The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra-under the baton of its newly appointed Chief Conductor Daniele Gatti-returns to Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage for two back-to-back concerts in January, marking the first time the orchestra will travel to the United States with Mr. Gatti, who is only the seventh Chief Conductor in the orchestra's 129-year history. For the first concert, on Wednesday, January 17 at 8:00 p.m., the orchestra performs excerpts from Wagner's final opera Parsifal, including the Prelude to Act III and Good FridaySpell, on a program that also features Bruckner's final Symphony No. 9 in D Minor.
The following evening, on Thursday, January 18 at 8:00 p.m., celebrated Dutch violinist Janine Jansen reunites with the orchestra for a performance of Bruch's beloved Violin Concerto No. 1. Ms. Jansen-a
Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist this season-made her
Carnegie Hall concerto debut in 2010 with the orchestra. The second program, also led by Mr. Gatti, concludes with a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D Major.
As part of the seventh annual
Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series, the January 18performance will be broadcast live on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and streamed online at wqxr.organd carnegiehall.org/wqxr. Produced by WQXR and
Carnegie Hall, and hosted by WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon, select
Carnegie Hall Live broadcasts throughout the season feature live web chats, including Twitter commentary from the broadcast team backstage and in the control room, connecting national and international fans to the music and to each other.
About the Artists
Born in Milan, Daniele Gatti studied piano and graduated with degrees in composition and conducting from the city's Verdi Conservatory. He was appointed Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2016. Between 2008 and 2016, he was the Music Director of the Orchestre National de France. Prior to this appointment, Daniele Gatti was the Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic (1996-2009), Principal Conductor of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1992-97), Principal Guest Conductor at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1994-97), Music Director of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna (1997-2007), and Principal Conductor at the Zurich Opera House (2009-2012). In 2016, he was appointed Artistic Adviser to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. As a guest conductor, Mr. Gatti regularly leads the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala.
Mr. Gatti has conducted many new productions at leading opera houses around the world and has close relationships with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Viennese Staatsoper. Maestro Gatti is one of only a few few Italian conductors who has been invited to lead the Festival of Bayreuth, where he conducted Wagner's Parsifal in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. At the Metropolitan Opera in New York, he made his debut in a production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly in 2004, and returned in 2013 for an acclaimed new production of Parsifal, the DVD of which was released in spring 2014.
Since his overwhelming debut in April 2004, Mr. Gatti has been a regular guest with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and during his first season as Chief Conductor he played a vital role in spearheading the RCO meets Europe tour program.
Daniele Gatti is Grande Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica Italiana and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française, and was awarded the prestigious Franco Abbiati Prize in both 2005 and 2016. In July 2016, the French Republic named him Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
With an enviable international reputation, violinist Janine Jansen works regularly with the world's most eminent orchestras and conductors. This season, while she is Perspectives artist at
Carnegie Hall, tours are planned with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Danielle Gatti, the London Symphony Orchestra under
Michael Tilson Thomas and Semyon Bychkov, and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie under Paavo Järvi. Other highlights this season include engagements with the Berliner Philharmoniker with Paavo Järvi, Munich Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, Staatskapelle Dresden with Antonio Pappano, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Czech Philharmonic with Jakob Hrusa, Oslo Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony with David Afkham, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic with Karina Canellakis, and Iceland Symphony with Daniel Blendulf. She will also travel to the Far East and Australia performing with the Singapore, Sydney, and New Zealand symphony orchestras.
A devoted chamber musician, Ms. Jansen joins Mischa Maisky, Martha Argerich, Itamar Golan, and Lily Maisky for a major European chamber music tour. She performs a number of recitals throughout Europe with pianists Alexander Gavrylyuk, Elisabeth Leonskaja, and Kathryn Stott. In 2003, she founded the hugely successful International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht. After 13 years, in June 2016, she stepped down from her position as Artistic Director and named cellist Harriet Krijgh as her successor.
Ms. Jansen records exclusively for Decca Classics and, since recording Vivaldi's Four Seasons in 2003, she has been extremely successful in the digital music charts. Her latest release, conducted by Antonio Pappano, features Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 1 with London Symphony Orchestra and Brahms's Violin Concerto with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Other highlights of her discography include a recording of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 with London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, Beethoven and Britten with Paavo Järvi, Mendelssohn and Bruch with Riccardo Chailly, Tchaikovsky with Daniel Harding, as well as an album of Bach Concertos with her own ensemble. Janine has also released a number of chamber music discs, including Schubert's String Quintet and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht and sonatas by Debussy, Ravel, and Prokofiev with pianist Itamar Golan.
Ms. Jansen has won numerous awards, including four Edison Klassiek Awards, four ECHO Klassik awards, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, NDR Musikpreis for outstanding artistic achievement, and the Concertgebouw Prize. She has been given the VSCD Klassieke Muziekprijs for individual achievement and the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award for performances in the UK. In September 2015, she was awarded the Bremen MusikFest Award. Janine studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philipp Hirshhorn, and Boris Belkin.
Janine Jansen plays the 1707 Stradivarius "Rivaz - Baron Gutmann" violin on loan from Dextra Musica.
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is considered one of the leading orchestras in the world. Time and time again, critics have lauded its unique sound. The RCO's string section has been described as 'velvety,' the sound of the brass 'golden,' the timbre of the woodwinds 'distinctly personal,' and the percussion section has an international reputation. Equally important is the quality of the musicians themselves and the influence exerted on the orchestra by its Chief Conductors, of which there have been only seven since the orchestra was founded in 1888. Since September 2016, Daniele Gatti has served as Chief Conductor, and serving before him in that capacity have been: Willem Kes (Chief Conductor from 1888 to 1895), Willem Mengelberg (1895-1945), Eduard van Beinum (1945-1959), Bernard Haitink (1961-1988), Riccardo Chailly (1988-2004), and Mariss Jansons (2004-2015).
Leading composers such as
Gustav Mahler,
Richard Strauss, and
Igor Stravinsky have conducted the orchestra on more than one occasion and the RCO still regularly collaborates with contemporary composers, including
John Adams, George Benjamin,
Tan Dun, and Thomas Adès.
In addition to some 90 concerts performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra gives 40 concerts at leading concert halls throughout the world each year. The orchestra has made over 1,100 LP, CD, and DVD recordings to date, many of which have won international distinctions. Since 2004, the Concertgebouw Orchestra boasts its own in-house label, RCO Live.
Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.
For
Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m.Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are
Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the
Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.
In addition, for all
Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit
carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.
Photo: Chief Conductor Daniele Gatti and Perspectives artist Janine Jansen by © Marco Borggreve
