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| RSNO Music Director commits through 2012 and announces new European appointment |
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RSNO Music Director commits through 2012 and announces new European appointment
Stéphane Denève joins Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) from 2011 and extends RSNO contract to end of 2011-12 Season.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) today announces that Stéphane Denève will extend his tenure as Music Director to the end of the Orchestra’s 2011-12 Season. The announcement coincides with the 38-year old conductor’s appointment to the position of Chief Conductor of one of Europe’s finest broadcast orchestras, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR).
Stéphane Denève’s contract with the RSNO - which was due to end at the completion of the Orchestra’s 2010-11 Season - has now been extended for one further year to summer 2012, to reflect the conductor’s great personal commitment to the RSNO. His final year with the RSNO will run concurrently with his first year in Stuttgart, where he will succeed Sir Roger Norrington, who joined the orchestra in 1998.
Formed in 1945, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) has a rich performing heritage and recording legacy. Revered Romanian maestro Sergiu Celibidache was Chief Conductor from 1971 to 1977, followed by Sir Neville Mariner who served from 1983-1989. SWR guest conductors over the years have included such great names as Igor Stravinsky, Ernest Ansermet, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Georg Solti, Karl Böhm, and Wilhelm Furtwängler. The Orchestra has a substantial and well-respected catalogue of recordings and a wide reputation for its commitment to contemporary music.
Already Denève’s tenure with the RSNO can be recognised as a markedly successful period in the organisation’s 120-year history. Since 2005 the RSNO has enjoyed global critical success for its live performances as well as its many recordings. Scottish audiences have warmly welcomed the reemergence of romantic and impressionist French music within the Orchestra’s core repertoire. Average audiences have grown by a third and subscription levels are at their highest in over 20 years, at a time when the Orchestra has taken a more adventurous path in its programming and experimented with the traditional orchestral concert format. Over the past five years the RSNO has pioneered new concert presentations (Naked Classics, Springtime in Paris) presented concert versions of opera (Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande), and forged collaborations with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (Grieg’s Peer Gynt).
Off the stage the success continues. In 2007 the RSNO made its first recording with Denève - the initial installment of a complete cycle of Roussel's major orchestral works - receiving the coveted award, the Diapason d'Or of the year for Symphonic Music. Subsequent recordings in the series have enjoyed widespread acclaim. February 2010 saw the release of contemporary French composer Guillaume Connesson’s Cosmic Trilogy and Piano Concerto on the Chandos label, recently chosen as Disc of the Month by the French magazine Classica/Le Monde de la Musique.
Stéphane Denève has overseen a succession of significant appointments to the Orchestra, including those of Principal Trombone Dávur Juul Magnussen, Principal Tuba John Whitener, Principal Cor Anglais Zoe Kitson and Principal Oboe Emmanuel Laville.
The partnership has been particularly strong when representing Scotland abroad. The RSNO and Denève have enjoyed four foreign sorties: two full European tours, a Spanish tour and an invitation to the Festival Présences at the Maison de Radio France in Paris in 2006, the first time the RSNO had performed in the country. The Orchestra has just returned from its most recent tour, which involved six concerts in seven days, visiting Baden-Baden, Luxembourg, Paris, Munich, Vienna and Belgrade. The Orchestra performed at some of Europe’s most important concert venues, including a concert at the world famous Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in front of over 2000 people, including Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, MP, MSP. Preceding the tour, the RSNO and Denève – together with the RSNO Chorus and Junior Chorus - made their début at the historic Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the first time the Orchestra and both choruses had performed abroad together.
The next two years will reveal some of the most ambitious programming in the Orchestra’s recent history. The RSNO’s 2010-11 Season will be announced on Tuesday 30 March. Plans are already in development for a major celebration of the works of Claude Debussy for Denève’s final Season as Music Director, in 2011-12, which will mark the 150th anniversary of the French composer’s birth.
RSNO Music Director Stéphane Denève:
“To become the chief conductor of such a prestigious German orchestra is an exciting new adventure. This is a major step in my musical life and a fantastic opportunity to explore new styles and different repertoire. But I’m also joyful to have a seventh and final year with my beloved RSNO. Over the past five years there have been so many memorable moments and I hope to share many more during the next two seasons. I have become very attached to Scotland and its people and the remaining years will only increase this feeling!”
RSNO Chief Executive Simon Woods:
“Everyone at the RSNO wholeheartedly congratulates Stéphane on making this important step in his career. The work that the RSNO and Stéphane have achieved together already stands as one of the most productive and artistically impressive chapters in the Orchestra’s history. It is a mark of his deep affection for the audiences of Scotland that he has decided to extend his time with us in order to fulfill many of the exciting projects still to be achieved. We still have a few surprises up our sleeves!”
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) today announces that Stéphane Denève will extend his tenure as Music Director to the end of the Orchestra’s 2011-12 Season. The announcement coincides with the 38-year old conductor’s appointment to the position of Chief Conductor of one of Europe’s finest broadcast orchestras, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR).
Stéphane Denève’s contract with the RSNO - which was due to end at the completion of the Orchestra’s 2010-11 Season - has now been extended for one further year to summer 2012, to reflect the conductor’s great personal commitment to the RSNO. His final year with the RSNO will run concurrently with his first year in Stuttgart, where he will succeed Sir Roger Norrington, who joined the orchestra in 1998.
Formed in 1945, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) has a rich performing heritage and recording legacy. Revered Romanian maestro Sergiu Celibidache was Chief Conductor from 1971 to 1977, followed by Sir Neville Mariner who served from 1983-1989. SWR guest conductors over the years have included such great names as Igor Stravinsky, Ernest Ansermet, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Georg Solti, Karl Böhm, and Wilhelm Furtwängler. The Orchestra has a substantial and well-respected catalogue of recordings and a wide reputation for its commitment to contemporary music.
Already Denève’s tenure with the RSNO can be recognised as a markedly successful period in the organisation’s 120-year history. Since 2005 the RSNO has enjoyed global critical success for its live performances as well as its many recordings. Scottish audiences have warmly welcomed the reemergence of romantic and impressionist French music within the Orchestra’s core repertoire. Average audiences have grown by a third and subscription levels are at their highest in over 20 years, at a time when the Orchestra has taken a more adventurous path in its programming and experimented with the traditional orchestral concert format. Over the past five years the RSNO has pioneered new concert presentations (Naked Classics, Springtime in Paris) presented concert versions of opera (Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande), and forged collaborations with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (Grieg’s Peer Gynt).
Off the stage the success continues. In 2007 the RSNO made its first recording with Denève - the initial installment of a complete cycle of Roussel's major orchestral works - receiving the coveted award, the Diapason d'Or of the year for Symphonic Music. Subsequent recordings in the series have enjoyed widespread acclaim. February 2010 saw the release of contemporary French composer Guillaume Connesson’s Cosmic Trilogy and Piano Concerto on the Chandos label, recently chosen as Disc of the Month by the French magazine Classica/Le Monde de la Musique.
Stéphane Denève has overseen a succession of significant appointments to the Orchestra, including those of Principal Trombone Dávur Juul Magnussen, Principal Tuba John Whitener, Principal Cor Anglais Zoe Kitson and Principal Oboe Emmanuel Laville.
The partnership has been particularly strong when representing Scotland abroad. The RSNO and Denève have enjoyed four foreign sorties: two full European tours, a Spanish tour and an invitation to the Festival Présences at the Maison de Radio France in Paris in 2006, the first time the RSNO had performed in the country. The Orchestra has just returned from its most recent tour, which involved six concerts in seven days, visiting Baden-Baden, Luxembourg, Paris, Munich, Vienna and Belgrade. The Orchestra performed at some of Europe’s most important concert venues, including a concert at the world famous Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in front of over 2000 people, including Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, MP, MSP. Preceding the tour, the RSNO and Denève – together with the RSNO Chorus and Junior Chorus - made their début at the historic Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the first time the Orchestra and both choruses had performed abroad together.
The next two years will reveal some of the most ambitious programming in the Orchestra’s recent history. The RSNO’s 2010-11 Season will be announced on Tuesday 30 March. Plans are already in development for a major celebration of the works of Claude Debussy for Denève’s final Season as Music Director, in 2011-12, which will mark the 150th anniversary of the French composer’s birth.
RSNO Music Director Stéphane Denève:
“To become the chief conductor of such a prestigious German orchestra is an exciting new adventure. This is a major step in my musical life and a fantastic opportunity to explore new styles and different repertoire. But I’m also joyful to have a seventh and final year with my beloved RSNO. Over the past five years there have been so many memorable moments and I hope to share many more during the next two seasons. I have become very attached to Scotland and its people and the remaining years will only increase this feeling!”
RSNO Chief Executive Simon Woods:
“Everyone at the RSNO wholeheartedly congratulates Stéphane on making this important step in his career. The work that the RSNO and Stéphane have achieved together already stands as one of the most productive and artistically impressive chapters in the Orchestra’s history. It is a mark of his deep affection for the audiences of Scotland that he has decided to extend his time with us in order to fulfill many of the exciting projects still to be achieved. We still have a few surprises up our sleeves!”
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