04.02.2015
Hungarian violinist Barnabás Kelemen and the Tapiola Sinfonietta give the Finnish premiere of Ryan Wigglesworth’s Violin Concerto
12 February 2015
Tapiola Hall, Espoo
Cultural Centre
Barnabas Kelemen, violin
Ryan Wigglesworth, conductor
Tapiola Sinfonietta
“They don’t come any
better than Kelemen”
– Rob Cowan, Gramophone, July
2013
Multi award-winning Hungarian
violinist Barnabás
Kelemen gives theFinnish premiere of British composer Ryan Wigglesworth’s Violin Concerto at Tapiola Hall, Espoo on Thursday 12 February with the Tapiola Sinfonietta in a programme of contemporary
music by composers Zosha
di Castra, Oliver Knussen, Fred Lerdahl and György Ligeti. Following this Kelemen
directs Het
Kamerorkest in a series of 4 concerts
across Belgium including Gent,
Bruges, Kortrijk and Antwerp with a Bohemian-inspired
programme of works by Sandor Veress, Raymond Vauterin and Josef
Suk.
Kelemen gave the UK premiere of Wigglesworth’s Violin
Concerto in February 2014 at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall with the Halle Orchestra to warm reviews. The Telegraph commented: “Barnabás Kelemen was
a superb advocate for the work, relishing its
moments of yper-agility as well as its prevailing heady lyricism.” The Times concluded “his scurryings,
prancings and lyrical flounces, none that far from
tonality … cast a spell.”
Scored for a classical-sized
orchestra with the addition of a harp, the formal scheme of this single-movement
work offers a quiet and reflective introduction and an epilogue that act as frames
for two principal scherzandosections,
which in turn appear either side of a
central arioso. The work received its world
premiere on 17 February 2012 at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, with soloist Gordon
Nikolic and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
conducted by the composer.
Ryan Wigglesworth explains:
“My Violin Concerto
explores the lyrical characteristics of the solo instrument. In a
sense, the dramaturgy of the piece centres on a twofold search: first there
is the ongoing pursuit to ‘recapture’ the simple melodic material stated by
the solo violin in the opening bars. The second search is for a tonal resting
place, the arrival of which is delayed until the close of the epilogue.”
Tapiola Sinfonietta (12
February) programme:
OLIVER KNUSSEN Music for a Puppet Court (Finland
premiere)
ZOSHA DI CASTRI Strange Matter
FRED LERDAHL Spirals (Finland premiere)
RYAN WIGGLESWORTH Violin Concerto (Finland premiere)
GYÖRGY LIGETI Melodien
Praise for
Barnabas Kelemen
“Combining
ethereal purity and gutsy commitment”
– The
Guardian
“Barnabás
Kelemen met the composer’s demands unflappably, stirring a rousing
ovation.”
– New
York Times
“Kelemen’s
playing is perfectly poised between fastidiousness and a winning
ink-still-wet spontaneity … A fantastic violinist.”
-
Classical Source
Barnabas
Kelemen
An artist of ‘innate
musicality’ with a technical execution that belongs ‘only to the greatest’ (The Guardian),
Hungarian violinist Barnabás Kelemen has captured the attention of the music world.
With repertoire that ranges from early Baroque to contemporary music, Kelemen
gave the Hungarian premières of the Ligeti and Schnittke Violin Concertos as
well as the Hungarian and world premières of violin works by Gubaidulina and Kurtág.
In November, Kelemen reunited with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Michail Dworzynski to perform
Penderecki’s Violin Concerto at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 27 November
2013 to wide critical acclaim. Later this season he will give the premiere of Ryan
Wigglesworth’s Violin Concerto with the Hallé Orchestra at Bridgewater Hall
in Manchester on 13 February 2014.
Born in Budapest in 1978,
Barnabás Kelemen entered the Franz Liszt Music Academy at the age of eleven,
later went on win the First Prize at the International Violin
Competition in Indianapolis in 2002. In recognition of his achievements the Hungarian
government awarded him the Sándor Végh Prize in 2001, the Franz Liszt Prize in
2003, Rózsavölgyi Prize in 2003 and most recently the Kossuth Prize in 2012. Since
2005 he has been a professor at the Franz Liszt Music Academy Budapest and a guest
professor at Indiana University Bloomington.
Barnabás Kelemen collaborates
with the BBC Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic,
Hungarian National Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, London Philharmonic
and the Auckland Philharmonia amongst others. He performs with esteemed
conductors such as Peter Eötvös, Ivan Fischer, Vladimir Jurowski, Zoltán Kocsis and
Sir Neville Marriner. In chamber music, Kelemen has
performed with Zoltán Kocsis, José Gallardo and Shai Wosner and held recitals
at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bozar Brussels, Wigmore Hall London and
Carnegie Hall New York. He is first violinist of the Kelemen Quartet, which won
first prize at the Beijing International Music Competition in 2011 and was
placed second and won the Audience and Musica Viva Australia Prizes at the
Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition later that year.
Barnabás Kelemen’s varied discography
has been received to critical acclaim; his recording of Brahms’ Sonatas
for Violin and Piano with Tamás Vásáry has won a Diapason d’Or, and his release
of Liszt’s complete works for Violin and Piano with Gergely Bogányi was awarded
the Grand Prix du Disque 2001 by the International Liszt Society. Most recently
he has been collaborating intensively with the worldrenowned pianist and conductor Zoltán
Kocsis and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra for a
complete re-recording of Béla Bartók’s oeuvre Hungaroton to celebrate their native
composer’s 125th anniversary which took place in 2006. His recording
of Bartók’s Rhapsodies and Violin Concerto No. 2 was awarded the German Record
Critics’ Award 2011 in the concerto category.
He performs on a Guarneri del
Gesú violin of 1742 (ex-Dénes Kovács), generously loaned by the State of
Hungary.
The Tapiola Sinfonietta
The Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Espoo City Orchestra founded in 1987, represents
uncompromising quality and emphasises the critical role of each musician.
Composed of 41 musicians, it specialises in Viennese-Classical repertoire but
also performs 20th century modern classics and premieres of contemporary works.
It also enjoys forays into children’s music, chamber music and crossover productions.
The orchestra regularly performs with top soloists and conductors both Finnish
and foreign and often also without a conductor.
Jorma Panula and Osmo Vänskä were among the orchestra’s
first Artistic Directors. Jean-Jacques Kantorow’s era, beginning in 1993, had a
decisive impact on shaping the orchestra’s present-day profile and he was named
Honorary Conductor in 2011. In 2014/15 conductor Mario Venzago, pianist Alexander
Melnikov and guitarist Marzi Nymanserve as Artists in Association.
The orchestra’s artistic board, consisting of a General Manager and two elected
members of the orchestra, is responsible for all aspects of the Tapiola
Sinfonietta’s artistic planning.
The Tapiola Sinfonietta tours both in Finland and abroad. It records on the BIS,
Ondine and cpo labels and has released over 60 discs.
Press photos: http://tapiolasinfonietta.fi/en/kuvapankki/kauden-20142015-lehdistokuvat/
For more information
of Barnabás Kelemen please contact
Nicky Thomas
Media Consultancy:
07768
566530 | 0203 714 7594
[email protected]| www.nickythomasmedia.com
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on Twitter @ntmediauk
For more information of The
Tapiola Sinfonietta please contact
Ms Helena Ruhkala
Marketing
Manager, Tapiola Sinfonietta
[email protected]
www.tapiolasinfonietta.fi
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