At this year 30th edition of the Ravenna FestivalVladimir Ovodok returns to conduct Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini in three performances of Bizet’s Carmen at Teatro Alighieri on November 3, 7 and 10. The new production directed by Lucca Micheletti will be presented as part of the Festival’s annual operatic Autumn Trilogy alongside performances of Norma and Aida directed by Cristina Mazzavillani Muti.
Antoni Wit conducts two concerts with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra on 19th and 20th of September at the Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana in the programme featuring Rachmaninov, Chopin Piano Concerto and a contemporary work by the Slovenian native composer Alojz Ajdic celebrating his 80th birthday. Maestro Wit will then travel to Skopje where he will open Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra’s new season with the performance of Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra on 26th of September at the Macedonian Philharmonic Hall. Antoni Wit will be joined for the programme by the acclaimed Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 1.
Closely associated with Belarusian, Lithuanian and Polish capitals, the 19th-century composer Moniuszko was born in Belarus and spent his childhood and formative years in Minsk before moving on to work and live in Vilnius where he wrote his most significant works, and later on to Warsaw as principal conductor of the Teatr Wielki, Polish National Opera. This year’s Vilnius Festival symbolically presents Moniuszko’s Four Litanies of Ostra Brama, the work dedicated to Vilnius, under the domes of St. Johns’ Church, where the composer served as an organist between 1840 –1842.
In his final concerts this season with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra, Maestro Antoni Wit leads two performances of Schubert’s magnificent Symphony No 9 “The Great”at Auditorio Baluarte on 9th and 10th of May. In teh first half of the programme, Maestro Wit will be joined by French pianist François-Frédéric Guy in Liszt Piano Concerto No 2 preceded by rarely performed Carl Maria von Weber’s Peter Schmoll Overture.
Teo Gheorghiu returned to Taiwan earlier this month for a series of recitals and masterclasses. He successfully appeared at Taipei National Concert Hall on 9 April, at Tainan Cultural Center on 11 April and at Hualien Cultural Center on April the 12th.
As part of the Moniuszko 200 celebrations, Jakub Chrenowicz conducted highly successful performances of The Haunted Manor at the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk this month. One of the key Polish national operas directed by Marek Weiss was led by Jakub Chrenowicz on April the 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th. For more information please click HERE
Mentored by Mo Muti at the Ravenna Festival , Belarusian conductor Vladimir Ovodok will make his debut with the Orchestra di Padova e Veneto at the Auditorium Pollini in Padova on 4th of April. The programme will feature Britten Les Illuminations with the celebrated British tenor Ian Bostridge as soloist, as well as Mozart Trauermusik, Symphony No 31 and Tchaikovsky Mozartiana Suite.
Michał Dworzyński’s eagerly awaited live concert recording of Penderecki Violin Concerto No 1 with Barnabas Keleman and the London Philharmonic Orchestra is scheduled for release on the orchestra’s own label in February next year. It will also feature Krzysztof Penderecki’s orchestral work conducted by the composer.
Maestro Wit is guest-conducting the Real Filharmonia de Galicia in Spain this month in concert at Auditorio de Galicia on 21st of March. He will open the all-orchestral programme with Moniuszko Overture in honour of the Polish composer’s 200th anniversary of birth and continue with Schubert Symphony No 3, concluding with Karłowicz’s mighty Symphony op. 7 “Re-birth”.
