The Borletti-Buitoni Trust (BBT) looks forward to an eventful Autumn 2010 with two world premieres, six CD releases, the launch of a new series and three special showcase concerts.
Entertaining, enthusiastic, energetic are words that composer Stephen McNeff repeatedly uses when talking about percussionists Owen Gunnell and Oliver Cox (O Duo), for whom he has written ConcertO-Duo for Two Percussion. Co-commissioner, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, will give the world premiere at London’s Barbican on 22 October 2010 conducted by David Robertson. Like Laurel & Hardy, Ant & Dec and Gilbert & George, Owen and Olly were forged as a duo and this new work is written with their partnership and friendship very much in mind. McNeff confidently explores the full range of their virtuosity, having known them since the beginning of their professional career in 2000 and written their first commissioned piece (and several more since). Every concert is ‘showtime’ for these percussionists whose talent and enthusiasm will doubtless strike just the right celebratory note for the BBCSO’s 80th birthday concert.
“…a series likely to be the hottest of hot chamber music tickets” Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday
BBT is supporting a series of four concerts in the 2010/11 season at The Forge in London’s Camden Town, From One To Seven, created to showcase the adaptability of the ensemble and its range of repertoire, including new, neglected and familiar works about which they are especially passionate. The first two concerts are on 24 October and 19 December, the latter with special guest Mark Padmore (tenor).
A new oboe concerto will be world premiered in London on 17 December 2010 by Alexei Ogrintchouk and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek. Composed by renowned French spectralist Marc-André Dalbavie and co-commissioned by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and BBCSO, it marks another important addition to the repertoire for an instrument considered by Ogrintchouk to be solo by nature despite generally being confined to the orchestra, “it is always given the most beautiful melodies and solo lines and I have very high expectations for this new work.” Ogrintchouk, who studied with the composer at the Paris Conservatoire when he was 16, relishes both the emotional and technical challenges of interpreting this brand new work. A BBT film will go online in October.
Pavel Haas Quartet
Things happen quickly in the Czech Republic where an all-Dvořák CD supported by the Quartet’s award was recorded at Dvořák Hall in Prague in June for international release on the distinguished Czech Supraphon label in October: Quartet in F Op 96 ‘American’ and Quartet in G op 106.
Shai Wosner piano
Brahms and Schoenberg make up the repertoire on Shai Wosner’s
debut disc with Onyx Classics to be released in October:
Brahms’ Seven Fantasies Op 116 and Handel Variations and
Schoenberg’s Six Little Piano Pieces and Suite for piano.
Joshua Hopkins baritone
For his first CD, Let Beauty Awake, Hopkins has made a very personal selection of English language art songs by composers from his homeland Canada, the US and UK: Srul Irving Glick’s South of North — Images of Canada, Paul Bowles’ Blue Mountain Ballads, Samuel Barber’s Three Songs Op 45 and Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel. The CD also features accompanist Jerard Mosbey and is released in October on Canadian label ATMA Classique.
Alexei Ogrintchouk oboe
BBT is supporting three recordings with BIS, the first of which is an all-Bach CD of oboe concerti recorded with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, including the Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin with fellow BBT Award winner Alina Ibragimova. It is available from October (December in the UK).
The Other Ebène
BBT has supported Quatuor Ebène for its first three Virgin Classics recordings, the last of which is released in October. Entitled Fiction, it comprises the Quartet’s jazz and rock favourites performed in their own impeccable style with guest artists including Stacey Kent and Natalie Dessay. Repertoire includes pieces by Chick Corea, Lennon & McCartney, Brad Mehldau, Wayne Shorter and Bruce Springsteen among others.
Ramón Ortega Quero oboe
Quick off the mark, this young 2010 BBT Fellowship winner releases his debut recital disc Shadows on the Solo Musica label with a repertoire of French and Italian Baroque music (Dieupart, Blavet, Veracini and Vivaldi). Fellow musicians Pieter Kofler (harpsichord) and Luise Buchberger (cello) feature on this recital disc which is released in November to coincide with Ramon’s Rising Stars world tour.
The Trust regularly organises and supports small concerts that showcase BBT winners and their developing projects.
14 September Tine Thing Helseth trumpet
Limelight at the 100 Club: Young Norwegian Tine Thing Helseth (BBT Fellowship 2009) may just be the first female trumpeter to play at this famous London jazz venue. With a programme
that includes Ravel, Piazzolla, de Falla and Grieg she will perform in the innovative monthly ‘Limelight’ series which presents young classical musicians.
Tickets www.londonlimelight.co.uk
£10 online and £12 on the night (doors 7.30pm)
Three 2010 BBT winners are presented this Autumn in the elegant salon at 22 Mansfield Street, London home of music lover and philanthropist Bob Boas:
19 October Nino Gvetadze piano
Anticipating Liszt’s bi-centenary and her plans to record a Liszt recital CD supported by BBT, Tbilisi-born pianist Nino Gvetadze will play several pieces including Ballade No 2 and Sonata in B minor, along with Chopin and Rachmaninov. She has a burgeoning career in Europe, especially in the Netherlands where she now lives and is Artist in Residence at the Anton Philipszaal in The Hague.
25 November Ramón Ortega Quero oboe & Gabriele Carcano piano
Ramón Ortega Quero and Gabriele Carcano join forces for a varied programme ranging from Bach to de Falla, plus repertoire including Beethoven and Debussy for solo piano. 25-year-old
Italian pianist Gabriele Carcano is well established in his homeland and currently lives in Paris where he has been studying with Nicholas Angelich, supported by Aldo Ciccolini and Marie Françoise Bucquet. 22-year-old Spanish oboist Ramón Ortega Quero is currently principal oboe of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and has been a regular member of Barenboim’s East-West Divan Orchestra since 2003. Both musicians are using their BBT monies to support recordings.
Booking: E. mailto:boas22m@btinternet.com T. 020 7436 0344
£10 including drinks (from 7pm) or £40 including drinks and dinner after the concert (in aid of the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust).
22 Mansfield Street, London W1G 9NR. Concerts start at 7.30pm