For the first time in 25 years, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will return to Carnegie Hall, led by Music Director Vasily Petrenko, on Monday, January 31, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. Maestro Petrenko-who began his tenure with the orchestra this season-received acclaim for his 2019 Carnegie Hall debut when he stepped in as a last minute replacement for Mariss Jansons with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The RPO's all-English program features Elgar's Cello Concerto with Kian Soltani; Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes; and Holst's The Planets, with members of the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus, led by Kent Tritle. Since 1950, the orchestra has performed at Carnegie Hall more than 20 times, with its most recent performance in 1997.
About the Artists
Vasily Petrenko is Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra. Beginning with the 2021-2022 season, he takes up the positions of Conductor Laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director Designate of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia. He served as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (2006-August 2021), Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2013-2020), Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (2009-2013), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre, where he began his career as Resident Conductor (1994-1997).
He has worked with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, and NHK and Sydney symphony orchestras. He has appeared at the
Edinburgh International Festival, Grafenegg Festival and made frequent appearances at the BBC Proms. Recent years have seen a series of highly successful North American debuts, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Montréal and St. Louis symphony orchestras.
Equally at home in the opera house, and with over 30 operas in his repertoire, Vasily Petrenko made his debuts in 2010 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Macbeth) and the Opéra de Paris (Eugene Onegin), and in recent seasons has also conducted at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, Zürich Opera and Bayerische Staatsoper. In the 2019-2020 season, he made his debut at The Metropolitan Opera with a production of The Queen of Spades.
In September 2017, Vasily Petrenko was honored with the Artist of the Year award at the prestigious annual Gramophone Awards, one decade after receiving their Young Artist of the Year award in October 2007. In 2010, he won the Male Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT Awards and is only the second person to have been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both the University of Liverpool and Liverpool Hope University (in 2009), and an Honorary Fellowship of the Liverpool John Moores University (in 2012).
As the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary, its mission to enrich lives through orchestral experiences that are uncompromising in their excellence and inclusive in their appeal, places the RPO at the forefront of musicmaking in the UK and internationally. Typically performing approximately 200 concerts each season and with a worldwide audience of more than half-a-million people, the Orchestra embraces a broad repertoire that enables it to reach the most diverse audience of any British symphony orchestra. While artistic integrity remains paramount, the RPO is unafraid to push boundaries and is equally at home recording video game, film and television soundtracks and working with pop stars, as it is performing the great symphonic repertoire.
The RPO collaborates with the most inspiring artists and this season welcomes its new Music Director, Vasily Petrenko, from September 2021. His appointment stands as a major landmark in the Orchestra's history, signaling its determination to broaden the audience for orchestral music while enhancing its reputation as one of the world's most versatile ensembles. He made his debut with the RPO at London's
Royal Albert Hall in March 2016 delivering a powerful interpretation of Mahler's Symphony No.2, Resurrection. His rapport with the Orchestra's players has been reaffirmed with subsequent London performances, and forthcoming plans include a series of Mahler's choral symphonies at the
Royal Albert Hall, the great works of English composers at the
Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall, and tours to Germany and leading European festivals.
In addition to the Orchestra's annual season of concerts in London's
Royal Albert Hall,
Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall and its home Cadogan Hall, the RPO is a respected cultural ambassador and enjoys a busy schedule of international touring, performing in the world's great concerts halls and at prestigious international festivals. The Orchestra has a long association with the US, from its inaugural 1950 tour under the baton of its Founder Sir Thomas Beecham, when it performed in a staggering 45 cities in just 64 days, to its most recent 14-concert tour in January 2020, featuring acclaimed performances directed by Pinchas Zukerman. In 2022, the RPO returns to the US for the first time in two years for a coast-to-coast tour in January, with performances in California, Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, and culminating with a grand finale in New York at
Carnegie Hall.
Hailed by The Times as a "remarkable cellist" and described by Gramophone as "sheer perfection," Kian Soltani's playing is characterized by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience. He is now invited by the world's leading orchestras, conductors and recital promoters, propelling him from rising star to one of the most talked about cellists performing today.
In the 2021-2022 season, Soltani has been invited to make debuts with orchestras including the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Czech Philharmonic, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, and Barcelona and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras. He will return to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, among others. Furthermore, Soltani embarks on extensive orchestral touring including with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and
Daniel Barenboim, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and
Marin Alsop, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko.
Recent orchestral highlights include the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras. Soltani was Artist-in-Residence at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in July 2021 in which he curated concerts including a Persian evening with the Shiraz Ensemble. Soltani commenced a multi-year residency with Junge Wilde at Konzerthaus Dortmund in Autumn 2018. As a recitalist, Soltani has performed at
Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Salzburg and Lucerne festivals, Wigmore Hall, and the Boulez Saal, where he was invited to curate an evening of cello music.
In 2017, Soltani signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and his first disc Home, comprising works for cello and piano by Schubert, Schumann and Reza Vali, was released to international acclaim in 2018. Soltani has since recorded discs including the Dvořák and Tchaikovsky Piano Trios with Lahav Shani and Renaud Capucon, recorded live at Aix Easter Festival in 2018 released by Warner Classics and Dvořák's Cello Concerto with the Staatskapelle Berlin and
Daniel Barenboim in August 2020. During the entirety of 2020, Soltani worked on his latest disc with Deutsche Grammophon which was released in October 2021. The disc, entitled Cello Unlimited, is a celebration of the cello and film music.
Performance Information
Monday, January 31, 2022 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Vasily Petrenko, Music Director and Conductor
Kian Soltani, Cello
Members of the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus
Kent Tritle, Chorus Director
BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
ELGAR Cello Concerto
HOLST The Planets, Op. 32
Tickets, priced at $42-$140, 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.
