Osmo Vänskä will conduct the Iceland Symphony Orchestra tonight in Shostakovich 6.
Before that, for the first time in many years, he will play the clarinet in a performance of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps during the same concert.
Here’s why.
He’s played chamber music in Minnesota a few times, so not sure when that three-year layoff was. He sounds good.
He played for Matinee Musicale in Duluth, Minnesota on March 29, 2016 with members of the Artymiw-Keefe-Smith Trio.
He played the Brahms quintet after a concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony just over a week ago… Sounded great!
Maestro Vänskä has performed on the clarinet twice in Philadelphia -once a few years ago (Mozart Clarinet Quintet) in a Philadelphia Orchestra “post-concert,” and (on February 2, 2018) with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. The latter featured Vänskä with the AKS Trio (Lydia Artymiw, Erin Keefe – Vanska’s wife – and Wilhelmina Smith). They played:
Beethoven: Clarinet Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11
Milhaud: Suite for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano, Op. 157b
Aho: Eros for Violin and Clarinet [Philadelphia Premiere].
Before his career as a conductor, Vanska was rather well known as a clarinetist.
he is a fabulous clarinet player…one time student of Karl Leister.
I wonder if he ever conducted the Berlin Phil when Leister was still there …