, demanded constant eye-contact and achieved limited results. Telling the young musicians that they had ‘their heads up their asses’ did not go down too well with students or faculty. But they gave him the job because the Philharmonic has put all its eggs in Gilbert’s basket and the Times blows a trumpet of unremitting praise.
One sour blog, based in Berlin and citing an anonymous whistle-blower, does not burst the Gilbert bubble. There will be many more hallelujahs from the Times before the Philharmonic’s new clothes are proved to be insubstantial. Nevertheless, the dissenting voices from Juilliard are a New York first. Watch for more. 
Meantime, here’s some more commentary on the tyranny of eye contact and a lavish piece of Gilbert puffery from his house journal (photos James Estrin, NY Times)..

Buoyed by his cheerleaders at the New York Times, the chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic has enjoyed a pretty easy run in his first season and a half. No-one local has questioned his international standing (low), his temperament (fractious) or his parentage (both were players in the Philharmonic, trailing a whiff of nepotism).

When he took over as head of Juilliard’s conducting program last week, the Times hack hailed the appointment in terms usually reserved for the Second Coming. No-one, the Times reported, had ever held both posts before. Gilbert was evidently a better maestro than Mahler, Toscanini, Mitropoulous, Bernstein, Boulez or any other predecessor.
Mercifully, New York is a diverse town and if its manifold opinions do not get aired in print media they can always find other outlets. Will Robin, in his Seated Ovation blog, brings an insider view from Juilliard, describing Gilbert as ‘a bratty child’ who had to ‘micromanage’ instruments in the orchestra, demanded constant eye-contact and achieved limited results. Telling the young musicians that they had ‘their heads up their asses’ did not go down too well with students or faculty. But they gave him the job because the Philharmonic has put all its eggs in Gilbert’s basket and the Times blows a trumpet of unremitting praise.
One sour blog, based in Berlin and citing an anonymous whistle-blower, does not burst the Gilbert bubble. There will be many more hallelujahs from the Times before the Philharmonic’s new clothes are proved to be insubstantial. Nevertheless, the dissenting voices from Juilliard are a New York first. Watch for more. 
Meantime, here’s some more commentary on the tyranny of eye contact and a lavish piece of Gilbert puffery from his house journal (photos James Estrin, NY Times)..

Most classical composers would do just about anything, short of skinny-dipping in Times Square in mid-January, to see their name up in lights. Vincent Ho, who is Canadian and very young – neither of which is an excuse – was casting around for attention on the eve of a premiere when he named the inspiration of his new percussion concerto as ‘a modern-day shaman, an intermediary between the human and the spirit world.’

Now I know Dame Evelyn Glennie has her spooky moments, but I’ve never thought of her before as a queen of the ouija board or one of the three predictors in Macbeth. She is a lady who bangs things for a living, and on Jan 29 in Winnipeg she will be knocking out Mr Ho’s new concerto, titled (you guessed) The Shaman. Come to think of it, though…

——————————————————————————————————————–
Press release follows:

 

 

 

 

 

THE SHAMAN

By Vincent Ho

Percussion Concerto featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie

Winnipeg, Toronto & Ottawa

 

World Premiere Performance: January 29, 2011

Opening Gala of Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s 20th New Music Festival

Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg

 

Toronto Premiere: March 2, 2011

Part of Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s New Creations Festival

Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto

 

For Immediate Release – Toronto, ON – January 5, 2011: Following the success of his refreshing Arctic Symphony in February 2010, Canadian composer Vincent Ho delivers a brand new piece filled with fire and unbridled energy. The Shaman – a percussion concerto written for Dame Evelyn Glennie – will receive its world premiere on January 29, 2011 by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. This performance, conducted by Alexander Mickelthwate is part of the WSO’s New Music Festival: 20th Anniversary Edition.  Ms. Glennie will also perform The Shaman with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Peter Oundjian on March 2, 2011, as part of the TSO’s New Creations Festival. Moreover, Ms. Glennie will reprise The Shaman with Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra as part of their 2012/2013 season (details TBA). The Shaman has been commissioned by the WSO, NACO and The Manitoba Arts Council at the request of Dame Evelyn Glennie. After hearing about the Arctic Symphony last year, the celebrated percussionist took note of Vincent Ho’s talent, remarking that his ‘consideration towards the audience’s experience is as important as the music itself.’ 

 

Ho’s Arctic Symphony has been described as “a beautifully thought-provoking way to promote the message of climate change”, and acclaimed as “a mature and atmospheric work that firmly establishes Ho among North American composers of note” (Winnipeg Free Press). But this time, Ho wanted to “unleash his inner inferno”. The Shaman, a 30-minute piece in three movements, is filled with passion and sizzle, and culminates in an explosive finale.

 

“For me, Dame Evelyn Glennie is a modern-day shaman – an intermediary between the human and spirit world”, explains Vincent Ho. “Her performances are more than just visual or aural experiences – they are “spiritual” events. She has the uncanny ability to draw the audien

ce into a magical world and take us on wondrous journeys that are beyond material existence. Every performance she delivers leaves the audience spellbound and spiritually nourished.”

 

 

Dame Evelyn Glennie is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist. As one of the most eclectic and innovative musicians on the scene today she is constantly redefining the goals and expectations of percussion, and creating performances of such vitality that they almost constitute a new type of performance.  

 

 

 

Born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1975, Vincent Ho has emerged as one of the most exciting composers of his generation. His works have been hailed for their profound expressivity and textural beauty that has audiences talking about with great enthusiasm. His many awards have included Harvard University’s Fromm Music Commission, The Canada Council for the Arts’ “Robert Fleming Prize,” ASCAP’s “Morton Gould Young Composer Award,” four SOCAN Young Composers Awards, and CBC Radio’s Audience Choice Award (2009 Young Composers’ Competition). He is currently the Composer-In-Residence to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. After studying music in Calgary, Toronto and Paris, he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California in 2006. An accomplished pianist, Vincent Ho is also a former dance teacher and an avid runner. He enjoys exploring the vast world of creative thinking, bridging Eastern and Western musical languages.

 

In September 2010, Vincent Ho was signed by the prestigious Promethean Editions. “Promethean Editions is thrilled to announce the addition of Vincent Ho to our group of House Composers, and being 35 years old is the youngest, alongside Gareth Farr, Christos Hatzis and John Psathas. Ho shares with Promethean Editions’ other House Composers a musical ethos that is high in energy, emotionally evocative, and integrates contrasting influences into a cohesive and unique style of his own”, said the announcement. “Vincent Ho brings to Promethean music that fuses instrumental timbre and characteristically textural gestures with provocative trajectories and an immediacy that conductors, orchestras, audiences and critics alike are talking about with enthusiasm.”

 

Vincent Ho’s upcoming projects include a Concerto for Piano, Strings, Percussion and Spatialized Winds/Brass (for Jenny Lin, soloist and the WSO), a Cello Concerto (WSO), and a piece for Flute and Piano. The young composer is also working at re-editing past works for Promethean publications.

 

For more information, please visit:

·         Vincent Ho: http://vinceho.com/

·         Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra: http://www.wso.ca

·         Toronto Symphony Orchestra: http://www.tso.on.ca

·         National Arts Centre Orchestra: http://www.nac-cna.ca

 

 

THE SHAMAN

By Vincent Ho

World Premiere Performance: January 29, 2011

Pre-concert talk at 7:30PM; 8PM performance

2011 Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival

Alexander Mickelthwate, WSO Director

Centennial Concert Hall: 555 Main St Winnipeg, Manitoba

For tickets, visit https://tickets.wso.mb.ca

 

Toronto Premiere: March 2, 2010

8PM performance; Intermission Chat in the Lobby

Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s New Creations Festival

Peter Oundjian, TSO Music Director

Roy Thomson Hall: 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto

For tickets, visit http://www.tso.on.ca

 

###

 

Media contact: Francine Labelle/flINK

416 654-4406 

labellefrancine@rogers.com< /u>  

Most classical composers would do just about anything, short of skinny-dipping in Times Square in mid-January, to see their name up in lights. Vincent Ho, who is Canadian and very young – neither of which is an excuse – was casting around for attention on the eve of a premiere when he named the inspiration of his new percussion concerto as ‘a modern-day shaman, an intermediary between the human and the spirit world.’

Now I know Dame Evelyn Glennie has her spooky moments, but I’ve never thought of her before as a queen of the ouija board or one of the three predictors in Macbeth. She is a lady who bangs things for a living, and on Jan 29 in Winnipeg she will be knocking out Mr Ho’s new concerto, titled (you guessed) The Shaman. Come to think of it, though…

——————————————————————————————————————–
Press release follows:

 

 

 

 

 

THE SHAMAN

By Vincent Ho

Percussion Concerto featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie

Winnipeg, Toronto & Ottawa

 

World Premiere Performance: January 29, 2011

Opening Gala of Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s 20th New Music Festival

Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg

 

Toronto Premiere: March 2, 2011

Part of Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s New Creations Festival

Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto

 

For Immediate Release – Toronto, ON – January 5, 2011: Following the success of his refreshing Arctic Symphony in February 2010, Canadian composer Vincent Ho delivers a brand new piece filled with fire and unbridled energy. The Shaman – a percussion concerto written for Dame Evelyn Glennie – will receive its world premiere on January 29, 2011 by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. This performance, conducted by Alexander Mickelthwate is part of the WSO’s New Music Festival: 20th Anniversary Edition.  Ms. Glennie will also perform The Shaman with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Peter Oundjian on March 2, 2011, as part of the TSO’s New Creations Festival. Moreover, Ms. Glennie will reprise The Shaman with Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra as part of their 2012/2013 season (details TBA). The Shaman has been commissioned by the WSO, NACO and The Manitoba Arts Council at the request of Dame Evelyn Glennie. After hearing about the Arctic Symphony last year, the celebrated percussionist took note of Vincent Ho’s talent, remarking that his ‘consideration towards the audience’s experience is as important as the music itself.’ 

 

Ho’s Arctic Symphony has been described as “a beautifully thought-provoking way to promote the message of climate change”, and acclaimed as “a mature and atmospheric work that firmly establishes Ho among North American composers of note” (Winnipeg Free Press). But this time, Ho wanted to “unleash his inner inferno”. The Shaman, a 30-minute piece in three movements, is filled with passion and sizzle, and culminates in an explosive finale.

 

“For me, Dame Evelyn Glennie is a modern-day shaman – an intermediary between the human and spirit world”, explains Vincent Ho. “Her performances are more than just visual or aural experiences – they are “spiritual” events. She has the uncanny ability to draw the audien

ce into a magical world and take us on wondrous journeys that are beyond material existence. Every performance she delivers leaves the audience spellbound and spiritually nourished.”

 

 

Dame Evelyn Glennie is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist. As one of the most eclectic and innovative musicians on the scene today she is constantly redefining the goals and expectations of percussion, and creating performances of such vitality that they almost constitute a new type of performance.  

 

 

 

Born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1975, Vincent Ho has emerged as one of the most exciting composers of his generation. His works have been hailed for their profound expressivity and textural beauty that has audiences talking about with great enthusiasm. His many awards have included Harvard University’s Fromm Music Commission, The Canada Council for the Arts’ “Robert Fleming Prize,” ASCAP’s “Morton Gould Young Composer Award,” four SOCAN Young Composers Awards, and CBC Radio’s Audience Choice Award (2009 Young Composers’ Competition). He is currently the Composer-In-Residence to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. After studying music in Calgary, Toronto and Paris, he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California in 2006. An accomplished pianist, Vincent Ho is also a former dance teacher and an avid runner. He enjoys exploring the vast world of creative thinking, bridging Eastern and Western musical languages.

 

In September 2010, Vincent Ho was signed by the prestigious Promethean Editions. “Promethean Editions is thrilled to announce the addition of Vincent Ho to our group of House Composers, and being 35 years old is the youngest, alongside Gareth Farr, Christos Hatzis and John Psathas. Ho shares with Promethean Editions’ other House Composers a musical ethos that is high in energy, emotionally evocative, and integrates contrasting influences into a cohesive and unique style of his own”, said the announcement. “Vincent Ho brings to Promethean music that fuses instrumental timbre and characteristically textural gestures with provocative trajectories and an immediacy that conductors, orchestras, audiences and critics alike are talking about with enthusiasm.”

 

Vincent Ho’s upcoming projects include a Concerto for Piano, Strings, Percussion and Spatialized Winds/Brass (for Jenny Lin, soloist and the WSO), a Cello Concerto (WSO), and a piece for Flute and Piano. The young composer is also working at re-editing past works for Promethean publications.

 

For more information, please visit:

·         Vincent Ho: http://vinceho.com/

·         Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra: http://www.wso.ca

·         Toronto Symphony Orchestra: http://www.tso.on.ca

·         National Arts Centre Orchestra: http://www.nac-cna.ca

 

 

THE SHAMAN

By Vincent Ho

World Premiere Performance: January 29, 2011

Pre-concert talk at 7:30PM; 8PM performance

2011 Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival

Alexander Mickelthwate, WSO Director

Centennial Concert Hall: 555 Main St Winnipeg, Manitoba

For tickets, visit https://tickets.wso.mb.ca

 

Toronto Premiere: March 2, 2010

8PM performance; Intermission Chat in the Lobby

Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s New Creations Festival

Peter Oundjian, TSO Music Director

Roy Thomson Hall: 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto

For tickets, visit http://www.tso.on.ca

 

###

 

Media contact: Francine Labelle/flINK

416 654-4406 

labellefrancine@rogers.com< /u>  

Last month I reported the wretched case of a London choirmaster who stripped his girl pupils and forced their heads under water. He got a seven-year sentence, one of many musicians who have ended up this way.

A more troubling case was reported today. An eminent performer and teacher, president of the Royal College of Organists, David Sanger killed himself last May after being charged with child sex offences. Sanger, 63, pleaded his innocence and was planning to fight the case when a newspaper report of the allegations against him prompted him to commit suicide.
The alleged offences had taken place in London three decades earlier but the investigation did not apparently begin until after he became president of the Royal College. His family has called for an inquiry into the conduct of the Metropolitan Police and certain newspapers. His brother Peter Sanger said: He joined the growing ranks of teachers and other professional people whose lives have been ruined by false accusations.

The presumption of innocence until proven guilty applies in this, as in all such cases. The coroner spoke sympathetically of Sanger’s life and career, acknowledging that the world of organ music had ‘suffered a great loss’.

We may never know whether the accusations against him were truthful or opportunistic. As far as the law is concerned, he died innocent. The police need to beware of dangerous stereotypes. Not every music teacher who is the subject of lurid accusations is necessarily a sexual predator.

Here’s the report of the coroner’s hearing.

This year’s Handel Festival at Göttingen has a new president, the result of internal political changes in Lower Saxony. Last year, the state’s minister-president Christian Wulff was upgraded to president of the German nation. His replacement, as both Saxon ruler and Handel festival chief, is a conservative CDU politician by name of David McAllister, a 39 year-old lawyer and member of the Volkswagen board.

McAllister has yet to come to prominence outside state boundaries, but it’s only a matter of time. He’s the first leading German politician in memory to be half-British – his father was a Glaswegian civil servant attached to the Royal Corps of Signals in West Berlin – and David is fluently bilingual and holds both nationalities. He took his bride to Loch Ness in August 2003 and got married in a kilt. Some speak of him as a future German chancellor.
More interesting at the moment is his personification of the German-British duality of George Frideric Handel who, though raised in Halle, was tied to the Hanoverians of Lower Saxony, who went on to become Kings and Queens of England. David McAllister brings out a welcome British streak in the all-German Handel Festival of Göttingen, unifying its disparities. I’ll let him stand me a drink the next time I’m there.

Watching a BBC4 rerun last night of John Bridcut’s thoughtful bio-doc of England’s iconic composer, I was puzzled by an early clip of a young woman conductor I had never clocked before. But, knowing the frugal way that Bridcut builds his films with few inessentials, it was only a matter of time before her significance was revealed.

Natalia Luis-Bassa is her name (here’s her website) and the causes of her enthusiasm went unexplained, though it appears she leads a couple of orchs in the north of England and has won an award from the Elgar Society. 
Home in Caracas, she was conducting the Elgar second symphony with the Simon Bolivar national orchestra and the zeal with which those musicians blew away the old pomp and circumstance was a wonder to behold. My eyes opened even wider when I saw the ruminative young dude sitting, lips pursed, just behind Natalia’s left shoulder.

                                                                             &n
bsp;       &n
bsp;      photo: wikipedia
And there he was, Gustavo Dudamel, the Dude himself, soaking up English music like a citizenship candidate in a seedy Brighton language school. His first Elgar – who knows? But don’t be surprised of the man with the big moustache finds his way into the Dude’s LA playkit in the coming seasons.
Here’s Natalia conducting Elgar 2nd on Youtube.

No sooner do Sony roll out Nino Machaidze with a hunk taken out of her future by its accountants, than Universal strike back with Decca’s signing of Aleksandra Kurzak, who pops up tomorrow at Covent Garden in Barber of Seville.

I’m a bit worried by the Uli Weber publicity shots – a choice between Cecilia Bartoli and Rosa Klebb – but Decca have big plans. Her debut album will be conducted by Omer Meir Wellber, an Israeli in Valencia and one of the fastest rising young batons in the west.



Press release follows:

Decca signs
exciting Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak

Acclaimed from
Milan to The
Met, in the week she sings her first Rosina at the Royal Opera

London, 17 January
2011. Decca Classics has signed an
exclusive recording contract with the young Polish soprano, Aleksandra Kurzak,
who, as one of the most exciting young singers on the international opera stage,
has been thrilling press and public alike with performances in Europe and the
US.

 

Aleksandra Kurzak’s
debut recording with Decca – which will be released in late summer 2011 – will
be a showcase of contrasting lyric and coloratura arias. Just recorded with the
Orquestra de la Comunitat
Valenciana, conducted by its dynamic young Music Director Designate Omer
Wellber, the album will focus on roles
which she has either performed or is preparing to sing on stage:
Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, bel canto roles from Rossini’s
Il barbiere di Siviglia,
Bellini’s I Puritani and
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor,
plus the First Act scena from La
Traviata, which showcases Kurzak’s effortless agility as well as the
full, warm intensity of a Verdi lyric soprano. The disc also acknowledges the
soprano’s roots with the key soprano aria from Straszny
Dwór (The Haunted Manor) – perhaps the greatest
Polish opera of the 19th Century.

 

Aleksandra Kurzak will
also feature on the latest Decca album from Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja – to be
released in Spring 2011 – in which she sings duets from Puccini’s La Bohème and Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles.

 

Aleksandra Kurzak first
came to international attention in the 2004-05 season, with debuts at the Met
(Olympia) and Royal Opera (Aspasia in Mitridate), followed by notable
appearances at the Royal Opera in L’elisir
d’amore (Adina) and Don Pasquale
(Norina). She rose to international prominence in 2008 when she
triumphed in the title role of Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran, also at the Royal
Opera, opposite Decca tenor star Juan Diego Flórez. As The Guardian critic wrote “Flórez’s sparring partner here is
Aleksandra Kurzak, his equal in technique and vocal glamour.” She
returns to Covent Garden on 18 January, singing
Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
with the Royal Opera.

 

Decca’s Paul Moseley
said, “It is always a big moment when we welcome a new soprano to Decca, the
singers’ label. I am convinced that Aleksandra is the new star we were seeking.
Her warm, flexible voice records beautifully and above all she is a true
musician as well as a phenomenal actress and singer.”

 

Aleksandra Kurzak said, “For me to
sign a contract with a record company is a dream come true. And to be the part
of the Decca family with such great singers as Pavarotti, Freni, Sutherland,
Tebaldi, Bartoli and Fleming is a huge honour and happiness for me. It makes me
particularly proud to be the first Polish singer to sign an exclusive contract
with such a legendary company.” 

 

In the current season Aleksandra
Kurzak recently triumphed in her debut as Lucia in the new production of
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
in Seattle, sings Violetta (La
Traviata) in Hamburg, Warsaw and Turin, Adina (L’elisir d’amore) in Valencia and Vienna
(Staatsoper), Rosina (Il barbiere di
Siviglia) at Covent Garden and Susanna in the new production of
Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in
Madrid. She will also give a recital at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

 

Established over 80 years ago,
Decca has long been the label of the world’s greatest singers, with a roster of
exclusive artists which has included Luciano Pavarotti, Dame Joan Sutherland and
Renata Tebaldi, as well as current stars of the opera stage such as Cecilia
Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Flórez.

 

Press Quotes

“A rising-star soprano with
flashing eyes and cover-girl looks.” The
Observer (Il turco in
Italia)

 

“Aleksandra Kurzak had the
audience eating out of her hand with her pearly coloratura and coquettish charm
… and she rightly brought the house down. Kurzak is a dazzling new star.”
The Sunday Times (Mathilde di
Shabran)

 

“Exactly the right mix of
coquettish charm and steely guile; her cascades of semiquavers are dazzling; and
her voice beautifully even-toned from top to toe.” The Financial Times (Mathilde di
Shabran)

 

“Kurzak’s performance is so
seamlessly natural that one believes her every petulant gesture, and her high
coloratura has a wonderfully unforced delicacy.” The Independent (Il turco in
Italia)

 

“It was Polish soprano
Aleksandra Kurzak, making her company and role debut as Lucia, that set the
theater alight both vocally and dramatically. She made me believe she really was
Lucia.” Seattle Times (Lucia di
Lammermoor)

 

“Aleksandra
Kurzak, who brought a luminous, impressively focused and agile coloratura voice
and winsome sweetness to the role of Gilda … she is a coloratura soprano with
great gifts and potential.” The
New York Times (Rigoletto)

 

 

Louise
Ringrose

Media
Manager

 

decca_colourDecca
signs exciting Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak

Acclaimed
from Milan to The Met, in the week she sings her first Rosina at the Royal
Opera

London, 17 January 2011. Decca Classics has signed an exclusive
recording contract with the young Polish soprano, Aleksandra Kurzak, who, as
one of the most exciting young singers on the international opera stage, has
been thrilling press and public alike with performances in Europe and the US.

Aleksandra Kurzak’s debut recording with Decca – which will be released
in late Summer 2011 – will be a showcase of contrasting lyric and coloratura
arias. Just recorded with the Orquestra de la Comunitat
Valenciana, conducted by its dynamic young Music Director Designate Omer
Wellber, the album will focus on roles which she has either
performed or is preparing to sing on stage: Susanna
in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, bel canto roles from Rossini’s Il barbiere
di Siviglia, Bellini’s I Puritani and
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, plus
the First Act scena from La Traviata,
which showcases Kurzak’s effortless
agility as well as the full, warm intensity of a Verdi lyric soprano. The disc
also acknowledges the soprano’s roots with the key soprano aria from Straszny
Dwór (The Haunted Manor) – perhaps the greatest Polish opera of the 19th
Century.

Aleksandra Kurzak will also feature on the latest Decca album from
Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja – to be released in Spring 2011 – in which she
sings duets from Puccini’s La Bohème
and Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles.

Aleksandra Kurzak first came to international attention in the 2004-05
season, with debuts at the Met (Olympia) and Royal Opera (Aspasia in Mitridate), followed by notable
appearances at the Royal Opera in L’elisir
d’amore (Adina) and Don Pasquale (Norina).
She rose to international prominence in 2008 when she triumphed in the title
role of Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran,
also at the Royal Opera, opposite Decca tenor star Juan Diego Flórez. As The Guardian
critic wrote “Flórez’s sparring partner here is Aleksandra
Kurzak, his equal in technique and vocal glamour.”
She returns to Covent Garden on 18 January, singing Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with the Royal
Opera.

Decca’s Paul Moseley said, “It is always a big moment when we welcome a
new soprano to Decca, the singers’ label. I am convinced that Aleksandra is the
new star we were seeking. Her warm, flexible voice records beautifully and
above all she is a true musician as well as a phenomenal actress and singer.”

Aleksandra
Kurzak said, “For me to sign a contract with a record company is a dream come
true. And to be the part of the Decca family with such great singers as
Pavarotti, Freni, Sutherland, Tebaldi, Bartoli and Fleming is a huge honour and
happiness for me. It makes me particularly proud to be the first Polish singer
to sign an exclusive contract with such a legendary company.” 

In
the current season Aleksandra Kurzak recently triumphed in her debut as Lucia
in the new production of Donizetti’s Lucia
di Lammermoor in Seattle, sings Violetta (La Traviata) in Hamburg, Warsaw and Turin, Adina (L’elisir d’amore) in Valencia and Vienna
(Staatsoper), Rosina (Il barbiere di
Siviglia) at Covent Garden and Susanna in the new production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in Madrid. She will
also give a recital at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

Established
over 80 years ago, Decca has long been the label of the world’s greatest singers,
with a roster of exclusive artists which has included Luciano Pavarotti, Dame
Joan Sutherland and Renata Tebaldi, as well as current stars of the opera stage
such as Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Flórez. 

No sooner do Sony roll out Nino Machaidze with a hunk taken out of her future by its accountants, than Universal strike back with Decca’s signing of Aleksandra Kurzak, who pops up tomorrow at Covent Garden in Barber of Seville.

I’m a bit worried by the Uli Weber publicity shots – a choice between Cecilia Bartoli and Rosa Klebb – but Decca have big plans. Her debut album will be conducted by Omer Meir Wellber, an Israeli in Valencia and one of the fastest rising young batons in the west.



Press release follows:

Decca signs
exciting Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak

Acclaimed from
Milan to The
Met, in the week she sings her first Rosina at the Royal Opera

London, 17 January
2011. Decca Classics has signed an
exclusive recording contract with the young Polish soprano, Aleksandra Kurzak,
who, as one of the most exciting young singers on the international opera stage,
has been thrilling press and public alike with performances in Europe and the
US.

 

Aleksandra Kurzak’s
debut recording with Decca – which will be released in late summer 2011 – will
be a showcase of contrasting lyric and coloratura arias. Just recorded with the
Orquestra de la Comunitat
Valenciana, conducted by its dynamic young Music Director Designate Omer
Wellber, the album will focus on roles
which she has either performed or is preparing to sing on stage:
Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, bel canto roles from Rossini’s
Il barbiere di Siviglia,
Bellini’s I Puritani and
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor,
plus the First Act scena from La
Traviata, which showcases Kurzak’s effortless agility as well as the
full, warm intensity of a Verdi lyric soprano. The disc also acknowledges the
soprano’s roots with the key soprano aria from Straszny
Dwór (The Haunted Manor) – perhaps the greatest
Polish opera of the 19th Century.

 

Aleksandra Kurzak will
also feature on the latest Decca album from Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja – to be
released in Spring 2011 – in which she sings duets from Puccini’s La Bohème and Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles.

 

Aleksandra Kurzak first
came to international attention in the 2004-05 season, with debuts at the Met
(Olympia) and Royal Opera (Aspasia in Mitridate), followed by notable
appearances at the Royal Opera in L’elisir
d’amore (Adina) and Don Pasquale
(Norina). She rose to international prominence in 2008 when she
triumphed in the title role of Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran, also at the Royal
Opera, opposite Decca tenor star Juan Diego Flórez. As The Guardian critic wrote “Flórez’s sparring partner here is
Aleksandra Kurzak, his equal in technique and vocal glamour.” She
returns to Covent Garden on 18 January, singing
Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
with the Royal Opera.

 

Decca’s Paul Moseley
said, “It is always a big moment when we welcome a new soprano to Decca, the
singers’ label. I am convinced that Aleksandra is the new star we were seeking.
Her warm, flexible voice records beautifully and above all she is a true
musician as well as a phenomenal actress and singer.”

 

Aleksandra Kurzak said, “For me to
sign a contract with a record company is a dream come true. And to be the part
of the Decca family with such great singers as Pavarotti, Freni, Sutherland,
Tebaldi, Bartoli and Fleming is a huge honour and happiness for me. It makes me
particularly proud to be the first Polish singer to sign an exclusive contract
with such a legendary company.” 

 

In the current season Aleksandra
Kurzak recently triumphed in her debut as Lucia in the new production of
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
in Seattle, sings Violetta (La
Traviata) in Hamburg, Warsaw and Turin, Adina (L’elisir d’amore) in Valencia and Vienna
(Staatsoper), Rosina (Il barbiere di
Siviglia) at Covent Garden and Susanna in the new production of
Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in
Madrid. She will also give a recital at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

 

Established over 80 years ago,
Decca has long been the label of the world’s greatest singers, with a roster of
exclusive artists which has included Luciano Pavarotti, Dame Joan Sutherland and
Renata Tebaldi, as well as current stars of the opera stage such as Cecilia
Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Flórez.

 

Press Quotes

“A rising-star soprano with
flashing eyes and cover-girl looks.” The
Observer (Il turco in
Italia)

 

“Aleksandra Kurzak had the
audience eating out of her hand with her pearly coloratura and coquettish charm
… and she rightly brought the house down. Kurzak is a dazzling new star.”
The Sunday Times (Mathilde di
Shabran)

 

“Exactly the right mix of
coquettish charm and steely guile; her cascades of semiquavers are dazzling; and
her voice beautifully even-toned from top to toe.” The Financial Times (Mathilde di
Shabran)

 

“Kurzak’s performance is so
seamlessly natural that one believes her every petulant gesture, and her high
coloratura has a wonderfully unforced delicacy.” The Independent (Il turco in
Italia)

 

“It was Polish soprano
Aleksandra Kurzak, making her company and role debut as Lucia, that set the
theater alight both vocally and dramatically. She made me believe she really was
Lucia.” Seattle Times (Lucia di
Lammermoor)

 

“Aleksandra
Kurzak, who brought a luminous, impressively focused and agile coloratura voice
and winsome sweetness to the role of Gilda … she is a coloratura soprano with
great gifts and potential.” The
New York Times (Rigoletto)

 

 

Louise
Ringrose

Media
Manager

 

decca_colourDecca
signs exciting Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak

Acclaimed
from Milan to The Met, in the week she sings her first Rosina at the Royal
Opera

London, 17 January 2011. Decca Classics has signed an exclusive
recording contract with the young Polish soprano, Aleksandra Kurzak, who, as
one of the most exciting young singers on the international opera stage, has
been thrilling press and public alike with performances in Europe and the US.

Aleksandra Kurzak’s debut recording with Decca – which will be released
in late Summer 2011 – will be a showcase of contrasting lyric and coloratura
arias. Just recorded with the Orquestra de la Comunitat
Valenciana, conducted by its dynamic young Music Director Designate Omer
Wellber, the album will focus on roles which she has either
performed or is preparing to sing on stage: Susanna
in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, bel canto roles from Rossini’s Il barbiere
di Siviglia, Bellini’s I Puritani and
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, plus
the First Act scena from La Traviata,
which showcases Kurzak’s effortless
agility as well as the full, warm intensity of a Verdi lyric soprano. The disc
also acknowledges the soprano’s roots with the key soprano aria from Straszny
Dwór (The Haunted Manor) – perhaps the greatest Polish opera of the 19th
Century.

Aleksandra Kurzak will also feature on the latest Decca album from
Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja – to be released in Spring 2011 – in which she
sings duets from Puccini’s La Bohème
and Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles.

Aleksandra Kurzak first came to international attention in the 2004-05
season, with debuts at the Met (Olympia) and Royal Opera (Aspasia in Mitridate), followed by notable
appearances at the Royal Opera in L’elisir
d’amore (Adina) and Don Pasquale (Norina).
She rose to international prominence in 2008 when she triumphed in the title
role of Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran,
also at the Royal Opera, opposite Decca tenor star Juan Diego Flórez. As The Guardian
critic wrote “Flórez’s sparring partner here is Aleksandra
Kurzak, his equal in technique and vocal glamour.”
She returns to Covent Garden on 18 January, singing Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with the Royal
Opera.

Decca’s Paul Moseley said, “It is always a big moment when we welcome a
new soprano to Decca, the singers’ label. I am convinced that Aleksandra is the
new star we were seeking. Her warm, flexible voice records beautifully and
above all she is a true musician as well as a phenomenal actress and singer.”

Aleksandra
Kurzak said, “For me to sign a contract with a record company is a dream come
true. And to be the part of the Decca family with such great singers as
Pavarotti, Freni, Sutherland, Tebaldi, Bartoli and Fleming is a huge honour and
happiness for me. It makes me particularly proud to be the first Polish singer
to sign an exclusive contract with such a legendary company.” 

In
the current season Aleksandra Kurzak recently triumphed in her debut as Lucia
in the new production of Donizetti’s Lucia
di Lammermoor in Seattle, sings Violetta (La Traviata) in Hamburg, Warsaw and Turin, Adina (L’elisir d’amore) in Valencia and Vienna
(Staatsoper), Rosina (Il barbiere di
Siviglia) at Covent Garden and Susanna in the new production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in Madrid. She will
also give a recital at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

Established
over 80 years ago, Decca has long been the label of the world’s greatest singers,
with a roster of exclusive artists which has included Luciano Pavarotti, Dame
Joan Sutherland and Renata Tebaldi, as well as current stars of the opera stage
such as Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Flórez.